Photography by Christina Wedge and Sarah Dorio.

• You are very nice and good and smart and have great taste in reading when it comes to online shelter-related content.
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• I suck.
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• The reason I suck has to do with you awesome people who are very nice and good and smart and have great taste in reading when it comes to online shelter-related content. You have read it, you have Facebook-liked it, you have Twitter-tweeted it, you have told your friends to read it, you have told your friends to Facebook-like it, you have told your friends to Twitter-tweet it. And all of your selfless efforts resulted in THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS.
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• All because of this here spot on the information superhighway, my life has changed dramatically — in a good way. [ONE] It led to me starting my own production company which not only produces high-end, shelter-related video content for the Interwebs and the flat panel TVs, but also editorial content, similar to what you find here on this silly little site. [TWO] Due to all of this production work, tons on the East Coast and tons on the West Coast, I have two homes now, one in Atlanta and another in Los Angeles. [THREE] My design business is so through-the-roof, that I kinda-sorta come close to having to turn things down almost weekly, yet I don’t because it’s all potential content for this here site which you very nice and good and smart people with great taste in online reading when it comes to shelter-related content would most likely want to read. [FOUR] I now have a job as a producer on THIS design series which I have watched religiously since its inception back in 2006.
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• As soon as I am settled into this bicoastal thing, and have my biz-ness all sorted out, you can betcha that this here site will be more actively updated and packed with content that is very, very good.
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• Two words: Thank you.

While I create design and decorating content out here in Los Angeles — occasionally bouncing back-and-forth and to-and-from Atlanta where my home is currently occupied by 6’8 ex-military dudes with guns, bad attitudes and an appetite for beating the $#%& out of anyone who even thinks of peeking in the windows with bad intentions — rest your retinas on my latest East Coast concoction: my own house. The same house I spent three years working on, almost finished, then moved to Los Angeles before ever sitting on the damn sofa.

Is Gidget allowed to sit on the sofa? Yes. When there is not a professional interiors photographer in the house taking photographs, is said sofa covered with bed sheets? Perhaps.

Produced, directed and written by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Blayne Beacham and Christina Wedge, and prop styling by Alexandra Hernandez and Laura Green

“In a town full of phonies — I’m not afraid to be me.”. “I may look like I have it all — but I want more.”. “It’s time for me to come out from my husband’s shadow and shine.” These little verbal snippets of heaven — opening sound bytes from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — render me inexplicably happy. So much that my ears perk up immediately — like a Border Collie to a dog whistle or a school librarian to an unruly tween — even if the TV happens to be three rooms away. In fact, I admittedly live for this gorgeous hogwash; it completes my soul and warms my heart in dubious, shameful ways.

While the aforementioned, brilliantly-produced [and most likely copyright protected] soundbytes may successfully sum up all six conflicting personality types in a matter of three seconds, packaging up a person in a single sentence doesn’t work as well in real life. Hold up, this is Decor Demon, a bloggy editorial website about decorating and design; why the hell are we still on RHOBH in the second of four paragraphs? Hell if I know but I will tell you one thing: This sentence, while at first seemingly random, is being used as a “bridge” or a “pickup” if you will — two screenwriting terms used in reality TV production — between the somewhat-easy-to-box-in ladies of Rodeo Drive and a sharp, savvy, southern blogger from Buckhead, Blayne Beacham.

The young Atlanta native has spent the past six years working as Creative Director of her family’s real estate firm, Beacham & Company Realtors, where she works on the visual marketing of stunning, spectacular southern homes. She is a photographer, a gallery artist and a writer — three very different things, all which require having a passionate personality. Collectively, all of these skills require extreme attention to detail, a wealth of knowledge of both geography and architecture, as well as in-depth understanding of tricky things like aperture, exposure, color theory and composition.

After initially meeting at a lifestyle social media conference called Lavish!, bloggy Blayne (who has an infectious laugh and amazing text messaging etiquette) instantly grabbed my attention when the creative cutie mentioned that after years of photographing and writing about houses, she had just recently bought her own — a cottage in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood — and worked with designers Laura Green and Anne Williams to turn the house into a sophisticated home complete with a moody palette, tons of original artwork, clever DIY projects, and a plethora of high-low mashups. She had me at HIGH-LOW.

Staying Grounded

Blayne’s living room stays grounded gorgeously thanks to a high-quality, high price-point rug from Rugs by Robinson. Although a big chunk of spending cheese was dropped on the underfoot work of art, the rest of the space was done on a teensy weensy budget. A pair of brown leather chairs butch the place up a bit for Blayne’s boyfriend, Jimmy, while an uber-affordable custom shelving system made from plywood, then painted white keeps all of Blayne’s favorite things both well-displayed and front-and-center. Determined to keep her first home’s interior as personal as it is pretty, the bloggy babydoll brought in a hand-me-down sofa bestowed to her from mom Glennis, then classed it up a bit with custom flamestitch throw pillows and striped cotton upholstery. For some texture, she brought in a weathered, wooden flea market coffee table and added occasional seating with a midcentury modern school chair.

Dressing the Nest

When arranging the lounge area just inside the home’s entrance, Blayne centered the space around her favorite piece of art, an abstract of a dress packed with texture and contrast. The seriousness and moodiness of the piece is counterbalanced with fun, playful folk art boasting a saturated blue — surrounded by a few other fashion-inspired pieces also made by Ms. Beacham herself. For casual comfort, designer Anne Williams had the simple rolled-arm sofa [also passed down from Blayne's momma] re-upholstered in a super comfy black-brown corduroy at $22 per yard. Organic materials carry on throughout the room — from the seating and the art, all the way over to a pine chest beneath the window which is topped by an alabaster table lamp and crow sculpture made from twigs. Always resourceful, Blayne repurposed tiny blue lightbulbs as robin’s eggs which embellish a bird’s nest adorably accessorizing the iron coffee table.

Traditional Palate

Overall, the dining room is traditional in appearance; however, white modern chairs from IKEA and touches of tangerine give it a contemporary update. A repurposed basket adds light from above while bringing in a farmhouse touch. Although the living room rug sitting pretty just 10-feet away was a major expense, a simple jute sisal rug from IKEA bought for less than $150 anchors Blayne’s dining room. To turn a dead space wall into a focal point, Blayne had a salvaged mantel fastened to the wall, then updated it with orange paint. The mantel is also used to ground the grouping of original artwork [made by other artists] which hangs directly above. In order to play with the ample natural light streaming in through the backyard window, 12X12 mirrors from Home Depot were added to the opening with Liquid Nails. Come to think of it, this is also a very wonderful thing if Blayne happens to have any food stuck in her teeth; she can check herself before getting up from the table, and avoid big, broccoli-surprise-embarassment in front of her fancy guests. She will probably want me to remove that sentence from this story; however, I ain’t gonna. Why? Because it’s funny, okay, and it adds comic relief. But I digress: For a bit of privacy from the neighbors, Blayne suspended an abstract painting of a bird in the center of her kitchen window.

