2nd!!! Last!!! Final!!! Post on the Cape Cod Showhouse Bedroom (you know I'm lying.....)

 I really thought that this would be the last post on this room.....
but it turns out that I can squeeze another one out before I'm done.
(that didn't sound right, but I'm too lazy to figure out another way to say that. You all can give suggestions in the comments section!)

Let's see, where were we?????
Continuing with this bedroom which is one of my all time favorite rooms that I have ever, ever, ever, ever done, let's study the twin beds.
I installed a pair of half testers over the beds.
(half testers are the valences that hang over the head of a bed creating the look of a half canopy)
I love the look of half testers, and have one in my bedroom in Massachusetts.
In the case of these beds, since there was a beamed ceiling, I used the edge of the first beam to dictate the depth of the tester.
This created a deeper valence than I usually do over a bed.
I usually have one that's around 15" deep.

Here's the one in my Massachusetts bedroom, it's not as deep as the Cape Cod ones.

Sometimes I hang pictures over the back drapery, and sometimes I don't.
In my own bedroom, since the headboard was tall and the ceiling was low, there wasn't much room so I left it bare, hanging pictures on either side of my queen bed.
In the shot below, since there was a lot of plain fabric and only creamware plates on the wall, I chose a pretty pair of bird prints in silver leaf frames.

For reading light, I hung an antique pair of tole sconces that I had rewired and added a 

candle wax slip and custom smocked cream silk shade

This is the clearest I could get the picture enlarged.....sorry....

The great thing about doing showhouses is that you end up with cool stuff in your home, this way you can justify the expense of doing these projects.

I installed these sconces in my Watertown bedroom, and loved them.

In my new Massachusetts home (well, new 12 years ago.....), I have no use for them, so they're in a closet. I love them too much to get rid of them. 

Oy.

OK, back to the showhouse room.

Between the beds, over the night table, I hung a pair of "creamware" plates that I found in a junk store. They aren't real creamware but from the forty's.

I wanted something between the beds, but something without a strong pattern.

Since doing this showhouse, I have stumbled on some more of these plates, and have hung them in my Massachusetts condo master bath.

Here's a better closeup of the plate. See, it has a pretty basket weave effect on the surface.

I know nothing about these plates, but looooove them.

OK back to the Cape.

Between the pair of beds, I placed the matching night stand.

As I mentioned in my last post, I don't usually like furniture in a suite of matching pieces, but in this case, for some reason, I think they are 

SPECTACULAR!!!!!

I found a pretty green alabaster lamp and had the shade made for it.

It's hard to see in the picture, but it has a silk and crystal bead trim hanging from the edge.

The retro phone is a refurbished one I picked up in an antique mall in New Hampshire.

It now sits on my desk in Massachusetts, looking good but getting in the way.

The receiver is too heavy to have long conversations, it doesn't have a speaker for hands free work, and the ringer is sooooo loud that it scares the #$%  out of me every time it rings.

I'm considering putting it in the closet with my pair of scones.......

I used the beaded shades in my current living room, so here's a better close up.

The trim was from Scalamandre, I don't know if they carry it anymore, everything pretty seems to be disappearing. Over the beaded trim the custom lamp shade maker, Blanche Field, applied a ribbon with metallic gold edges. Then, in the middle of the ribbon, a cord was covered with the twisted ribbon and sewn on.

This kind of workmanship is rare and expensive, but if your are obsessed with details like I am, you find a way to pay for this stuff.

I'd rather have this then go to fancy restaurants.

Of course, I don't like fancy restaurants, they frown on sweat pants.

Sometimes when I dress a bed, I stack the pillows against the headboard.

Sometimes I stack them flat.

In this case, since we didn't want to cover the painting on the bed, we stacked them flat and placed a pretty needlepoint pillow against the pile.

I say "pretty" because I designed and needle pointed them.

I now have them in my Massachusetts condo in my living room.

I had the brilliant, ha, idea to make the letters look like ribbon.

Well, I don't think that I accomplished that, but at least you can read what they say.

The R and R stands for rest and relaxation, since this was a vacation guest room.

I don't think anyone figured that out, and probably thought it was some guys initials.

