Live Like You & Marmalade Interiors
  • Furniture makeovers

  • 21Sep

    12 Comments

    Here’s what happened to my foyer chair!

    Posted in: Before/After, Furniture makeovers, My House

    Remember a while back… I was redoing the foyer chair?

    Many of you probably won’t like this makeover, but it’s funny how you plan on doing one thing, and then you do something completely different.

    This is where I started out…

    I had so many fabric choices I couldn’t make up my mind.

    I needed it ready for a photo shoot on a certain day, so that ruled out a couple of my front runners like the yellow bamboo.

    I then decided I didn’t want anything too cute.

    Here is the chair originally.

    Enter…

    Martin Lawrence Bullard fabric. He is a design genius. But yep, everyone might not agree with this print as the first thing you see when you enter.

    But I wanted the chair to be it’s own entertaining vibe. And I wanted all the colors to tie in with the three rooms you see when you enter the house. I also want to be able to move it soon to another room.

    Hello lively chair?

    The outside and the back of the chair I covered in black velvet. The legs got high gloss white paint.

    That way the print is only busy from one direction.

    I added contrasting black velvet piping to add some definition.

    Is it the perfect look with the wall and floor?

    No. But it entertains me.

    And I can’t really see anything wrong with that?

    After all, our home is a place we should be who we are….or perhaps figure out who we are?

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  • 18May

    23 Comments

    Installation day for a client

    Posted in: Before/After, Furniture makeovers, Marmalade Interiors

    The easiest and quickest part of designing for a client is coming up with a design, style and colorway.  The hardest part and the majority of the job is to come up with solutions for lifestyle, storage, lighting and all kinds of practical things.  And then there’s a huge amount of hours spent ordering and tracking shipments. You really can’t make a move without having a measuring tape in one hand, a hammer in the other, a phone in your ear, and be ready to move furniture around at all times.  But when you install a job you do get to see how something you imagined in your mind come to life. And that’s a lot of fun.

    We just installed a job this week, my camera battery went dead, so for now I only have a few Iphone images to share.

    You get to see how something like this…

    ..a 30 second drawing I made for a Marmalade Design private label headboard for my client’s daughter. (It might not look so great on paper, but I know what it was in my mind.)

    You get to see it turn in to…

    ..this. Here the guys are installing it.  I picked a fuchsia velvet with slight sheen and used nickel nail heads.

    It designed a flat top to fit into the room’s slanted ceiling. It’s called “The Rebecca Headboard”

    After sketching it I go over to Cris….

    …and we measure and draw it out on wood to get just the right shape.

    I loved seeing it in real life!

    I got to see how my Marmalade Design private label KEY DUVET in BLUE looked.

    It was wrinkled straight out of the package in this quick Iphone image. And you can’t see the color combination’s here either. But it picked up on the blue which is on the pillows and curtain trim in the room.

    Oh well later, better pictures.

    Instead of opting for a Pottery Barn or Ikea chair if you want it budget and kid friendly, I took a vintage chair…

    …like this one, and turned in into a little fantasy chair…

    …with dalmatian style polka dot print. Everyone can have a Pottery Barn or Ikea chair, but only one little girl in the world will have this. That’s what I like about it, and recycling.

    All items had to be scotch guarded to be protected from kid spills.

    In the kitchen I added another vintage piece that looked great to begin with…

    …but I re imagined it spunky yellow.

    So many antique dealers and vintage dealers probably cringe at some of my makeovers.

    Oh do I wish I had a great image, because this piece is so happy in here! Just the sunshine the gray walls needed.

    It has silver fixtures now.

    This chair below I had up holstered in a leopard for my client’s previous home a few years ago.

    But now I redesigned it to look like this…

    …in olive green with mod black fabric seat.

    Well at least I had my Iphone…I’ll share better pictures soon!! But it’s always the best part to see how something comes together. To see that the colors look right, and that a piece fits perfectly in a spot.

    PS. Don’t forget to follow LiveLikeYou on Facebook. I share daily updates, inspiration images and design ideas.

