While designing for the Parade of Homes in 2012, Pigliavento Builders was building in the development called “Riverwalk” which was near water and had lots of paths and walking areas around the community to take in the beautiful nature.
So, the colors I chose that year for the interior as well as the exterior of the house, were colors of water-soft grays, blues and greens and white. The entry was large and opened up to the 2nd floor, with a welcoming open staircase with landing to the left and white painted spindles on dark stained wooden steps and railings.
Chair Sculptures on wall
That open stairwell was really calling out to me for something unique, dramatic, and practical as well. I already had commissioned a young local artist to paint a large canvas for me of geese in flight that would hang up on the wall as you came into the foyer, bringing your eyes up to the lofty open area. The chandelier held a large grapevine wreath I made, that set down over the top dripping with assorted prisms from vintage glass chandeliers. I wanted it to resemble a nest and it worked! On to the stairwell….
Parade Home entry showing flying geese canvas and “nest” chandelier design by TayRose Design
For the practical part, I was thinking it would be great for the future home owner to have something to display family photos, or some decor pieces that would sit on something like a shelf….but not really look like a shelf.
I knew I wanted to try and use what I had on hand, so down to my basement stash I dove and noticed that I had a lot of mismatched chairs in all different stages of disarray. Could I make a chair somehow into a shelf to hang on the wall? YES! That was the answer!
Mismatched and broken chairs ready for transformation to wall shelving
I didn’t want the chair to stick out too far from the wall, so decided to cut off some of the front of the chair leaving enough of the seat to be a shelf and the back legs to still look like a chair. I wanted the chair to look more like a sculptural piece of art, so I decided I would paint them all white in the same color as the wood trim and stair spindle color. I needed texture and more dimension to the shelf, not just plain white chairs on the wallc so, I proceeded to rob my bins full of junk with things that I could screw, nail and glue on to the chairs and paint them all white as well….now that looked like a piece of art!
Adding junk I found to chair for texture and interest more like a sculpture
I used 3 chairs, for the space called for at least 3 and I wanted the chairs to hang diagonally mirroring the slope of the staircase. I was able to set a plant on the seat for color and suggested setting a framed piece of art or vase to bring in the colors from the the downstairs up to the 2nd floor. With thousands of people going up and down the stairs during the Parade, I didn’t want to place something up on the shelves that could potentially by knocked off with curious hands, so I kept it simple.
After applying junk finds, sprayed and painted with white paint to create sculpture look
I was so pleased when the house sold, for the new owners kept the goose painting and chair shelf art-they were so excited that it all was still available to go with the house.
Finished chairs up on wall ready to be accessorized in Parade House made and designed by TayRose Design
Junk to Art is so inspiring and there is no right or wrong way to use it…which is why I love to incorporate junk to much of what I design with…reusing and repurposing what’s on hand in a new way for a new use and new look…what’s better than that?
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