Gadora has something cooking, folks*. While the Animal Print requests are slowly rolling in, the extra time affords Gadora an opportunity to explore other avenues. Introducing Still Life with Settee series. I love painting furniture. Why not paint paintings of furniture? Rather brilliant, don’t you think?
Pierre Paulin chair ~ DONE
Eames chair ~ Done
Borrowing a few snaps from my Flickr contacts, I must give credit where credit is due.
It’s January in Texas. Winter. Yesterday was a sunny 75º so Gadora and AJ got out in it. Seems every creature around this house (including the humans… the count is 6) has been suffering from cabin fever (and Cedar fever, but that’s a different story altogether). MAKES US BONKERS. After some minor finagling with the fence out back, that partially blew down after the last arctic winds, Gadora slung open the back door and every one happily filed out. AJ and I made our way to the front, suited up, and got to work.
Gadora and AJ in the shop
Gadora has a few projects up her sleeve. There’s the pair of dainty dressing vanity tables (separated from their middle) that I intend to revive, the set of 4 ladder-back chairs whose caning needs tightening, the awesome antique dresser that wants a new-car shine, and a few smaller pieces almost complete. Oh but wait ’til you see the wire planter basket Gadora turned into a hanging lamp!
Thank YOU Texas for giving this girl a reprieve from summer’s heat, staving off the cold, and the good company with which to get it done.
Found a handsome 6-drawer wooden dresser on a yard/estate-sale outing with some girlfriends (and thank you both for helping me load it in my wonder wagon!). Set out, over the course of a few trips to the parent’s house, to fix it up…
Dresser ~ BEFORE
Gadora recycled the dresser’s original handles on this 3-table set and—because their “crackle” response was so great—gave this dresser a new “crackle” green face. Not as decipherable as the Lane Acclaim markings, the ‘internets’ claim K. Wee and Co. was established in 1966. Anyone care to take a stab at the manufacture date? Below (right); entire surface received a solid sanding, both belt sander and by hand, before first paint application.
Tag and side.
Each hole, 16 in all, was filled and sanded allowing a fresh start for new handles. Having had a run-in with a mangled can of latex paint, Gadora re-purposed a plastic coffee can to provide easy access for the remainder.
Drawers and paint can alternative.
Remember the displaced piano bench from last week? Flickr’s “sickathanathas” piano bench-turned-kids-chalkboard-studio was the winningest inspiration, and Gadora gave hers a gadorable transformation with a can of chalkboard paint and some elbow grease.
BEFORE ~ piano bench
The inside was sanded too, to remove the gook, and make room for the pretty aviary decoupage to be applied later. The seat lifting mechanism locks bench top open.
BEFORE ~ Open
Once the bench received a good sanding, and did I tell you how much I love my mouse sander?, the Fresco red Rust-oleum chalkboard paint was ready for application. Continue reading
Living Room and Luna L'Amour shadow-box
Name: Ellen, Sarah, Sandra, Billie and Butchie
Location: Cherry Creek, South Austin
Built: 1971
Size: 1,370 sq. ft., 4 bedrooms, 2 baths
Artist Ellen Tanner’s home, nestled in the heavily-treed South Austin neighborhood of Cherry Creek, oozes with creativity. A consummate artist, Tanner has filled her space with well-edited items she and her wealth of talented friends have created over the years. Luna L’Amour (above) is a shadow-box homage to “voluptuous burlesque gals” that Tanner created in 2002.
Ida Lewis by Ellen Tanner
Her painted ode to lighthouse keeper Ida Wells shares the same space on the home’s original stone wall hearth. To the untrained eye, it’s masterfully entertaining. Not her favorite piece, she let me snap it anyway, the other paintings still in her possession have been rounded up for a gallery in Houston.
This week marks the 42nd annual Round Top Antiques Fair, which sits between Carmine, Texas, a town of 230, and Round Top, population 84. Gadora and a new Lady friend, Annie, made the trek an hour(-ish) East from Austin and looked for the promised Big Red Barn sign. While both towns come alive during these antique weekends, it is the original Round Top fair folks come to see.
Not the place for bargains, three large circus tents were filled with well-edited antiques, collectibles, art work and furnishings. There were booths with scoops of a thousand vintage buttons, booths showcasing impressive carved cane collections, cases of turquoise jewels and rows of bakelite bracelets. Spots so full you had to inch in sideways.
48-drawer cabinet at Smokehouse Square
Hard-pressed to choose my favorite thing, and I wanted to drag something home, there was a recurring theme throughout the day. Besides the creepy doll parts (and what is it exactly about a swap-meet that brings out the odd body parts?), which I’ll blog later… apothecary cabinets were key. This salmon-hued 48-drawer, one-time card catalog, cabinet is the winner. The owner, Cindy from Smokehouse Square Antiques in Amana, Iowa, gingerly offered, “it’s got room for all your things, ribbons, yarn… it’s great if you’re a hooker!” We both snickered.
