BEFORE & AFTER: Eco-Chic Living Room

AFTER Living Room (right corner)

BEFORE Living Room (right corner)

BEFORE Living Room (left corner)

AFTER Living Room (left corner)

Here's how some of those scary-tuned-chic vintage pieces from "Before & After: Vintage Furniture Rescued & Revived" (posted 11/15/10) came together in my clients' living room.  We've submitted this project to some shelter mags and sites, so I can't reveal the entire space.  But these images should give you a taste of how sustainable can be simultaneously good for the environment, comfortable to live in, and pretty to look at.

Design by Doreen Creede and Gina Pierantozzi for The Redecorators LLC.  Photos by Doreen Creede.

BEFORE & AFTER: Vintage Furniture Rescued & Revived

Club Chair BEFORE

Club Chair AFTER

Recently my decorating partner, Gina, and I worked with a couple for whom eco-design is not a trendy buzzword but a deeply held life philosophy.  Our clients, both university professors, hired our firm, The Redecorators LLC, to re-do the drawing room of their 1920s stone home in Philadelphia's Garden Court District with this mandate: make it elegant and welcoming for entertaining (which they would need to do on a regular basis as part of their professional positions) but still comfortable and liveable for family gatherings ... and don't use one piece of new wood doing it.

Chaise BEFORE

Chaise AFTER

In Part One of posts highlighting this project, here are Before & Afters of furniture used in the room.  Of nearly two dozen items the only new purchases were three floor lamps and two tables--one made of recycled steel, the other a current issue of a classic Knoll Tulip table.  Every other element was a vintage piece, refurbished and sometimes radically reconstructed.

Sofa BEFORE

Sofa AFTER

To find the furniture and accessories we scoured auctions, vintage stores, Ebay, Craig's List, garage sales and the basement of our upholstery work room.  We then altered finishes and recovered chairs, sofas, ottomans, with high-end yet durable to-the-trade fabrics in a palette ranging from soft ivory to deep charcoal. The results: an Eco Chic room that's luxurious, livable ... and sustainable.

Armchair BEFORE

Armchair AFTER

To see before and afters of the finished space check back next week.

Design and photos by Doreen Creede & Gina Pierantozzi for The Redecorators LLC

RE-USE: Armoire to Bar

My decorating partnership, The Redecorators LLC, began business with the premise that we would use what you have to give you a new look--often in one day. Immediately (as in, with our first client) that segued into full interior decorating services.  We've since ripped out kitchens, walls and floors; designed custom furniture and drapery; and turned completely empty spaces into beautiful and comfortable rooms to live in.  Still, Gina and I always look at how we can use existing furniture, art and accessories in new ways.  For example: turn a bedroom armoire into a living room bar, as we did for a charity event at the Grange Showroom in Philadelphia's Marketplace Design Center. (For more details, plus Before & Afters of that project visit Dust & Chandeliers.)  It's true: we're always looking for a place to corral cocktails! For more unconventional bar ideas, check out Everyday Style Tip: Set Up Bar from the style files.

Photo by Doreen Creede.  Yes that's me reflected in the mirror--and wearing the vintage silver and blue Victor Costa dress mentioned in last month's post, 5 Fabulous Sources for Vintage Fashion.  Funny how I didn't notice that until I enlarged the pic for this post!

PARTY RECIPE: Kooky Kids Table

As promised at the beginning of this month of Makeover Madness, here's the recipe The Redecorators used to transform a sedate corner of our favorite local bookstore into a colorful and kooky kids table all the adults wished they had been invited to sit at. (Yes, my decorating company does events and parties, too.  For more info click here or The Redecorators link above.)

