Flashback Friday: Transformagic

Minnesota is the birthplace of the mall.  Did you know that?  (My husband and I have been making a sarcastic list of the awesome things about living here, and I CAN NOT BELIEVE I forgot to put this on it.)  Anyway, we have cold winters, and lots of malls.  The absolute most random mall I have encountered is the Knollwood Mall in St. Louis Park, with its hurricane-simulator "ride," its indoor pool for swim lessons, and a furniture store with a "classic car" corner, a "log furniture" corner, and an alcove full of actual, and gorgeous, asian antiques.  But perhaps the strangest thing in this mall is a full-fledged antique store, mostly featuring Victorian pieces.  It's not open every day, and I often find myself peering through the windows on my journey from Home Goods to Kohls to see if there are any amazing finds among the carved wood and fading mohair.

Well.  Last week, I finally got in.  And while the prices are high and the era wrong, I did stumble upon these funny little manuals called Transformagic.

They appear to be marketing tools to sell paint, with a section of designs and instructions in the back.  What struck me was the simple fact that transforming furniture through paint is back in vogue in a major way--and it never occurred to me that the 1940s might have been a hot time for DIY.  I mean: who would've thunk?

Anyway, since apparently flasback fridays are being reinvented to include all things old and crusty, I thought I'd share some of mt favorite designs.  Favorite being a loose term which includes "cute" "fun" and "ha ha ha made me laugh."

I especially love this little gem, where they took one room and did it up two ways!

What do you think:  feeling inspired?

I'll be back tomorrow--thinking about a new, one image, 25 words or less weekend series, small measures.  (Only 25 words: can I POSSIBLY do it?  Stay tuned to find out.)

Flashback Friday: My mom's teen room

My mom found this picture of her room from her teen years, and I can't tell you how much I LOVE it.  First up: that FABRIC.  Love the feeling of movement in the floral, and the blue that keeps it from being too sweet.  But how about the matching bedspread, drapes, and cornice?  And the detailed scalloped edge on the cornice?  And don't get me started on those pink moire chairs.  This is why I love moire: it seems that my grandmother loved it, too.  IT may feel old fashioned and grandmothery now, but I think it's classic, and almost faux-bois texture of it will always seem modern to me.  (I made chartreuse moire bolsters for my girls' room and insisted on fern moire tablecloths at my wedding.)  Of course I love the hexagon table and the white and brass lamp.  But the stroke of genius is grounding it all on that sea of raspberry wall to wall.  I've been crushing on raspberry ever since moving into this house and putting it on the girls's headboards and the guest room curtains.

I also just noticed that the bulky thing on the hex side table is a turntable.  Very hip, mom!

Flashback Friday: The First Ottoman we Built

While it often feels like I remember every piece of furniture and every home accessory I have purchased (and where it came from and how much I paid and how much I saved from the original price), I sometimes have glaring omissions in my memory.  Like the other day, when I was going on and on about how I would never choose a red couch, only to realize I have a red couch.  I bought it off craiglist for $40 and always sort of intended to get a new slipcover for it (its the super basic couch from Ikea.)  I know it seems crazy to forget about a major piece of furniture currently in your house, but it's in the basement and I rarely use it and really, I wanted something different.  Denial much?

While I was in the process of planning the cocktail table turned ottoman project, I was talking to my husband about it and he answered one of my questions by saying "I don't know--I've never built an ottoman."  Again, I was all, "I know honey, but you can still help me figure this out," and he was all, "I was being sarcastic--remember the orange ottoman?"

The orange ottoman!  How could I forget!  After our older daughter was born, we wanted to do away with pointy edged things, including the coffee table.  When we couldn't find an ottoman the size we desired, we built one.  The thing was over 4' square: how could I forget??

[photo credit: me.  model: Clio and the "make-out monkey".  You're welcome!]