Come to the Dark Side

Just steps from the front door of the house sits the guest bedroom which is painted a dark, glamorous shade of charcoal from Sherwin-Williams called Cyberspace. To avoid crossing over into the darkest of decorator’s dark sides, matchy-matchy hell, Blayne and designer Laura Green opted for two different tables with similar scale and proportion rather than the more expected choice, nightstands. On the left sits a dark walnut console table and on the right there’s a collapsible TV tray table made of mahogany. To brighten up the dim space, the artist slash blogger slash photographer hung framed original works she’d recently shown as a collection which bring in fresh, bold contrasts of white.

Yes, Master

The star of the upstairs master bedroom is its amazing natural light. To capitalize on it, everything has pretty much been left white. Instead of splurging on custom bedding, Blayne and Laura instead went all big box retail and stuff for the coverlet and sheets, then brought in touches of high design with custom throw pillows similar to the ones used downstairs on the sofa. Small touches of turquoise and orange were added with a wrought iron bench and an original work of art by Blayne which sports happy, tangerine-toned flowers growing upwards.

And after a full day together photographing her tasteful first home, I kidnapped the sarcastic, southern sassie and made her take photos of my own house as well as hideous before shots of a space I’m currently finishing up for a client. For realz. Click here for evidence.

Produced, directed, written and styled by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Sarah Dorio

Watch THIS. In my humble opinion, it’s the most finely-crafted movie trailer ever made, not to mention 2010′s most inspiring piece of creative work. Experiencing a great movie trailer, especially in the theater, makes me wanna bust through the doors, grab my bag of tricks and do something spectacular. To be able to convey a great story in only 90 seconds requires a meticulously-orchestrated arrangement of music, sound bytes and jaw-dropping imagery. A full-day lifestyle shoot in Athens, Ga. with the Flurry family felt just like that, getting a sneak peek at something, inspiring, profound and magical. Both Mom [Amy] and Dad [Alan] are kind human beings with professional accomplishments certain to impress even the stuffiest of Ivy League scholars. Kids, Ellis [son] and Camille [daughter], are both creative individuals who give the youth of America a good name. Basically, the Flurrys are the antithesis of those love-to-hate-’em family members we watch on Bravo; they’re entertaining, inspiring and heart-warmingly pleasant.

Amy is a freelance magazine writer, having served as a regional editor for Lucky. She has also contributed to Country Living, O, House Beautiful, Conde Nast Traveler, and InStyle. The haute momma is also co-founder of Paper-Cut-Project, a creative endeavor for which she and partner Nikki Salk conceive campaigns and styling elements in paper for fashion productions. Alan, an author and communications guy for the fine & performing arts at the University of Georgia, also writes a useful and informative blog, whatdoesgreenmean.net, which has an impressive niche following. For years, my photographer and I have worked with The Divine Mrs. F. on various local and national shelter magazines; since both Momma and Poppa Flurry loathe the spotlight, it took some sophisticated stalking on my part to bust through the front door with a camera. Once inside with an armful of flowers, tripods and reflectors, it was time to leave the keyboard typing and picture taking to us, tasking all four Flurrys with the assignment of simply being subjects. How did it turn out? Well, considering how many great moments and spaces there were to shoot that we skipped lunch and dinner so as not to miss an opportunity, I’d say pretty damn good. Not to mention, we’ve got so many stellar images that Camille and Ellis are getting their own awesome article on kickass kids’ rooms. Whoever said too much of a good thing was bad—is totally wrong.

Blue’s clues

Blue tones dominate the kids’ quarters, starting with Ellis’s room. Benjamin Moore’s “Jamaican Aqua” 2048-60 carries over from three solid-painted walls to the seventh-grader’s hand-painted focal wall. Designed and executed by decorative painter slash artist, Lou Kregel, each bullseye-ish orb sports five accent colors: from the outside in, “Chamomile” C2-153, “Larkspur” C2-313, “Solo” C2-128, “Calypso” C2-089 and “Hydrangea” C2-315 from C2 Paints. For full disclosure, especially since Amy is a fact-checking, research-heavy writer, I would like to pre-confess that I shall steal this same idea and apply it to the deck of my outdoor living room. But I digress. Like most of Amy’s I-shop-so-much-I-forget-where-it-came-from vintage finds, the bathroom chandelier was either scored at The Paris Market & Brocante in Savannah or the uber-beloved Agora boutique in Athens [a college town about an hour from Atlanta]. For a dose of high-energy, the walls were updated with “Bermuda Blue” 2061-30 from Benjamin Moore. And then there’s Camille’s room, packed with so many great objects, it’s hard not to write about every single one: her vinyl LP’s have an impressive range for someone in their 40′s let alone a third grader, the bed is a hand-me-down from Mom, linens are from India Rose and the hand-made organic dolls are from blabla. Kregel also made her mark on Camille’s room with a graphic flower painted “Capri Seas” 2047-40 and “Stem Green” 2029-40 by Benjamin Moore. Good genes, awesome hair and keen fashion sense courtesy of Amy and Alan Flurry.

Maternal instinct

As far as Amy’s instincts go, she’s kinda like a style-centric superwoman. As my photographer and I clickety-clicked our way throughout the house, the modern matriarch [a] whipped up a totally fresh lunch for the family [b] threw together an organic pizza from scratch for us [c] fielded business-related emails and phone calls [d] started one of her paper cut projects with an X-Acto knife and tons of patience [e] kidded around on the piano with the kiddos [f] did it all rockin’ a mod Lanvin dress picked up at Community, a vintage boutique in downtown Athens. While many fashion and shelter writers succumb to the shoemaker’s-kids-have-no-shoes cliche, Amy kicks it to the curb. Nearly everything in the house was discovered at flea markets and vintage stores—or, as in the Danish modern chair’s case, a neighbor’s front porch. Amy pilfered the 1950′s gem from next door [with permission, of course], then had it recovered in an Amy Butler fabric. Above the mantel hangs an original piece of art by local musician slash Alan’s Best Man, Tim Adams. Between Mr. and Mrs. Flurry, there are enough vintage novels to keep a small school supplied with reading material for a year. You know how most teens and tweens are awful, hate everything and enjoy making one another miserable? Yeah, not Camille and Ellis. In fact, they kinda enjoy each other—like for real, not just in a mom-and-dad-have-twenty-strangers-over-and-we-cannot-leave-so-I-will-pretend-not-to-hate-you sort of way. Both play piano [think Alicia Keys or Jamie Cullum versus a dying cat or maimed porpoise] and keep travel blogs focused on international destinations like France and Greece. Names of their blogs? The Ellis Zone and The Camille Star. NOTE TO SELF: Have kids by age 40 and demand they turn out just like Ellis and Camille.

