Swede

Swede Collection's Paris Pillow Project

I have some interesting news today.  I launched my pillow collection.  Remember all those thousands of photos I walked the streets of Paris to take 8 to 10 hours a day?  I did that with the intention that someday I would use them either in a book or product.  While making other pillows I came up with the idea of putting my photos on fabric to make my own very unique pillow line.  It is now reality. I looked through thousands of those photos and came up with some I thought would look good as a pillow.  I printed those photos on linen canvas and hired a lady in California to make the covers.  I can sew but my machine doesn't have an overlock feature since it was made around 1956 [bought for $60 in 1969 to take to college] and I do not want to buy another sewing machine, even though my husband offered and found one.  I would rather give her the business for her college tuition than spend those hours upstairs sewing.  Win-win for both of us, I think. She does excellent work and does 50 at a time. 

So let's take a look.  I made them in two sizes.  The larger is 22" x 27" and the square smaller ones are 22" x 22". All have luxury down inserts [overfilled].  Velvet or chenille backs. 

Here are the Paris architecture ones:  

If you have been to Versailles you will recognize this as one of the rear entryways in that back door courtyard. 

This is one of my favorite buildings in Paris. It was built as a private mansion [hotel particular] and is now an office building.  It is called Hotel de Sully. 

Love Paris doors as they almost always have beautiful overdoors.  Here is one with cupids holding hands carved in white marble. 

Here are some paintings I photoed at The Louvre. 

Do you recognize Juliette Recamier the socialite that gave the name to the chaise called a recamier. 

This painting I photoed one year and when I got home I realized I did not capture who the artist was nor the name of the painting.  So the next year I went to the Louvre information desk showed them my photo and they told me which wing and section it was in.  The Louvre is so huge I would never have found it again.  The title is "Femme Prenant des Fruits". Absolutely love her.  

That was a sampling of the bigger ones.  I will show you more later.  In the meantime, here are some of the 22x22 Paris architecture pillows. 

This one I climbed to the top of Notre Dame to get. It is the exterior roofline with a gargoyle water downspout. I hope it was not damaged in the fire and can't wait to go back to see Notre Dame after it opens to the public again. 

Next is a photo of a wall section at Musee Hotel de Soubise of a romantic couple done in plaster and gold leaf.  I was surprised at how well the gold leaf turned out in the photo.  As the mother this is one of my favorite children and I will keep one of these for my living room. 

This blue/gray and gold one is another plaster and gold leaf wall but it is at Versailles. 

And last for today is a photo of a white Tree Peony I took in the garden at the Rodin Museum.  I printed it on low nap velvet. You can actually hand wash this one.  Neutral white velvet back.

This is a fragment from a cathedral altar in France. 

After I took about 100 photos I noticed the sunburst mirror above the sofa did not line up on the center.  The sofa somehow got moved a couple of inches to the left from vacuuming or something.  Wish I had noticed that earlier but I can just crop the photo if need be. I promptly moved the sofa to the right 3" so that doesn't happen again. 

I wholesale the 22x27 pillows for $240 and the 22x22 size for $184.  Free shipping via Paypal invoice to your email if you would like any of these.  Just tell me you saw it on my blog to get that rate.  Remember they come with the luxury 10/90 down overfill insert. Designers are selling them to their clients for $380 - 420 for the big ones and $320 to 368 for the smaller 22x22 size.  

I will show you more designs in the next posts. 

This has been a very fun project.  I can't wait to see the rooms where they find their new homes. 

Gustavian sofa and oval-back chair from Swede Collection at swedefurniture.com. You can also see more of my furniture at Chairish.com. I will put some of these pillows on Chairish in a few weeks.  Also available at La Maison Antiques in Memphis. 

Colleen 

Tablescape: Grey and White

For those of you who have been following me for a long time, you know how much I disliked my brown wood Henredon dining table that I have had since 1983. It has been a love/hate relationship for a long time.  What I loved about it was that it was 45" wide and 134" long.  If you have shopped for dining tables lately, you know that makers have reduced the width to 40" or 42" and it is hard to find wide ones. Likewise, long ones over 108".  When tables are 40" wide using a runner is difficult as it doesn't leave enough room for chargers at the place settings and using placemats doesn't look good either. So I loved the size and that it had two pedestals so chairs slipped under the edges nicely -- having no apron skirt that chair arms slammed into.  It also had casters so I could roll it around.  It certainly didn't look Swedish. But that BROWN wood just sucked up light and not much in the way of china or linens went well with it.  It has been with me for 34 years almost part of the family.  I have threatened to paint it many times but just didn't have the courage to "ruin" it.  

So I was looking in the clearance section of a local furniture store one day last summer and found this table for $713 plus $75 delivery that was a HOT mess.  It had shipping damage on the leaves and top.  It would only sell to someone who wanted to fix it up.  And, it was BROWN, of course.  Doesn't anybody make a white table????

