House Beautiful

Tag Archive for 'bolivian blanket'

Karrie’s House in HGTV Mag!

UM – you GUYS! Look what just hit the streets! …well, the official newsstand date is Tuesday, August 6th… but Karrie & I both picked ours up at the grocery store checkout, and we’ve been getting all kinds of fun messages from friends who have gotten theirs in the mail. The fun, day-long shoot HGTV did of Karrie’s kitchen is finally splashed across the glossy pages of HGTV Magazine’s September 2019 Issue.

Hollar!

AND the adjacent breakfast nook is on the table of contents page!

We got to work with photographer Lisa Romerein who was THE most amazing photographer, and bad a$$ stylist extraordinaire Liz Strong – the acronym “BFD” scarcely does her talent justice.

Basically **any** spread in any magazine you see – Coastal Living, Better Homes & Gardens, etc – read the credits and Liz is usually the one who styled the photo shoot. Interior Design is one thing, but styling is a really unique niche – and takes serious talent. Building materials are one thing, then finishes, then furnishings and accessories… but styling is like the cherry on top – the final layer that really makes everything come to life, and that’s why using murals from sites as muraledesign online, could be a great choice to add color to any room.
.

I met Liz haphazardly when I replied to a Craigslist ad she had posted for a Lee Industries settee that I was about to shamefully low ball for my dining room. We got to chatting over email, and I quickly discovered that she’s a stylist and works with tons of national magazines (what are the chances?)  She asked if I had any work I thought was magazine-worthy and I promptly sent her Karrie & Tim’s freshly finished digs (we had JUST completed their renovation)… and you know the rest. Liz is one of the most laid-back and coolest chicks you’ll ever meet and so fun to work with. Karrie and I both have girl crushes on her… I even ran into her on the street in Harbour Island last year (Bahamas) – we passed in golf carts when I was on the way to a rehearsal dinner, and she was on the way to – you guessed it – a Coastal Living shoot. Anyway – Liz brought her own amazing gaggle of photo shoot props to the house that day, but also sent me on a Crate & Barrel run for… you know… just a few things:

If you’ve watched any of my Insta stories prepping for photo shoots – or any other designers’ – you know they are WERK… in the form of weeks of prep, car loads of accessories, usually hundreds of dolla dolla bills at the florist, and then lots of agonizing over things like scooching this vase 3 centimeters to the right, etc etc. We spent a super fun day with Liz & Lisa shooting JUST Karrie’s kitchen and nook (still totally need to shoot the rest of the house) – here are some behind the scenes snaps:

And here she blows in glossy print!! Run out to the groc and getcherself one!

Um… the most hilarious part of the article is this quote from Karrie.  BAAHAHHAHAHAHA – they don’t even know how right they got it:

She’s not kidding.

Special thanks to my home skillet Nick Gonzalez and San Diego Custom Cabinets, who built ALL of the cabinetry in the house! At the time of this reno, I had just gone solo with my own Interior Design biz but was also working for Nick, designing custom kitchens, baths, closets – all things cabinetry. He was the best, and I learned an ENCYCLOPEDIA’S WORTH of cabinet knowledge from him – which is, to this day, a pimp tool to have in my arsenal as a designer. Nick isn’t only a great friend and trusted mentor, but his WHOLE TEAM is amazing. They also made the gorgeous built-ins in my current office in Crested Butte and are the ones I trust to do all my SoCal projects. Best in the biz!

If you weren’t a Covet Living reader back in 2015-2016, we blogged through the entire renovation – here are the throwback links to the project!! And the hashtag on insta is #casacovetliving if you want to peruse more pics there!

1 – Casa Covet Living: Karrie & Tim’s Gut Rehab – December 17, 2015

2 – Casa Covet Living: Brainstorming a New Layout – December 30, 2015

3 – Casa Covet Living: Kitchen Finishes – January 23, 2016

4 – Casa Covet Living: The Close Overtime Thriller of the Kitchen Island – January 27, 2016

5 – Casa Covet Living: People, We Have Liftoff – January 31, 2016

6 – Casa Covet Living: Plumbing & Lighting & Tile, Oh My! – February 24, 2016

7 – Casa Covet Living: Wanna Help Us Choose Lighting? – February 25, 2016

8 – Casa Covet Living: World War III of the Master Bath – April 17, 2016

9 – Casa Covet Living: She’s All Done, Folks! – June 20, 2016

10 – Casa Covet Living: Guest Room Plan – June 26, 2016

xoxo!!!

Steph & Karrie

 

 

 

 

DIY Dining Chair Re-Do

DIY Dining Chair Before and After | Covet Living

Kar Bear and I hit the Rose Bowl Flea Market one steamy, swassy Sunday in November on the hunt for some vintage dining chairs to revamp for her sweet little Santa Monica breakfast nook.  We came home with these!

Rose Bowl Flea Market | Covet Living

These started out being priced with an enormous, matchy-matchy dining table that we did not need – I think it was $600 for the entire set.  We were prepared to pay for the whole set ($150 per chair), and just leave the table, but then we stepped up to the plate for a little haggling:  I told Mr. Dealer-man in the kindest and most charming way possible that this wasn’t Rooms-to-Go, and that people didn’t always want to buy matching sets anymore…  they wanted to cherry pick and make things their own.  Find the most elegant chairs covers for any occasion on this website.