Front of the house persona

The front portion of the house is packed with personal, one-of-a-kind items, both and old new. Once you step out of the den, you find yourself in what the family refers to as “The Dance Hall”. Carrying back-of-the-house-traditions up to the front, Amy went blue on the walls using “Myrtle Blossom” from Sherwin-Williams. Once your dance card is full, it’s time to waltz out into the great room sporting Sherwin-Williams’ “Sedate Gray”. At the entry, you’re greeted by a wooden bench found at a yard sale with a painting by Athens artist Andy Cherewick perched above. Aside from second-hand items, the home also kicks some custom ass. The featured foursome gathers–get this, seven nights a week—for home-cooked meals seated at a table made from sustainable black walnut by Atlanta-based designer, Marla Henderson. While Amy is the main cook, Alan is also quick to whip up something equally as impressive. The culinary gene doesn’t stop there; Camille and Ellis are connoisseurs specializing in crepes which they both concoct and ingest. Their favorite ingredient? Nutella. NOTE: When styling these images, I may or may not have paired mismatched chairs from all over the house at the table due to an unhealthy obsession with not having things that match. It’s up to you decide. The Egyptian chandelier is made from mouth-blown glass and non-mouth-blown brass. When I asked Amy where it was from, she replied “Cairo. The one in Egypt, not the one in Georgia.”. Why the hell is there a Cairo, a Dublin and an Athens in Georgia? Are we facing that much of a deficit for naming cities in this state? Stepping. Off. Soapbox. Inside the kitchen window sits an LP we did NOT steal from Camille’s room; its words and image are priceless. The black leather sofa is from Intaglia and the art above it is from Andy Cherewick.

Cash in the attic

Amy and Alan remodeled what was previously a dingy attic into tailored, tasteful spaces dedicated to both work [making money] and creativity [having fun]. While certain portions were not yet camera-friendly, Amy’s office was fair game. Green starts just outside the space with a privacy wall covered in vine. As you make your way up and into Amy’s office, the happy hue wraps itself around the room with a Martha Stewart paint color called “Floral”. Mrs. Flurry spends between 25-45 hours weekly on Paper Cut Project, depending on the scope, timeline and level of detail involved. When not in creative mode with business partner, Nikki Salk, Amy writes articles for The Inside Source, ebay’s online magazine. She and Alan designed a cozy nook strictly dedicated to feeding the family’s brains some word candy. The custom cushion was made from Amy Butler fabric. PS – if you think her fabric is to-die-for, then you’ll surely have a heart attack over her wallpaper from Graham & Brown.

Solid foundation

The Arts and Crafts-style home was built in 1910 and includes some charming local history; it was created by the Athens city engineer, J.W. Barnett [1889-1930], who lived next door, as a separate structure for his mother-in-law. As the sun began to lose its luster and Camille’s swinging back and forth came to a close, we had to say goodbye to the amazing citizens of humanity that are the Flurry family—including their handsome Weimaraner, Tyrone. But y’all come back now, ya hear; we’re publishing an entirely new article all about Camille and Ellis’s rooms faster than you can say Cairo, Georgia. Oops, I just realized something: I left the family’s dining chairs out in the yard. @#%$&&

This is the part where you tell your friends about Decor Demon, become a fan on Facebook and tweet-follow us at the Twitters.

]]> http://www.decordemon.com/2011/02/04/family-practice/feed/ 12 http://www.decordemon.com/2011/01/24/this-little-biggie-went-to-the-market/ http://www.decordemon.com/2011/01/24/this-little-biggie-went-to-the-market/#comments Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:26:42 +0000 decordemon http://www.decordemon.com/?p=2759 A peek inside the January 2011 Gift & Home Furnishings Market from a 6’5 designer’s perspective

Produced, written and directed by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Ashley Waldron Hope

Hey, I probably had one chance in my lifetime to use a title like that, okay? So here’s the deal: As an Atlanta-based decorator slash designer, I’ve been the biggest ADAC snob since embarking on this lemme-come-and-decorate-your-crib-career-situation, but recently discovered something game-changing. What the hell is ADAC? Well, for anyone not in the Atlanta area, it’s the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center, which is super high-end, glamorous, wonderful and shiny. For those of you in Los Angeles, it’s the equivalent of the Pacific Design Center; in New York, kinda like the D&D Building. Recently, I strayed from my usual ADAC-centric routine to check out “The Other” trade-only designer megacomplex, America’s Mart. The result? Oh. My. Gawd.

Remember money—that green stuff handed over to stores to get other stuff, you used to be able to save it and smells kinda weird? Well, America’s Mart is not only a delicious place for decorators and designers to purchase gorgeous items for the home, it’s also a magical place where you get to KEEP many of those green pretties. I trekked the January 2011 Gift & Home Furnishings Market and was blown away at the amazing trade-only pieces available both from temporary exhibits and permanent showrooms. Many times, I wanted to pull the showroom personnel aside and say “I think you marked down the wrong prices on your stuff; that says $349, isn’t it supposed to be $3499?”. Alas, no, it’s like ACTUALLY AFFORDABLE but looks rich-people-only-ish. Here’s a quickie first glance at the magic of the Mart. Y’all come back now in a day or two for the full rundown: who, what, where and how. In the meantime, leave a comment about any other magical design-centric place you’ve found where high-design is incomprehensibly attainable. Or else I will not like you.

Chip off the old block

Chip Wade, the comely contractor from HGTV’s mega-hit, Curb Appeal: The Block, put together this so-pretty-I-just-went-to-my-happy-place vignette. When I’m not juggling seventeen full-time jobs and a dog that pees on my bed when I brush my teeth, I will totally be listing all resources.

Le$$ is more

Design Legacy, based in Texas, offers industrial-schoolhouse slash coastal-modern pieces with smile-inducing price tags. Above all, I spent most of my time—and my budget—here. The price on the stools was so jaw-droppingly good, I bought three. And I don’t even NEED stools nor do I have a place for them; they were just too kickass NOT to buy.

