nesting

know what's a good idea when you're 6 months pregnant?

kitchen remodel.

bonus points if the kitchen must be finished...so that you can remove the temporary kitchen set-up from the dining room...

so that you can set up the dining room as the new home office/guest room...so that you can make the current home office/guest room into the nursery...

(insert crib here)

lest you think i'm completely insane, the "kitchen remodel" consists of having the cabinets painted and the counters and sink/faucet replaced. but still. domino effect. and i have to search the dining room every time i need a fork.

what i really want to do? is sit around and read magazines while enjoying the last 13.5ish weeks of peace and quiet around here.

my protege

tomorrow is my 30th birthday. as a gift, river decided to do a little redecorating. he knows how much i want a new couch. not having a credit card or opposable thumbs, he can't get me a new one himself, but he thought at least he could make an improvement to the old one.

out with the old cushion...

sayonara to the 4th dog bed in a row too, for good measure

and in with the new...

 much better. everything can be improved with the addition of a little animal print.

oh rivadawg. you shouldn't have.

no really.

snakes, snails & puppy dog tails...

joining team stone this christmas :)

upholstered headboard

it's friday afternoon, and we all have an olympic opening ceremony extravaganza to prepare for. i'll be brief.

one of my quasi-recent client projects was this upholstered headboard. you've seen the tutorial a thousand times - plywood, foam, batting, fabric, nailheads. my clients mounted it to the wall with a 2x4 secured to the back of the plywood frame and had a bedskirt made of the same material. et voila!

you like? howsabout that great master bedroom, eh? you want? is for sale. the entire house, in fact. 3 br/2 ba on a quiet street in east memphis. interested? it's fsbo - i can put you in touch.  

the end.

good lookin' loo

so i've been holding out on y'all. obviously. the end is in sight for the design project i've been working on for the past few months, and it's time to share some of the deets. let's start with the master bathroom remodel, for no other reason than because i have the most pictures of it at this time. and errbody loves pictures.
BEFORE: the bathroom was your standard closet with a vanity, tub/shower combo, potty and about thismuch space. 

 

so little space i didn't actually take a picture inside of it. to the left of that armoire was the original closet. my clients built a new enormous walk-in off the side of the house on the opposite wall, and knocked down the wall behind the vanity to make the bathroom bigger. the original bathroom door was walled up, and the original closet door became the new bathroom door. twice the space. capiche?

DESIGN: they wanted light and bright, but not stark white. so i went with gray marble floors and white subway tile walls with some carrera basketweave accents. the mix of high and low makes for a rich-looking-yet-affordable space. i also mixed metals, using chrome fixtures, antiqued silver sconces and frames, and oil rubbed bronze knobs. the bronze tied in with the dark flecks in the granite counters and the black tiles in the basketweave.

there followed many saturday afternoons of sourcing....marble tiles, granite counters, cabinet knobs, sconces...

DURING: nothing like a few phone photos of a work-in-progress...

when you come in the door, you are greeted with the new built-in vanity. this was taken before the mirror was installed. obviously. still on the hunt for the perfect vanity stool.

from the vanity, turn right to see the unique bathing area. they needed the accessibility of a walk-in shower, but also wanted a tub, so we put the tub under the window and put the shower in front of it. this arrangement suits the space and the clients' needs perfectly. 

the contractor took a few liberties with the placement of the mosaic tiles....but the clients are happy and that's what counts!

all that's left is to procure the vanity stool and hang these great sketches from the clients' collection that i had framed:

after pictures to come...when there is an after to photograph. soon!

workin' girl

friends! how are you? i am alive and well, despite the lack of blogging that may indicate otherwise. the irony here is that over the past few months, i have done quite a bit of bloggy interest. i've been working with a local couple to renovate their master bathroom and redecorate three bedrooms, which has been a really fun experience. more to come on that later fo sho. i've also got several projects going around the house, and we're thisclose to remodeling our kitchen. not to mention i'm back working a full time non-profit job. been busy!

a few weeks ago, my sweet friend stephanie jones asked me to come be a guest speaker at a workshop at her fabulous new studio. she taught them how to reinvent old chairs with annie sloan chalk paint, and i showed up to flex my upholstery skillz for the group. so much fun! check out mrs. jones' post. for more details. and be sure to peruse her upcoming workshops!

 

picture courtesy of mrs. jones

rope-wrapped lamp

so when we got married, captain fantastic had this cheap craftsmany mission-type floor lamp. something to this effect:


(i just spent about 45 minutes trying to find an actual picture of the actual lamp on my computer. no dice. so, as per usual, you'll have to use your imagination here.)

anyway, the stained glass shade broke. and i was sad. and then the base sat in the attic for a while. and then the base sat in the living room for a while with a red shade that a) did not fit b) did not match anything. and then in january, i got sick with one of those colds where you're too sick to do anything like go to work but not sick enough to lie in bed all day without losing your entire mind.

so i took the lamp base.

and a ball of twine.

and a glue gun.

and wrapped and glued.

and wrapped and glued.

and wrapped and glued.
until my husband came home from work and was like "you're STILL doing that?"

but anyway it was worth it. because now, instead of an ugly target reproduction mission style lamp, it is a rustic-yet-chic custom hemp-wrapped lamp. with a pleated shade. which i think gives it just enough traditional flair to keep it this side of log cabin.





...but let's not pretend that in real life it doesn't live like this:

only a matter of time before rivadawg eats it.

well haaaaaaay!

...is this thing on? i've practically forgotten how to blog. and it is shameful. team stone has been on a wild ride over the past year, and this blog has fallen by the wayside. we can discuss the particulars later. i'm just ready to get back to it!

first order of business, an introduction. you may recall that we lost our beloved marley dog in july. a few months later, we decided we were ready to welcome another mutthound into our pack. meet our newest family member, river:

catahoula leopard dog & black lab mix rescue pup
show name: team stone's little red river after daddy's favorite fly-fishing spot

first family photo, picking him up in little rock

ok so those were taken in september. here he is right this minute at 6 months old, with big sis sterling:


riv-a-dog also enjoys voguing:


sleeping in the cockroach pose:


and lying around with his mouth open like an alligator:


and is not spoiled. at all.

so there's a brief reintroduction to the stone family. regular posting of projects and general nonsense to follow. pinkie promise. i've missed you!