The Vamp Reveals Her Secrets

Visual Vamp ReVamp: The Dining Room

What a great response I got to the Visual Vamp Revamp: The Dining Room
Thank you all for your great comments and encouragement!
I want to share sources for some of the things you asked about: paint, furniture, drapes, accessories.

1. Paint color: I shop at Wal Mart for my paint. Sherwin Williams makes the Wal Mart brand called Color Place, and it is great paint. I personally have the color mixed in a Kilz base because of the dampness in New Orleans.

The color I used over five years ago in my guest room is called Studio Beige. To me it's the perfect "greige" that magic combination of beige and gray.

Visual Vamp "greige" in the Guest Room

I have a frayed notebook of all the ideas, swatches, and sketches of the various projects for the house that I started when we bought the house. There was one little paint chip in the notebook, and I had a can of left over paint that I use for touch ups.

With these in hand I marched off to my local Wal Mart ready to get the color of paint again. I felt a little tense when I couldn't find the chip on the display rack.


I got a person in the paint department to help me, and they took my pathetic tiny five year old swatch (with all printed information now worn off!), and put in the computer match thingee, and came up with the formula. It matched the old paint in the touch up can perfectly!

Here is the formula:

Kilz
Inside
Flat Tint Base - 330 Base 3 - gallon
B-10.5
C-16
F-1.5
KK 11y19.5

I had a client go to Wal Mart with this formula to get the paint for a bedroom we are doing, and it came out just right.

Wal Mart is also carrying the Better Homes and Garden line for Dutch Boy paint, and there is a color called Creamy Pebbles BHG809 which is very close to Studio Beige.

2. Some of you liked the bench and asked where I got it.

Visual Vamp Revamp: Dining R00m bench

Since I wasn't sure the bench would work out, I chose a bargain on JC Penneys online. It's designed by Chris Madden was and only $179. It has gone up to $189., but it's a great price for a decent looking bench that is solid.

Get this Chris Madden bench at JC Penneys online HERE

I also considered this Chris Madden bench from JC Penneys online HERE

And I really like this bench too from JC Penneys online HERE

All of these benches are around $189.

3. The mini stag heads also elicited questions.

Visual Vamp ReVamp: Dining Room Drapes, Cow Hide, Stag Heads

I got them from the shop I work in, and you can them from perch. in New Orleans online, or call me at the shop 504 899 2122!

Mini stag heads from perch. HERE

4. Some of you inquired about the white cowhide rug I draped on the dining room table. I buy all my cowhide rugs on eBay. The prices are the best. And remember unless you buy a dyed white rug, that a natural white rug will have variations in color, which I prefer.

This white cow hide rug is on eBay now HERE

The silk drapes get alot of favorable remarks, and if you are on a budget Half Price Drapes is a great source. I also love Fabrics.com where they have these shantung panels at a very good price, and they are 118 inches long and will fit the the oversize windows we have in New Orleans. You can always hem them if you have normal size windows.

Shantung panels from Fabric.com HERE
They come in tons of great colors!

The curtain rod I prefer is the return rod to the wall. I use this very affordable one from Country Curtains. It comes in several finishes; I use antique brown.

Return rod from Country Curtains HERE

5. The slip cover fabric is pretty basic.

Visual Vamp ReVamp: Dining Room white slip cover on Parsons chairs

I shop frequently on Fabric.com, and I found this great super white 10 ounce white cotton canvas for only $5.98 a yard. It's now $6.98 a yard with free shipping for orders of $35. or more. I used 5 yards per chair. I love the weight of this fabric. It's very much like the white denim Rachel Ashwell used for her Shabby Chic slip covers.
Fabric. com has tons of linens and cottons. Just spend some time getting to know the site.

White slip cover fabric from Fabric.com HERE

I would have purchased ready made slip covers, but my chairs are a bit over sized, so I had to have them made. However, I liked this ready made slip cover very much from the Etsy store Simple Linens.

Ready made white slip cover for a Parsons chair from Simple Linens HERE

6. My glue gun and staple burlap skirt also got a great response.


If I wasn't in such a hurry, and didn't have the burlap fabric laying around, I would have purchased one from Simple Linens.
If you're not DIY inclined, this is a great cabinet skirt, or sink skirt.

Burlap sink skirt from Simple Linens HERE

I also like this sink skirt from Simple Linens which could be adapted for any lower cabinet

So there you have a few of the sources I like to use. I am always happy to share them with you.

Let us know if you have any secret sources that you would like to share!

Does This Cherub Make Me Look Fat?

Cherubs, Urns, Pedestals, Statues, and the fabulous bench from Amy Perlin Antiques.

Amy Perlin, I Knew Her When

Wise men and even wiser women tell us that if you do something you love as a business, you will not only be happy, you will succeed.
I met Amy Perlin years ago when we were young businesswomen about town. She had a passion for big old fabulous antique stuff, and started sharing her passion.
We both did the required "loss leaders". I got this gig at The Southampton Designer Show House, and begged Amy to please lend me some gorgeous stuff to give my little site some cred.

Spring Tea Time

Spring is here in the South, and coming everywhere else. With it, comes cleaning out boxes of photos (remember when they where printed on paper and not a JPEG file?).
Here's a pretty flower photo in a setting done for The Southampton Designer Show House.
In the organizers' minds I was a lowly event designer, so they kicked me to the garage, while the interior designers got the inside of the house. It was a glam garage for sure, because it belonged to local NYC news anchor Chuck Scarborough - but it was still a real, working garage, messy and dirty.

More Tea Please

The garage was large. My crew and I transformed it into a Tango Tea Room! For those of you in the know, this became a portent of things to come.
Sea grass mats covered the floor.
We made foam core arches in the shape of Moroccan doorways to fit over the windows.
I covered the ceiling and all the garage-y ugly stuff up there with gauzy cotton scrim from the theatrical supply. My friend Peg DeFilipis was starting her business Bella Fiore, and made me the killer faux flower garland. I added all the French wire teapots and teacups - a bit twee for sure, but I needed to get tearoom message across.
Ruby Beets good girlfriends Sharone and Honey provided the wire furniture and little antique tea table. I bought the big white vase from them and still have it! They made all the black and white toile pillows, and white seat cushions too.
All the urns, pedestals, mirrors, and architectural elements came from the then new girl on the block, Miss Amy Perlin.
Out of frame are gilded ballroom chairs wearing organza dresses placed around small tables skirted in crisp white battenberg lace. Just peeking in frame, are pedestals we made out of birch tree trunks.
Refreshments were served, mainly speakeasy "tea", in antique china cups.
A hidden boom box played tango music.
It was the most popular garage on the block!