I miss you Nate...

Nate Berkus that is.

 

Nate Berkus is one of my interior design idols and I miss seeing him everyday on his TV show since it was cancelled last year.  I loved the show so much that my sister even got us tickets to see a live taping of it in New York. 

I always thought Nate was a very handsome guy with that great hair, beautiful blue eyes and those pearly white teeth, he also seemed really nice and seeing him in person at his show confirmed that even more for me. 

 Oh well Nate I miss your show but your on to bigger and better things.  I am loving Nate's product line at Target and am excited to check out his new line of fabrics at Calico Corners and know that I'm sure to be using them for future projects.

So this next piece of furniture I named "Nate" in honor of the design guru.

It's was a fairly boring old end table or night stand that was a little beat up and neglected .  Doesn't look too great here but I was inspired by my design idol to give it a new life.

 

I liked the hardware but the finish was so dull it didn't show off it's cool details.

 

 I sometimes find odd things in the furniture I work on.  This time while cleaning out the inside of the cabinet I found a teeth whitening kit which I thought was funny and appropriate.

 Here is the new and improved and very handsome "Nate"!

 I decided to paint the cabinet a royal blue in honor of Nate's beautiful blue eyes. 

 

And painted the hardware a bright white in honor of his pearly whites (not really I just thought it would look cool).

 

 I styled "Nate" with a few of the things that matter to me.

Including Nate's very awesome book "The Things That Matter".

The Great and Powerful

In honor of Disney's new movie "Oz The Great and Powerful" which comes out today, I thought I would share with you the latest chair I have finished.

Here are some before pictures.  A nice cane back side chair with some fancy lines but boring in color and fabric quite old and stuffy.

The fabric was an ugly mustard velvet that gave the chair no character.

I decided to paint the chair emerald green.  I've been dying to paint something emerald green and I thought this was the perfect chance.  I love the color green, all greens and was excited to see that Pantone named Emerald green it's color of the year 2013.  I think it was a great choice.

I think the strong color helped bring the chair alive.

And to go with the strong emerald green I chose a faux leather with a cool lizard like pattern.

I thought the contrast of the emerald green paint and black leather worked good together and gave the chair a more regal look.

 Now unto the business of naming this new beauty.  I thought "Evanora" would be fitting.  

"Evanora" is the wicked witch played by the very beautiful Rachel Weisz in "Oz The Great and Powerful".

Evanora "exudes a powerful presence and has positioned herself as the royal advisor and protector of the Emerald City"

I think Evanora the chair has a powerful presence and would look wonderful in the Emerald City.  What do you think?

So I'm off to see the wizard and see if they could use a nice side chair!

Neal Caffrey's new end tables...

So I'm not sure if you noticed or not but I like to name the pieces of furniture I work on.  Sometimes I find inspiration in a name or a person before I start on the piece and other times I wait until I'm finished to see who they look like or remind me of.  In the case of these next two end tables I was inspired as soon as I started working on them by Neal Caffrey from White Collar.

Neal is this gorgeous guy who happens to be an art thief and is now working with the FBI as part of his parole on USA network's hit show White Collar.

 

When I first saw the end tables they were not that gorgeous in fact, I think a lot of people walked by 

them (I don't blame them).  Let's be honest those sofas did not help in trying to sell the tables either.  After I squeezed in between those two beauties, I realized that the tables had a really nice thick piece of carrara marble on the top so I thought worst case scenario if I can't make them attractive I'll at least end up with 2 pieces of nice marble I could use for something else (especially knowing how expensive marble can be).

 

As I decided on a paint color I knew I wanted to feature the marble tops so I picked a warm gray to cover all that weird goldish faux finish.  I decided to keep the hardware but paint it a glossy black as an accent.  The tables had classic French lines and I wanted to be able to show them off.

So here is how they turned out. 

