Readers Projects 3: Jenny and Carla

For this installment of Readers Projects we first have Jenny who writes the outspoken, heartfelt, often witty and hilarious, and highly informative blog My Favorite and My Best.
Readers Projects is a regular feature and I would love if you please send me photos of your rooms or your work to post and share (email mizvtheb@yahoo.com)

The Living Room of Jenny Andrews of My favorite and My Best

This is Jenny's small style packed living room. White slipcover - check. Cowhide rug - check. Craigslist score - check. Vintage accents - check. Interesting art work -check. I spy a Suzani!

The Suzani in Jenny's house is draped on a table under the flat screen TV. She said it came from a sale at Anthropologie.


Next we have Carla Sue Fox, a reader who makes gorgeous one-of-kind jewelry.


Carla began her interest in jewelry design and creation after inheriting her grandmother’s collection of vintage and antique jewelry. Because so many pieces were unwearable, either because they were broken or simply too large, she started experimenting with using these pieces in her new designs.

Her first love is and always will be interior design. However, being in the interior design industry has brought a focused eye to her jewelry designing process.

Using those same principles of design, Carla creates one of a kind wearable art using semi-precious gemstones, sterling silver, fresh water pearls and beads, and incorporating vintage components. Contact her by e-mail: carlafoxdesign@gmail.com


On a completely different topic: I have it from a very good source that Dwell Magazine is on the verge of shutting down.


And hang onto your wig hair! The same reputable source alleged that Elle Decor won't last the year.

Don't scream at me. Of course I can't tell you who told me, but believe me, it is someone who knows. We'll just have to wait and see (and save our precious issues!).

Confessions Of A Stylist

We have all seen something in a magazine that inspires us so much that we want to try to replicate it our own homes. My imagination went on a pleasant journey courtesy of House Beautiful and Jill Brinson. Jill is an uber stylist now segueing into interior design.
I am a stylist as well. Most of my work takes place in the shop I work in. I style the displays, as well photograph merchandise for the web site, and for the shop blog I write and manage. Occasionally I do a free lance project too.

I decided to play, to create a Brinson-like vignette. Of course I don't have the same house or colors or the same things she has. I don't have the resources to go out and buy things to replicate the Brinson magic. And I don't have the talented Rob Brinson to do the photography. But I do have imagination and talent. And my trusty digital camera ha ha.

So I got together some things, begged and borrowed and bought on a budget, and spent a few days playing.

Valorie Hart Designs a fun FAUX House Beautiful Cover
You can make one f0r yourself too HERE

I looked for visual elements that had a similar feeling, not literal. For example, the circle of the clock filled in for the circles of the candle sconces. My little Saarinen stool filled in for Jill's ethnic one. I borrowed a higher coffee table. It's not as cool as Jill's metal one, but the scale was right. I added the antique French metal folding chair for my metal accent.

I picked up my rug, and added my white cow hide to the floor.


I purchased some very inexpensive paisley print pillows in the same vein as Jill's , but certainly not the quality of what looked to be Les Indiennes textiles.

I had a pink throw, so I thought I'd work off that color for the flower color choice. Jill's throw and flowers looked more fuchsia. Instead of a large vessel for the flowers, I used three antique mercury glass bottles I already own. I tried to use the same scale of objects that were on Jill's coffee table, although again it was not a literal copy. For instance I chose my Cara Croninger heart pendant in place of the white shell necklace.

I didn't have a small tray, so I used a framed photo, and an oyster shell instead of a rock. I also took the white cowhide off the floor and out of the picture all together. I traded it for the brown one - I mean I literally traded my white one for the brown one. My couch is a totally different shape and size than Jill's, but I think the general idea is conveyed.

Next I switched to lavender accents. Again I had the throw. I switched out the pink roses for purple stock. I don't have a table lamp like the one Jill has, but my old tin floor lamp and black shade have a nice gestalt in front of the side table stacked with books. My art work above the side table is about the same scale as Jill's. The lamp and table is on the opposite side as in the HB photo, but I didn't feel the need to switch them to the other side of the couch. Again, I was not trying to copy the look directly.

I switched out a neutral pillow for a lavender Ikat. The couch is longer than Jill's so I had to use more pillows to get the scale better. The brown pillows behind the paisley are my Ikat pillows turned to the back side.

Jill had an apple on her table. It was brown and mine is white. My stack of books is a set of small reference books I covered with white paper and tied with twine.

All the elements are there, but different.

Cholo keeps me company whenever I do anything. After I styled this all up I decided that the bare floors don't work visually for the room. I also am getting back my white Saarinen coffee table! I am a cottage lady from way back so I thought this antique tea table would make me swoon, but after living with for a few days, I'm bringing back my modern edge ha ha.

This is the room after the fantasy shoot. I put my original rug back, and my original pillows.

I like the brown cowhide on the couch. I thought that the two cowhides would feel like Rancho Vamp, but actually they work very well together.



Things never turn out like they look in the magazine. Still it's fun to play. I think the key is not to copy literally, but to use your own things and personality in conjunction with what inspires you.

Hope you enjoyed my little my flight of fancy.

What Do You Think?

I got an e-mail about yesterday's post regarding decorating with cowhide. The writer was very lovely, an animal lover, not a vegetarian, not an activist, just a nice girl queasy and concerned about using cowhides. She asked that I please post the question to the gentle readers, about how they deal with and feel about using cowhides.

I wrote her back and said for me that cowhide is another leather product, like a purse, or shoes, or a leather jacket, or furniture (like a leather chair or couch).

And in the comments yesterday, another reader raised the question about using cowhides.

It kind of reminds me of the same questions about using taxidermy and antlers as decorative accessories.

