New Awards for SK Design Projects!

My favorite industry trade magazine, Window Fashions - Vision, annually hosts our industry's largest convention, the International Window Coverings Expo (IWCE).  This year the event is held in Las Vegas, in conjunction with KBIS (the massive Kitchen & Bath show). 

I was unable to attend the event this year, but was notified that SK Designs is the recipient of TWO awards, which were announced at the awards ceremony last night.  Whoo hoo!

The project below was awarded Second Place in the Decorative Hardware & Trim category.  This was a wonderful window treatment project for an open concept family room and breakfast area. 


Photography by Brandy Stoesz Photography

Decorative metal hardware was used in the family room between the swags, and coordinating accent hardware is featured on the mini cornice and swag in the breakfast room.

The bonus feature of the above project is that this wonderful client was referred to me by a very talented and multi-award winner colleague in Denver, Colorado.  She had worked with this client in the Denver area, and recommended SK Designs to her when the client moved to the Houston area.  We have completed numerous projects in this home and are continuing now with another project.  Thank you for the referral, Sheri!



Photography by Brandy Stoesz Photography

The adorable slipcovered rocker shown to the left was awarded First Place in Upholstery and Slipcovers!  This fun project was created using a raspberry textured fabric, a cream matelassé style fabric, and a floral barkcloth fabric.  The client purchased vintage pinch pleated draperies (the barkcloth fabric) at an antique show.  SK Designs took the draperies apart and determined which parts were still usable and undamaged by time and use.  We had *just* enough fabric to match the pattern repeat on the front of the chair back and the seat cushion.  We turned the fabric pattern sideways for the seat cushion boxing, which created a pretty design feature (and was necessary due to the limited fabric. 

Photography by Brandy Stoesz Photography

 Contrast cording was made from the cream colored fabric, and a small pleated frill accents the bottom hem (below which Velcro is used to attach to the bottom of the chair frame in order to secure the slipcover in place) and at the top of the chair back.

The photo below shows the entire room, which features custom pillows, duvet and bedskirt, by SK Designs.  Isn't the room adorable?  I love the shabby chic collections that the homeowner has found at area antique shows!

The charming story of the slipcover is that the chair was purchased by my client's father for her mother, and she was rocked in the chair as a child.  She now rocks her own grandchildren in the chair, which is known as the "magic chair" for always soothing the children in the chair.



Brandy Stoesz Photography

Shabby Chic Bedroom

I have been working with a delightful client in my neighborhood and we delivered the final items for her colorful shabby chic bedroom this week.

She has wonderful collections of vintage embroidery and other items throughout her home and it is a wonderful place!  For years I have admired the outside of her home with the picket fence and stone walkway, wonderful shutters and paint colors...so I was very excited when she called me and gave me her address.  I knew immediately which home was hers and I was looking forward to seeing the inside of her home, which did not disappoint!

She had a great bed that she wanted a new matelasse duvet for, as well as a gathered silk dust ruffle and matching king shams, along with a large striped bolster and a scaldino for the foot of the bed.

She provided her own fabrics and I went to work fabricating everything.

The below photo shows the bedding.  I love the scaldino at the foot of the bed with the textured raspberry center fabric.  The side sections are vintage barkcloth.  I added a pleated raspberry ruffle on the ends.

Don't you love the vintage sign above the bed?  And if you look carefully, you will see the cute green interior shutters on the windows, featuring a crescent moon accent.

The neckroll is 40" long - whew!  We used her wide awning striped fabric in green and cream and added a bias flat welt on the ends.

You can't really see the plaid shams at the back of the bed, but they match the dust ruffle fabric.

When I delivered the bedding, she asked if I could slipcover a rocker.  I do offer slipcover services, but generally only for "hard" chairs such as dining room or kitchen or vanity chairs. However, this client was great to work with and I loved the fabrics we were mixing and I knew it would look great in the room.  We used the remaining vintage barkcloth from pinch pleated draperies, which were carefully taken apart and used to their maximum advantage so that we could match patterns on the scaldino and also the slipcover.

It is a fully upholstered chair that rocks gently.  The chair was already slipcovered, so I used the original slipcover for a pattern and made a few modifications.  The upholstery underneath was in perfect shape, so that was not an issue.

We added a small pleated ruffle around the front side of the seat back as well as around the entire bottom hem.  The slipcover is attached to the front arms and the entire underside of the chair with Velcro.

You can see that the seat top (and bottom) matches the seat back pattern repeat, and I railroaded (turned sideways) the leaf pattern on the boxing area of the seat.

Below shows most of the room, showcasing the bed and rocker.

All projects are good projects!  But this was a cheerful, inviting room with great personality. My client also shared with me that her mother rocker her (my client) in the chair when she was a baby, and now she rocks her grandchildren in the same chair...continuing the family bond of love!  That story was bittersweet, since my client's mother passed away just a few weeks ago.  But her rocking chair legacy lives on in the room and with the grandchildren who are rocked in the same chair.  So sweet!

Hope to see you soon!

Susan

Before and After - A Great Bedroom for a Young Girl

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite projects.  This wonderful client's daughter had very clear ideas and opinions of what she wanted for her room's decor.

She had lovely handpainted furniture throughout her bedroom that they did not want to replace, but wanted to update the look for her changing preferences.  We decided to keep slipcover some of the furniture to coordinate with the new look, beginning with the vanity skirt and vanity chair.

The photo below shows the soft pink paint and fabrics on the vanity and chair (before).  The doors below the vanity top open and are functional for storage.

The fabrics the clients selected were a fun chocolate brown, teal, green and white paisley, along with several coordinating solids and smaller scale patterns and textures.

Below is the rendering I presented for the bedding project.

This was such a fun project!  I loved having this young girl select her fabrics and trims and her enthusiasm was infectious!

The photo below shows the vanity skirt in a gathered iridescent polyester topped with a scalloped overlay with chocolate brown covered buttons and a tassel tie in the center.

Below is the "before" photo of the adorable sweetheart vanity chair.  I loved the shape of it and the full skirt.  We only needed to update the colors and fabrics to coordinate with the new look of the room.

The slipcover below has a velcro closure at the back laced-up placket.  The quilted chocolate brown fabric on the upper portion of the chair coordinates well with the gathered crushed pleated skirting.  The heart shape of the upper chair is accented with teal cording.  A green sash circles the "waist" and features a ribbon bow above the scalloped green overlay on the skirt.

Teal cording also accentuates the vertical lines of the back centerpiece, and a bright green double faced satin ribbon laces up the back with a bow at the very top.

The headboard and footboard had been beautifully decoratively painted, but in keeping with the new look for the room, we slipcovered both pieces in a textured solid lime green fabric accented with teal cording.  We selected fabric pattern components and had them custom embroidered in specific sizes and thread colors to tie in with the other fabrics in thsi project.  The smaller emblems are embroidered on the top of the headboard slipcover, following the shape of the headboard.  

The crinkle gathered dust ruffle is perfect in this room!  The paisley fabric used on the comforter was quilted on the fabric pattern design, to accent the paisley and swirl designs.

Pillows were made to coordinate, using striped, swirled and solid fabrics and adding ribbon ties and embroidery on the neckroll, along with a fun Kravet square beaded trim.

A mirror image embroidery design was created for the centerpiece of the footboard slipcover (below).

The photo below shows the completed bedding project - so fresh and cute!

The photo below shows one of the window areas in the room.  Stationary silk panels are topped with a shaped hem and draping valance, accented with lime green microcord above and below the brown band and a wonderful teal and lime green tassel trim.

This was one of my favorite projects and the clients were terrific too!

Hope you enjoyed the "tour" of this project!

Susan