Bark Cloth Drape

For those of you who missed the decision making process on what fabric to use in the foyer, you can read about it here.

Most everyone was in agreement on using the bark cloth, pinch pleated drape that I had purchased at an antique mall.

I knew I did not want the pleats, so they were ripped out first.

The single drape measured 141 inches wide.  It was constructed from three widths of fabric and was wider than I needed. 

It so happens it was also shorter than required.  My plan was to hang it between the window and the door at door height.

 I ripped out one seam and used that one width of fabric to cut two pieces to add to the bottom.  Getting all of this to line up was a bit of a feat.  It is not absolutely perfect all the way across but close enough not to be noticable.  As you can see in the above photos, it was also lined.  That meant doing all this twice, although, no matching was required for the lining which did make it easier. 

My plan was to use a very simple rod.  Much as I like the lovely decorative finials, this just wasn't the place for them.  I needed the drape to come up against the casing of the door and I didn't want a finial that stuck past the casing.  Nor did I want a finial bumping up against the bookcase. That made it an easy decision.  Finding it was a little harder.

 Small ring clips were used to attach the curtain to the rod.

Once the walls were painted my brother hung the rod.  First, however, he had  to cut three wooden circles as back plates to keep the screws from pulling out.  Even mounting those back circles was tricky.  Once I told him where I wanted them to be, he drilled, and twice out of three times he drilled into thin air.  So the "ideal" location had to be shifted slightly until he hit something solid behind that plaster. 

Thus, the end by the door is slightly farther from the casing than I planned.  However, because of the fullness of the folds it is working out fine.

Now I have to decide if I want to leave the window and door glass completely uncovered.  For now I'm ok with that.  If something moves across my radar that I think will be good with everything else, I'll consider it.

I do love the pattern and the colors of this fabric.

 I'm thrilled that it's working here.

One thing that was driving me crazy was the messy glazing job on the outside of the window.  As you probably know, cleaning that stuff off and redoing it is far from easy.  It was certainly not a job I wanted to tackle...not right now anyway.

Once again brother Dan came up with a quick and easy solution.

Quarter inch pin strip tape from the automotive store.

Applied as a border on the inside glass it was enough to hide the mess.  And because my window sash is painted French Beret, it was the perfect fix.

I published this post and then realized I didn't take a picture from this angle.

Lighting the Foyer

Just to refresh your memory,

this was my first attempt at lighting this room.

I followed that up with this.

The next change looked like this.  Then came the current desire to remodel.
I looked for replacement chandeliers at...

Arhaus

                                                                              Habitat Restore

on line..

and my own stock pile.

None of these seemed to be what the room called for.
Then I found a pair of lights I really liked at a resale shop called The Refind Room.

There were some quirks with overhead lighting in this room.  The existing chandelier was centered on the room but not on the fireplace.  Because I plan for the fireplace to be the focal point I needed it to be centered.

Some adjustments were made and then all was well.

   No worries...this picture does not reflect the end of this story.

This is what is missing in the previous picture.  However, they were in serious need of a degreaser

Next came the painting of the wood caps at the top.

The socket for the bulbs was also connected to a wood piece that needed painting too.

Even the cords were sprayed with black Majic paint that is guaranteed to stick to anything...in this case rubber.

A three week wait for the ceiling to be painted and...finally the day arrived. But the painter was a no-show.  He had double booked, so a bit more of a delay.  There are plenty of reasons for lapses between posts and this is one of them.

But finally,

we went from this....

to this.

Here they are in off position.

ON

or OFF, I think they look pretty cool.


I really am very happy with the glow they give to the room and the way they refect in the mirror.  All's well that ends well.  Of course, the end is not quite here.  Next post will be about that drapery fabric I talked about eons ago.

Over the Mantel

Are you curious about what is going on the wall above the mantel in my foyer project?

 Maybe you thought I didn't have anything in mind for this spot.  Well, I did.

I have had this mirror in my garage for several years knowing I would eventually find the right spot for it. 

It is creamy white and slightly distressed.  I left it that way until I knew where it was going to hang.  Then I painted it OC-23 Classic Gray.

At first I thought I would stencil the frame in a crocodile or snakeskin pattern .  After several emails back and forth with Rachel at The Stencil Library, we came to the conclusion that maneuvering a stencil on this surface would not produce the desired results.  So on to Plan B.

 

I had used fish net as a window treatment in the foyer and since I was planning to change that for the "new" look.....

 I tossed it into the washing machine and hung it out to dry.

Okay, it wasn't quite that easy.  Before I adhered the netting,  I glazed the inner rim with clear glaze tinted Earth Brown.  I sealed that before I started gluing the fishnet onto the outer frame.

My plan failed.  Parts of the inner border looked like this when I finished, and,

other parts ended up like this.  Nothing to do but sand it lightly and repaint from the base color to the finish color.

Then I added a rope trim to tidy up the groove.  Getting all the little loose ends into the groove was tricky and not perfectly uniform.  The border added another texture and also covered those cut ends.

This morning my brother stopped by and hung it on the wall.  It's a big day and a happy one.  It's always a good day when the vision in the head manifests successfully.

Note here that the wall behind the bookcases is now painted...and, yes, it is painted all one color. It looks like several different shades and it's all because of light and shadows.

All that time I spent stewing over just the right color for this wall was somewhat unnecessary.  It has a varied life of it's own.

One more element in place and I can move on.  There is still much more to do.  I can see this project taking me well into the summer.  However, it is the more dramatic part of the process as the finishing touches have a bigger impact.  Watch for a post on light fixtures soon.

PS: I neglected to give credit in my post about the antlers in the firebox. That idea came from my brother, Dan. 

I am linking to :  Savvy Southern Style