April Meet Ups

* Bombus
* trashisfesch
* Ikea
* vivavi eco-friendly furniture
* Daddytypes.com
* Jason Home and Garden
* curbly.com
* Ikeahacker
* Wary Meyers
* Paper Source
* apartment therapy
* Fort Pitt Hotel Furniture
* Ivey Lane Designs
* hospitalitydesign

Ceruse Redux

Sometimes when you come across something new, it seems to crop up in several places. By just a few clicks of separation, I found these from Jed Johnson Home.

Ceruse library table


100% cotton Timber Spruce or Sycamore, 56" wide


Merritt Cube Table. Bas-relief cast metal on recessed casters.

Ceruse Finish

This ceruse wood finish was used on several pieces featured at Jason Home and Garden. I did a little research at woodweb.com and learned it's time consuming, but worth it, to achieve.

It's a tone-on-tone effect that requires a few steps, and as is true with most wood finishing techniques, there are many different methods to achieve it. In short, first a dye (or perhaps a stain) is applied to establish a background color, then a glaze or wood filler is rubbed on to bring out the grain. A wire brush can be used to bring up the grain before the glaze is applied.

Waiting in the work que in the basement is a large old table with a scroll pedestal, a likely specimen for this finish. Though cerused wood is usually oak, a little experimentation could lead to great results. Stay tuned...here's a small before glimpse.

Flea Market at Jason Home and Garden

I stopped into Jason Home and Garden in Lincoln Park for this week's scouting trip. Pure inspiration. Here's a preview of the Flea Market, which will be online starting April 25.


Inside the sale tent


Bird print upholstery on a vintage Chippendale love seat


Burlap upholstered


Interesting treatment of black vinyl on a white cane chair


Mounted animal skeletons--not sure that they'd fit my decorating style




Very sweet series of vintage cow prints


Vintage suzani covered bergere


Bird print pillows on a cherused bench


Reserved seating


Also inside the tent


Cream and white will always work. Ugh, my camera battery died after this photo, otherwise I could have gone on and on taking photos.

The Ultimate Makeover

Not the I'll happen upon a pair of 1900's French Bergeres sitting out by the curb, but the design level of Chaircouture is what I aspire to achieve. Each piece is a world unto itself.


A wonderfully vivid striped velvet on a little chippy but one-of-a-kind gold frame.



These might be emulatable, though. It's concretely possible to stir up a chartreuse lacquer like the one used on these carved French side chairs, and the soft aqua wool is readily available, a fabric called Tonus by Kvadrat Textiles. It's a popular upholstery weight, comes in endless colors, $60 per yard here on retromodern.com.



Same goes for this fun design. I'm definitely in the market for a 1900 carved boudoir bench, willing to pay up to my usual limit,$15.

Green innovation design and technology site, Inhabitat believes that good design is green design, so they're offering a nice cushiony sum, $4,500 for the most innovative balance of beauty and comfort and sustainability.

Here's a look at the inhabitat top 5 chairs from trash.



Mark your design calendar to click over to inhabit and register for the One Good Chair design competition before May 16.

Etsy Upcycling

Plan your next trip to the UK and never leave your seat with this chair decoupaged with a map of East London with the Thames running from back to front. It's the reinvented work of Etsy seller Bombus. Another of her clever designs, the Comic Chair, was featured in the London Times.

Store-bought Special

Before: the plain vanilla (or green sherbet) Ikea Lack table. Four laminated legs and a top, the perfect canvas for any surface decoration you can dream up.



After: paint chip lack, which Jules at Ikeahacker featured in the Lack Hack series. I found the table in good shape leaning against a dumpster in Lakeview. You can read a short how-to on Ikeahacker, but it's a simple recipe:

1 Lack or other table or piece of furniture
Paint chips.I use the Ralph Lauren ones at Home Depot because they're square
Heavy duty glue to bond on a glossy surface
Water-based glaze to smooth out the surface once you've glued the paint chips

More ways to change from Lack to more like you:



Small man all over a small table from flickr member trashisfesch.


Made from a broken Lack table.


O'Keefe table featured on Ikeahacker.


A diy chalkboard table from daddytypes.com.


On curbly.com, a bug table made with wood grain contact paper. It's inspired by this credenza featured on the Dominomag site. It's a truly memorable piece.