So, how to do it.  Dave built a big box with a flat bottom and an open top.  I used upholstery webbing to make a forgiving top, stapling it to the outside of the box.  We added foam, a layer of batting, and a set of legs we bought online in unfinished pine and stained.  The fabric came from a remnant bin and the nailhead is french trim, which comes on a big roll and you only actually hammer in every 8th nail or so.  I can't remember why I didn't seam the corners, but instead I used a sort of tuck -- it was a casual look that worked but that I probably wouldn't repeat.  The hardest thing about this project was finishing the edges--for some reason, the legs had to be screwed in before the piece was upholstered, so rather than stapling the fabric underneath, I had to staple it right to the edge, with the fabric turned under, and then cover it with nailhead.

All of which is to say, ottoman-building is completely doable, though I think I prefer my new method of upholstering a coffee table.  Much simpler when you don't have to build the frame!

Have you built any custom projects for your home?  Did you forget all about them like I did?

MY in-laws are on their way to town for the holiday weekend.  I'll be back on Tuesday--enjoy it!

Heather

Flashback Friday: Swatch Madness

Okay, I had to go off script again for this week's flashback.  Digging around in my picture files, I found these images from a couple of years ago, and I found them so hilarious, I just had to share.

For the record, these pictures were taken LONG before I had a blog that talks about decorating and such, so why, why, WHY did I need a photo of a bunch of swatches?  It's one thing to use photography as a tool when, say, finalizing layouts for a gallery wall--a photo can help you see things you don't necessarily see in person.  But swatches?  Swatches are so much about color and texture, and a photo (especially with a little point and shoot digital, especially taken by a crappy photographer such as moi) can not communicate these things.

Perhaps I was sending it off to get a second opinion from a far off collaborater (like my mom).  We were thinking about a new couch, and looking at coral upholstery to go on a piece in a room with that rug.  The chartreuse was a possibility for throw pillows or curtains.

We never did go with any of it, and instead, several years later, invested in a brown sofa instead.  I did end up doing chartreuse curtains with that rug, though, in this house, which is two houses later, and I love it.

Sometimes it takes a little time to process, right?

I would love to think that this is normal, though blogging about my decorating process seems to be exposing some of my, um, quirks.  Do tell: do you photograph your swatches?  Do you ruminate for years at a time?

Please say you do!

Flashback Friday: Temporary Girls Room

Love That Space: Boulder, CO, 2009-2010

The Look:  Dressed Up Big Box

The Elements:  Simple quilts, plastic storage, canvas bags, "princess" netting, stokke crib, wrought iron Ikea floor lamp....

The Huh? Factor: ...Original art?  There's Prairie Mona Lisa, by Frank Buffalo Hyde, Dreams Are Real, by Jacqueline Rochester, and a fashion illustration by a local Minneapolis artist.  While I loved having these pieces in the girls' room, looking back, the oils do seem like a bit much with all that plastic Target crap.  The art cost more than the rest of the room combined, and it shows!

The Analysis:  We moved to Boulder for my husband to go to school to become a Rolfer (it's a kind of bodywork--you can read about it here.)  We rented a sweet, TINY house, put half our stuff in storage, and left a bunch of furniture back in NY to stage our house, which had not QUITE sold by the time we moved.  Ugh.  Just thinking back to that stresses me out.  After much deliberation, we decided to put the girls in one room so we could have an office/guest room, and it was such a great decision.  The little one struggled with the move and all that change, and it was great for her to be with her big sister.  Our older daughter's one and only request was a Princess bed, just like her best friend back in Brooklyn.  I bought the netting at Ikea before we headed cross country.  We couldn't paint, couldn't do anything permanent, but I have to say, I kind of loved this sweet, plain little room.  It was right across from the kitchen, so the girls could play in sight while I made dinner.

What Remains:  Surprisingly, almost nothing!  Well, at least almost nothing is out in use.  The fashion illustration is in the guest room, the canvas storage bins are in the girls new room, and the plastic bins are in various closets.  The oil paintings are in storage--though I may find the right spot for at least the smaller one--the netting is in the basement, and the stokke crib went off to my nephew.  I didn't mean for the room to be quite SO temporary, but I jumped at the chance to really DO their room once we settled into this house.

