We're taking a Christmas Break

Thanks to everyone who came in during the past few weeks!  We sold nearly every Christmas item, and even have some bare shelves.  It's a good thing we have some extra things hanging around upstairs, we'll need them to fill in until we go to market in January.  In the meantime, we will be closed until Monday, January 3, 2011.  

Don't wander off too far, we have a few projects to finish up next week---stay tuned for some "before and afters".

 

The "After Christmas Sale" begins TODAY!

If you still need a few more touches of Christmas to spread around your home, hurry in for our last minute special.  As a reminder:  The shop will be closed after the 23rd of December, and will reopen January 11th (that is a Tuesday).  We are starting our "after Christmas sale"  today, so you can enjoy your Holiday decor in 2010!

*Sale does not include Trapp Holiday Candles

Top 10 Gifts at Madison Lane

If you still have a few gifts to buy, like I do, here's a quick list of some popular gifts we have in the shop:

1.  A nativity set.  If you don't have one yet, this one is not too ornate, but not too simple.

2.  Everyone loves a cool paperweight.

3.  Monogrammed leather accessories, and in a large selection of colors.

4.  Archipelago's Pomegranate bath and body, candles and also some sets available.

5.  Do you get teased for being a re-gifter?  Now you can be proud of it with these gift bags!

6.  The tea drinker in your family will love Tea Forte'.  We have several gift sets to choose from.

7.  The special "treasure chest" is just beautiful in person.

8.  A jewelry box to hold all those special pieces.  It has a double shelf inside.

9.  A great assortment of jewelry she won't see in any other shops in town!

10.  Sometimes a good laugh is the best gift.  These towels come as a pair.

Remember, we will gift wrap or make sure you leave with your gift in a pretty bag, ready to put under the tree.

Keeping track of custom orders

There are various workorder forms one can fill out for custom orders, but a picture really is worth a thousand words.  Not only do we use our Minutes Matter computer program for curtain renderings and room arrangements, but also for workorders for other custom jobs.   We emailed the above diagram to our one of our fabricators, and she not only has a written description, but a picture to refer back to.  It may not look complicated, but the above pillows and dustruffle belong in three different rooms.  We can quickly become confused without something visual.

Just after this order was taken, another client decided to finish her bedroom.  We used the Minutes Matter program to do show her exactly where each fabric was to be used:

 

This was actually the second rendering we did after we made a fabric change.  The styles stayed the same, and it was a quick fix to see it with the new fabrics.  This picture was sent along with the measurements to have the comforter fabricated.  

See how Madison Lane Interiors can help you visualize your next custom order! 

Decorating for Christmas and a Facebook Contest

How's your Christmas decorating coming along?  Mine was off to a slow start this weekend.  The only help I could get seemed to have other ideas for the greenery. 

It finally made it to it's designated spot on the light fixture, along with some of my favorite decorations (note the dove that was purchased over 20 years ago from a shop on Joplin's Main Street)!  The glass icicles are from MLI, and of course you can purchase red and silver glass ornaments nearly everywhere.  

I did have one more potential helper, but she was tired from a tough day of playing, and chose to curl up on the sofa and watch TV:

I'll be keeping you posted on how to vote for "Juno" on Facebook.  I've actually entered her in Uttermost's current contest.  Watch for details in the sidebar of the blog coming very soon!  She could win a dog bed, or better yet, the shop could win an Ipad!

Small Business Saturday

After Black Friday, and before Cyber Monday, come in for a more personalized shopping experience.

The MSSU Alumni Center Project--the Entry and Dining Room

 Since I don't like to start with the before, here's an after shot of the MSSU Alumni Center entry.  It's actually the front door, but this building will be entered from the back.  The wood floors are just beautiful, and you might notice that the hardwoods are laid in a pattern I call a log cabin design.  That may not be correct, but my grandmother made quilts with that design.  Each room, closet, and hallway has the same layout.  Even the closet under the stairs!

 

OK, here's the pitiful before picture.  Note the orange indoor/outdoor carpet over those lovely floors.  Just looking at this picture makes me think I'm smelling mold---I'm sure there was plenty due to the water damage you can see.

 

Standing at the front door and looking back.  The lights you see are not original, but are placeholders until the money is donated to refurbish the originals.  They are quite unique, we have never seen anything like them.  

 You can see a couple of the original lights in this before picture.  We hope to show them in place again in future posts.

This before picture shows that the walls and trim were just about finished.  The windows in the mansion were all replaced by the time we saw it.

The same view with the finishing touches. The dining room chairs are from IDS Furniture.  They were kind enough to take the order but ship close to move-in time.  The area rug is from Surya, as were all the rugs we chose for the mansion.  

Looking to the right:  The two sideboards have a lot of storage for the University's glassware. 

 

 All those embroidered sheers were fabricated by Connie's Workroom.  The hardware is a mixture of Santangelo's drapery hardware and Helser Brothers.  The blue linen panels were fabricated by MLI in our private workroom (Amber's sewing room).  

Hope you enjoyed the partial tour through the Ralph Gray Alumni Center.  Remember, if you are in the area, guests are always welcomed.

 

Thank you for a successful open house

Many thanks to those of you who were able to make it to our Christmas Open House last weekend.  It was our best one to date!  Since almost all the wreaths sold, we thought we should order in just a few more to help keep the place looking dressed for the holidays.

If you missed it the first time, you've got one more chance!

We also heard a lot of people saying "gosh, it smells wonderful in here!"  They were smelling one of the Holiday scented Trapp Candles.  Several of those went out the door that day, but we do keep a good supply  of them, so you can still find all three scents available.

You'll want one of these burning while you get those Christmas decorations out!  It'll help set the mood.

