Wallpapers - Again - More Shopping for Papers

Display at Wallpaper Your World

 
Last month, I gleefully discussed a quick and easy trip to my Sherwin-Williams Paint store's wallpaper (book) section to review and select a wallpaper for our lower level bathroom - see see prior blog.  I was  surprised by my sudden interest in wallpapers (after many years thinking they were passe) and loved the patterns I saw in the books.  I ordered a paper and was told it was no longer being manufactured but  that my need of 3 double-rolls could be accommodated - my total cost was a little over $300 for the three double-rolls.

A few days later, I got a call saying that this paper was not available and I would have to select another pattern.  That started me on a MUCH longer journey trying to find something I liked as well as the initial paper and led to success TODAY!

Before lauding the shop (and price-point), I found in Snellville (suburb of Atlanta), I did all of the following - some more than once.  During this period (about two weeks), I decided at least twice to just paint the room but couldn't quite get the desire for wallpaper out of my head.

a)  returning (twice) to Sherwin-Williams to look for wallpaper options, bring home books - not finding anything I liked as well as the original selection.

Display at Wallpaper Your World

b)  visiting a shop in Brookhaven called Brookhaven Home that had lots of books and a very knowledgeable owner.  I was determined not to exceed the $100 per double-roll which I thought was about as much as I wanted to spend on paper and she was able to help me find some choices in this "middle range" - evidently you can go WAY higher than this.  She was having a 20% off sale (off of the listed retail price), so that was helpful.

Display at Wallpaper Your World

c)  visiting a shop in Buckhead called Wallpaper Plus link to website and dealt with owner/designer Sherrie who had about 150 in-stock papers.  They were well selected and I recognized a number of patterns from the books I had been perusing.  Her price was $66.00 per double-roll - a price-point that seemed awfully good to me.  We found several that looked promising and one that had all the right colors although it was a stripe - I hadn't been looking for and wanting a stripe.  It was so perfect, however, that I bought three double-rolls and took them home feeling very successful and frugal!  Unfortunately, when I got it home and reviewed it with my husband in the actual space, it was clear that the room would be too dark.  So, I returned it but did buy some custom blinds from Sherrie.

Display at Wallpaper Your World - Jack H. Poles Design Board

Display at Wallpaper Your World

d)  visiting a shop in Snellville called Wallpaper Your World link to website.  The shop is owned by designer Jack H. Poles III and he personally selects the papers which were wonderful - about 200 choices all together.  He also provides a much wider range of decorating services and I highly recommend him just based on what I saw in the shop.  The price - get ready for this - is $33.00 per double-roll - I had to ask two or three times!  I brought three home and selected one.

Today, with my daughter and sweet Eliza in tow, I picked up the rolls and will be handing them off to my general contractor to do the work - I am cheap enough but NOT that handy to do this myself.

Sample of Selections at Wallpaper Your World 

Display at Wallpaper Your World

MY selection

It is hard to project this into my space but I will definitely have to be a "before" and "after"!

Senior Citizen Day at Atlanta Area Goodwill Stores

It has been some time since I've been able to get to the Goodwill Stores in the area on Tuesdays - Senior Citizen Day (a whopping 25% off).  Today, I managed to visit three out of four of my "go-to" stores.  The stores (and donation centers) in this area are well managed and carefully stocked.  I have been in some stores in other locations/states and they are definitely not all the same.  The people working in the Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody stores are clearly proud of their work and customer focused and that is evident in the good-sized buying crowds.  I love the Goodwill model - they are in business to provide jobs and job-training and that is a great goal in this economy.

My major shopping interest is to find heirloom quality upholstered furniture to refurbish and have professionally reupholstered for my Wydeven Designs business (link to website).  I have purchased top-name products like Baker, Thomasville, Henredon and others at these stores.  My criterion is that the bones are intact and solid and that there is no visible damage on major components like woodwork.  I do refurbish some of the wood but I want the underlying structure to be solid.  My upholsterer is VERY, VERY good and replaces and enhances any innards that are even slightly questionable.

In addition to upholstered furniture, I also buy feather/pillow inserts, books and sometimes, designer purses.  There are probably other things I should be looking for, but this is my usual list.

