back to biznets (mostly)

maison21 must admit due to recent events, he's been ignoring his biznet somewhat (with sincere apologies to my clients, FYI). so this weekend, we got things back on track by putting in a call to our inner junque whisperer® to come out to help us with a current project. our IJW® obliged us by producing (amongst other things), a set of these fabulous hand-carved faux bois chairs for a client's dining room. they may be a little rough around the edges now, but once their finish is refreshed, and we add a fun and colorful modern fabric, they will be showstoppers- you'd never know we obtained them from a sketchy source. we guarantee they'll look like a million bucks, but at a significantly lower price tag! (side note- in our deep dark past we worked at a furniture showroom that sold a similar, if not identical chair, and we purchased FOUR for a third of the cost of what a single chair sold for waaaay back when- can't beat that!)

this is one of my favorite things about a design project- finding inexpensive, yet cool, old things and rehabbing them to complete chicness. these wrecks will look great- trust.

the quirky hand-carved faux bois detailing was what sent us over the moon when we saw these chairs. pretty darn unusual, and since several other elements of the room are being ordered straight from a catalog, it's important to have some standout vintage style happening.

we're using 3 of our faux-bois chairs around a saarinen style tulip table (to keep things feeling modern) and instead of the fourth chair, we are using an upholstered bench along a wall. space is tight in the open plan kitchen/dining area so a settee style bench is more versatile to squeeze in more than four guests when needed, and also an upholstered piece along the one small wall of the space visually looks a bit more finished than a single chair.

this photo is the original saarinen table, offered by knoll, but we'll probably use a reproduction version for budget reasons. hopefully NOT the ikea version- we have it in our own kitchen, and hate it. it's wobbly and if you even *look* at the laminate wrong, it peels off...

a snippet of our floor plan to give you an idea of the tight space we are working with. you can tell just from the floor plan that a banquette style bench works better then a single chair on the side of the table next to the wall.

to keep things feeling mixed up, above our modern table and the quirky faux bois chair/bench combo, we are hanging a big ol' french reproduction lantern from wisteria, a total bargain at @249.99. we first saw the lantern on brooke's blog way back when, and thought it was one of those "more dash than cash" items which can really help make a room sing, so we filed away it away for future reference (and when we say "sing", we mean sing on a budget- it's not so hard to make a room sing when money is no object!)

the bargain wisteria lantern- see it in action @velvet & linen. i think it's interesting how a contemporary antique reproduction can be used in a traditional way by brooke, and then used in a more modern way by moi. decorating is like cooking- you can give the exact same ingredients to 6 different chefs, and somehow each will turn out completely unique, yet equally tasty dishes!

last, though we spent a good portion of the weekend getting caught up on work, we of course spent lots of quality time with our new friend. many of you have written to ask how we are getting along (and to see if he has a name yet), and the answer is, we are getting along famously- he couldn't be a bigger love bug, and sadly outside of "good boy", he doesn't have a name yet. it will come, in time.

he-who-is-yet-to-be-named on our unmade bed, meaning richard is *under* same bed- he's still scared of the new guy...

what other blogger will show you pictures of himself in his jammies? after we went outside sunday morning, we crawled back into bed together, me to read, new guy to nap. he slept for almost an hour curled up against me, with his head on my shoulder. luckily my camera was on the nightstand so i could snap a self-portrait to immortalize the occasion, bed hair and all... i've been joking that i should name him 'tissue' because he's been so good at helping to dry my tears!

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