When I started thinking of a name I thought they looked more masculine with their handsome gray paint and timeless marble tops and I immediately thought about Neal Caffrey.  I thought Neal (aka Matt Bomer) has classic good looks almost like they were chiseled out of marble (I know too much but he is hot right).  And since there are two tables I figured Neal had a twin brother and that brother sounded like an Avery to me.

  

Neal Caffrey

his twin brother Avery (haha)

Not only did Neal inspire the names for these tables but his apartment on White Collar inspired me as well.  I love everything about the apartment, I know it's a TV set but it's still so cool.  I love the architectural details, the furniture which is an eclectic mix of antiques and industrial chic, the old books, the rugs...and of course the art work.  Neal of course would have great art being he is an art thief and artist.

I think the funk-i-fied end tables would look great in Neal's apartment.

There are a couple of places they could go.  First they could go in his living room, although I love his use of the industrial stool as an end table, the tables would be a nice addition and since they have a drawer that might come in handy for some secret hiding spot a thief might need.  And the color would definitely work with his grayish sofa.

Or maybe Neal could use them in his bedroom.  The lines of the end tables would certainly fit in with that bed and the mirror base.

So here is Neal and Avery.

And to show how well the end tables would work in Neal's apartment I featured them with an amazing painting that I think would be worthy of Neal stealing.  The painting is done by my very talented brother John.  John is an artist that works in many mediums, this is one of his abstract paintings.

So beautiful......

If you are interested in purchasing Neal & Avery or the very awesome painting hanging behind them they are for sale and you can contact me here at funkifyfurniture@gmail.com for the details.

In the meantime make sure you check out Neal on the new season of White Collar on USA and let me know if you think the tables would work in Neal's pad.

Twins

This is a story of two sisters, chair sisters that is and their transformation from ugly duckling to fashionistas.  I stumbled upon the two chairs at a church rummage sale.  I had just come from a cool barn sale where I couldn't afford to buy one thing and on my way home we saw this sign for a rummage sale.  It was in the church's basement and the deal was you could fill a paper bag full for $2.00.  Wow I had never been to one before and after being disappointed in not purchasing anything at the barn I thought this might make me feel better.  As I was looking at the small stuff on the tables my dad came and told me there were some chairs in the other room.  I went in and saw two sad looking side chairs sitting there.

They were matching but one of them was damaged pretty good.  They were shield back chairs, very traditional but I didn't like the finish and the fabric, forget it, it was awful.  I didn't care about any of that but the one chair's back was missing part of the shield and I didn't know how I could fix that.  I thought maybe I would buy just one of the chairs but I felt bad about leaving the one there and splitting up the "twins".

 I asked my dad what he thought being he is an amazing problem solver, carpenter & woodworker.  My dad said he could fix it "no problem" he would just have to make a new piece and put it into the back somehow, "no problem"!  Easy for him to say, but it was just what I wanted to hear this way I didn't have to separate the girls. 

I got the chairs home and got right to work on the non damaged one while my dad got to work on the "damaged" one.  I immediately knew I wanted to paint them white.  They needed a makeover from the dark deary stain they had been for years.  My dad who is amazing worked his magic and rebuilt the shield back on the "damaged" one.  She was good as new and ready for her transformation.

After seeing them in white and how great they looked I thought they deserved something special on their seats.  I had found an awesome fabric at a thrift store a while back that I knew would be perfect.  The fabric was actually a table cloth from the 70's that I fell in love with.  I loved the colors and graphic and thought it was so funky.  It was perfect for the girls. 

Seeing them after their transformation I decided to name them "Twiggy" and "Pippa" as a nod to the 70's fabric they were wearing.  So now the girls are happy again with their new found funk and being as they are twins you can once again not tell them apart thanks to my dad.

Right now you can visit the girls at this really cool shop in Princeton New Jersey called "jane".

 If you are in the area you should check them out and a lot of other cool stuff.  Here's a link to jane  http://www.janeconsignment.com/site/.

The wait is over....

