Just linked up with Maria at Colour me Happy for her link up party on inexpensive wall art.
Click here to see my inexpensive art post and then click on Maria’s logo below to see all the other fabulous ideas at her link up party.
I believe that every space can be comfortable, warm, elegant and beautiful. I would love to help you achieve your beautiful space!
Email me at lisa@lisagouletdesign.com or if in the Ottawa area call me at 613-762-0818.
Lisa
Okay I’ve finally done something with the vintage wallpaper samples from my cottage. Click here to read my previous post about the wallpaper sample book..
In June when hubby and I went to Vermont I coerced him into checking out some antique stores and a salvage yard. I love to be inspired by the many different and unique items in those kind of stores – sort of like treasure hunting. Anyways, I did find some treasures – three old skeleton keys and two antique iron trivets.
One trivet has a “M” initial for “Mom” and the other has two hearts back to back. I thought they were so cute even though hubby said “What are you going to do with those?” And even though I said that I had no idea – he knows me well enough to know that I would eventually find some way to use them.
Well, my next stop was Ikea to pick up some of their Ribba shadow boxes.
I thought I would rummage through my fabric remnant pile or use some scrapbooking paper to back the keys and trivets. But then I got to thinking about the vintage wallpaper samples I had and I decided to go through and see which one I could use as a background. Well I decided on this one:
Subtle but with enough of a pattern that it shows up and it would really showcase the black iron of the keys and the trivets.
I did actually feel a twinge while I was cutting the page out of the book but I did it!! The paper is quite fragile so I made sure that the utility knife was good and sharp and I got it done without too much trouble.
Here they are in progress. I glued the wallpaper to the back of the frame and then hot glued the trivets and keys in place on the wallpaper. Hopefully the hot glue is strong enough to hold everything in place – I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough if it isn’t!!
I placed the matting on top and fit everything back into the frame and voila!
I think they look great and I’ve put them on the small wall in my entrance way.
I know, I know I still haven’t gotten around to painting those closet doors or the powder room door black yet! But it will happen, probably in the fall, when life gets back to normal.
I think they are the perfect way to say “Welcome!"
I believe that every space can be comfortable, warm, elegant and beautiful. I would love to help you achieve your beautiful space!
Email me at lisa@lisagouletdesign.com or if in the Ottawa area call me at 613-762-0818.
Lisa
Okay, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. This is the latest in my posts about the little treasures my cottage revealed.
As I mentioned before, when we purchased our cottage six years ago it came with some furnishings and a completely packed bunkie!
After many trailer loads to the dump there were a few things that I’ve kept because I thought they were interesting and that they may have some value.
Well this is one of the treasures we found -
A wallpaper sample book from Empire Wallpapers Limited (a Sunworthy company) called Studio Masterpieces. As you can see the cover has some mildew damage as it has been stored in that unheated bunkie for who knows how long. And I have to admit it is a little smelly. There have been a few protests about it’s odour since I brought it home….
The previous owner’s used the book as a place to press leaves and flowers and there were tons of them still in the book when I found it. Luckily that didn’t seem to do much damage to the pages inside.
As there was no date anywhere on the book I did some digging and found out that this book is from the 1940’s (twenty years older than what I originally thought).
Here’s some of the beautiful designs:
This one is called Dinner Date here’s the description of it that they included below.
Some more floral patterns.
And some leaves in different colourwaves…..
This one is called the Canadian Sportsman – the description follows below.
This one is called Pillement Chinese.
This one is called Williamsburg.
There’s even some ones called Moderne.
This whimsical one is called Old MacDonald.
And this one – Scarlet Pimpernel – of course!
These wallpaper samples are all painted and I was thinking of framing some of the images or perhaps framing them inside wall mouldings as a feature. Though, I have to admit I feel a little apprehensive about actually cutting them out of the book.
What do you think I should do with them?
I hope you are all enjoying your summer I certainly have been and I’ll be taking some time off so this will be my last post for a little while. Have a great weekend! Cheers!
I believe that every space can be comfortable, warm, elegant and beautiful. I would love to help you achieve your beautiful space!
Email me at lisa@lisagouletdesign.com or if in the Ottawa area call me at 613-762-0818.
Lisa
Okay, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer about the little painting in my previous blog.
Well this little painting was found in the bunkie with a broken frame and glass and I thought it was so lovely that I had it looked at by an antique dealer.
