TayRose Design interior design Interior Design Room Archives - Page 6 of 7

Ribboned sheers for Master Bedroom

Ah, window treatments….just thinking about designing something fresh and new can be daunting for the Parade of Homes or for a client, and they can be inspired by bedding, a rug, pillow, a painting…which makes it such a relief when the answer presents itself. While working on the Master bedroom design for the Parade of Homes, the budget for window treatments ran thin, so when it came to the Master, I knew that I would end up doing something myself.

I found online some beautiful rods that actually swing out when you want to let more light and air come in through the window, then swing the rod back to close the curtain over the window. I ended up using 2 swing rods for each of the 2 larger windows, and opted for white sheers for a lighter feel for the room. For the other 2 smaller windows, I split of pair of sheers for a draped swag and had trimmed the ends with black ribbon. If I had had more funds I would have done cornices and shades for all the windows.

The color scheme for the room, was black, cream, white, and gold. The bedding was a white background with cream and gold and a black squiggle shaped design. I knew I wanted to do something to the sheers, for I don’t do “solid” or plain very well…I love to layer, add texture, pattern etc most of the time. for to me, it’s more interesting and draws me in to a wonderful world! I happened to be at the Dollar Store one day…I find myself there when looking for off beat items, and found rolls and rolls of narrow black ribbon. I’m talking huge rolls…industrial rolls. What a steal of a deal! I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with all this mile of ribbon, but for a dollar, it was coming home with me!

While I was laying out one of the sheer curtain panels across the table, I glanced over at the bedding. My eyes kept going to the squiggle pattern, and then I looked at the black ribbon I just bought spewing out of the bag. This was risky for I hadn’t tried this before, and the thought of hand sewing ribbon onto 4 panels of sheers…the little voice in the back of my head was saying, “are you crazy?” So, with needle and thread and black ribbon in hand, I decided to tackle it and tack the ribbon free hand- patterning along the way, squiggling as I went up from the hem to about midway up the curtain. I stood back to look, and I loved it…just enough pattern to balance the pattern from the bedding, but not too much design to take away from the light streaming through the sheers. The Fabric Mill, who had been making the window treatments for me in the other rooms, graciously offered to add a black fabric edge at the bottom of the panels as a finishing custom touch, so sweet of them! The panels were light and breezy, just what I was going for.

I may not hand sew on every curtain project I design, but it does feel, that I usually do something to tweak them a bit….just to be a little bit more interesting!
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Cuckoo for Nursery Wall Art

I had a vision in my head of how I wanted the Nursery wall in the Parade of Homes to look…soft, sweet, something that could remain on the wall as they grew, and something sparkly…for I was designing the space for a baby girl, and they are sugar and spice and everything nice you know…and sparkly!

I knew I was going to use a vintage iron crib (more for show during the Parade, I would suggest a white new crib for the baby) and a dresser that was painted in a soft color. There would be soft carpeting on the floor, and I wanted to do a billowy, flowey, window curtain treatment.

I commissioned my friend who is a wonderful surface painter, Sarah of Sarahharrisdesigns.com to paint a wall mural of a large tree, where the branch would reach out over the crib so I could hang birdhouses in the branches. I also wanted to have smaller birdhouses be part of the window treatment to hold up the curtain rod, which was both a wooden dowel and real branches that I had painted white. So, how did the idea come about using birdhouses for the wall?

I was at a local auction and looking through all the box lots that were going up soon to be auctioned off, when I spied a box with several wooden cuckoo clocks that were all broken, some parts missing, the backs off of some, some with no hands or pendulums etc. I knew right then that these will be my “birdhouses” that will sit in the branches of the wall mural in the Nursery. Now, I want to mention right here, that I would never take a working cuckoo clock that had all it’s parts and deface it in any way, so I’m not telling you to run out and take your Grandfather’s clock off the wall and make it into a birdhouse….I found these parts, and rather than having them end up being in someone’s burn pile or in a landfill, I decided to save these parts and create art….oops, better raise my number up!

I won! Got the box and happily brought them home to where I proceeded to clean them up and start to paint them all a nice white color. The tree I wanted to be a white silhouette, so the “birdhouses” would look like part of the silhouette as well, plus the color balanced with the window treatments too. As I mentioned above, I wanted to bring some “sparkle” into the room, so I went online and looked for some German glitter, ordered it and couldn’t wait for it to arrive. After several coats of paint- I used some latex paint I had on hand-and after they were all good and dry I was ready to apply the glitter. I wanted the houses to be covered in glitter, like a fairyland, so when the light from the windows streamed in, it would make the birdhouses glisten.

