Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Need More Space? Try This.


Even in a store as large as Casabella, we often run out of space. I know it's hard to believe, but with the addition of more furniture lines we needed to do something to make it easier to navigate through the store. Pictured below is one solution.
We pulled the table apart!  Two of the tables on the floor were found at flea markets, so I didn't worry about ruining a good table. Here is how we stabilized the table. We used two L brackets. That's it!

This is a table in the back of the store. Because the space leading to the sale room and restrooms is narrow, we needed two narrow tables to hold two displays. Instead of buying two tables, we sawed one in half.

                           

Again, it's secured with L brackets.

Another table is located in the jewelry section.

I used this design tip in my own home.

It's a great idea to use in a small hallway, or a room that is too small for a large piece of furniture.


Try it and let me know how it turns out.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Welcome !

I'm so excited to start this blog. I hope to share with you a multitude of ideas that you can use in your own home. If you've been to our store you've seen the various vignettes showcasing our furniture, dinnerware, table linens, artwork and many other decorative items too many to mention here.

But before I share how and why we design certain vignettes, I thought you might want to see how we actually start with the bones. (That's Ann talk for the first step in creating a vignette.) For example, we had several natural bookcases located throughout the store. I thought they needed a new look so I decided to pull out the paint brush...or I mean, roller. The first part of the process involved removing objects from the shelves and moving them into the warehouse. After getting them in place, I had to remove the shelves to paint them first.  That was the easy part.

Sanding and priming came next. I like to use oil based paint for display pieces in the store. Although it has a terrible odor, it seems to "hold up" with all of the wear and tear it gets around here.

If you're going to paint, you need to dress for it! Obviously I didn't go into the store looking like this!

Then it came time to pull out the roller. I chose this beautiful shade of gray, called Amazon Stone by Behr, that blends with our existing colors.

Finally, done!
I think they look great as a display for our new line of bags by Two Loops.

See you soon!