Good things come to those who wait

Although I wanna go into detail about this table and those clocks above, I’m outta time. You nosh on THIS while I go kinda-sorta save the world, then return later with a full rundown.

While you wait, go be smart and become a fan on Facebook, then hop in line to follow us on Twitter. And when I say “us”, I mean me. Thank you. Goodbye.

Produced, directed, styled and written by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Sarah Dorio

“Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little” – Gore Vidal. While I find writers quoting other writers highly irritating, I find designers competing with other designers to be ten times worse. Sure, this makes for great reality-competition-television which I LOVE, but in real life, can’t we all just get along?

Luckily, the competitive gene skipped over me completely, getting tangled up somewhere in my over-achieving little sister’s DNA instead. But on the other hand, me, myself and I are one-upping each other all day long inside my gargantuan, goes-from-zero-to-sixty-in-less-than-a-second brain. For example: Each time I complete a design project, all I seem to focus on is what I could have done differently. Perhaps, in some ways, this method of thinking is super healthy. But as far as confidence and peace-of-mind are concerned, it kinda blows.

What the hell does all this psycho babble have to do with the image of the pretty girl above, you ask? Well, lots. A few months back, I became acquainted with Claire Watkins, a fellow young, Atlanta-based designer with a blog called High Gloss Blue. She had no ego, absolutely no competitive streak and was as kind as can be. Her constant, upbeat, positive comments here on Decor Demon and on other blogs are continually optimistic, heartfelt and genuine. After reaching out to the ASID-riffic twentysomething to say “‘Sup?”, it turned out she had a colorful, DIY-packed, high/low project ready for us to shoot, her own teency-weency, flea-market-happy apartment—the same one she’d be MOVING OUT OF in just a few days. With all that being said, it was pretty much a done deal. She had me at flea market.

Sitting pretty

Overall, The [former] Watkins Residence could be best described as pretty and fun. To add instant [not to mention, well-branded] energy of the pigmented kind, Ms. Thang slapped “Spring Rain” [723] from Benjamin Moore up on the living room walls. Her not-so-new apartment sported a hideous window A/C unit right smack in the center of the wall to the right of the window. You’d never have known it—thanks to a little drapery trick. The designer created panels using embroidered “Wilmington: Multi” linen-blend from Covington [$15 per yard]; the panels could slide away from the unit when in use or directly over it when turned off. To conceal the not-so-purdy hardware, Claire upholstered a piece of plywood herself, creating a custom valence. Splurges in the space included the “Bantam Sofa” and a pair of Eames Lounge Chairs from Design Within Reach. Underfoot you’d find the 9X11′ jute “Coventry” rug picked up from Ballard Designs for a cool $239. IKEA’s “DOCKSTA” table was a major cost-saver as was the pair of space-age-ish, leftover-from-college, wicker chairs spraypainted a shocking chartreuse. As far as key accessories went, Watkins placed utmost importance on her framed photos, old sketches and a prickly, blue glass water pitcher–-a keepsake passed down to her from her Great Grandfather. All of these elements resulted in a sophisticated, happy place where Claire and Co. could relax, sit back and talk about Decor Demon [hopefully].

Room for dessert

Working girl

Although the apartment was square-footage-challenged, it had two separate glorified closets…I mean, bedrooms. Ensuring she could work from home as needed, our featured designer outfitted one of the spaces as a design studio. For starters, Claire painted the walls with “Peridot” [594] from Benjamin Moore. Did it drive me crazy that she didn’t paint the ceiling the same color? Kinda. Because I’m competitive? No. Because white ceilings drive me friggin’ bananas regardless of whose space they’re in? Yep! An assortment of pieces from flea markets and big box stores completed the studio look; the windows were flanked with IKEA “RITVA” panels customized with green pom-pom trim. The same tiny, round shape is repeated atop the window sill in the form of poppies sitting in beer bottles purchased from “the questionable liquor stores on Moreland Avenue”. Claire stripped the beer logos off with sandpaper, then combined them with non-adult, non-sketchy bottles of grape soda. Most importantly, there was just enough floor space for The High Priestess of High Gloss Blue’s one-eyed-wonder rescue dog, Annabelle.

Extreme close-up

Ms. Watkins’ bedroom was so extremely short-on-space, the only decent shot we could get, compositionally speaking, was this dresser-top vignette. So what, who cares? Space ain’t nothing but a number, y’all.

Go to your happy place: Mouse-click your way on over to High Gloss Blue for a peek inside Claire’s cyberworld.

Lastly, this is the part where you take 45 seconds out of your busy schedule to [a] become a fan of Decor Demon on Facebook [b] start tweet-following us over at the Twitters. Do it or a baby owl will [temporarily] get stuck in a drain pipe. Thank you.

]]> http://www.decordemon.com/2011/01/12/i-can-see-claire-ly-now/feed/ 66 http://www.decordemon.com/2011/01/01/dog-day-afternoon/ http://www.decordemon.com/2011/01/01/dog-day-afternoon/#comments Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:11:51 +0000 decordemon http://www.decordemon.com/?p=2367 Re-purpose a vintage suitcase into a designer dog bed…in a single afternoon

Produced, designed, written and directed by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Christina Wedge in conjunction with Houzz

To keep my sneaky Terrier, Gidget, off my spill-anything-on-it-and-I-will-sue-your-ass-off sofa, I challenged myself to some designer DIY. The project? Transform a vintage suitcase into a one-of-a-kind dog bed. Although I’d like to claim I came up with the idea myself, the original inspiration came from clever artisans on etsy. If the words “screwdriver” and “drill” intimidate the hell outta you, take the easy route by popping out the credit card and tossing some dollars etsy’s way. On the other hand, if you’ve got a full afternoon to kill and a dog eager to slobber on your Schumacher-upholstered sofa, you should get on top of this project pronto. It’s pretty easy, not to mention uber-cheap—I’ll even pinky swear on it. Altogether, it set me back about $55. That’s a small price to pay for a pee-free sofa. Not to mention a house void of cliche, dog-themed fabric—which may, in fact, be a secret portal straight to pet furniture hell.

Case by case

Sure, get excited about shopping for a vintage suitcase—just don’t get TOO excited. Why? Not just any good-looking piece of luggage will work; you’ve gotta choose one with a hard exterior. In this case, I got lucky with plastic; however, wood or metal work just as well, if not better. For the full story, more images and complete, step-by-step instructions, link below to houzz. Oh, and WOOF.

PS—if you care about Decor Demon, you will become a fan on Facebook and/or add us at the Twitter.