 

What I liked about it was that it was 46" wide, an inch wider than mine, but shorter at 116 inches.  But it would blend with Swedish decor if painted.  In my next house, I want a large kitchen where I can put a kitchen table in place of an island.  So I thought this would work if I could use wood filler in the holes and nicks and paint it.  They are still selling that style table for $2,000 + tax and delivery. I was happy with my bargain. 

You should have seen the delivery man's face when I wouldn't let him take it in the front door and told him to go around back and put it upside down on the patio.  I primed it and enameled it icy grey with a black pepper top.  I used it as a display table at the shop for a while then it went to storage.  Last week I had the movers put it in my dining room at the house and put the Henredon one in storage. 

I do love the light color.  Oval back chairs are Swede Collection in pale grey.

I decided to do a simple tablescape in grey and white before I have to do Thanksgiving decor. 

I bought a large oriental bowl on stand at the Stock Exchange charity consignment store in August and filled it with shells and coral.  Spray painted the brown stand with grey paint for $7.  

A couple years ago I found a graduated set of platters. This is the smallest one. Transferware made in England in 1849 according to the mark on the back side.  This one is called "morning".  Loved the ladies.  It is hard to find antique transferware in grey. 

I love to mix china, new, vintage and old.  This is a new Anna Weatherley charger, Richard Ginori Italian "Torino" pattern dinner plate, which I think is discontinued, and on top an antique French monogrammed plate.  I LOVE gold monogrammed china.  The grey/white runner is from Williams-Sonoma.  French opaline goblet and Simon-Pearce twist stem in "Stratton" pattern.  Ricci gold flatware.

When I find gold monogrammed china it is almost always in mint condition.  Always "saved for good company" and never used. 

This little man I absolutely LOVE who adopted us is dressed in his tuxedo ready for a formal dinner. 

Now that I have photoed the table it is time to set it with turkey plates.

All the best,

Colleen 

 

 

Tabletop: Coordinating Colors with Styling

 

Today I am showing how I coordinate artwork with china in styling the tabletop of my dining room console table. When I do a tablescape, I like to have a colored canvas or two [stacked] in the room that coordinates, but does not exactly match, the china I am using on the table or the color scheme I have chosen.

To make this possible, [I don't own a lot of important pieces of art that I rotate] I slap paint on a gallary-wrap canvas to create my own.

This one is done more exacting with rectangles and squares instead of thrown paint. The three aqua vases here with the applied attached ceramic Chrysanthemums are from Anthropologie.  The Mums are very fragile.  Many on the store shelf were already broken so I carefully selected these. You will see these vases next week when I do an aqua tablescape for a dinner using Siberia white Oriental Lilies in the three vases.

For me, these paintings are very fun to make. They are not serious, just fun.  The sizes I make are 48 x 24, 48 x 30 or 48 x 36.  I place them over top of my standard 60" x 48" main canvas.  I have made several of these in various colors--green, peach, purple, coral, aqua--and have shown them to you in past tablescapes.  Lately I have been using my silver and gold metallic one as the base.  Yes, I know without sconces the wall looks bare.  I have an electrician to install them but no drywall guy yet. I will get there. Console and chairs are from my Swede Collection line.

I purchase heavy-duty canvases from Michael's crafts store.  You can get the largest one for around $65 as they run a 40% off coupon each week on the $100 canvases. The first thing I do is prime it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint which sells for $34.95 a quart. 

This is Duck Egg that I am applying with a stubby brush to push the paint down into the canvas fibers.  I am working on my back covered porch on the patio table.  I was fortunate to be among a small group of women who was first introduced to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint at The Southern Institute of Faux Finishing in 2010 before the product was brought into the US from England for sale. It has since become a huge success and manufactured stateside. I also took a class directly from Annie Sloan when she came to Mississippi to teach. I decided to do this on my own, not something I learned in her class. I haven't heard of any other artist using chalk paint as a primer.  So there you have it.  Something new.

Here I am using French Linen on a 60" canvas applying it with a roller since the canvas is so big.  I do two coats as a primer. Then apply my art paint.

Here is a multi-blue canvas done to coordinate with the French Limoges monogrammed blue-edged china. As you can see, I just smear the paint on any which way; it doesn't matter. Sometimes I put a pattern over the top like this damask or a fleur de lis.  It is the secondary canvas layered over top of a silver and gold metallic canvas. I picked about 200 Daffodils from my yard to place in a pair of vases from Wisteria. The teacups are English Royal Crown Derby in the Lombardy pattern.