"R" marks the spot.
Name: Rachel, Jezebel and Lola
Location: East Austin
Built: 1935
Size: 1,550 sq. ft.
Years in: 9
In a cozy East Austin neighborhood, the scarlet letter “R” marks the spot. Built in 1935 and rumored to have moved to its current location in the ’50s, the house stands apart from its modest mid-century neighbors, and the mystery of its origins tickle its owner pink. The muted turquoise exterior and lilac-trimmed windows only foreshadow the whimsy inside. (Click on pics to take a closer peek!)
Living room and storage close-up
Rachel describes her 7 room, 1 bath house as, “Hyde Park style via the East Side ghetto…with a splash of porn and a lot of hidden yarn.” A fierce knitter, admittedly not monogamous in her projects, she finds clever spots to conceal her craft. The diamond plate truck storage box serves as both yarn storage and coffee table.
Recently Gadora traveled to Tulsa to see about her Mom. I like Tulsa (and love my Mama!). T-town is quiet, though Frank Lloyd Wright left an indelible mark with his “Westhope” home. Moments after touch down my Mama beamed, “we’ve got something to show you,” and whisked Gadora off to Mod50s Modern, a busy warehouse shop on East 15th.
Mod50s on E. 15th, Tulsa
As the polyurethane coat is drying on the Kindel table, and oh it’s soooo shaping up, Gadora pauses to bring you some red inspiration. Surprisingly few brilliant red pieces on the Net, here are some of my faves:
Lucy Allen Gillis - DesignSponge
5-drawer dresser, more a coral color, “pops” against the light aqua walls. The piece sits nicely in a 1940′s brick cottage house in Athens, GA. Love! For an in-depth look, click on RinneAllen.
Cabinet - Apartment Therapy
Sure wish I could hug up on this cabinet. It’s loverly. And Kim, Gadora likes the idea of it sitting against a blueish gray wall, too.
Thout at Ministry of the Interior
Thout - close-up.
Gadora‘s heart skips a beat for this wooden table at Toronto’s Ministry of the Interior. Would also LOVE it narrowed, and behind a sofa. Mmmm.
Greenpoint Crashpad - NYTimes
A color palette perfect for the Kindel vanity…bright, energetic, warming. How did the two (male) models-turned-shooters do it? Like many New Yorkers, they dragged stuff home. “It’s all based on what you could carry on a bicycle,” Bender said. “We’d go around on our bikes picking through the trash and whoever brought home the most fashionable object was the winner of the day.”
Scott and Benders pad - NYTimes
Well, theirs is some pretty amazing crap. Gadora is headed outdoors to check on the drying. Getting close, very close.
Gadora barreled West today towards Johnson City. Made a 1-day road-trip to Fredericksburg for their monthly Trade Days. As I tore down a hill with open windows and eager eyes, surrounded by mesquite trees and rolling green pastures, and as the Texas sky threatened a serious downpour Gadora slapped the stearing wheel and let out a big, “Whoo-hoo! I live HERE!!!” It was a channeled Smokey and the Bandit moment. And I’m still smiling.
Overlooking the hill country
Trade Days would have to wait until Gadora visited Red, an online summer discovery. When I lived in Fredericksburg more than a decade ago, during a time I refer to as my “previous life,” there was truly only Homestead, then the pinnacle of home decor.
Red. In Fred.
I was in women’s fashion. But I went in to gawk. A very ABC kind of place, it offered the kind of interior gems only afforded those with healthy pockets. But its inspiration was free.
Gadora fell in love with this dresser and one nightstand early this summer. I immediately loved the clean facade, devoid of fussy handles. The carved wooden frame around the dresser becomes its drawer pulls.
Vertical dresser - BEFORE
The perfect height, I found myself petting along the lines of the dresser as I removed each shiny layer from years of wear. I would apply the Methyl Ethyl, removing it carefully, belt sand their surfaces (with a lil help from Dad) and hand sand them too.
The pair stripped...
Gadora shuffled the two about the garage, away from other more-pressing projects, and finally applied the top coat of Oak-enhancing stain. It would be nine months before I would have the pair complete.
The vertical dresser holds surprises: a shallow top drawer, a deeply divided second drawer and a pristine concealed bottom-drawer cedar chest.
Dressing for success
Dresser - AFTER
Dresser - AFTER
The final finish is deep matte and oak in color. I envision the two sitting in an eclectic-modern and sparsely decorated space. The dresser would be paired with a round mirror, free from frame. Like an exclamation point, of sorts, resting just above on the wall. The one nightstand would be at arms reach from the bed.
* Gadora has yet to discover their maker. Neither the dresser nor the one nightstand have a name between them.
Nightstand - AFTER
Sold
