Sunday, July 31, 2011

Road to Morocco

Oh my- If I knew I could rent this Moroccan style tent, a Curious Sofa
Christmas Show
would be in the works. IMAGINE!!

I'm in the mood to redo my home and all things Moroccan have been consuming my online search for ideas. Every time I scroll through interior images, my heart skips a beat when I see the patterns and textures of this North African country. What I love is their use of pattern of course; not quite Spanish and not really African but somehow a softer version that becomes a soothing melting pot of ethnic style.

Moroccan tile, left and right and Kathryn Ireland fabric center.

I am not ready to repaint my walls because I still love my greys, whites and neutrals but adding mosaic tiles and intricate printed fabrics is easy enough to do.

I'll be keeping my eyes open at flea markets and antique shows for any object
with this
Mediterranean feel. Giant clay pots and textured pillows.

And maybe it is time to collect various tiles to add to my fireplace. Some
great ones can be found on eBay. I love how it is not applied perfectly.


Moroccan style does not have to be in reds and oranges.
This soothing palette is right up my alley!

Moroccan tile, left; vintage rug center; Kathryn Ireland fabric right.

Lovely gold trimmed tea glasses are also perfect for a votive or two.
I WANT!! this $998 table from Anthropologie. Yikes.

Imagine how garish all this would be if more colorful.
Notice how the pillows are stacked for the sofa arms.

So simple, but the ethnic feel is still there and the dark wood
ceiling gives the perfect contrast.

A great idea using different tiles up the stairs (especially if you can't decide!)
Adding a mismatched grouping behind your sinks or tabletop would work too.

All the detail in this little octagon table is somewhat romantic.
Large sections of different floor tile can be used at an entry.


The printed curtains are all you need here for a touch of Morocco. Kathryn Ireland
has fabric named Mexico meets Morocco which blends the two styles together.

A lovely, lived-in but decorated room by Kathryn Ireland.
Textiles, iron, pattern and prints all with a crisp white background.
Not too feminine, not too masculine- just right.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Home by Novogratz

Art by Ann Carrington, who I had never heard of until watching the Novogratz.
This image made from pearl buttons!

As Design Star leaves us bored to tears, HGTV has finally taken a step forward with the addition of a new show HOME by Novogratz. You might remember these hip parents of seven equally hip kids from their show on Bravo a few seasons back. I was wondering if we would see them again and was happy to learn HGTV snagged them up. I am sure there is a story there somewhere as to why a second season wasn't added on Bravo, but I can feel the Novogratz hand on this new series, concluding they are more about their design than their entourage.


I am not always a fan of their design; its a bit glossy and modern for my taste, but I do love seeing through their eyes and I always learn something when watching this show. My years of photo styling have trained me to make things picture perfect so their haphazard, mix it up, no rules decorating is a big lesson for me.

I do love the diagonal stripes in this soft shade.

I dozen different styles but the palette pulls it together.

French settee re-purposed in modern black leather.

Vintage signage is big for the Novogratz.

A signature of theirs is also giant murals or XXL photography.


In the first episode on HGTV the down-right-gorgeous Courtney (not a speck of makeup- hate her!) meets two sisters to remodel their run-down beach cottage. When Courtney asked who their favorite designer was, they mentioned Betsey Johnson so this is where the design inspiration came from.

I couldn't help but watch the show and think what I would do with the girls $40,000 budget. The Novogratz team loves to splurge on original art (when giant posters would work in this case), colorful reproduction appliances (when repainting old would do) and expensive window shades (a Target brand would suffice). But they do pay attention to important construction details (rebuilding the staircase and refinishing floors) and they splurged on only one wall of expensive wallpaper to make a wow.

The metallic wallpaper from the first episode.

All in all, how they listen to a clients taste and tackle the project with their famous spin makes for interesting TV. Set the DVR for Saturday night.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Ready, Set, Go!


Tomorrow is my first show since closing the store so I blew the dust off the tag gun, loaded 22 plastic tubs, piled a 14' box truck full of furniture and away I went to Westport. This week, three other dealers and myself schlepped and arranged and hammered and priced ourselves into a stupor. Be warned, this is a gonna be a good one if I do say so myself! We have it all: mid-century, romantic, rustic, country, vintage, old world, industrial, outdoor and indoor.... and well, what else is there?!!

Schlepp Sisters Antique Show
Thursday, Friday 11-7 & (and Saturday with discounts! 10-6)
1004 Westport Road
in the Olde Westport Shopping Center, (next to Half-Price Books.)
Don't miss it. GOODIES GALORE!

Here are a few exhausted pics at the eleventh hour (and there is still so much to show and it's still not all out!!!)

Can you stand it?!!! I've had this pair of scruffy vintage chairs and finally made them into something fabulous for this show.

Look for our signs all over Westport!

CHECK THE SCHLEPP SISTERS BLOG FOR MORE PICS!!

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Saturday, July 09, 2011

Scrap Happy


Do you remember awhile back when I wrote something about all those projects that keep piling up that we never get to? Well once again there is nothing like a deadline to blow the cobwebs off.


Next weekend I will participate in my first antique show since closing the shop and getting ready for it has been quite the undertaking. I am having a monumental purging moment so I literally hired movers to help me get the 10 large furniture pieces out of my house as well as half a garage full and another 18 large plastic tubs full of antiques. (and I still won't get to it all!!) There is something quite frightening about thinking you have priced the last of your stash then turning around and uncovering yet another box or suitcase full of stuff you collected from a flea market past. Egads... but what a fun sale it will be for you!


For nearly a year now I have stared at a plain, beige wing chair knowing full well what I wanted to do with it. Little by little I acquired old tablecloths, scraps of lace, embroidered doilies and finally (because of the upcoming sale)... got 'er done.


I can be a puritan when it comes to handcrafting something. Give me a needle and thread over the quick and easy glue gun any day, which was my intention in this case. But once I got started I could see a glue gun was the only way to complete this project. To be honest, hot glue holds a heck of a lot better than thread! This thing is indestructible!


Little by little rows of trim and lace were added to the base; measuring just how far a particular piece would go. Some were nice and stretchy making covering the curves easier and others were not, making it a bit more difficult to cover some areas.


I found this funky corset last year and knew immediately where it would go. And I have always been a sucker for suspenders, so why not add those too.

A large tablecloth was used to cover the entire backside.


I sewed a pocket here and there to insert a photo and every once in awhile when the pieces would not come together quite right, I camouflaged with a crocheted floret.


This will be for sale at the Schlepp Sisters Antique Event so come take a look. (But don't look too closely!) I'll post a larger, overall shot of this later but my house was filled with ugly tubs in the background!

The good side...

And while I was cleaning and pricing my own ironstone collection to sell, I finally did something else I had always wanted to do: patch a giant chip on one of my favorite bowls.

The bad side.

Occasionally I have stumbled upon a humble repair someone has done on a wooden bowl; you know the kind where they may have wrapped a piece of soft metal over a large crack and tacked it down. Or my favorite is when someone actually drills through the broken parts and wires them together- which I would have loved to do on this, but as you'll see, this is SO much easier!


I always loved this giant tureen but because of the large chip, no one ever bought it in the shop so I brought it home, turned it around on my shelves and filled it with seashells. But today, I decided to soften the broken edge with a patch of linen.


I frayed the edges on all four sides and glued down the fabric with Elmer's. Now if you want, a heavy duty clear, water resistant glue would be ideal and hold this forever, maybe even through washings- but do we really ever wash our ironstone displays much?! For me, this was just fine.


Tada! Ready for you to fill with anything your heart desires!
Hope to see you Thursday!