I love animals. I love a good steak once in awhile; I have a beautiful cowhide Kelly bag; you know I love decorating with cowhide rugs. I'm not from a cattle raising state like Texas, I'm a New York girl. My husband is from Argentina, and steaks and cowhides and beautiful leather goods are practically the national identity.

So chime in. What do think - how do you feel about using cowhides in your decor?

Readers Projects: Casting Call for Cowhide, Ikat, And Suzani

Thank you for the great response to the casting call for photos of how you are using cowhide, Suzani, and Ikat in your homes. Decor bloggers and readers are dedicated to making their homes beautiful, and we constantly inspire one another.

First up, is Roybn Henderson from My Southern Cottage. Her classic and clean use of a zebra printed cowhide is beautiful. Check out her blog - she has so many great tips and a DIY project for the cute burlap pillows on her sofa that is genius.

Robyn says: "I feel that's what these blogs are all about- throwing yourself (or your home) out there for everyone to see and take the good with bad comments. I definitely need another eye to see things and tell me what to do. I just don't want to pay for it, so I blog. Sometimes 100+ bloggers is alot better than one interior designer."

Robyn Henderson's cowhide on seagrass

Jamie Rogers from Doxa Home sent this to me. She has a great post on living with pets and light color furnishings.

Jamie Rogers has a cowhide on the floor of her home

I had to dig in the vault for some more photos, and I found this image of a beautiful living room from the home of Gina from Willow Decor. She recently added a white cowhide rug.

Gina from Willow Decor added a white cowhide rug on top of sea grass

Another example of white cowhide comes via a photo from my friend Peg DeFilippis. This is her New York City loft apartment.

Peg placed a white cowhide on under a modern chaise on the hardwood floor in her NYC home

You know by now that I'm a huge fan of cowhide. Here's my living room with a brown and white cowhide rug.

I just purchased two white cowhides on eBay.
To parapharase eBay, I am awaitng their delivery!
I already have one white cowhide that I used in my office.

Valorie Hart white cowhide on the floor in the office

I said, used. I have started a new project! I am turning my red office back to a dining room, and after five years, am changing the red walls for another color! Stay tuned for how it turns out!
In the meantime, I threw the rug from the floor onto the table! I love it!
I predict draping cowhide on tables and on furniture will become a hot trend this year!

Valorie Hart - A sneak peek at the office conversion to a dining room

The white cowhide moved from the floor to the table!

The next call for entries is about Suzani. I didn't get any photos from you! So I dug in the vault for this photo from Joni from Cote de Texas, who really informed us all about Suzanis. This is photo of how she used it as a table covering in her home.

Joni Webb - Suzani table skirt in her home

She also has one as a throw at the foot of her bed.

Joni Webb - Suzani throw at the end of the bed in her home

My friend Peg got this cute bedspread from Urban Outfitters a couple of years ago for her daughter's room.

Peg's Suzani bedspread

Joni inspired the Suzani I got for Christmas 2008. I love it, but I really didn't know what to do with it ha ha. Here I draped it on a counter in my office/dining room.

Valorie Hart - Suzani tablecloth

ERROR

My Suzani is small. It's actually a vintage tablecloth, so I thought I'd try using it that way on my kitchen table. This vintage Suzani came from directly from Uzbekistan.

Valorie Hart - Suzani in the kitchen

The Ikat trend came out of the Bohemian/Hippie Chic fashion and home decor trend that was a hot topic among decor and fashion bloggers starting in 2007. Courtney Barnes of Style Court enlightened all of us, and we fell in line.
One of the most charming images she showed us was of a vintage chair frame reupholstered with an Ikat fabric Jen West found on eBay. I think Jen West launched a thousand Ikat chairs! And I think she had this chair for sale in huge purge HERE! Jen if you didn't sell it e-mail me!

Artist Anne Harwell made a painting of this chair, and subsequent prints, that are still a huge seller in her Etsy shop.

Blogger Renae Moore and I have been searching for well priced Ikat fabric. We both love Madeline Weinrib, but that company is an independent, and only gives a 20% discount to the trade of its very high priced fabric. I have been trying to get our shop to carry MW but the owner thinks the line is too pricey and the trade discount too small.
Another line Renae and I were excited to see is Trina Turk for Schumacher. Renae got some memos and sent me some photos. She was thinking of doing up some Ikat pillows for her couch.

The Trina Turk fabric wasn't what she had in mind, and she found something else for her pillows.

Renae Moore Designs - Ikat pillows on her sofa

She also was getting ready to reupholster a pair of wing chairs, and considered this beautiful burnt orange fabric.

Renae Moore shows some Fabric choices for her chairs and pillows

But in the end she chose this classic gray green.

Renae Moore Designs - a pair of reupholstered wing chairs

The last images are certainly not the least.

Rebeka Lambert of artsy-crafty babe send me some photos in a e-mail entitled "Love My Ikat!".


She says: "Well, I'm no designer or decorator, but I love ikat! This summer I slipcovered a thrift store wing back chair and made a table skirt from some blue ikat-ish fabric. I'd have a cowhide rug in my house if my little dog wouldn't chew it to pieces - I can see that disaster already :)".

Rebeka Lambert - artsy-crafty babe - made this Ikat slip cover

She also made this very cute pillow!

Rebeka Lambert - artsy-crafty babe - made this Ikat pillow

And she made this table skirt!

Rebeka Lambert - artsy-crafty babe - made this Ikat table skirt
She has an Etsy store too!

I love doing Readers Projects posts. Thanks again for participating.
You don't have to wait for another casting call. Just e-mail me your projects, especially of the things you are doing in your own homes.