Friday Five

Welcome to the second installment of "Friday 5" where I'm highlighting five of my favorite finds for the week. 

Just love this image! 

In the midst of all my sourcing, here are a few items I saw this week.  

Saw this incredibly clever expandable extension cord on Brooke's (of Blueprint Bliss) Pinterest board.  Loved it.  I always seem to have things to plug in with the huge plugs, and so I have to skip an outlet in between.  Well, no more!

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On my recent girl's weekend shopping trip, I saw lots of envelop bags.  They are super current and a really great way to transform an ordinary outfit into something chic.  I'm currently crushing on this one by Rebecca Atwood.  Could be very fun for a casual holiday dinner party invite.

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The back is a black/metallic linen.  Yum!

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This is a sneak preview of the 2014 collection from Americh. 

Generally, I think bathrooms can come off feeling very cold and sterile given all the ceramic and glass ordinarily found in these rooms.  So, when I saw this clever free standing tub, I immediately thought about the warmth it could add to a bathroom.  This tub is not even on their website yet, so you will have to call for pricing.  It also comes in a silver finish and another style with a wood surround.

Having trouble getting into the holiday spirit?  This will do the trick!  This has to be my all time favorite candle scent.  It will transport you instantly to a whole new holiday place.  The scent is not like any other I've smelled - its not exactly evergreen or pumpkin pie or even blooming paper whites, but it is divine nonetheless! 

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Saw these fantastic two toned belly baskets in Serena and Lilly's catalog and loved them.  They are so super versatile - not just for a nursery.  I can see them next to a reading chair with magazines stacked high or  in a playroom with rolled blankets stuffed inside them for easy access.  

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Not interested in splurging on two tone baskets?  Well, make your own look alike with this tutorial. 

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Have a marvelous weekend, everybody.  M.

Trend Spotting - Rorschach Ink Blots

I recently saw this metallic version of an ink blot, and I can't seem to get it out of my mind.  It was created by Andy Warhol in the 1980's known as his Rorschach paintings, and it still feels super current and fresh today.  Wonder what came to mind when Mr. Warhol looked at his own inkblots?

Andy Warhol, Rorschach 1984

In case you're wondering, the Rorschach test is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretations.  Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning.  So, if I get a psychologist for a client, you know I'm going straight to these for some unique artwork for their home.

During his later years, Andy Warhol produced some stunning examples of these.  I love this one with black ink on canvas - it would look amazing with a metallic background.

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These have inspired lots of homeowners.  I just love how they look - notice the ghost chair layered in front of the lowest piece and paired with another favorite for me - the silhouette.  clever.

The traditional black ink versions have really been popular as artwork since this image was featured in House Beautiful.   Completely stunning!  Every room (even one with lots of color) needs a touch of black.

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So, I think you know where I'm going with this . . . Even the most artistically challenged should be able to pull off some version of this, right?!  Could be a fun DIY to try with my daughter on a raining Sunday afternoon.  I'll have to pull together some supplies in case we have a moment to try this! M.

Layering Artwork on Drapery Wall

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  We are finally feeling the crisp weather here in Birmingham and just in time for Halloween.  I love it!  Saw this cute picture on Pinterest and had to share it.  Halloween is such a fun holiday that I have an entire Pinterest board just for clever ideas for the occasion.  If you need some inspiration check it out here.

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My daughter asked me last week "If you had to pick a season and it would be that season for the entire year, which one would it be?" (she's 11 years old, so we do a lot of this)  After some thought, I realized I don't have a favorite but look forward to the change of season the most.  I'm a girl who likes change. So, I'm looking forward to everything the cooler months bring to the table - like a cup of hot tea in the afternoon, cozying up with a blanket and a family night of board games.  Now that I'm feeling inspired, I plan to post on a few cool weather thoughts for interiors.  Look for those in the next few weeks.

For today,  I wanted to follow up my post last week on When To Consider a Drapery Wall with "How to Layer Artwork on a Drapery Wall."  As an aside, this post took some time to pull together, and I'm hoping it will make sense to you!

The process of layering artwork on a drapery wall has a few of basic challenges which are not unique to any room:
1. Challenge One: light coming through the drapery panel so you see the outline of the window/door you're trying to hide
2. Challenge Two: A heavy painting/artwork resting on the drapery panel crushing it against the wall.

Neither of these are a good look!

In addition to these basic challenges, I had a couple that were unique to my project:
3. Challenge Three: The ceilings were a double story high in this room (so the technique of hanging the artwork from the ceiling was not an option for me),
4. Challenge Four: The opening we covered was so large the majority of our painting did not have a wall to "rest" on behind the drapery panel.  So, it was a bit of a challenge to pull off.

I often hear people say "Oh yea, I've seen that!  It would be easy to do."  But when you actually try to pull off a similar look, it never turns out the same.  I think this can be said for many attempts of a drapery wall.   The key is to really think about what you want the end product to look like and consider all the practical issue related to that process.   The result will be a fantastic,  polished look.  