I have very few blue items in my house, having sold most of what I had, since I am no longer a lover of blue.  A few exceptions are this set of monogrammed china and a set I use at Thanksgiving.  I do, however, like turquoise and aqua because they have green in them.  Even though it was blue, I did purchase this set because it hit the other love requirements of being French, gold embossed, high quality and monogrammed.  It also had 24 dinner plates in mint condition which swayed me.  I would have been in heaven if the set was aqua.

Sometimes I will layer on a painting of outsider art - no name works found at garage sales, estate sales or the flea market. If I like it, I don't care where it comes from.  No snob here. I'll point those out when I use one. 

What do you think?

This week I am linking to:

Centerpiece Wednesdays: http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/

Tablescape Thursday: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/.

Show and Tell Friday: http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Seasonal Sundays:  http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

Summer

Photos: Swede

Creating Works on Canvas

 

Showing "Y'all" my project.  I missed my first gold metallic canvas that I sold.  Had this 48" x 48" canvas that I has purchased last year so decided to throw some paint on it and do one similar to the damask one I sold.  Ignore the strange light reflection at the top.

It is silver metallic with gold metallic in damask.  I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey as the primer.  As I expected, it worked like a champ.

I put it here temporarily in the living room above the sofa on the milk chocolate wall for now, but it will be moved over the gray Swedish console after Thanksgiving as I think it will go much better with a display of mercury glass on the console table.  Milk chocolate does nothing for it.

Then it will go to the shop to be sold.  I like the bigger size of 60" x 48" canvas so will make a bigger one for myself to keep when I have time.  I will do it in silver and gold metallic as well.

Summer

Photo: Swede 

Gardening: A Nursery Rhyme

 

Probably my favorite nursery rhyme as a child was The Little Red Hen. This rhyme teaches independence in doing things yourself and other virtues to childen.  The book has been illustrated and rewitten many times.  I'm not sure there was an original author to credit.  I have had to be The Little Red Hen on many occasions during my adult lifetime.  Mr. Swede became very familiar with the book and its morale after we married.  He did not know the book as a child.  I highly recommend you find the book and read it, even though you are not three any longer so you understand this post and read it to your children or grandchildren.

Once upon a time The Little Red Hen had a beautiful Weeping Peach tree in her yard.

 
The Little Red Hen went to the nursery, purchased the tree, lugged it home and planted it all by herself.  The tree grew and grew and grew into The Little Red Hen's favorite tree.  She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the tree each Spring when it bloomed.

Then a very nasty bad fungus came and killed the beautiful tree. 

The Little Red Hen was SAD, SAD, SAD.

So as the nursery rhyme goes, The Little Red Hen asks for help removing the tree.

No, said the strong Ox.

No, said the mighty Horse.

No, said the helpful Cow.

So, The Little Red Hen says, "I will do it myself".  And she did. She sawed off all the dead branches and drug them to the street for garbage pick up. Did I mention how huge those limbs were????

Who will help me take down the seven foot trunk? 

Not I, said the strong Ox.

I will use my chainsaw said the nice neighbor if you will help me cut down my Pine tree limbs. And, he did. [I don't think that was an even exchange on my part!]

Who will help me take out the big stump?, said The Little Red Hen. 

Not I, said the strong Ox. Nor the Horse, nor the Cow [you get the rhyme  by now].

"So I will do it myself", said The Little Red Hen.  And she did.

It had roots to China.

Now I have to fill in the hole. It doesn't look it from this view, but it is about 10" deep.

Here is another photo of the stump for Mr. Swede who is in Taipei today.

I have been killing myself in the yard the past two weekends.  Went to the nursery and got 12 flats of annuals and 5 shrubs, so off to fill the hole and do some planting.  Hope you are having fun!

Summer

Photos: Swede

 

Women Who Make Beautiful Things: Spotlight On Tammy Randolph

 

Saturday here was a dreary overcast day. One you normally wouldn't want to get out of bed for. But this Saturday was different.  It was one to jump out of bed for. I got one of 12 seats in Amy Howard's workshop in Memphis on antiquing mirror and eglomise. I would even go so far as saying it was a life changing day. Why?  Because the class was taught by Tammy Randolph.  Glass expert.

When I saw this notice in my email, I immediately called to grab a seat and I was the first one to sign up.  [Sigh of relief].  This was my third workshop at Amy Howard's and I say the last is always the best, like husbands. Amy and I married our last and best husbands a week apart 20 years ago.

Tammy has worked at Artisan Studios for five years.  If you see any mirroring work on furniture in the Amy Howard Collection, Tammy did it.

From the Amy Howard Collection HERE.

Mr. Swede has a saying about getting people to do a project like a brick patio.  He says there are technicians and there are artists.  Most people could lay brick with instruction, but a brick in the hands of an artist with talent and vision becomes a masterpiece.  Tammy is an artist.  I can't express how fortunate I feel to be taught by her.  Some artists can't teach.  Tammy can teach and is passionate about her work and thoroughly knowledgeable.  Those are the kind of people you want to take classes from.  If you follow my blog, you know I've been to a few classes in my day.