At the foot of the beds, I folded a pair of matelasse coverlets.

They were inexpensive from Bed Bath and Beyond.

 The way to get the pattern to stand out is to wash them in hot water and then dry them on high.

Another trick I use when dressing a bed for a photo shoot.....

If the folded quilt or throw at the foot of the bed looks too flat, then I fold it around a down comforter. 

That's what I did here.

I'm a woman.

I can fake things.

On that note,

Later, Gator

Before the Year 2000 Cape Cod Showhouse....

I don't remember the exact year......

It was some time in the 1990's.....

Oy....

anyway.....

Below is the overview picture from Traditional Home Magazine of the room I designed.

Since it was the Cape Cod Academy Showhouse, it was on Cape Cod!!!!!

I chose a downstairs little room that I made into a bedroom.

The room had an awkward layout with two doors and a fireplace.

The decorating committee had assigned it to be a bedroom.

Well, there was no wall space for a pair of beds.

And since I had a pair of pretty beds,

I needed the wall space.

SO WHAT DO DESIGNERS DO WHEN THEY NEED TO REINVENT A ROOM FOR A SHOWHOUSE?????

They cover up what they don't like

 by using devices that would never work in

 REAL LIFE!!!!!

You guys are probably sick of hearing this, but two of my best buddies own Drape It, my drapery work room in the Boston Area.

They allowed me to go wild in showhouse rooms.

In this one, we used plywood to cover the fireplace and then covered the plywood with the chintz that was used in the room.

Since the pair of beds backed up to this fake wall, the lack of a baseboard was not noticed.

As you may have realized by now,

I have an unhealthy love of printed cotton.

Today all anyone seems to want is linen.

My new line of fabrics is mostly linen,

because why spend two years designing fabric if no one will want to buy it?????

Jeesh,

kids these days.

This is not what I wanted to be talking about.....

where was I?????

Oh, yeah,

printed cotton.

So, I love printed cotton, and I wanted to cover the walls and ceiling with a pretty print.

The problem was that I usually used prints that were of bouquets of red and pink blooms.

But that wouldn't have gone with the orange color of the wooden beams and moldings in the room.

I worked my way through several fabric lines before I found this pretty pattern in Brunschwig & Fils.

The flowers were orange and yellow, just what I wanted.

I couldn't believe my luck!!!!!

orange cabbage roses!!!!!

(the reason there is a grey line running through the picture, is because I spliced together two pages from the magazine.)

When we laid out how the fabric would be placed on the ceiling, since it was running between the thick beams, we didn't worry about matching repeats, but centered the pattern in each individual space.

Then we use generic gimp to cover the staples.

I usually like a double welt to cover staples, but that would have been a tremendous amount of fabric and labor. This was only a temporary installation, and yous gots to choose your battles when doing a showhouse room.

My friend Gary McBournie found the set of painted furniture at a country auction.

He can't pass up a bargain, so bought these pieces figuring I would flip my lid for them.

He was right.

I LOVED THEM!!!!!

The foot boards were painted with really pretty floral arrangements.

Each bed had a different bouquet, which I think is sorta spiffy!!!

Boy,

do I wish that digital cameras were available back then, I would have taken a gazillion close ups of details and vignettes.

Here's a front view of the night stand,

and here's the dressing table.

I'm going to write two posts on this room, so I will have more pictures of the furniture next time.

Why do one post if I can do two?????

 I fell in love with a drapery treatment I saw in a magazine, and was just waiting for the right place to try it out.

There was a radiator between the two windows, so I just ignored it, and draped the panels over it.

Since this was a summer show house, that wasn't a problem.

Be careful what you copy when using a showhouse room for inspiration.

We designers can fudge an awful lot when working with just a little money and not a lot of time.

I worked with Joe at Drape It on how to drape the swags of the valences. 

They couldn't be too full, or the casualness of the look would be ruined.

Believe it or not, 

 it's easier to do a formal look with a swag, than a casual one.

OK Kampers,

that's it for today.

I'm still in Florida and it's humid as hell.

I need to get some exercise.

You need to go outside yourself and go for a walk, 

just like ME!

On that note,

Later, Gator