For starters, always use a drapery panel with blackout liner when creating one of these.  We even used interlining to give our panels even more weight.  If not, you will be able to see the window/doorway through the fabric on a bright sunny day, and all your work will be for nothing!  There are a few ready made versions of panels with blackout liner or you can have a seamtress make you a custom set.  This is a very important layer not to be skimped on when creating a drapery wall.

Easiest Method for Drapery Wall
When you have actual wall (not a window/doorway) in the spot where you are going to place your nail for hanging your artwork, you can simply hang the artwork on the wall.

I like to use two panels in these situations so you have an opening in the center for your nail to come through and allow you to hang the painting. Then you can adjust the two panels to appear as one.  Also, if the painting you are hanging is light weight (like a wrapped canvas) you are not going to have issues with the weight of the artwork crushing your draperies.

Jay Jeffers Office

Let's say there is a window or doorway in the exact spot where your nail needs to be to placed for the artwork.  In these cases, you would still use a pair of panels (so you have a split opening for your nail).  But this time you will place the nail (or cup hook) higher on the wall above the window/door where there is some wall space.  Then you can suspend the painting from monofilament (aka fishing line) and adjust how low the painting will hang using the monofilament.

 Alternatively, you could suspend the painting from monofilament which is wrapped around the drapery rod and down to the painting.  Again, adjusting the two drapery panels to hide the monofilament.  These techniques work great when the painting is not too heavy.

  However, when your painting is heavy and large, you have to step it up a bit!  Specifically, you must provide something for the lower corners of the painting to rest on that will "lift" the painting off the drapery wall.  I used a 3" profile drapery bracket for this.  If you will notice in the diagram below, I had my carpenter build a support across the doorway opening (since there was nothing there to secure my right lower bracket).  This gave the painting balance and prevented the "crushing effect."

Also, I decided to go with one large panel rather than two since we were using a solid linen and it would have been difficult to hide the opening.  I then punched a grommet through the panel at the precise place where the top bracket would fall on the drapery panel.  I had to do this on site during installation, and I don't mind telling you it gave me sweaty palms to cut that gorgeous linen for the grommet! We threaded the bracket through the opening which allowed our painting to hang freely from the existing picture wire.

Mandi Smith T Interiors

The result - a major focal point well worth all the effort.  Enjoy your week - very excited for this sweater weather! M.

A Redesign

Happy Friday! Do you ever get a song in your head that you can't seem to shake?  A couple of weeks ago we were in Knoxville for a soccer tournament for my daughter.  One of the parents would yell "pressure!" every time their daughter got the ball and inevitably my brain would start playing "Under Pressure" by Queen.  Weird, I know.  I had to come home and download it on iTunes - still a great song. 

Sorry to digress - none of the above has anything to do with today's post!  Today, I wanted to show you a few pictures of a redesign I did last week.  While I love creating design plans, my favorite project is still a redesign.  This is using what a client already has in their home to create a completely new and fresh space!  I love their reaction when they see things they've purchased and love in a whole new way.  Also, the final result is always an unusual mix of found objects you just can't accomplish with all new items.  So, here's what we did.  Caveat: Some of the pictures are blurry as I took them with my phone, so please excuse the quality.  As usual, I was so excited to get started that I forgot to bring the camera.  So, when we arrived that morning, this is what we had to work with - a clean slate (it saves time if the client pulls everything down, so we can get to work).  This is the wall you see when entering the home.

It was just begging to become a gallery wall!  Also, I did not take any wide shots of the room, so I thought I would show you the layout of this cozy cottage.  Originally, the sofa was on the window wall and the gallery wall had a small chest flanked with a pair of armless chairs.  One large piece of artwork hung on the large wall.  When I saw the space for the first time and all the incredible artwork this client had collect over the years (which was all stored), I knew we needed a new layout so we could display all that incredible artwork.  Here's the before:

Mandi Smith T Interiors

After several tries on the new layout (we are not dealing with a lot of space, people, so furniture placement was very challenging!), we came up with this new layout which gave us that big fabulous wall for artwork.

Mandi Smith T Interiors

When creating a gallery wall, it's important to lay the artwork out on the floor to really get the best result.  This will allow you to play with the shape of the frames, the color of the artwork and how the two play off of each other in the finished gallery wall.  Also, it will allow you to see the finished size of the grouping to make sure it will fit on your wall!  Here are a couple of shots of our layout (it was so large, I had to take it in sections). 

Mandi Smith T Interiors

By taking a picture of the placement when it's on the floor, it actually helps you to remember exactly where each piece is in relation to the others (this is sometimes difficult to remember once you begin to hanging the pieces on the wall).

Mandi Smith T Interiors

So, here is a picture of the final wall.  You can see, we adjusted the wall a bit from the floor layout, but I just love the result - wishing I had such fabulous artwork for my own space! 

Mandi Smith T Interiors

And here are a couple of other spots in the room we freshened up with artwork and styling.