]]> http://www.decordemon.com/2011/01/01/dog-day-afternoon/feed/ 12 http://www.decordemon.com/2010/12/16/ultra-violet-xmas/ http://www.decordemon.com/2010/12/16/ultra-violet-xmas/#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:31:07 +0000 decordemon http://www.decordemon.com/?p=2266 Decking the halls in one day for under $250 using an unexpected holiday hue

Produced, designed, written and directed by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Christina Wedge

When it comes to guys and holiday decorating, I envision spaces more in sync with A Charlie Brown Christmas than The White House Holiday Special. Although I’m a practicing decorator, I’m certainly no exception to the rule. In fact, just a few years ago, my own dark, sparse apartment suggested that Halloween, not Christmas, took place on December 25th. But this year, I did kinda get into Christmas; however, taking more than a day to plan and execute it, notsomuch.

Always up for a challenge, I decided to conceptualize and bring to life my own holiday décor in a single day—on a teeny, tiny budget. To make the entire situation even more difficult, I declared red, green, silver and gold totally off limits. Instead I stuck with violet, brown, white and bronze, hitting up only three checkbook-friendly stores to find it all: Wal-Mart, Target and Big Lots. Now that my halls are decked in a less cliché manner, am I in the Christmas spirit? Kinda. Am I more focused on the six-foot, ultra-white tree in the corner throwing off the balance of my living room’s year-round look than the gifts below it? Bah humbug, yes.

Visions of sugar plum

Lucky for me, my living room’s year-round color scheme is violet-inclusive. It also sports plum, grape and lavender. No, that’s not a spelling error, lavender is with two E’s. Lilac, regardless of how you spell it, can stay the hell away; I’m not a fan—at all. To work the royal hue throughout the room, I picked up a $25 embroidered snowflake pillow and a plum-and-grape-striped, $15 Sock Monkey from Target to pull the colors from the frames down onto the sofa. As if that wasn’t enough, I bedazzled the stuffed primate with a sparkly tree ornament from Wal-Mart [$5 for a box of eight]. Come January 1st, that snowflake pillow is headed straight to storage.

Table manners

With a keen eye and tightly zipped wallet, you too can appear to have good table manners! Just kidding—kinda. Ah hell, I’ll just come out and say it: I’m guilty of elbows on the table and forgetting which fork goes where, okay? Happy now? While scouring Big Lots, Target and Wal-Mart for discount tabletop items that didn’t look so discount-ish, I decided to stay away from seasonally-themed pieces altogether. Instead, I opted for a set of white Shabby Chic plates and darkly-stained, woven chargers from Target. For ambience, I hit up the store’s accessory section, then grabbed bronze candleholders and brown metallic pillar candles—candles meant more for the turkey-inclusive holiday than the one with a jolly, bearded, deer-loving dude who plays in chimneys all night. Furthermore, the chocolate and bronze tones enhance the effect of the Graham & Brown “Illusion: Black” wallpaper—my Christmas present to myself. If you’re any good in the kitchen with those heat machines [some people call them stoves], click on over to All the Best to link to a kickass hot chocolate recipe.

Fake, plastic trees

I don’t care whatchya’ll say, I’m proud of my fake, plastic tree and all of its fake, plastic ornaments. The pre-lit six-footer from Wal-Mart only set me back a teensy-weensy $39. As far as the mega-store’s thrifty ornaments are concerned, I mixed a variety of five different styles at only $5 per box of eight. How about that vintage angel tree-topper? Creepy huh? I have no idea where the hell it came from. Perhaps she’s the Ghost of Christmas Past. And if so, sister-angel-friend can focus on yesteryear all she wants while I deal with the present. Can y’all guess what I want for Christmas this year? More readers.

Stock our @#$%& stuffing by helping us [and by us, I mean me...and my photographers] exceed 1,000 Facebook fans and 1,000 Twitter followers. Please. And by please I mean do it now or else a baby reindeer gets clocked in the nose. Merry Christmas!

Produced, written and directed by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Christina Wedge

Nothing pisses me off more than seeing Christmas commercials on my TV before seeing trick-or-treaters at my front door. Well, actually, there’s dozens of things that piss me off even more, starting with sticks in a vase shoved in a corner, but you get the point. After eight years working both FOR and ON the small screen, I kinda get the Christmas-cart-before-the-Halloween-horse thing: Nothing personal, just business. When you’re in the middle of dealing with concepts and designs that have 30-day shelf lives, it all starts to make a little more sense. Designers, inventors and marketing gurus have a small window of opportunity to get seasonal items out there—and make them sell.

As freelance Associate Producer [Design & Decorating] for a long-running Saturday morning series, I was given the task of showcasing the hottest toys for December 25th—in mid-September. Yeah, kinda hard to get into the holiday spirit when [a] it’s 89 degrees outside [b] stoplights are the only things sporting the green and red combo [c] store employees have yet to become familiar with red-nosed-reindeer.

Thankfully, the not-yet-released toys were sent directly from the sponsor; however, showing them in Christmas morning context was the tricky part. My mission, and I chose to accept it, was to showcase these soon-to-be-all-the-rage toys in a fresh, modern holiday setting. But there’s more: The on-set environment called for a Christmas morning feel void of branded-and-licensed reindeer, copyright-protected snowmen and the uber-expected green/red color scheme. Oh and yeah, it all needed to go up in about two hours—including walls. From working with a microscopic budget to giving test-runs to battery-operated mice, I brought my photographer in to capture the insanity of morning show set dressing. Will this project impress the upscale, residential-design-loving Elle DECOR crowd? No. Will it give morning show TV lovers a new understanding of how much work goes into creating a two-minute segment on Dance Star Mickey Mouse, Singamajigs and Stride To Ride Dinosaurs. Well, it better. Otherwise, I’m clearly in the wrong business.

Multiple takes

Just a few steps behind the pretty, polished set lives the grab-it-and-go world of props. For every one item, there’s bound to be two or three multiples beside it. From double-sided tape to lint rollers, from super glue to spray mount, the art department has everything a single prop’s lonely, little, inanimate heart could ask for. Segments are usually organized by table. While Table Number One sports Legos and monster trucks for a kid segment, its posh neighbor, Table Number Two, sports dainty tableware for a segment on holiday hosting. Have I ever been responsible for breaking a plate when no one was looking? Nun-ya-bizness.

