TayRose Design interior design reupholster Archives

Footstool to server….riser to occasion

During my usual scouting days at the Thrift Stores, I seemed to find quite a few small footstools. Some had storage and some had handles and some just spindley legs and all of them in need of some TLC. I couldn’t pass up the meager prices they were asking, and gathered them up knowing I would have a use for them sometime…and it didn’t take long before they solved a tablescape dilemma for me.

I was designing for the Parade of Homes this past year, and since the formal dining room was the first room you noticed when walking through the front door, I wanted a real “wow” moment. The table setting would be over the top..not something that would be practical for a dinner with friends, but a really fun tablescape to keep on the table when not in use.

I had a china cabinet/buffet where I wanted to set various sized vegetable dishes and tureens, plus on the table, have different decor that I wanted to be at different heights so everything wasn’t all just sitting flat on the table. So, what could I use as a riser to lift up tableware so heights are staggered?…hmm…that stool over there is just the right height…I could reupholster the top to coordinate with my colors, and maybe paint the legs in a fun way.

So, over the next few days, I removed the old upholstery and replaced with new, adding some upholstery tacks along the edge for accent detail, painted designs on the wooden legs and handles, and sanded and restained the wood surface as needed. I even added wheels to the bottom of an extra storage stool lid I had leftover.

The stools worked perfectly for risers both on the buffet and table. I was able to put dishes as well as centerpiece decor on top of the stools to create different heights but in a pretty way without having to stack books, or stick boxes under tablecloths. I love using my stools in different areas of the house, here is the after of that stool above where I reupholstered it and painted accent colors on the handles. I use it to hold a tray of goblets ready for guests.

I will always look at a small footstool in the same way again…..

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Old kitchen chair gets makeover to a child’s desk chair

While working on a client’s bedroom for their daughters, a need for a desk and chair for their youngest was requested. The desk would be in a separate room and would be part of a wall closet unit so the desk was taken care of, but a chair was still a need. I thought, every little girl would love to have a chair made just for them-one that would have their name on it and make them feel very special. So, I started to look through my furniture stash, and pulled out this vintage painted wooden kitchen chair that I had purchased at a garage sale a couple of years ago. I liked the curves of the chair and the legs had nice details so I could accent them in some way. Plus, the chair was on the smaller size, not a big bulky chair….perfect for a desk chair. Now, I just had to design how to transform this dowdy find with a makeover for a seat for a princess…. Read more!

Curbside throw away makes great Nursery addition

Taylor

02 Jan 2015

Custom Design, DIY, Kids Room, Repurposed

blackboard, chair, crib, hand painted, Handmade, Interior Design, Nursery, repurpose, reupholster, TayRose, vintage

While out driving around one day, I came to a stop sign, and as usual, looked both ways before starting to accelerate into traffic. I spied to my right a pile of discards at the curb in front of a house. Instead of turning left, I pulled over to the right in front of the pile and eyed a vintage crib…remember the ones with the puppy and kitty decal on the wooden ends? Well this crib instead of decals were hand painted with the same vintage look of the old decals….these were coming home with me! Not sure what I wanted to do with it yet, but I’ll figure that out later. There were also a couple of broken dining room chairs where only the legs and seats remained…I threw them in the back of the car as well.

Curbside crib ready for repurposing

Little did I know then that these curbside treasures would come together in an idea for a Nursery I was designing for the Parade of Homes in 2014. I have a tendency of wanting to use something in a totally different way…a real repurposed project. For the Nursery, I was already using a vintage iron crib, a hand-painted dresser, some German Glittery Cuckoo clocks for the wall mural (see my other post about this project) so I needed something to fill in some space on the floor near the window. A chair….not just any chair, but a “crib” chair. A perfect perch to set a favorite stuffed animal, or a chair for supporting their first steps. Plus, I painted the back as a chalkboard, so this chair can grow into the next phase of their lives. Read more!