I experimented with several types of glue to apply the glitter with. I tried a spray adhesive first, spraying small areas and then sprinkling the glitter on by hand. The adhesive was just ok, it didn’t hold as much of the glitter I was hoping it would, so I switched to plan B which was taking white glue, (Elmers or Dollar Store brand) and I watered the glue down a little bit in a plastic tray and applied with a brush. I also discovered at the Dollar Store a package of salt & pepper glass shakers which I filled up with the glitter and found this was much easier to use than sprinkling with my hands. I kept gluing and sprinkling until I got the coverage I wanted and left them to dry.

I thought to myself, transporting these babies without knocking off all the sparkles was going to be the challenge if I didn’t spray it with something to hold the glitter down. I decided to bring out the spray adhesive again and spray over the whole house thinking that it would at least help with some of the glitter dropping. The adhesive spray worked pretty well, and there was hardly any glitter at the bottom of the box after transporting.

After deciding where in the tree to hang my “birdhouses” over the center of the bed, they were easy to hang with a screw in the wall. I was so happy to be able to repurpose the clocks into birdhouses, although, birdhouses painted and treated the same way would be perfectly fine as well. I just like to challenge myself to see things in a different way and relish in the joy when I see how well my challenge was met! Are you as “cuckoo” for cuckoo clock parts as I am?

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Headboard gets new life as Message Center in Mudroom

Taylor

19 Jan 2015

DIY, Interior Design Room, Mudroom, Repurposed

Baldwinsville NY, Clay NY, consultation, cork, custom, decorator, designer, DIY, door knobs, headboard, Home Interior Designs, Liverpool NY, message center, mudroom, Phoenix NY, repurpose, reuse, Syracuse NY, TayRose Design

While planning the design for the Parade of Homes in 2012, I challenged myself to try and make a lot of the art and decor myself by repurposing as much as possible. I had a small budget to work with so getting this model home to look appealing and attract attention, I would have to get creative.

I invited my friend Judi, to bring her creative input for several items, for she enjoys painting furniture and repurposing as much as I do. I wrote several previous posts about some of the items I made, such as the sculptural chair shelves in the stairwell, and the frames hanging in the half bath. This post is about how we took a vintage twin headboard and repurposed it into a memo/message center for the mudroom wall.

We had a small wall to work with and I needed something to hang over the built in bench. I wanted something where notes, and school work could be posted, dog leashes and a light jacket could be be hung, and maybe a quick look into a mirror while dashing out the door. With repurposing in mind, I looked through anything on hand that was on the flat side, long and had sections for multiple family members. A headboard was just the answer and will work perfectly for what I was envisioning.

Since we needed to paint the headboard, sanding was a must so that the paint has something to adhere to. This headboard had some paint on it, so all of the old paint had to come off. Several coats of paint were used in the same color as the wood trim in the room. The center panel on the headboard was open, so that will be the perfect place to put the mirror.

Inside each panel, I was able to pick up some cork pieces that were just a little too wide, so they were cut to fit and glued into place. Assorted vintage door knobs were screwed into the door under vintage inspired metal file drawer labels with each family member name. A small wicker basket was hung to catch mail.

With the repurposing theme carried throughout the house, the visitors appreciated and pointed out all the transformations as they went room by room.

When trying to fill a need, you will be surprised at how all you need may be right in front of you…or maybe, you are sleeping on it!

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From Broken to Brilliant- Staircase Display Shelving with Chairs!

Taylor

13 Jan 2015

Art, DIY, Entry, Interior Design Room, Repurposed

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…. Read more!

Transforming a student Globe to a Basketball Floorlamp

I love designing themed rooms….it can be challenging…always a treasure hunt, and most likely, I always have to create something myself for I can’t find the item or it’s out of my budget. For several years now, I’ve been invited to do the interior design for the Parade of Homes here in Upstate NY. The Parade is a huge design project, choosing everything from the siding color to tile, and cabinet knobs, but also, picking out all the furniture and accessories. It’s a little different when there is no clients, so I’m pretty much designing for a “pretend” family…something that is neutral enough to please, and unique enough to attract attention.

Teen room designed by TayRose Design Parade of Homes 2014

For the 2014 Parade of Homes in Clay, NY there was a large bonus room which I decided to design for a teen boy bedroom. My friend Judi from 1829 Farmhouse, owner of shop (Inspired in Liverpool, NY where bed is currently for sale) made the bed out of a pallet with pipe arms that we turned to the side so it was more like a sofa loaded up with lots of pillows. A trunk on wheels served as at coffee table; a found at a Flea Market of a large cardboard cutout sign of a basketball player laying up for a dunk that would be perfect when I place it next to the wall hoop positioned right over the laundry hamper….Nice Dunk!!

Basketball cutout themed room laundry dunk