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  • 15Apr

    13 Comments

    The love of reinventing furniture!

    Posted in: Before/After, Furniture makeovers

    I grew up in a home where we washed plastic bags, conserved energy and any item that had been one thing, got reinvented to something else. I used to be angry and even embarrassed of all this salvaging!  Bed covers  became towels after they broke, or perhaps even curtains, and lots of things were bought second hand.  Items were always reborn some way.  What I didn’t realize then was that my mother was an avid environmentalist way before it was cool!! She did what we all should perhaps do today — curb consumption and do our best to reuse and reinvent. Boy how smart she was!

    Inspired by my mother, and looking at the world we live in today…it feels extra important to offer a vintage, or a custom vintage option for most items you can buy in rooms on LiveLikeYou. Perhaps there’s someone out there who wants to decorate their home with a clear conscience, or who will simply just be inspired and go home and reinvent something.

    Here are a few recently reinvented items that will go on the site…

    This lovely, well constructed but sad looking French chair will be a vintage item in the personality “Glamour Girl”. I had Omar finish it in a high gloss white lacquer furniture paint (you can paint with regular paint at home).

    Then I selected a Kelly Wearstler inspired fabric for the upholstery.

    When it came back from the upholsterer it looked like this.  We have a two of them, and the hard part will be to let them go!!! Why is it that you always want everything you makeover for the site?

    It has black ribbon with nickel nail head detailing. After all it’s going to be sold and it needs to have all the little details “going on”.

    It will be the perfect “GREEN” option for the chairs in Glamour Girl Foyer!

    A client of mine gave me these chairs below that belonged to her Grandmother in Sweden.  She didn’t like the look of them. Of course I wanted them.

    This chair…

    Which actually had nice wood, but oh well…Now looks like this…

    It got a shiny chrome finish and yellow velvet upholstery. You can still see the old fashioned flower detailing on top but it has a modern look now.

    Snappy little chairs. Would look great against a black wall.

    They will find a nice home somewhere hopefully.

    And this mirror…

    …got a quick makeover with high gloss black paint. It’s very heavy and has nice brass details. (check out Luke’s bed before makeover in mirror reflection, and me the professional photographer…)

    It know looks pretty expensive with it’s perfect shiny coat of paint. This will be a vintage items in the Glamour Girl Dining room.

    I love how items can go from old…to new.  We should all reuse as much as we can!!

    Perhaps you’re painting something this spring weekend?

    P.S. CONGRATULATIONS TO GIVEAWAY WINNER DEBORAH SCHUSTER!!!  TWO FAB PILLOW COVERS FROM WWW.FABULOUSBUTFRUGAL.COM ARE ON THEIR WAY!!

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  • 18Aug

    14 Comments

    A dining set reinvented

    Posted in: Before/After, Furniture makeovers

    It’s great when you happen to pass a piece of furniture that’s been overlooked in a second hand store, so they’re practically giving it away. I of course, can’t help myself and have to buy it.

    There’s always something you can do with it. There might be that someone, that it would just be perfect for…

    These chairs were larger scale, and I thought great for a man’s apartment. So a few weeks ago I picked up the six chairs and the table. Glad I remembered to take some pictures with my Iphone.

    It had three leaves and was nice and sturdy. Add some black shiny spray paint..and a little gold paint.

    You can find lots of different kinds in craft stores and home improvements stores.

    A couple of yards of this…

    Zigzag Village Green/natural $ 7.99/yard.

    …and you’ve got a whole new dining set and a happy client.

    Some quick and not perfect snapshots.

    I can’t wait to see them in the apartment.

    Until they ship they’re in my garage! They kind of look great with my old car. Gives the set a masculine feel…

    Think they will cheer up a rental apartment in New York.

    I’ll show pictures when we everything gets installed! I thought this dining set would find a home.

    Stay tuned for the next Giveaway. As I said earlier the giveaway’s will only be things I obsess over…this next one is what Luke would call S-I-C!

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