Cover Girl

About two and a half years ago...when I owned this house,  I was contacted by a magazine editor who loved it and she wanted to photograph it!

Well guess what, somebody finally did 

and she's now officially a 

"Cover Girl"

As many of you know I sold the house completely furnished.

When I stopped by for the photo shoot I sort of felt like a ghost...coming back to haunt my old house...that lasted about 5 minutes 

and it was back to business as usual

This is the first issue of a new magazine 

which will come out twice a year.  

It's more of a book format and 

has no advertising. 

It can be found at book stores and magazine stands in most states.

The stylist for this shoot was Sunday Hendrickson 

and we really had fun. 

Sunday definitely knows what she is looking for 

as she styles on each room.

I have to say I was relieved to see there would 

not be a single bowl of green apples 

or the usual pair of "Wellies" on a stair step!

Sunday's styling is very natural, 

relaxed and real

The writer is Marie Albert and she really captured all of the details about the house

and the story correctly.  I really like her style of writing too....

I spent at least an hour speaking with Managing Editor Janet Mowat,

 who was so kind and interested in the story behind this house as well! 

LA based photographer John Ellis took all the shots for this article.  

Sunday did a great job on the kitchen shot. 

OMG there all all my great  "egg" signs!

What is it about these old signs....they are just wonderful.

I brought quite a few things for the shoot too...including lots of oranges, lemons and limes

from our orchard in Ojai

We all thought the shot above might be the cover...

which I think would have looked great as well!

The colors of the tulips and the quilt are so great together!

I styled the little cabinet  with Roseville pottery and  lilacs that Sunday brought.  

I added a new/old sign I bought a while back 

that says

 "flower plants for sale" 

There are also some fresh limes from my garden!

The side bar in the photo above gives the reader detailed instructions 

on how to create the slip covered headboard 

I created in the guest room.  A really nice idea.

Below is a photo that I took right before 

we put the house on the market for sale

and here it is in the magazine...over two years later!

Thank you so much to the Harris Publishing Family,

 Sunday Hendrickson 

and John Ellis... 

and especially to Malia....the new owner of this wonderful little house!

It's been a pleasure!

happy decorating

~kelley~

Added to the bucket list

 a few more little bucket lamps 

for the breakfast room

 these ice cream buckets are painted a wonderful aqua/teal green

 you may not remember my other bucket projects 

so here is one to take a peak at

 the custom shade I had made in fabric from those wonderful 

old drapery panels 

my new neighbor Ellie

so generously gave to me
you can read that post here and here

Ellie is hard at work renovating her home

 and I am hoping she will let me have a peek next time I see her!

 this is a small and sunny little space just off the kitchen 

and will change a bit when the kitchen is renovated

  there is not much room 

so every square foot matters

 I'm not sure how I will re-work the furniture 

but I like it in this cozy space and I think it is right for the age
and style of this ranch house in the country

 the roof line is really odd and low 

but can't be changed unless we pull the whole roof off

so that needs to be worked around

 I probably should have a table with leaves to extend the size of the dining area

but....just don't think I will do that either

 I'm sort of committed to the idea of small and tidy

which makes life pretty simple in this house

 there will be a window seat where the vintage planter is now 

so the lamps will need to be placed somewhere else

it's interesting how the vintage Ralph Lauren fabric on the shades

and the Benison fabric on the chair seats go so well together.

 I love these lamps in this room and will need to come up with some new ideas how I can work them into the new kitchen design

 do you have any creative ideas
or interesting spots for table lamps?

I'd love to hear your ideas

happy remodeling!

kelley

Cutter Quilt Cushions and Kubu Rattan

 For those of you who have followed The Polished Pebble for a while,

 you know that I am a serious vintage fabric junkie

 I love old quilts too and found this great looking "cutter" on eBay

Thought I might use it for some pillows...
but then....the plan  changed

 I have two of these really huge Kubu rattan chairs on a back porch
and the cushions were plain beige sunbrella...

BOOORE---IINNGG!

 The old quilt top has tons and tons of character and dozens
 of small little patches and stitches of hand sewn love!

 It looks like Grandpa's shirts were the main ingredient,
mixed in with some really old homespun and small little checks

It is really more of a patchwork with very little quilting...
which made this so much easier to cut up

All of the different colors of faded fabric and a really soft feel from all the years of use make this wonderful to sit on...
just ask my napping Husband...
oh and my dog Millie approves too!

 I paired the cushions with some vintage striped grain sacks
purchased from my wonderful friend Wendy Lewis

 The back cushions sport the same red stripe
as does the ottoman

 We made a  few new pillows from "left overs" to add to the mix...everything being reversible to a different look

 The seat and ottoman are backed with new cotton/linen heavy weight fabric with a very simple cream stripe....I can flip them over in case I get tired of the quilt

 But that may be a while....

the upholsterer really stuffed the seats at my request....

lots of extra fill and poofy crowned centers

 Kubu rattan has been all over the design blog world for quite some time and I have to say I love it too!

These chairs came from Halo Styles and are really like a chair-and-a-half...
super wide and deep

 It's fun to think of new ways to use vintage fabric and really mix it up...
my poor upholsterer usually calls me at least three times
 during one of these crazy projects

 The chairs sit under a covered porch most of the time...
but I love the look of really faded fabric too, so no worries here

 By the way "cutter" quilts are those that have problems
like tears, stains and holes

they are great for craft projects
and things like this,
because you don't feel bad when you cut them up
and usually they are really well priced

 

one final note:

A big shout out to Wendy from Textile Trunk

She was featured in an article in the LA Daily news and asked me to send them a  few photos of the many projects I have done using her fabric

You can read the article here

Hope you are enjoying the end of summer...and did you notice how the ice tea got lower and lower as the I wrote this

I must have been thirsty

; 0 )

Michael S Smith Style...my (zero) budget

Remember this little post here

love this fabric...lot's of ideas...fun stuff

Pretty good I think....

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