I have been hunting for night stands for at least 2 years.  It's not like I was looking for anything extremely special.  No specific style or size requirements, just two matching tables that were well built, had storage and were affordable.  They didn't even have to be vintage, I was looking everywhere I even started to shop for new ones. 

After 2 years I had just about given up.

Then one day me and my mom were out shopping at a thrift store.  We were not looking for anyting in particular just wanted to see what was new or old.  We were on our way out of the store, the trip was unsuccessful and it was a dreadful day weather wise, so we wanted to get home.  That's when I spotted them, two matching night stands.  

They were sitting over by the "employee's only" door, they must have just come in.  I ran over to take a look at them.  They looked like they were in pretty good condition.  Nice style, good size, well built, some storage, they were perfect!  My wait was over, but how much were they?  I asked a woman working there if she could tell me the price of these two night stands but she said she didn't know.  She told me they were in the middle of unloading a big truck in the rain and didn't have time to price them yet and didn't know when they could get to them.  I told her I was very interested in them but she didn't seem to care (she wasn't in the best mood).  I could sympathize with her it was really nasty out but didn't she know how long I had been searching for them???? 

Ok what do I do?  I could pretend to shop some more while keeping an eye on my nightstands, ready to pounce if anyone goes near them, or I could leave for a little while and give them a chance to do their job.  My mom suggested we go to another store and come back in an hour or so.  She knew I was starting to get anxious and knew me standing around stalking the tables wasn't going to help in fact she said if they know how much I want them they might jack the price up on me.  She had a good point.

We went to another store to try and take my mind off of them but the whole time I was obessing.  I knew they were good solid construction and in pretty good shape so I started to think that maybe they would be out of my price range.  Me and my mom discussed it and we decided I shouldn't pay more than $50 each for them (if they were still there).

Exactly one hour later we headed back to the store.  My mom decided to stay in the car it was still pouring rain outside plus I think she thought I wouldn't end up getting them.  I casually walked back in and headed over to the nightstands but they weren't there!!!  I knew it, I shouldn't have left.  Ok no more being casual I started running around the store.  Whew there they were in the furniture department!  Ok their here but how much are they?  I quickly read the tag $10 each, what!!!  Are you kidding me?  I was so excited I ripped the tag off one of the tables and carried the other one all the way up to the cashier.  The girl behind the counter said "you know you don't have to carry the furniture up here yourself, we have people to help you".  I said that was ok (a little out of breath) but that there was another one in the back if she could get someone to bring it up that would be great. 

Time to get them in my car.  Not knowing today was going to be the day I found my nightstands I was a little unprepared with my small car.  The guy that brought them out to my car was a little unsure that they were going to fit and suggested I come back with a bigger car or truck.  No way, I was going to make them fit, I wasn't taking any chances with leaving them behind.  They fit and I got them home safe and sound in the rain storm that was getting worse. 

When I got home I inspected them a little further and spotted a manufactures

name of Kent Coffey stamped in the drawer.

I looked them up on the internet and found out they were a good furniture company that had been around in the 50's & 60's and that my particular tables were made in the 50's.  I even saw that they were going for about $150 each in a condition not as good as mine.  Wow, what do I do?  If I sold them I could make a nifty little profit but wait what was I thinking I had been searching for nightstands for so long.  Does that mean I would have to wait another 2 or so years for another pair to show up.  No way I can't wait any longer.  I started getting to work on them right away before I could changed my mind.

They were stained but I wanted to paint them white so I got sanding.  Like I said they were in good condition so no repair work was needed just some fresh paint.  The handles on the tables were a very ornate brass.  I thought about changing them but thought if I painted them a cool color they could be fun. 

(not what I had in mind for storage)

I also added some funky drawer liner to freshen them up.

I decided to name them "Sophie" and "Olivia" two of my favorite names because I loved how they turned out.

So after 2 years I now have two matching, well built night stands with good storage

and a fresh pretty look that were definitely worth the wait!