Buckhead Store - Roswell Street

My first stop was at the Buckhead Store - usually my favorite.  Because it is in a trendy, upscale area, the prices are sometimes a little higher but they do tend to have great merchandise.  Today, I found a great set of Norwalk Club Chairs that are in good shape other than awful fabric (my favorite condition since I will replace it anyway and the cost tends to be lower is in rough shape).  The Norwalk brand is a very good one - I have had Norwalk pieces in my home - but the stores are no longer in business.

Chairs.  Love the shape and I paid this price MINUS 25%!

I bought a set of down/feather inserts (accent pillows) and was intrigues by a strange little footstool but didn't buy!  A really nice set of crystal stemmed lamps caught my eye but I couldn't visualize where I needed them.

My next stop was at the Sandy Springs store (also on Roswell Road).  They had a lot of furniture but nothing of the quality/potential that I am looking for so I passed on it all.

Sandy Springs Store

I do sometimes buy these loose ottoman if I need one to go with other chairs but I have a pretty good stock of them.  I did love the tall glass vase and am looking for something like this for mantle decorations.  Unfortunately, they did not have a pair.

My last Goodwill stop was the Dunwoody store (near Perimeter Mall).   It is my best "book source" - whoever donates to this location has great taste in literature.  I have a tall stack of books next to my bed so I didn't even glance at books today - I have to finish my biography of Walter Cronkite and some others before I add to the pile!

Dunwoody Store

I had a great day shopping and am looking forward to seeing my Norwalk chairs totally transformed.   I am still struggling to add a facebook connection to my blog, so here is the direct link - link to Wydeven Designs Facebook page.  This blog is featured on the following link parties - Savy Southern Style

North Georgia Art Guild Show at Lake Rabin, Georgia

Lake Rabin (Rabin County) Georgia

Lovers of the lakes in Georgia know that most are not natural but formed by intricate dam systems that redirect the many smaller rivers in Georgia creating energy and providing wonderful recreational opportunities.  Lake Rabin is exactly that kind of lake.

Ten miles long, 834 acres, and 25 miles of shoreline, Georgia Power’s Lake Rabun is a tremendously diverse fishery. Lake Rabun was created in 1915 by the completion of 108-foot high Mathis Dam and is the third largest of the Tallulah River chain.

On Saturday, my husband and I traveled to Lake Rabin to attend an art show sponsored by the North Georgia Art Guild link to guild website- it was being held at the Lake Rabin Pavilion.  Good friends, Randy and Patti Sells, are "movers and shakers" with the guild and also talented artists.  They are sisters-in-law and good friends living nearby in wonderful hilltop and wooded seclusion.  Besides that strong motivation to visit the event, the temperatures in Atlanta have been hovering around 100 (like much of the country) and we hoped for some relief from the heat by traveling north and UP!  We did find about a 10 degree difference - not huge!

Patti's Photography Display - link to information about Patti and Terry's Photographs

Photocard Purchased

I took some photographs, sipped complimentary wine, chatted with Patti and Randy and bought several of Patti;s photocards.  It was a wonderful day trip and excursion.

I loved these hats handmade by Suzi - I am a hat person and wear them all the time.  The price, richly deserved for this fine work, was a little steep for me ($100 plus).

Randy Sells display at art show.

Randy Sells Baskets - Link to contact site

Weekend Shopping Adventures and Purchases

As we do most weekends, my friend Ouida and I spent Saturday morning scouting out the garage and estate sales in the area .  Over the past year, my primary source for assessing the "potential" of estate sales so I can do adequate route planning is the website - estatesales.net.  I get three to four messages a week describing upcoming and ongoing sales in the area and most include photographs of the items for sale.  The photos are enormously helpful since they show  the kind of things for sale as well as the style/value of the items.  I am always looking for classic, heirloom quality upholstered furniture (to refurbish) and the style and evidence of value is usually easy to see.  What I can't see, which would also be helpful but might bring out too many buyers, is the price - I need a pretty good price to be motivated to buy.

Friday Sale - Crossroads Subdivision in North Buckhead - listed on estatesales.net

The best source for regular garage and yard sales has become craigslist which offers free ads by area and also allows sellers to post photos.  The classified section of our newspapers - both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the local papers - charge for ads and fewer people are using those venues.