This class was on taking purchased mirrors, new or old, and antiquing the mirror.  But the real thrill was learning how to do eglomise.  Her examples mounted on the wall were stunning. 

Here are the two products we used. They are $104 through Amy Howard at Home. You will  also need a few other items like mica powder, shellac, spray lacquer, old newspaper, paper towels, black paint, a mylar stencil, etc.  My first project, you ask?

I'm going to start on a few small projects first.  I have several antique mirror frames where the original mirror broke and someone replaced it with new clear mirror.  Well, they just don't look right. On the one above, after I fix the mirror, I am going to antique the metal frame itself that someone has painted solid gold. It needs some history.  Basically, you remove the black paint on the backside with bottle #1 to expose the silvering.  If you are familiar with or have used Franmar Soy Gel paint remover made out of soybeans, this is very similar. Then you manipulate the silver layer with bottle #2.  Amy Howard at Home has a You Tube video of Tammy with the product, but it is really just a teaser, not instruction of all the steps.  The class was a busy full three hours. I highly recommend taking a class even if you are the adventuresome kind as there are so many hints and information that only a master can teach.

And, eglomise?  Holy Cow that was exciting.  I can't wait to try it.

Have you ever wondered how this was done?  I sure did.  The reason this class was what I call life changing is because on Friday I couldn't do antique mirrors [process failed in a former class I took] or do eglomise.  On Saturday I did.  The way I can tell if I attended a great class is if there are so many creative ideas that come to my head that I can't get them all written down fast enough.  And by the time I am driving out of the parking lot, I have already designed products like clock faces, jewelry boxes, framed miniature silhouettes on glass, lamp bases, etc., etc.   Thank you, Tammy.  Such a thrill.

I also want to say one more thing.  Those who know me have heard me talk about what I think the number one characteristic is that makes a leader.  Courage.  Courage to share your talents and teach others what you are skilled at. I said the same thing when I took a class from designer Tobi Fairley in Little Rock.  Good businesswomen understand this.  Thank you Amy Howard for letting Tammy's talents be known by 12 new people.

Summer

Photos: Swede except Amy Howard Collection

 

DIY Projects: Candlesticks Get New Paint

 

I haven't shown on this blog very many of my DIY redo projects, but I should find the time to do that.  I just finished these candlesticks today, so thought I should post about it while it is fresh on my mind.

  
Here are the victims.  I found this pair of 22" candlesticks at Dillard's on the 50% off shelf.  I'm sure they were there because nobody else wanted to pay $100 for them.  My husband says at half off they still made money.  You know how much I love white, but these were high gloss lacquered white which was a little too stark for me.  I wanted to knock the brightness down a little bit.

 
I am going to use various paints on these as I want an aged look not a distressed look.  First, I have taped off the zinc tops. I am painting these on a piece of newspaper on my kitchen countertop. I am using two Annie Sloan Chalk Paints to start out with.

 First a coat of Chateau Grey which looks green. I use a #12 artist's brush to paint with as a chip brush is not comfortable for me.

  
Here is a close up of the Chateau Grey going on. I order the Annie Sloan paints from The Southern Institute of Faux Finishing in Jackson, MS since there is no local dealer in my area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Here's what this stage looks like.

 
After two coats of the green dries, I put the second layer on which is Annie Sloan Chalk Paint's Country Grey color which is a beige.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I am not a fan of distressed shabby paint finishes.  I prefer aged finishes. The reason I am putting the green under the beige is not to distress the layers with sandpaper or a sanding mouse. The green is underneath as a building layer to give the upper coats cohesion and if they do get knocked around and some green shows later in their life, that is okay.  It is just not my intention from the beginning.  I see so many paint projects on blogs where they are so heavily distressed where they would never have naturally over time lost their finish in those areas, that I think they look horrible.

The next layer is a coat of legno gesso from Amy Howard at Home. You can only purchase this after taking her workshop to learn how to use it. This will give the candlesticks a texture of plaster. I do give this a sanding with 400 grit sandpaper to knock off any rough places.

The next step is to blot on with a dampened small piece of natural sea sponge a coat of Country Living's Caromal Colours color Putty. When that dries, I will add various blobs of gray paints that I have on hand from other projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When those paints dry in about 20 minutes, I then add King Gold gilding wax from Gedeo of France.  I just highlight the edges in a rough form, not covering the area, but just rubbing a little on with my finger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
This is what the gilding wax looks like.

 
This is how they fit in with other objects on my table.  After a few days of evaluating them, I might go back and sponge on another color. Here, I am considering adding a darker beige.

 
If you are not already comfortable with taking on these kinds of projects, I do hope you will give it a try. You can always paint them again.

Summer

Photos: Swede