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Thursday, November 21, 2013

My Favorite Room

In case you missed my favorite room of the house over at Kims Favorite Room Series a few weeks ago, I wanted to share my Keeping Room, aka "Moms Zone".

Keeping Rooms are generally located right off the kitchen and back in the day it was used to gather the family and keep them warm, as it was close to the main heating sources of the home. But for me its a place to look out the window and enjoy nature from the indoors. The room is actually the reflection you see in our backyard pond.

A place to read the Sunday paper and drink my tea.
A place to meditate, look out the window and be thankful for what I have and for a room that is mine!
A place when girlfriends visit we can sit and chat.

In fact, its also a popular staging area for a lot of the projects you see here at Top This Top That.
Curtain details are here.

Occasionally when the mood is right I will invite my hubby in so we can sit back and appreciate all of the hard work that went in in constructing this room and the details that make it special to us me.

Like the wood beams on the ceiling that came from Cypress Trees on our property.

Or the transformations and journey that it took to get to this point. This is how the room looked when I decorated it when we moved in 10 years ago. My husband swore that the valance looked like a circus tent! I happen to like it, its the red ~~tent~~ roof that perhaps was over the top!

And when my color senses settled down a few years ago and the room was a bit more serene and calm.

And the room as it is today. A room that is more of a reflection of me, who I am and what I want others to see.
Simple, clean and quite, unfortunately thats generally less then 1% of the time when the kids arent around.
See my table transformation here.

A room that was meant just for me but I do have an extra chair in case you want to come over!

Whats your favorite room in your house?

If you want to see where the rest of the family hangs out in my house, you will want to visit my Home Tour .
Hope the week is off to a great start.

Grateful for:

A safe trip back" Home" from spending the holiday with my family in S.Florida.

Sharing at:
Between Naps on the Porch
At the Picket Fence
French Country Cottage

Saturday, October 12, 2013

A decor lesson for my husband

Seems my husband who really doesnt have the same love for interiors had forgotten what the Ghost Chair was. Silly boy!! Here is an example of how gorgeous they are. Beautiful. Just what I need for my desk too hint hint haha!! Kellie xx

Image from Janette Ewen via Brabourne Farm x

Saturday, September 28, 2013

My Swedish Furniture Makeover

Several years ago I found some wonderful Swedish antique furniture. It was covered in dirty muslin and desperately needed to be reupholstered.

Here is the bench, notice the tear on left side. The muslin was stapled on.

Two wonderful Bergere chairs - also notice the tear on the right chair and the awful stained upholstery fabric on the cushions. I also had two sweet Swedish side chairs which I did not take before photos of.

I searched for several years (really!) to find just the perfect linen fabric. It proved easy once I met Wendy Lewis of Textile Trunk. I spoke to her directly and mentioned I wanted hand woven linen, over a hundred years old, with a fine weave and soft drape- not nubby like like my grain sack pillows - more formal and soft. I vacillated on whether to have a grain sack stripe going down the front of the chairs, that is so popular these days, but in the end I decided to stick with what I am most comfortable with - the classics.

Wendy immediately sent me a few samples to review - each was more beautiful that one before. I decided on the gorgeous linen above. The seven stripes are just on the very end of the roll. The weaver most likely could not read or write and this combination of color, width and number of stripes was her signature. The stripes remain my favorite part of the roll and I intend to make them into small pillows to honor the time and effort put into this beautiful fabric by a unknown woman of long ago.

With such beautiful antique furniture and antique fabric that had touched such a sentimental cord with me, I was nervous to just let any upholsterer work on this project. What to do? I contact my bloggy friend, Linda Merrill of the famous Surroundings and The Skirted Round Table, for some direction. Another blessing, when Linda pointed me in the direction of Master Upholsterer, Heller Furniture. Above is photo of my Bergere Chair deconstructed.

A Czech by birth, Walter Heller is a master craftsman. His roots are firmly anchored in his extensive European training which began as an apprentice saddler and tapiezer in Bavaria, Germany, at the age of 14. For over 40 years, Heller has been working with architects, project managers, interior designers and residential clients to produce upholstered custom furniture. His knowledge of antique furniture and his attention to detail is outstanding. Once I met him and his assistant, Nancy, I breathed a sigh of relief that my furniture and fabric were the hands of a master! Thank you Linda, Walter and Nancy!

Walters knowledge was exceptional - he showed me the jute webbing under the chair. He mentioned that although jute was generally used in a chair this age, this jute had been replaced- and poorly done as it was too sparse and would not provide good support.

He also showed me the chair joints which were loose. This was caused by the stripping of the furniture. These pieces, he said, were clearly dipped in Lye. Lye is wonderful for removing paint quickly but it also dissolves the wood glue that holds these pieces together and ultimately loosens the joints over time. Walter was able to re glue and screw the joints to strengthen the chairs.

Here is the chair being covered,. Notice the top, front, back panel of the chair. The upholstery stuffing is bumping out or "crowning" here to create a noticeable arc of padding. This is the way the chair was intended to look. Better photos of this effect below.

Antique fabrics do not generally match exactly in terms of color but Walter was able to use different shades in different areas of the chairs to create a visually perfect match.

Here the seat cushions for the Bergere chairs are being crafted.

I had a limited amount of fabric. He was able to use the linen so conservatively that I had enough left over to make pillows. Amazing!

Walter explained that the best furniture has nailed muslin covering - if you see staples, that is a sign that the quality may not be the best underneath!

Here is the finished bench at Walters Workshop. He had to rebuild the cushion and the effect is fabulous. Notice the two seams down the front of the bench, the match is incredible.

Nail head trim or double welting are traditional in Swedish Upholstery - I prefer the double welting - notice the attention to detail.

Here is the Bergere Chair finished in the workroom. This is a better photo to highlight the upholstery bumping out and "crowning" on front upper back panel of the chair.

Double welting detail

Amazing work on the sides and arms of the chairs

Here are my pieces waiting to be picked up

And here they are in my Conservatory - waiting for my final decorating touches!

The Swedish bench with gorgeous antique, original grain sack pillows by textile artist, Kym Fraser of Three Fine Grains.

One (of my pair) of sweet Swedish chairs in front of my Mora Clock (just a peek as I am working on an upcoming post about the clock)

Finding the right fabrics and upholsterer can be a daunting task, but when you put all the right pieces together you can re-create beautiful furniture worthy of another hundred years.

For more information on Wendy Lewis of Textile Trunk and her lovely antique fabrics click here. For information on Master Craftsman and Upholsterer, Walter Heller and Heller Furniture click here. Dont forget to mention you heard about them on Willow Decor.

(all photos property of Willow Decor and Heller Furniture and not to be used without permission)