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