Kids, Incorporated

Sure, when a camera rolls, the toys—and kid actors playing with them—are as happy as can be. That’s all due to the painstaking prep that stylists and set dressers go through to learn the ins and outs of each featured item. After hours assembling, then playing with a plastic dinosaur that transforms from a teach-me-how-to-walk tutor to a come-on-ride-the-train companion, every producer and art department professional involved knows its inner workings and how to shoot it from every angle. I personally enjoyed popping color and texture into the background with hand-woven blabla toys—way more than a 34-year old man should. But it’s not all fun and games; each non-sponsored, background or filler prop on-set must be pre-approved by someone from the sales department. In other words, there can’t be a Build-A-Bear Workshop creation on the same set as a plush Momma Bear which Toys R Us has paid big money to promote. If there was, Christmas morning on this set wouldn’t have been so jolly.

Put up a wall

When working in TV studio set design, putting up a wall not only comes with the job, it’s encouraged. Studio people refer to walls as “flats” which are pre-built using 1X4′s, drywall or foam core, and footers. Once placed side-by-side, they’re weighed down from behind using sandbags. Painting them can be rather tricky, not to mention having to hide each seam with drywall mud, then sanding it prior to paint. To create a graphic, wintry feel, I opted for wall decals. Yeah, I know..BARF, right? We design snobs are so over decals; however, when you’re creating the look and feel of America’s most bankable holiday three months early with 16-feet of empty wall space and only two hours to execute an entire look, they come in pretty darn handy. You know what did NOT come in handy? Forgetting how much precision goes into applying decals. Luckily, my art director came up with the clever idea of mounting each vinyl silhouette on clear, non-glare Plexi. This made the walls easy as hell to adorn plus it now allows us to re-use the vinyl birch trees as many times as we want. Since budget was tighter than the mens’ pants on Dancing With the Stars, I saved by using “EXPEDIT” from IKEA for shelving, then updating their back panels with “Soma: Multi-colored” wallpaper from Graham & Brown. Thanks to that little trick, I was able to spend some bills on custom, navy blue Imperial Trellis floor pillows and fire-engine red Fatboys.

Getting some action

With seconds to spare, all toys were in place and perfectly lit. The kid actors entered the set with their million dollar, Christmas morning smiles; however, my production manager’s two-year-old nephew—notsomuch. He preferred chocolates and juices in craft services over the Mickeys and dinosaurs on-set. Santa FAIL.

All we want for Christmas is for you to help us break 1,000 Facebook fans and our six Twitter followers.

]]> http://www.decordemon.com/2010/12/03/holiday-setting/feed/ 3 http://www.decordemon.com/2010/11/23/fairest-of-them-all/ http://www.decordemon.com/2010/11/23/fairest-of-them-all/#comments Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:33:22 +0000 decordemon http://www.decordemon.com/?p=2145 The Country Living Fair brings a contemporary edge to the classic, rural lifestyle

Produced, written and directed by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Christina Wedge

A few months back, I crafted a snarky Facebook status update about my personal hell-on-earth hue, beige. The smartass words garnered a comment from shelter magazine superstylist, Annette Joseph, stating “Now, now, Mr. Flynn, there is a place for every color”. Nine well-crafted, inevitably-deleted attempts at a reply later, I kinda found the talented Ms. Joseph’s prose insightful. Design is all about reinterpretation; therefore any hue, material or style snobbishly voted off the island may, in turn, oust its naysayer at a surprise, twist-of-fate elimination round. No tried and true design style is more surprisingly sophisticated these days than country.

Since starting a career in shelter-related media, I’ve looked up to two, triple-named cool cats as professional idols: Sara Ruffin Costello [Creative Director, Domino] and Sarah Gray Miller, the current Editor-in-Chief of Country Living. In fact, my very first Decor Demon article was all about Sara with no H, and ever since I’ve been dying to get up-close-and-personal with the H-inclusive, super smartypants Sarah Gray. KAZAM! The stars magically aligned and I found myself in Stone Mountain, Ga., getting a first-hand look at the magazine’s mega-event, The Country Living Fair, with the Editor-in-Chief herself.

While zipping around the grounds like a six-year-old at Yo! Gabba Gabba On Ice, I took in the eye candy that is the new look of all things country. Chickens, heart pine and doilies galore? Nope. Rustic textures, objects with character and schoolhouse industrial tables aplenty? Yes! While Sarah Gray [she has TWO first names] had to restrain herself from buying dozens of vintage dresses, I tricked my brain into thinking my debit card was broken to avoid going home with a Volvo full of mason jars, storefront signs and wire baskets. As we walked booth-to-booth, I learned some prop styling no-no’s from the Editor-in-Chief herself: one-turned-up-one-turned-down heels by the closet is considered cliche, half-eaten croissants/newspaper/coffee combos are insanely overdone. In fact, the sultry-voiced First Lady of Country had so many valuable things to say, my short attention span dubiously grew longer, eagerly awaiting every word.

Lucky for you, my photographer tagged along to capture a small slice of the magic that is The Country Living Fair, Country Living Magazine and the people behind it. So, Taylor Swift and Faith Hill, move over. There’s a new country star in town, and just like you, her talented team is reshaping the look and feel of country, one hit—or issue—at a time.

Management Material

Not only does the magazine’s editorial staff spend a full year putting the look and feel of The Country Living Fair together, they also get down and dirty, literally, to bring it all to life. Managing Editor, Gyna Soucy, gave me the lay of the land—starting with the entryway’s massive collection of pumpkins and gourds. Aside from Soucy’s everyday focus on budgets and logistics, the pretty lady and her colleagues [including Executive Editor Shelly Ridenour] temporarily assume roles of cashiers in the fair’s general store. Did I try to charm Gyna with the hopes of scoring a free baby pumpkin? No. Did I brazenly grill her for insight on the world of editorial? Hell yes.

Propster’s Paradise

You know how some people go bananas over megastars like Charo, Justin Bieber, Ricardo Montalban and Sandra Bullock? Well, I geek out for art directors and stylists. During my initial scout to check out the goods of The Country Living Fair, I witnessed a pair of shelter magazine propsters in action. Country Living style contributors slash creative services masters, Richard Koliath and Edward McCann, were at the tail end of bringing their countrylicious looks to life. After a quick little stroll through the entrance, visitors are greeted by Koliath and McCann’s stunning vignettes including affordable, country-friendly retail items such as the Country Living line of dinnerware from Kmart, Wisteria’s “Interlocking Rings Stools“ and “Louis XVI Dining Chairs“ as well as West Elm’s Walnut Veneer “Stackable” Chairs.

