Chapin Group Interiors : September 2013

HHM and I have been out and about searching for great new treasures to add to the booth. One of my favorite items is this fabulous wooden ammo box.. Produced in May of 1953 by the Riverside Box Company in Bloomington, IL, it was used to hold fragmentation hand grenades.

Need to get more organized this fall? This box has so many uses: mail, school papers, DVDs, towels, books, the possibilities are endless.

Pottery Barn uses a similar crate as a portable bar on the bookshelves shown here.

Here's a closer look.

These vintage metal file boxes are a fun way to store all those papers cluttering up your desk: warranties and owner's manuals, bills, recipes, magazine clippings. Stash the file box in your bookshelves, and that ugly paper work is camouflaged.

Add some pretty file folders and keeping organized becomes more fun.

What would you store in this chippy red pie safe?

Wendy

Over the past few months, I have been helping a newlywed couple merge their homes. His taste runs toward clean line classics (think Crate & Barrel) while she is much more eclectic (think Anthropologie). He likes neutrals. She loves color. They sold her condo and moved into his house, so one of the main objectives for the project was to infuse some of her style into the existing space.

The home office is the first thing you see when you enter through the front door. They both need a place to work at home and wanted to add a comfortable seating area. I know, right, where? After discussing how the space functions for them, it was decided that the bookshelves could be moved to another room.

The furniture was then changed to a functional L-shape to free up space in the corner for a chair. Also, now the desks are not the first thing you see upon entering the home. We all know it is impossible to keep your desktop neat all of the time (ever?) -- plus, now they can both see out the windows while working.

After further discussion, my client pulled out a chair that her Aunt and Mother had purchased at an estate sale years ago, along with some fabric she had purchased at Lewis and Sheron. She suggested maybe we could use it for an accent pillow.

The lines were beautiful but the fabric was worn.

There was only about a yard of the fabric so I suggested we mix it up a little.

My client loved the idea and the search for fabric was on! (Sorry, I did not get a picture of the original fabric).

I found this beautiful Belgian Lace fabric (on sale half price!) at Lewis and Sheron - perfect for the back of the chair and all of the welting! The fabric for the seat cushion was a little more elusive. Nothing jumped out as the perfect fabric. Now, although the inspiration fabric has purple in it (and we all know I love purple!), my client told me at our first consultation that she didn't really care for purple. Many of the fabrics I found in the right colorway seemed too traditional -- almost grandmotherly. (Not trashing grandmothers here, being one myself.) I picked up a swatch of a purple fabric with red dots on a whim. Well, as you can see, it was the one my client chose!

Button detailing

Welting close up

View of all three fabrics!

As much as I like to make my clients happy, part of me hoped she wouldn't like it so I could purchase it from her for my living room (where it looked amazing!). I am glad to report, she loves it. I haven't heard how her Hubby (or her Mom) feels about it. Here is a view of the chair in the client's office. (We are still waiting for the last two picture rails from West Elm that were ordered in March!) Once we add a small side table along with a floor lamp, the corner will be complete.