Plus it was right before Thanksgiving, so we knew he’d have no trouble selling the table since people are always scrambling for them right around that time. We finally got him to split up the set and give us the chairs for $300 or $400 bucks (which, when you consider that flimsy plastic dining chairs from big box stores can run $100 each, that was a BIG score).  We loaded up these tragic-but-had-great-bones guys into my hooptie and headed back to the homestead.   Check ’em out, in all their butterscotch glory.  (“Buzz yer GIRL-friend…  WUF!“)

Dining Chairs, Before | Covet Living

We discussed painting them, but decided to leave the finish as is…  it’s in great shape.  That Werther’s Original fabric, on the other hand, had to go.  We knew we wanted to recover them in something colorful and fun, and while our styles are much different, the one thing we do agree on is the entire beachy, casual, cheerful vibe of the California Dreamin’ Pinterest board.  In the end, we decided that a vintage Bolivian blanket would be a perfect upholstery fabric.  Comme ça:

Bolivian Blankets, Solo | Covet Living

There happens to be a sweet joint in San Diego – er, on Cedros in the design district – called Solo… the same joint I purchased my vintage kantha that I made Euro shams for my bed out of…  Solo is also across from the Mothership, aka Bixby & Ball… never a bad street to ping-pong around if you’re down there.  So, I strolled into Solo post-dog beach one day to scout rugs/fabrics for Karrie’s chairs…  Gus helped.  That’s Ruby, the sweet lady who handpicks all the blankets & kanthas they carry in the shop.

Gus

Then we had to Face Time Karrie, so she could weigh-in on which rug she wanted. This is how she answered the phone… from the shower.  Sweet Jesus.

Face time shower time decisions

We figured this one was a keeper.

That one! | Covet Living #bolivianblanket

Yep.  Not ugly.

Bolivian Blanket | Covet Living

Fast forward 2 months, and I rolled up to Santa Monica this past weekend with my tool kit and that rug/blanket in hand.  Ready to take on these suckers.

Before Chairs | Covet Living

Here’s why just about anyone can do this DIY… because with these types of chairs, fabric is just wrapped around and stapled or nailed into the back of the seat cushions, which then screw into the chair frames.  So you just need a Phillips head screwdriver to remove them…  once they’re off, it’s just a matter of stripping that old nasty a$$ Werther’s Original bouclé (probably embedded with some kid’s boogers and old peoples’ toenail clippings) then recovering and stapling the new fabric in place, and screwing the seat cushions back to the frame to secure them.  BANG. (Keep this in mind next time you’re at an Estate Sale, or Goodwill, or a Consignment Shop.  Flip ’em over and see how they’re made, so you know if they’ll be easy to recover or not.)

Steph's DIY Dining Chairs | Covet Living

Before Chairs | Covet Living

So first…  while my favorite helper Karrie went shopping and my other favorite helper Teem cozily read a book with Dateline on in the background, I laid the seat cushions out on the blanket/rug/thing to make sure they’d fit.  Yep – plenty of room.

DIY Dining Chair Redo | Covet Living

Then I took a pair of scissors to that glorious blanket… and this is honestly how Gus looked at me.  I know…  it hurt me to cut it up, too.

Bolivian Blanket | Covet Living

Gussie | Covet Living

And now.  We wrap, we pull taut, and we STAPLE in place with a staple gun.  This part looks easy but it’s a smidge tricky…. cuz that “fabric” is actually a thin rug, so oragami-folding and wrestling the corners so they’ll lay down flattish – flat enough that you can still screw the seat cushion back into the chair frame – is a feat.

Steph's DIY Dining Chair Redo | Covet Living

And if you can’t get the corners to lay flat enough, then the seat cushion is going to sit up too tall on the frame and you won’t be able to screw it in without a go-go-gadget, daddy long leg screw.

wrap the bolivian | covet living

Bang bang bang!!  My work here is done complete.

diy redone dining chairs | covet living

Karrie’s little nook is still in progress – we still have to: refinish the little pedestal table in that room, which is currently the color of Tang… give the walls a fresh coat of paint… and pick out a fabric for the valances.  We’re leaning towards something in this vain – it’s another vintage textile, but we need something like this with a smaller, neutral print, because the chairs are so loud that they need to be the superstars in that space.  This bad boy is a great supporting cast – it complements the chairs but doesn’t compete with them.

Textile | Covet Living

We also recently hung THIS Jamie Young Lotus pendant that Karrie’s been coveting since this 2012 Nursery post, which looks amazing:

Glorious Nursery | Covet Living

We’ll let you know how it turns out!  Also, if someone could bring Karrie a Mai Tai and maybe give her a foot rub while she supervises me refinishing the table in a few weeks, that’d be great.  (Just kidding y’old skank!  Love you.)

PS: Etsy & eBay are great sources for vintage textiles like these.  If you like that same global/ethnic feel, try using search terms like: vintage hmong, batik, bolivian, kantha, suzani.  A few of my favorite Etsy shops are here and here.

xoxo,

Steph's Scanned Signature