Luv Luv Lou Lou

As if I didn't LOVE the Philippe Starck Ghost Chair enough...it's now available in kiddo sizes! The Kartell Lou Lou Ghost Armchair may have been designed for mini humans....but I think my chihuahua would look just perfect resting his tiny paws in them.

"Betsy" Blue Chandelier!

I was so in love with how the blue chandelier turned out for my office that I decided to paint one in the same color for my etsy shop!





Luvie! Check the Maison Jasmine Esty Shop for info!

I did it!!!

I actually managed to hang a chandelier!


This wouldn't seem like such an accomplishment if our house weren't built in 1906....meaning, all the electrical work could be called shotty at best. I somehow seem to forget this each time I want to change out a fixture...but it's worth the blood sweat and tears. (Literally!)


This new blue beauty is for my new office. The whole room will be bright yellow and turquoise...one of my favorite color combos! I've just finished a tree mural...where the birds fly off the tree, and circle the room, up onto the ceiling, ending at the chandelier...where the bird has landed! A bit silly perhaps, but it's whimsical and makes me smile.


I'll post more pics when the office is completed!

Mary, mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Ours grows like this...well, begins to grow...



Yay for gardening! We planted our plot at the community garden yesterday! This year we're doing tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and lots of peppers - bell, spicy, sweet!
Hopefully that cold spell last night didn't thwart our efforts!

Ceiling Medallion Love

I luv luv luvie ceiling medallions! They add so much drama and presence to any fixture, especially chandeliers! I've just finished a lovely black chandelier for an etsy customer, Elise and her boyfriend John. And I was thrilled to finish a ceiling medallion for them to go with it. This was the tacky brass chandelier before...


And this is how it turned out...



And the matching ceiling medallion...


The set turned out so striking. I hope they bring love and light into Elise and John's home!

Strippin ain't easy...

Soooo, the frontal facelift continues on our house. Our porch was in desperate need of some updating...


I had originally planned on just painting over the white with a dark brown...but once I started prepping the wood, we realized that the white paint was peeling and cracking and needed to go. So my mister decided we should strip the paint first and stain the wood instead. Which is a great idea...we just didn't realized we'd have to strip off SEVEN layers of paint!!! Yowza!


So after lots and lots and lots of stripping...this is the current state. Eek, a little scary! The patina is actually sort of pretty in person...and kind of fun to see all the different colors that the porch has been, and imagine all the different people who have sat on this porch and sipped lemonade.
Lots and lots of sanding is next...then onto staining!
I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Facelift!

As the weather is warming up, we're trying to spruce up the outside of our house a bit. We've just pulled out some unruly bushes that were covering up the front walk, and we're getting ready to ad pavers, tall grasses, etc. - various landscaping stuff. So I decided we might as well change up the colors a bit. This is the house currently...


While I don't hate the green...I don't love it. So I'm changing all of the trim to black, and going red with the front door / gate.  It seemed like a fairly simple project...but now two days in, I'm realizing this is a rather major overhaul. I've just crawled down from the roof, where I was primering the shutters. Scary! More to come soon!

Before & After - Lola and the Foyer

I've never been a fan of mission style pieces. But I had been searching for the perfect piece for our foyer when I came across this piece in one of my favorite local antique shops...it had nice storage space, and was slim enough to fit into our tiny foyer, and it had a lovely mirror attached to the top! Perfect for reflecting the afternoon sun that spills in through our glass front door.


A few coats of paint and sealer later...and Lola matched perfectly in my newly redone foyer...


The entire foyer was a before & after project...it had previously be painted a horrid rusty orange color that was dark and dirty and lifeless. So while my mom was here visiting, I enlisted her help to paint the dramatic white and black stripes. She is a professional painter - and it shows! Her meticulous work really paid off - it's gorgeous! The lines are so perfect, that it looks like wallpaper.

Another issue in the room was lighting...there was none! So I found this dated brass chandelier...


And "re-loved" it a bit...


The vibrant red lends a pop of color to the room and adding a ceiling medallion really completed the dramatic effect. 


Peanut used his ear to help with the painting touch ups!
Thanks to my best friend and photographer, Ryan Eaves, for the beautiful after images!

Cute or crazy?

At our art gallery, The Peanut Gallery, we were always trying to come up with unique and different lighting ideas. I attempted to make the string pendant lamps that were so popluar a while ago...


But after hours and hours and hours of winding yarn around beach balls, and hours of soaking them in fabric stiffner, they didn't work! As soon as we started to let the air out of the beachball to remove it, the yarn cpmpletely collapsed. So they've been hanging in our garage for over a year! Last week when we were doing some spring cleaning I decided it was time for them to go...but rather than deflate them and throw them out...


I decided to hang them from one of our trees! A little silly perhaps, but it's kind of fun and festive. I'm sure they won't hold up through the spring rains, but for now, I think I like that it looks like we are on the verge of hosting a fabulous garden party!



Before & After - Tiffany

Tiffany is fini! I recently finished "re-loving" Tiffany, a now gorgeous 5 drawer dresser. What started out as a well-loved, well-worn, well...awful dresser...


...is now a lovely and stylish piece that any lady would be proud to place her lacies in!


This was a really fun project! I started by sanding and priming the pieces separately. I did this so that I would have full access to the drawers, so that I could paint them completely inside and out. It drives me nuts when you see a beautifully refurbished piece....then you open a drawer and the sides and inside are still dull and dreary.


I chose a gorgeous tiffany blue water-based latex paint for the main color, and a shimmery silver to really highlight the panelled accents on the sides. To give it an extra bit of charm, I painted the insides of the drawers a shimmery silver as well. To achieve the silver sheen that I wanted, I decided to use silver spray paint instead of regular latex paint. It worked perfectly. The original hardware was in decent condition, so I simply replaced one missing piece, and spruced it up with silver spray paint.



Finally, I used three coats of clear gloss polyurethane to seal the piece, sanding in between each coat. I used a sprayable polyurethane on the hardware to prevent brush marks. I was quite happy with the results, and I think my chichi's, Peanut and Don Julio, were too!


The piece was rather striking against my purple walls, and I was a bit sad to see it go! But it went to a lovely customer who I hope is thoroughly enjoying it!

Where it all began...

The first time I laid eyes on a Phillippe Stark Louis XV Ghost chair...I fell in love. As a 20 year old living in LA, fashion, art and glamour surrounded me. But my passion for design started with that chair.

10 years later, I am still mesmerized by the juxtaposition of classic lines and modern finishing. Perfection!