So tell me, if you have kids, how do you approach decorating their rooms?

Flashback Friday: I do.

First, let me just say that I have not been caught up in the wedding madness at all.  In fact, a while back at the gym I saw an ad for the special CNN show, and I thought, really?  CNN?  Though of course this makes perfect sense.

However, after dropping the girls at school this morning I heard some of the coverage on NPR, and I got a little teary eyed.  And it had me flashing back to my own wedding.  Since today happens to be Friday, and that is the day for flashing back here on Love Your Space, I'm flashing back to my own wedding, which in NO WAY compares to the royal wedding except for the most important one: it is my own.

Love that Space: The Depot, Minneapolis, September 24, 2005

The Vision: Vintage Glamour

The Elements: A 1920s train depot, twinkly lights, netting, Vera Wang gown, 1940s cake topper, vintage bird ornaments, greem moire tablecloths, gardenias, ostrich feathers and orchids, navy suits, striped and polka dot ties, family, friends, and self-composed vows.

The huh?! factor: I think I had my veil on upside down!  Oh, and the venue had these bizarre statues that couldn't be move.  I mean: Huh??  Luckily they were mostly out of the way.

What remains:  Well, our marriage--thank goodness!  I don't take that for granted.  I love that so many people have those little bird ornaments, and use them on their trees at Christmas.  Oh, and the top tier of the cake may still be in my parent's freezer.

The Analysis: I've written about the objects we used at our wedding here, and I'm happy to leave it at that.

Did this morning's nuptials bring you back to you own?  What was your favorite element of your wedding? I'd love to hear about it!

Fishies

This Design Sponge fish roundup flashes me back to the fish stencil from my Switzerland days.

Maybe I was waaaay ahead of the curve on this?

Flashback Friday: Easter Buckets

Now, I know we're not supposed to compare ourselves to others, but reading so many blogs daily has revealed a few things about myself, or made me notice them in a way I hadn't before.  Looking at other people's designs and inspiration pictures has really sort of cemented for me my own taste.  I've also realized that I am VERY low key about holidays.  I don't really decorate.  At Christmas it's a tree and nothing else (and we didn't even do that for 4 years when the girls were teeny and we weren't home for the holiday anyway.)  I'm not big on ceremony (though I would like to invent some family traditions here and there--I've got my eye on May Day).  And my husband's influence means that gifts should have a practical bent, and sugar should be minimized.

Today we will be dyeing eggs the old fashioned way: with a PAAS kit from Target.  That's it!  That's all we're doing!  The girls will get small easter baskets.  I didn't make them, I bought them.   They will have non-handmade items in them, including the Tangled polly pocket dolls that the girls really, really, really want.  And some bunny-shaped sidewalk chalk so we can get outside (if the weather ever clears up) and get creative.

Here's Easter last year, in our little rental in Boulder.

We made easter buckets so they could use them again.  There's a little bit of candy and yogurt covered pretzels in there, but also card games, socks with favorite characters on them, and seeds to plant.

Here's Eleri checking out the contents.  It's hard to believe she was so little just a year ago,

We also believe in easter egg hunts.  I think my husband let me put a single m+m or gummy bunny in each egg,

We have two kids.  The third bucket was for the girls best friend, Dakota.

Suckers are delicious.

I suppose the other important tradition for us is Easter dresses.  My mom got them each THREE choices this year because she couldn't decide.  They love them all.

Though it is worth mentioning that Eleri is wearing a Christmas dress this morning--which was her cousins about 4 years ago, and then Clio's, and now, well, it's seen better days.

So that's it's low key.  I have to say, I admire the people who make beautiful decorations by hand, and even more the ones who work with their kids and display the decorations no matter how lopsided or unique they may be.

What do you do for Easter?

