stephanie and the garden apartment

This is a before photo of the room we will be working on

About a year ago my friend Stephanie moved into her apartment. The view from the main room looks out to vines and trees and really feels like a garden. Just recently we discussed truly embracing the garden theme and painting a fresco on one of her walls. This is something I've done in the past and really enjoyed. Richard agreed to give me a hand and now we are just putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together. We should start working on it next week. I am still working out the details but I thought I would share some of the photos that are inspiring the project. I am not totally sure which magazines hey all came from but they are most certainly Nest and World of Interiors. My hands down favorites.

I can't wait to get started!!! I will be posting progress photos as we go.

beach chair recovery project

Last summer I bought two great vintage beach chairs at a flea market for $5.00. The fabric was cracking with age so they couldn't really be used. I decided to put them into storage until the time was right to recover them. Last weekend I was cleaning up my storage locker and I found them again. I decided it was time and I went out looking for fabric. I went to a few places to try to find a fresh beach stripe, like the original but I find it is a lot more difficult to find classic anything especially stripes. I decided to go in a new direction and headed out to IKEA.

I ended up finding two really great designs. They aren't exactly classic beach chair fabrics but I really like the look of the two together.

I took off one of the covers from the chairs and cut my new fabric to match. I then sewed and stapled my new covers onto the freshly cleaned and waxed beach chair frames and I swear they look brand new! I can't wait to take them to the beach!




Thanks for looking!

needlepoint

I have been an admirer of needlepoint for many years but never really thought of it seriously for me. Since the Brigid Berlin Show in NY back in October and of course the Johnathan Adler pillows I had thought about dabbling in it. It wasn't until our last trip to Cape Cod that the idea really took hold. Richards mom has done a lot of needlepoint over the years and there are these great well worn pillows all over the house of the family dog or initials of her children. There was something really comforting about it and when we got back to California I decided to give it a shot.

I bought two really great needlepoint books from around the mid 70's (thank you ebay) I love the covers.

I also found a great screen of a deer that will be perfect for my friend Brody's birthday. I found a great place here in SF called Elaine Magnin. The woman there helped me choose thread and offered some great advice. Now I just have to get started. I have a short time to get it all done but I tend to be a little bit obsessive so off I go!

This one even comes with a sample screen and sample thread.

I should have a good chunk done by next week. I will post an update when I have a respectable portion done.

Thanks for looking!

bye michael

bye farrah

flickr favorites

green porn

Although this Sundance Channel series has been out for a while I just discovered it yesterday. It is amazing.