Man Scapes

Believe it or not, both The Country Living Fair and the updated country aesthetic are manclusive. Just steps from the fair’s entrance, there’s presentations by expert dudes who cook and carpentry dudes that kick ass. Aside from the live, animated antics, there’s guy-ish, inanimate objects galore—sure to tempt even the beerguzzling-est man’s man to drop some cash. Not in the market for anything country just yet? It’s still worth the small entry fee simply for the amazing ideas you’ll get scanning each booth. From spray painted taxidermy to typewriter-keys-turned-into-magnets, there’s much more for men to do at the fair than simply hold their lady’s purse.

Grow Old Gracefully

From French Country to vintage industrial to tiny touches of needlepoint, the new look of country is big on texture—many times through age. Something else the fair’s vignettes go to show is that country-style decorating is all about perfection in imperfection. You know what else was perfection? Every damn minute spent at The Country Living Fair. For next year’s dates and locations, be sure to check out CountryLiving.com.

After multiple book signings, a personal walk through the fair and demonstrations on stage, Sarah Gray took a breather to say goodbye and spend quality time with her Dachsund, Otis. PS – how cool are those boots?

Join the Country Living entourage by becoming a fan on Facebook.

Help us finally break our “Less Than 1,000 Facebook Fans” situation by becoming a Decor Demon fan.

For videos showing the Country Living staff at work and Country Living merchandise from Kmart, click the orange links in this sentence.

Produced, designed, written, directed and styled by Brian Patrick Flynn with photography by Sarah Dorio

In the mid-1990′s, my Mom worked as an elementary school teacher’s aide and would bring home one of her behaviorially challenged students for after school care. His name was Drew, he was a twin and he annoyed the hell out of me. Like clockwork, his Monday through Friday 2:53 pm arrival started with his Nintendo-obsessed laser eyes zooming in on a seldom-used GameBoy perched atop my meticulously styled bedside table. By 2:54pm, excessive bad kid Super Mario noise would penetrate my bedroom walls, disrupting my act of pretend-studying while actually listening to Jagged Little Pill and reading the “Stars: They’re Just Like Us!” section of People Magazine. Since Mrs. Flynn was, afterall, responsible for this gentle terror’s daily home invasion, I’d quickly throw the side eye her way as she’d zone out to Oprah over non-fat, sugar-free Jell-O with Cool Whip. That hour of what I used to consider maternal self-indulgence has new meaning after having worked a full week alongside teaching professionals in something inaccurately referred to as a “teachers’ lounge”. I’d probably call it an oversized mop closet. In fact, the only lounge-like thing about it was that it looked like it should have been CLOSED during the day.

This all came about when The Editor at Large requested my participation in a Staples-sponsored project aimed at re-designing teachers’ lounges throughout the Northeast. Five of them. Simultaneously. For free. So, of course, I said yes. Wait, whaaaa? Well…there were several reasons I rose to the challenge: [a] to kinda-sorta walk a day in Momma Patrick Flynn’s shoes [b] The Editor at Large has a pretty, orange website [c] give back to people like Momma Patrick Flynn who put up with other peoples’ brats all day for 2 cents an hour.

With a day job freelance producing, casting and appearing on a long-running TV makeover series, the idea of creating, then installing five lounge designs in five different cities on top of my already intense schedule wasn’t really an option. Installing ONE space? Well, that’s more my speed. My photographer and I chose the uber-needy lounge of Samuel W. Bridgham Middle School in Providence, RI since [a] its abundance of natural light made for great editorial images [b] the city itself was more vacation-like than work [c] we wanted to hear people pronounce Target “TAH git”. In addition to funding the project, Staples kindly flew us in, put us up in a downtown hotel and covered our transportation. Two non-profits, Kappa Delta Pi and Teachers Count, stepped it up to provide manual labor in the form of a half dozen volunteers and a pretty damn good contractor named Jim Cocozza—who, thank God, said both “TAH git” and “Hah vid” [Harvard] multiple times.

Overall, the most fascinating element of the experience was the fact that there were absolutely ZERO hiccups. Everything went according to plan, on schedule and on budget. To assure male and female faculty members could enjoy the space equally, I stuck with a gender-neutral, pale blue-grey and ultra-white color scheme, bringing in accents of No. 2 pencil orangey-yellow and chalkboard grey—no theme, but a few sporadic nods to teaching. Since the teachers spend so much of their lives inside doors, I also made it a point to bring the outdoors in. I troubleshot the kitchen, built-in and custom vending closet installation entirely through picture text messages back and forth with Jim. And let me tell you, orchestrating cabinetry and plumbing placement on a teeny iPhone screen is tricky as #@$%.

The tasks assigned to superstar volunteers Faye, Tonette, Mike, Susan, Brian, Stephen and Kevin weren’t exactly days at the spa. When IKEA said yes to donating an entire kitchen, Kevin and Brian drove from suburban Ma. to downtown Boston, ordered all pieces, set up delivery, picked up accessories, then drove it all to Providence…about 90 minutes away. Susan and husband Stephen got off a plane from a trip to Australia only to pick up the phone and secure a free plumber AND a massive discount on photography equipment rental. Diana, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Teachers Count, drove with her assistant, Benj [not a typo, there really is no "i"], to deliver a brand new Hewlett Packard computer in person. Faye, the Executive Director of Kappa Delta Pi, secured all volunteers, scheduled the makeovers AND cut-in 90% of the trim detail in the room. By the way, painting trim kinda sucks it…HARD. Mike, a Special Education teacher, did just about everything from paint and coordinate to caulk, sand and spackle while Tonette ran all over town for supplies, a steamer, Chinese food takeout containers for prop styling and a dubiously delicious frozen treat known as Del’s Lemonade…which reminds me, I still owe Tonette 60 bucks for that g’damn steamer.

Teacher’s planning

My inspiration for the design plan? Favor pulling—LOTS OF IT. Luckily, all of my key vendors jumped at the chance to help these teachers out. C2 Paint not only donated wall, trim and ceiling paint, but [a] they were the ONLY paint company to offer the same exact shade of blue-grey as the donated “Flock” Kelly Hoppen wallpaper from Graham & Brown [b] the paint masters hooked us up with local hardware store, Adler’s Design Center & Hardware which armed us with supplies. FLOR stepped it up to completely cover the nasty-as-hell linoleum. Sunbrella was quick to throw ample yardage of indoor/outdoor fabric our way. Texton, we’ll get to them later, but they kicked major ass; window treatments AND a remote control are involved. Hewlett Packard donated a brand-spankin’ new desktop computer to each of the five schools. My draper, Donna, who has four straight-A students of her own, spent endless hours sewing custom ripple-fold draperies, a table skirt and dining chair slipcovers to bring some tailored elegance to the lounge formerly known as mop closet. Murals Your Way let the sunshine in 365 days a year compliments of a giant print on vinyl. The biggest kahuna of all was Staples which generously funded the project with $12,500 to be distributed among the five schools. Ever try designing approximately 3,700 square feet of space spread amongst five states, two of them needing full kitchen renovations, with $12,500 before? Lemme tell ya, it sure as hell ain’t easy.