Flashback Friday: Master with the Mister

Love That Space: Park Slope row house master bedroom, 2004-2009

The Look: Pared-down Chinoiserie

The elements: It feels like everything in this room has a story.  It took a few tries to get the orange paint right, and I remember painting three coats listening to Kings of Convenience until midnight.  The headboard is from an awesome set my parents bought in California in the 70s (is that right mom?  Or did you get it when you moved here?)  Somehow I got it into the back of my little old Jetta and drove it cross country on New Year's Eve.  The dressers are horrible country pine pieces from Ikea that I spraypainted black IN THE BASEMENT, and sprayed the iron-look hardware gold (look).  I found the lamps with my mom on my first-ever trip to Home Goods.  The gold piggy bank was a birthday present from my husband and--get this--my dear friend Marni bought it for me, too, as a wedding gift!  I guess I'm just a gold-dipped piglet kind of a girl.
The hotel bedding was from our wedding registry.

The Huh? Factor: Umm....Well.  The nude above the bed is a drawing of me.  Pregnant with my older daughter (though you can't really tell because it's a tush shot.)  And the thing is HUGE.  And normally this would not strike me as strange in a private room like the "master," but this is the unavoidable view from the top of the stairs, right next to the only bathroom.  So if you came to my house and you had to use the facilities, you also had to see a drawing of my ass.

The Analysis:  I love that this room looks grown up and polished without being staid and boring.  It is the shared bedroom in the first house my husband and I chose together.  Orange is both of our favorite color (my engagement ring has an orange stone), and I love that we chose it for our walls.  This is the room where my husband proposed to me.  This is the room where I sat to call my parents and tell them I was pregnant, and where, 9 months later, I labored with both my daughters.  This is the room where we said good-bye to Brooklyn, and set out in search of the rest of our lives.  Apparently, I am very emotional about this room.

What remains:  You just saw the duvet cover and pillowcases in the guest room.  The headboard and dressers are in our current bedroom, as is pretty much everything ON those dressers.  Oh, and the little Dwell Studio for Target throw pillow, too.  The lamps are in the basement--I love them, but they're just way too traditional for this house.  This also feels like the room where I figured out how to put things together in a pretty, grown up way, and ever since then I've gotten less and less restrained.

Have a flashback you'd like to share?  Email me a photo and the details at heatherjoypeterson@gmail.com

Flashback Friday: The Tree

Okay, so I'm kind of going off-script here. I don't have an actual picture of the room I'm flashing back to, though I wish I did. Instead, I have the picture that made me go flashing back in the first place.

[Elle Decor]

Gorgeous, right?

My senior year in college, I lived off campus in the bottom floor of an old Victorian house. there was a kitchen and a bathroom, and the original living and dining rooms were the two bedrooms. To close off the archway between these two rooms, the owner had installed two tall panels--maybe sheetrock? on either side, and installed a door in the middle. The panels were in my room, and one of them tucked nicely behind a carved teakwood screen I had picked up at a yard sale to close off the "closet". But the other panel was an eyesore. I knew I couldn't hide it, so I would have to embrace it--make it into something.

I had studied Japanese art and the Japanese influence in late 19th and early 20th century European art the previous semester, so off I went to the library to look up some of the gorgeous Art Nouveau ineriors I remembered so well.

Based on my reference, I painted the panel a plum color, using a drag technique. Then used silver metallic paint to create a swaying tree trunk and long graceful branches, and a set of hand made potato stamp--so high tech!--to make the cherry blossoms from white and two shades of pink paint. While it certainly did not have the craftsmanship of the screen in the Elle Deco spread above, it had a similar effect.

I was so proud of that mural. I was a writing major and even wrote it into the apartment of a character in one of my stories. I wonder if it's still there, or who chose to paint over it.

Do you have fond memories of early ventures in DIY? Any projects that bring you back to a place and time? I'd love to hear about them.

Flashback Friday: Bri from Me, You, and a Wiener

Another Friday, another fabulous guest post. This week I have the incomparable Bri, she of the gold wiener dog hand-painted wallpaper

and mind-blowing ikea hacks, like this insane desk

and this turquoise cabinet.


