Room Redux at My House ~ Part 1

 

 

I don’t mind saying that I think my husband is a bit of a hunk.   Even after all of these years he still looks pretty darn good and he’ll tell you so to!   Unfortunately, when it comes to his tennis shoes ( he would say “kicks” or something trendy like that)  he thinks he is thirty year old rap star. 

 

These are the, apparently super rare, limited edition,  “Tiffany”, Nikes that he was sporting to work this morning.  He  has hundreds of shoes ( I am not exaggerating) and as many clothes and it has become somewhat of a running joke in our house.  He has completely taken over five ( yes I said 5 ) of the closets in the house  ( I have one) and they are all filled to the brim.  So,  since his birthday was last week and its been three years since any of our three kids have actually  lived at home,  I decided to clear out my sons room which had been serving as a sort of catch all storage area ( since my husband was using all of the closets).  As his birthday gift I am turning it into his “shoe” room. 

 

This is the kind of ridiculous stuff you start doing for each other after your kids fly the coup.  Sounds romantic doesn’t it?  After a week of sporadic cleaning and throwing away of old junk the room is finally clear and the shelves are ready to go up. 

 

I am sure that this is what my handsome hubby has in mind when I say “shoe room”.

 

 

Or perhaps this lovely design.

 

 

How about this?  It has a great nautical sort of flair combined with rugged woodsiness.

 

 

Now this is actually more his style – super clean and modern.

 

 

Before you get too excited let me bring you back down to Earth.    Here is the reality of the poor man’s shoe room!  Granted,  it is a work in progress.  Just got a few of the uprights attached to the wall before I realized I had bought the wrong type of screws.  It’s been a couple of years since I have piloted power tools and my construction skills are a bit rusty. 

 

I am actually excited that he will have this space of his own.  The girly bed will be moved to the downstairs guest room and a more masculine bed brought upstairs just in case one of the kids does show up.  It needs some window treatments and the rest of the shelves put up and then the shoe installation will begin. 

 

I’ll keep you posted!

 

Coming up – Handsome Hubby isn't the only one in the house getting a new room!  Stay tuned to see my new art & sewing studio come together in what was once my daughters room. ………..

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Painted Planet Licensing ~ My New Agent

 

 

 

I am thrilled to announce that I have signed with a fabulous art licensing agency, Painted Planet Licensing Group.  They will be my exclusive agents in the licensing of my art and illustrations. 

 

 

I am in good company as you can see by the artists they currently represent above. 

 

 

hopefully you will be seeing my new collections coming to life on home decor products,

 

 

tableware

 

 

and wall art. 

 

 

I can’t wait !!!

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New York City ~ Architectural Voyeurism

 

  

Whenever I am in New York ( or any other city for that matter) I try to soak up every bit if culture and architectural detail I can find.  Living in the West in a city that is only a few years past 100 years old there is not much of anything here with any architectural merit.  So I absolutely love classic ornament and historic detailing. 

 

 

Here are a few of the jewels I spotted on my trip a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 

Love It! 

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The Design Directory of Slipcovers – Fall 2012

 

I'm packing up my original illustrations - all 785 of them - for my new book today. Got to ship them off to my fabulous editor Madge at my publisher Gibbs Smith to begin the process of putting together my new book for release in the Fall of 2012.

I wish the process wasn't so long so you could see the finished book right away,  but I promise you it will be worth the wait! In the meantime I will be doing regular posts again about slipcovers and many other things so stay tuned.

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IWCE ~ Surtex Whirlwind

May has been a busy month with trade shows almost every week. First was the IWCE show in Vegas. We sponsored a Slipcover Showcase booth to show off the many talents of some of the countries best slipcover artisans.

I sent templates to some great gals all over the country and they sent me back the most beautiful slipcovers made with my fabrics.

The ingenuity and craftsmanship of these gals is amazing. People just flipped for all of the designs.

I took some really bad photos of them all but luckily my good buddy Kay Ellen was there with her fabulous photo skills and she managed to shoot a couple of good shots.

The Zebra striped Bergeres were a crowd favorite, possibly because people could sit and rest their aching feet!

Kay Ellen is a pro stager and she grabbed this pillow from another booth to show it off on the zebra ground. I think they look great together.

The Vanity table from Ready to Cover turned out so cute! I love the zebra hem.

Thanks so much to the very talented Teresa Bennett , Deb Fowler ~ Christy Statz ~ Kippi O’Hern ~ Emily Pettit ~ Barbara Roth ~ Linda Meeks & Jackie for making these beautiful slipcovers. I will be posting about each one of these talented ladies in the next couple of weeks so stayed tuned to see more of their great work.

The next stop was my debut at Surtex, the nations premier trade show for artists who license their work for surface and pattern design. Companies come from all over the globe to meet with artists and find new art and patterns for their goods. This is where designs for tabletop, wallpaper, fabrics, stationary, and much more are bought and sold.

Here I am in my booth. It was such a great experience and I learned a ton about this new industry. My daughter Angelica and the handsome hubby came with me to help and we all had a great time.

We tried to lure in attendees with lots of candy!

Angelica was a pro as always.

The handsome hubby and I went to the opening night party for the ICFF ( International Contemporary Furniture Show) at the MOMA Sculpture Garden and we had a great time. The ICFF and the National Stationary Show run concurrently with Surtex at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in Manhattans each year.

There were some really great booths at the show – so much talent and creativity! I hope some rubbed off.

Loved those paper pinwheels.

This was our neighbor from the UK, little Alfie. He was the show stopper.

We had great neighbors and met a slew of new friends and caught up with some old ones as well.

There is always a surprise every time I go to New York. This is what I ran across walking back to the hotel one rainy day. A Hawk just hanging out on the sidewalk. It was surreal. I’d always heard of hawks living in the city but had never seen one and I never thought I would see one just two feet away from me.

In short we had a great time as always! Here’s Angelica and her Dad drinking champagne at the MOMA! What a great time.

Now I am back home putting the finishing touches on my slipcover book that I have to hand into my publisher on Wednesday! More to come soon.

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