As an aside, the TV will be hung over the fireplace.  I've had lots of conversations with clients lately about whether it's "proper" to put the TV over the fireplace.  While I love a room with the TV completely hidden, sometimes the best layout for the room will dictate TV placement over the fireplace.  This is a very small living room.  The only other wall (other than over the fireplace) where the TV could go would be our fabulous gallery wall. So, we opted to put it over the fireplace.  The writing desk was in a guest bedroom and the shield mirror was in a closet.  Initially we had the military picture included on the gallery wall, but decided this side of the room needed more height (you will understand when you see the wall to the right of the fireplace).  Stacking artwork is a great trick to give you some symmetry for walls on either side of a focal point like a fireplace.

Mandi Smith T Interiors

Sorry this picture is so blurry (below).  This is the wall to the right of the fireplace where the armoire was initially placed.  Wish this picture were clearer as the series of artwork is from a favorite artist, Kate Merritt Davis.  I have one of her pieces in my own kitchen! 

Mandi Smith T Interiors

Then we moved the large piece of artwork that was on our now gallery wall to a small wall separating the living space from the dining area.  This created an entry way feel.  We toyed with the idea of painting the side of the bookshelves the wall color just to give us a larger wall for this chest, but in the end, all the trim work/detail in this spot would have looked a bit off (hard to decide where to stop the wall color without it feeling strange).  So, instead, we placed a basket in that spot to be used to store shoes, or umbrellas, etc.  It also added lots of texture in a layered way. (see our note to the client of what she could use this for!)

Mandi Smith T Interiors

One last picture, we also restyled the bookshelves for a fresh look next to the gallery wall.  

Mandi Smith T Interiors

There are a few new furniture pieces coming into the space.  Once they arrive, I'll have to get additional pictures to show you.  Happy Weekend.  M.

Eye on Artwork Series - Donna Ruff

While sourcing items online for a design board, I ran across an image that stopped me in my tracks . . . 

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As most of you know, I'm online quite a bit sourcing furnishing, accessories and artwork (always start your interior design search online, it will save tons of time and in my case, it saves my client's money when pulling a room together). So, it's rare for me to see something completely new and unique.  It's even more rare NOT to find that other artists have created similar pieces or DIY versions.  Well, this is it.  I was not able to find any takes on this very original artwork.

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So, I had to find out more about the artist, Donna Ruff and her work.  After contacting Donna, she graciously agreed to an interview!   

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I asked Donna a couple of questions, and her answers were quite surprising.

When did you discover you were an artist?

 I was always the artist in school and I suppose enjoyed the attention. My parents sent me to art classes but also to singing and dancing and baton twirling (!) classes with my cousins. But when I was six, I announced that I wanted to be an artist. This will show my age for sure but the movie "Annie Get Your Gun" was being released and the producers sponsored a contest to draw your favorite toy, and the prize was an Annie Oakley doll. At that time Madame Alexander dolls were a big deal, like American Girl dolls are now, and I had collected a few. I was very cagey, because I decided to draw an Annie Oakley doll, even though I didn't have one (the dolls were released when the movie came out.) And I won the contest, and that sealed my fate as far as I was concerned.
While the artwork was never returned to Donna, she still has her beloved prize! 

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My parents thought it was fine that I was talented, but they certainly didn't encourage art as a career. Quite the opposite. A series of circumstances brought me to doing illustration, and then my family got on board, since I was making some decent money. I grew tired of the business though and wanted to make my own work, so I went to graduate school in 1998 when I had some financial resources to do it.  The style of my illustration work was kind of a soft realism, using airbrush and pastels. When I went to grad school I was introduced to printmaking and papermaking, along with a lot of theory.

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I wanted to leave illustration behind so I really didn't do much representational work. I got interested in the idea of series and my experience with books (designing and illustrating) stayed with me. I still enjoyed drawing and gesture and I applied that to printmaking and installation. My MFA thesis show employed linoleum prints on Japanese gampi paper, affixed to a large arc shaped skeletal wood wall. 

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What inspires you when creating your artwork?

The things that inspire me often have something to do with language and comprehension- in the sense that our own experiences determine how we comprehend things. I like to play with the idea of completion- most of my work seems fragmented, like time has passed and something is wearing away.

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 In the past few years as the world has become more volatile, as important monuments and artifacts have been destroyed, not to mention entire communities, I have thought a lot more about fragmentation and violence. 

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So the burn drawings are a form of violence to the paper, but they are also meant to be beautiful and elegant. When I see ancient books that show the effects of age, or mosaics, or buildings, I think about how they might have looked when they were new, but more importantly, these things carry the weight of history, and there is beauty and interest in that. 

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 Thank you, Donna, for the insight into your work! If you are interested in having one of these unique pieces in your home, contact Donna here.

Eye on Art - Liza Hathaway Matthews

I was recently introduced to the beautiful abstracts of Liza Matthews, and I've been smitten ever since.  If you're looking for a bit of a Wow factor, look no more!   I'll let the art do the talking today.

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I hope you have marvelous day! M.