Can you stand it? Really, this girl needs no introduction. Bri, have at it!


Love that space: Wiener residence 2010. The upstairs living room or as I call it now "my rainbow sniffing days."



The vision: I just wanted something that didn't suck! Seeing as I have no decorating experience I just resorted to magazines and blogs for inspiration. I have no clue wtf my style is, I like simple crap, you know, not too much stuff everywhere. I have a kid who likes to break everything so the less the better. I also love blue, I FREAKING LOVE BLUE!!!!! So I painted the walls a dark blue.

Seriously I am way too obsessed with this color. Most of my wardrobe is blue. It's rather sad. In fact most of my house walls are blue, except downstairs which I papered in grass cloth. Unfortunately our family room is in our basement and is way too dark to get pictures of.

The elements: Too much color that's what. I realized this living room was wack and not really functional for the wiener family. Not to mention it was becoming way too girly for my taste so I decided to scrap it completely. As in GONE, done for. I repainted a few walls white but still kept some walls blue, which suck btw! Why? Because I have to constantly dust them that's why!!! But they are so pretty I put up with it.



The huh? Factor: More like WTF were you smokin' bri? Did you sniff a rainbow? I have no clue, I mean the colors are pretty but this just wasn't me. That green chair sucks btw. It's the most uncomfortable chair in the world. Ever. I'm selling a lot of this room off. I just wasn't feeling it anymore. Oh yeah you see no couch. That's cause I still can't make up my damn mind on what I want. Seriously I suck at life. But I am slowly putting the room together the way I wants it. It takes time. I love vintage and thrifted crap. I also like making crap. So most of what you see in the pictures is 80% thrifted or made. I also like money, and I like keeping my husband's money, the less I spend the more I get to spend. On shoes, expensive nice shoes. I'm a sucker for pretty shoes.

What Remains: The only pieces I kept from my old "Rainbow Sniffing days" was the floor bench which I reupholstered in a different fabric. The lamps which are now in my office and my lucite table, I would get rid of my husband first before I'd give that up. bahahhaha no seriously. True story.

The analysis: I wanted my office to look like a double rainbow exploded in there. My happy place and sh*t .


Seeing as to the rest of our house is now more neutral, I wanted at least one room in the house to be colorful. When one of my buddies saw my office he said it looked like Studio 54 exploded in there and asked if I was doing coke. bahahhah I guess you can't appeal to everyone. He's a real modern dude, all his crap is from CB2 so of course my style is a bit much for him. I told him I was going to break his knee caps next time I saw him. He took back his words. Do what you love and stop worrying about people think and sh*t. They are not the ones living in that space, you is.

I still have a lot of unfinished projects, like that lamp in my bedroom. Damn I suck at finishing stuff. I cant offer many pictures since most of my house is destroyed because of reno. A lot of stuff has changed. This last picture is crap I wish to add one day when I win the lottery. Hey it can happen people!!!!


I still don't know what my style is. I like weird sh*t, stuff that doesn't make sense sometimes. I love Hollywood Regency but sometimes it's a bit much for my taste since so I keep it to a minimum. Basically I like anything that doesn't suck. Magazines are a huge inspiration, and of course blogs. Also, I hate trends and try not to follow them. But sometimes fall victim to them. There's a lot of pretty crap out there. The chevron trend is one I'm a sucker for, I can't help but love it. I just decorate with stuff I love. And try my hardest to make it look good.



There you have it, Bri's twisted abode. It's a huge work in progress since we have been remodeling for the past 2 years!!! Hey it's expensive people. But I love my house, it's the first home we ever bought. We've made tons of memories there. I only hope one day we'll be done renovating it, so we can sell it and get the hell out of there!!!

My thanks to Heather for having me, you get TIMMY! hugs.

-gangster bri

Thanks Bri! Love the old space, but can't wait to see what you're cooking up in the new living room.

If you haven't already, go on over to her blog and be prepared to die laughing.

Happy weekend!