Hell’s kitchen

I believe I found the real Hell’s Kitchen. It was busy scaring the hell out of teachers in Providence, RI. Although the lounge-to-be began with dilapidated non-appliances, pretend-storage and potential lawsuits galore, we left it with a fully functional, modern wet space both elegant and understated. It took our RI contractor, Jim, only 8 hours to assemble the “ABSTRAKT” high-gloss white kitchen from IKEA. Due to time crunches and labor costs, installing a tile backsplash wasn’t an option.  Instead, Graham & Brown donated vinyl Kelly Hoppen wallpaper which Jim called a trusted friend to install. The No. 2 pencil orangey-yellow “Beam” mugs are from CB2.

Getting a time out

Although the aesthetically-challenged Coke machine and 1970′s fridge needed to stay, they were given an accessible, permanent time out. I concealed them with a custom food and drink closet made from stain-grade plywood, hollow core doors and 2X4′s. To identify each machine, I added acrylic letters spelling out what sits behind each door. Since I f@$king detest painting trim, two bigshots tackled the job for me: local paint guru Harry Adler and Kappa Delta Pi’s deceptively handy Executive Director, Faye Snodgress. For lunch tote and messenger bag storage, Jim performed my old trick of updating basic office supply store bookshelves with 1X2 MDF, then enlisted friend, Tom, to update the four back panels with wallpaper. Keeping with my mission to bring hints of the outdoors inside, I snagged the black wire birds from CB2 and stuck ‘em on the shelves. Wisteria gave us a mega-discount on the 12-seater French Country Dining Table with Leaves which I paired with CB2′s “Echo Custard Chair”. The upholstered seating started out as the basic IKEA “HENRIKSDAL” chair before a magical makeover from my seamstress, Donna, who whipped up custom slipcovers using Sunbrella and Fabricut fabrics. We turned to IKEA once more for a little help from above in the form of “LERAN” pendants which, for the first time in history, I didn’t even cut myself painting.

Extra curricular activity

With Kappa Delta Pi volunteers donating labor, more of the budget could be spent on materials. The only obstacle? Since none are skilled contractors, all assembly and installation of said materials needed to be middle-school-curriculum-easy. C2Paint made paint color selection a cinch with “Ultimate Paint Chip” swatches that tape up on the wall allowing a preview without ever opening a can. Once “Silk” was chosen, Tonette, Susan and Mike swiftly spruced up the cinder block. The team then moved on to assembling the CB2 chairs and reproduction Eames rockers [scored at a fraction of the cost for the real thing on Overstock.com] before moving on to the floors. Brian, Faye and Kevin completed the FLOR installation by simply laying each square in place, then attaching underneath with special stickers. Simple, yes but the sticky bitches are remarkably strong. FLOR’s uber-durable “Working Class” in Dark Gray was my choice for the main traffic areas since it’s made of acrylic and can handle just about anything. To soften, then delineate the dining space, we created the look of a dining rug by inlaying “Feeling Groovy’ in Glitzy Silver which coordinates perfectly with the wall color. PROOF THAT I AM A CONTROL FREAK: I originally typed “match” in the previous sentence, then replaced it with “coordinates” since I hate using the word match when not referring to something that comes in a tiny box and lights candles.

Extra credit

Um, first up, why the hell did I agree to appear all over the Interwebs in shorts? Oh well, cool shirt though. The window dressing situation was given extra special attention for many reasons. Although originally adorned with graffiti on the outside, the 12 x 8 foot window had me at hello. Although it’s pretty, the ample natural light makes the space hot as hell. First, Jim installed a ceiling track to flank the window with Donna’s No. 2 pencil-toned, stationary, ripple-fold cotton duck draperies. But why the hell am I sitting in front of them reading Elle DECOR with my hand raised? Well, readers with good taste in websites, scroll back up and slowly look at each of the three Flynncentric photos. Notice how the window shades close behind me although I’m glued to Margaret Russell? The white woven shades from Texton are remote controlled. It wasn’t my idea but rather the idea of Ed Williams who kinda RUNS the Texas-based company. With only 30 minutes for lunch, lowering and raising drapes by hand seemed like one more addition to the teachers’ already full plates. Now, when they’re all seated at the table, no one needs to get up to open or close the blinds. Since the room has no A/C, this is also a huge help in keeping the heat out on sensationally solar days. By the way, if the remote controlled part has you thinking “Electrician needed”, think again. Not only did Jim and Mike have the shades up in an hour, the only electrical skill required was knowing how to plug a cord into an outlet.

Show and tell

For show and tell, Donna brought her sewing skills to the table—literally. A few feet from the dining area sits a serving buffet made from a resin folding banquet table from Staples which the stitch mistress dressed up with a custom skirt. Hanging above is what started out as a simple Staples corkboard brought to the next level with charcoal linen, batting and silver gimp. Donna’s slipcover sorecery made the $59.99 HENRIKSDAL chairs look more like something from a design center than a major, modernist megastore. PS – do you know how damn excited I was to finally prop style a space with Chinese take-out? Let’s just say it falls somewhere between winning my Spelling Bee trophy and closing on my house.

Sunny with a chance of straight-A’s

The sad, existing entry wall was a damn mess. We rocked it out as a conversation space for shiny, happy people using three graphic elements: a photo mural, rockers and FLOR. Murals Your Way donated the 8 X 16 vinyl print which guarantees the lounge a permanent forecast of sunny and blue even when it’s frigid and grey outside.

Go to the head of the class

With classroom agendas all about the students, the teachers needed their own pseudo-study space. Once the fridge was reprimanded, then put in its new place, we brought in a parsons desk from Overstock.com paired with a modern, upholstered “Joe” chair from CB2. Overall, this area is dedicated to checking email and clicking through favorite websites. Preferably one called Decor Demon.

Art imitating life

Three years prior to this project, I fell in love with this trio of 1950′s classroom art prints. I knew that one day, all three would relocate to the perfect spot. Notice how everything about them relates to this project from the community involvement, carpentry and painting down to the girl enjoying her afternoon treat. Coincidence? I think not. Cue the X-Files music.

Read The New York Times article about the project and impress your friends.

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