Here’s an up close shot:
Well, it was deemed an original watercolour in very good condition. The colours are quite vivid with very little damage considering it was kept in an unheated bunkie for at least 10 years. It is dated 1871 and has an original signature of E. Batt or Bait. The antique expert said it was done by an amateur painter, probably a woman and that it was likely painted on site but that the people in it were probably added in.
I just thought it was so charming that I had to get it professionally framed with archival glass and matting, and then I brought it home.
I’d love to know where exactly it was painted – the dealer thought maybe eastern Canada. Does anyone recognize the landscape in the painting?
There are still a couple of other items there that I haven’t gotten too. One, I pulled out a few weekends ago while my friend and fellow decorator and blogger, Sonya Kinkade was up at the cottage with me. Well, she was practically ready to arm wrestle me for it, so stay tuned for another post about yet another treasure from the cottage…….
I believe that every space can be comfortable, warm, elegant and beautiful. I would love to help you achieve your beautiful space!
Email me at lisa@lisagouletdesign.com or if in the Ottawa area call me at 613-762-0818.
Lisa
My hubby and I purchased an old cottage about six years ago. It was in very rough shape and needed to be gutted and rebuilt. But that’s for a bunch more posts. Anyways, the previous owner left many items that she didn’t want to move and so we became the recipients of many interesting items.
I insisted we keep some of them much to my hubby’s despair and a few of them have turned out to be precious little treasures.
The first piece was this desk that had belonged to the owner’s grandfather.
I couldn’t bear to get rid of it, I think I was more sentimental about it than she was. Anyways, an antique dealer has told me that it was a library desk made in the early 1900’s of oak – in the mission style except for the scalloped edges at the front – a decorative touch the carpenter decided upon.
It has these cute little shelves on each side to place books on from the side.
It has it’s original finish with marks, scratches and drops of paint but I’ve been told not to refinish it as that will negatively affect it’s value.
So now it has a special little spot in front of the window at the cottage with it’s finish intact.
Then there was also an old 1920’s chair that I refinished and blogged about here.
If this wasn’t enough there was also a tiny Gibbard drop leaf side table which was in sad shape. There were cigarette burns on the top and a piece of the leg was broken. While I refinished it my Dad (the handy guy) fixed the leg and now it resides in my living room. Gibbard was too good for the cottage!!!
Isn’t it a cute little table.
(P.S. Don’t look at the wing chair upholstery that is on the list to be redone.)
Now see if you can see what is in the frame in the above photo – it’s another little treasure from the cottage. Stay tuned for a post about it soon.
I believe that every space can be comfortable, warm, elegant and beautiful. I would love to help you achieve your beautiful space!
Email me at lisa@lisagouletdesign.com or if in the Ottawa area call me at 613-762-0818.
Lisa
I have been so loving these lovely stump stools and end tables that are showing up everywhere. I have a stump from my cottage in my backyard right now that is patiently waiting for me to actually strip it and level it and varnish it.
Poor thing!
Well here’s some to inspire you and maybe you’ll get yours done faster than me.
House & Home May 2010 – Janis Nicolay
Looks so cool and modern doesn’t it…
House & Home Sept 08 James Tse – Mimran home
Here’s an outdoor setting with tons of interesting stools – so many different shapes.
House & Home Sept 08 James Tse – Mimran home
Here’s one that makes a fantastic focal point at the end of a hallway.
House & Home Sept 08 James Tse Mimran home
Another serene bathroom with lots of natural elements – again the unfinished stump stool.
I believe that every space can be comfortable, warm, elegant and beautiful. I would love to help you achieve your beautiful space!
Email me at lisa@lisagouletdesign.com or if in the Ottawa area call me at 613-762-0818.
Lisa
I was doing a little clean up of my office and found some old sketches from school that I thought some of you may find interesting.
These are from a class I took called “Perspective Sketching” and we had to do a room perspective and then colour and shade it to look as real as possible. Here’s how we did it….
So first you start with a grid.
You then place the corner of the room in the corner of the grid and work out from it.
Once you have all the furnishings in the room, you then add the finishing details such as the texture in the fireplace, flooring, lighting and fabrics.
Finally you photocopy the original black & white sketch and then colour and shade the photocopy.
Here’s the finished work:
And another example of a bedroom sketch – done the same way.
These two sketches took hours and hours of work, but it is kind of fun for me to look back at these and see that they were pretty good. At the time I could only see the mistakes – funny how time gives you a different perspective.
I believe that every space can be comfortable, warm, elegant and beautiful. I would love to help you achieve your beautiful space!
Email me at lisa@lisagouletdesign.com or if in the Ottawa area call me at 613-762-0818.
Lisa