This weekend, I had also stopped by several sales on Friday and placed bids on  items at one sale and picked up chairs I purchased at "My Favorite Place" (see prior blog).  In addition, I had purchased a set of well constructed wingback chairs from a craigslist posting and was picking up that set on Saturday morning.  BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!

Some great items and the North Buckhead sale - loved the Venetian mirror but it was over $2000 - hard to see but it was enormous.  

My purchase from North Buckhead Sale - set of 12 books all featuring different artists.  Since we are building some bookshelves into basement renovation, I know just where to put there!

Purchase made at My Favorite Place and picked up Friday.  I plan to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on these - these will be featured again!

Craigslist purchase - pair of chairs.  I plan to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on legs - graphite - and have fabric selected for these.

Another of my Friday sales.  After creating this montage, I got a call from the person running the sale telling me the settee and wingback chairs were mine for my bid offer.  I talked by sweet husband into abandoning a project in the house and helping me pick these up immediately - they barely fit into our van.

Finally, the Saturday sales - not too many going on but we did find a great neighborhood sale on Flagler Avenue near Ansley Park.  Ouida got that wonderful bowl for $5.00 - a Vera Wang for Wedgewood!

And I bought this chair with matching ottoman (Pearson - great brand) for $30.   Best deal of the week!

I am still working on how to connect my blog to my facebook page so until I figure it out (or someone kindly explains it to me), I will be linking here - link to facebook page

A Visit to My Favorite Place - Last in the RED, WHITE and BLUE Series

5596 Peachtree Industrial

Atlanta, GA 30341

This is the last of my almost week-long series of RED, WHITE and BLUE postings in celebration of the 4th of July.  Instead of going to my magazine or internet sources for inspiration, I visited a local Atlanta shop appropriately called "My Favorite Place".  I am also showing some recent and current red, white and blue pieces from my own inventory - ending that nostalgic trip.  

I was trying to figure out how to describe this place and thought I could do no better than one of the review comments:

You have to brace yourself and gird your senses for an onslaught of late-20th Century refuse, but if you have both patience and persistence, eventually you will find something amazing here for very little money.  My Favorite Place is like 22 junk stores crammed into 10,000 square feet.  Their inventory changes constantly and they do their best to keep things organized.  It's cramped with stuff, in other words, but just short of overwhelmingly so.  But you had better come with a really good eye and a sense for what piece of absurdity might look cool with the help of either some irony or the passage of time.  Macaroni art?  Check.  1974 Atlanta Falcons glassware?  Check.  Hideous wizard statue?  Check.  I bought a Native American-wearing-a-wolf-pelt-on-his-head bust from here that I absolutely treasure, for instance.  And a giant framed portrait of a snowy white kitten.  It's like all thrifting...you gotta go a lot to maximize your chances of finding gold.  I've had both amazingly rewarding days there and days I wondered why I ever go at all.  At the very least, I can't think of another place in town like it.  You should go.

I have been stopping by this place, off and on, for over 20 years and I agree with these comments.  Sometimes I wonder why I bother and other times I am intrigued.  I've actually not bought much but yesterday I did pick up a pair of chairs and a nice bolt of neutral fabric - all for less than $100 (more on that later).

It was not hard to find red, white and blue items in the store and definitely some strong "Americana" pieces.  I captured these just for the joy of it!

Chairs at entrance - love the styling and what a great shade of blue! 

These would fit right into my home! 

That blue corner cabinet is great!

The Red, White and Blue Hammock should definitely have been snatched up earlier in the week!

Here are some RED, WHITE and BLUE themed pieces from my Wydeven Design collection - current and recent!  link to website.

2011 - White chaise - just add red and blue! 

2011 - Blue and white check French-style settee.

2011 - Blue and white loveseat. 

2011 - Red and white check Hancock and Moore chair.

2011 - Ballards loveseat in Duralee Ikat.

2011 - Baker wingback chairs in blue and white damask print.

2012 - Chris Stone striped fabric on Heritage club chairs.

2012 - Red cotton velvet Martha Washington chair. 

2011 - Blue and white country French chairs.

I am still trying to figure out how to add a "facebook" link to my blog and until I do I will just show a link (any advice out there would be appreciated) - link to facebook page