1. Cover a bland brown wood table with a bright neon-yellow cloth (this one's a polarfleece blanket).
2. Roll up colorful washcloths to use as napkins.
3. Set each place with real china. Choose something modern, fun, and not too expensive, like these cartoon Blurb plates (Mmmm, Yum!, Help. Sigh...)
4. Add flashing glasses for pizzaz and crazy curly straws for silliness.
5. Create a centerpiece with vintage Mr. & Mrs. Potato Heads.
6. Bring in Ikea's sturdy, thick plastic Mammut chairs of lime and blue.
7. Give out Dr. Seuss books as party favors.
8. Have fun!

THE HAPPINESS PROJECT

Sometimes a makeover can be about changing the little things.  That's what I like about Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project.  Unlike the escapist form of self-help literature, Gretchen didn't sell everything and run away for a year.  She found ways to be happy within her existing life.  To do so she read every happiness theory she could get her hands on, from Aristotle to Oprah, and gave an amazing number of theories a workout.  In the end, she found some universal truths (having friends makes you happier), individual revelations (what makes me happy might not be what makes you happy) and debunked some happiness myths.  My favorite: "money doesn't make you happy."  Well it does if it allows you to do things you love (travel) and avoid things you hate (cleaning!).

Gretchen suggests a structured approach to creating your own Happiness Project, but that didn't interest me.  Instead my inspiration came more from a New Year's guest post on her blog suggesting  "only make resolutions that will make you happier"-- because you won't keep any other kind.  My resolutions:  See friends more, build blog readership and reach, find at least one class at the gym  I truly enjoy.  And, like Gretchen, get over my aversion to asking for help (more on that in another post).  Hokey as it may sound, doing those things has made me happier.

READ:  The Happiness Project book and blog.  The book takes a more studied approach, while the blog brims with easy tips and items that just make you ... happy. Like the video below. (If it does not appear click here.)

MOVIE MAKEOVER: Sex & The City

 

Sex & The City: The Movie | Carrie's Apartment AFTER 

Carrie's Apartment BEFORE

Carrie's Apartment BEFORE

Carrie's Apartment AFTER

Tomorrow night's Academy Awards has me thinking about movie makeovers.  In the decorating division, the transformation of Carrie Bradshaw's studio apartment ranks amongst my favorites. In Sex & The City, the TV series, Carrie's drab living space took a back seat to the fashions.  In Sex & The City: The Movie, locations and decor move center stage, beginning with the search for the perfect Manhattan residence that serves as catalyst for the entire plot and concluding with this apartment makeover marking a return to personal happiness ... and then to happily ever after.  At least at the end of Movie 1.  Who knows what fate awaits Carrie & Co. in Movie 2, coming this May.

CREDITS: Sex & The City: The Movie production design by Jeremy Conway.  Set decoration by Lydia Marks.  Before photos via Honeybee. After photos by Craig Blankenhorn  for New Line Cinema via Casa Sugar.

BEFORE & AFTER: Pink Studio

 

Pink Studio AFTER

Pink Studio BEFORE

 Pink Studio BEFORE

Pink Studio AFTER

For one of our HGTV Mission Organization shows, The Redecorators transformed a plain, cluttered room into a pretty and functional work space for a young fashion designer and her mom.   We chose a bold yet feminine color scheme of pink, black & white, and made sure every item in the small area worked double duty--such as fitting mirrors that also serve as a notepad and adorable tin hat boxes that hold trims, zippers and buttons.  The episode proved so popular it's rerun often (now on the Fine Living Network) so you may be able to catch "Stark Studio Gets Stylish"--and a peek of me organizing and decorating in 4-inch heels!

For more details visit HGTV or my new behind-the-scenes Redecorators blog dust & chandeliers.  For upcoming show times visit Fine Living Network. 
Photos by Doreen Creede

MARCH MAKEOVER MADNESS

Who doesn't love a good makeover?  Whether it's a total room transformation, dramatic movie magic, the smallest change of accessories or just a fresh way of looking at life, we'll be exploring all kinds of makeovers this month on Style Maniac.  Stop back often and discover lots of goodies ... including how a boring brown table became the crazy and colorful kids' celebration shown above.

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Photo by Doreen Creede