Ali had a successful day upstairs, as well.  She had some special orders, and is returning this week to add to our regular supply of Babalu' fused glass.  We're already running low on the necklaces and nightlights!  Of course I had my eye on a piece of the fused art glass:

 The fused glass picture seems suspended within the black glass frame. 

 

It's just perfect in my dining room!  The west sun really shows it off, along with the need to wash some windows.

 

If  you missed us last Saturday, you can find us here Mon-Thurs 11:00 am til 5:30 pm and Saturdays 11:00 am til 4:00 until Christmas!

Tuscan Inspired Dining Room and "A Village"

 You know the saying:  It takes a village . . .that's how it felt on this project.  The design and fabric was chosen by Victoria, an interior designer, who was already heavily involved in the decorating of the beautiful Tuscan styled home.  We had a long conversation about the style and all the details that go into making a custom window treatment.  She provided a wonderful drawing with all the necessary measurements, and the job was put into action.  The first time we saw our latest client's home was as we pulled into the driveway to install these dining room draperies.  

Victoria took several fabric books with her after our first meeting, and returned with the choice above.  This beautiful fabric, from Kasmir, did  pose a new challenge, as it is nearly an upholstery weight fabric.  I wanted to check in with Connie (she would be fabricating this weighty treatment), to make sure our design would be doable.  We went over the plans and she said, yes, it would be just fine.  Now to decided on the hardware:

As soon as I showed the Helser Brothers catalog to Victoria, she knew they would be able to duplicate the look she wanted.  The Sofia finial was one of the larger finials available, and appropriate for the scale of the room and the fabric.  We also had the sofia made into holdbacks, and all were done with the "Canyon" finish.

 

Dining rooms can be difficult to photograph, and this picture just doesn't do justice to the room.  You can barely see the lovely tassel/beaded fringe, but in real life, it really adds a spark to the treatment.  Also note the details of the header, here's a closeup:

The pleats are a goblet style, although they don't appear to be as large as other goblet styles, the amount inside the pleat was enough to give a nice amount of fullness without obscuring the pattern in the fabric.  Another thing to note is the slouch between the pleats.  That was achieved by making the regular spaces nearly double in width and also leaving the top 2" of the pleats opened at the top.  This open pleat helps make a more graceful slouch rather than a pulled look which can sometimes happen to this style.  Another thing I really like is the fact that it causes the drapery panel to hang very close to the rod, and not leave a large gap between them.  Go back and look at the overall picture, and you'll notice what I'm talking about.  

So back to it takes a village: Thank you Victoria for trusting us with your design, to Connie for listening to every detail and doing your outstanding work (she surely got a workout with this one!),  to Helser Brothers for providing the quality hardware, and to our installer, Jason, for making sure it all actually hangs on the wall!

Whew!

Holiday Open House and Election Week

What does one have to do with the other, you're asking yourself.  If you want to run a commercial during the election week----GOOD LUCK!  However, we were lucky that we actually didn't want to start until Wednesday of next week---thank goodness.  So, in case you miss the 15 second ad (or you aren't a Facebook friend and you saw a preview), here it is:

 

Thanks Ron, for making sure it was done just right!  You knew what we were after and managed to get it all into just a few seconds.

Time:  11:00 am until 4:00 pm 

Where:  505 West 2nd Street, Joplin, Missouri

 

The MSSU Alumni Center Project: The Library

Missouri Southern State University's alumni center is busy!  At least that's the word from their Director, Lee.  They are already holding events in the beautiful building, and the plans for it's use seem endless. 

When we were asked to help furnish and decorate the interior, we knew we needed to show all  the wonderful potential this building, sometimes referred to as Mission Hills, could offer.  Knowing most of the rooms would need to serve double and triple duty on the party circuit, we concentrated on the Library as the more "decorated" room.  We needed something that would serve as a wow factor when presenting our ideas to the Alumni Board.  Thank goodness we had a computer program to draw most of our ideas, but still, we needed some artistic talent to get the idea across.  That's when we contacted our friend Laureen about the Library rendering.  We took a picture of each wall, measurements included, and sent them to her along with our plan.  Here's one of the before shots:

Here's our plan in storyboard style:

Included in the furniture pieces are a chair and sofa donated by the late Mrs.Mary Helen Harutun, who fell in love with the building.  We wanted to show the fabrics, furniture styles, and other furnishings and knew Laureen would be able to recreate them in her drawing for even more impact.  

Pretty cool, huh?  The entire drawing was done with a program called "Minutes Matter Studio".  Actually, it's because we have the program that we know Laureen.  It's a long story, but believe me when I say everyone involved with the drawing program is considered a friend!

Now, here's a picture of the finished room.  I may have to dig through more pictures to see if I have one from the same view.  You might notice a couple of fabric changes, but we really stayed very close to the original plan.  The gold chair is in the corner, just behind the photographer.

If you live in the area, please stop in and take a tour through the Ralph L.Gray Alumni Center.  We've got more pictures to share of the other rooms if you can't make it.

Save the date: November 6, Holiday Open House

Holiday Tea

I know it sounds too early to say it out loud, but it is soon time for all retail stores to get their Holiday best on display, and host their Holiday Open House.  It's traditionally on the first weekend in November, so we are sticking with that.  Join us from 11:00 am until 4:00 pm for some Holiday Tea and cookies.  We are featuring Tea Forte' this year as our free giveaway, so you'll want to be sure and register.

Also on hand for the celebration will be Ali Stinespring, of Babalu' Art, with a trunk show of her fused glass.  She'll have jewelry, platters, and some surprises for us, all on display upstairs where the large windows should really help show off her work.

Downstairs will be plenty of sparkly red and green ornaments, shiny red bell wreaths,  and several styles of foil style santas.  We fell for the santas at the Atlanta market, and bought the ornament sizes as well as these full size decorations:

It's not too early to mark your calendar for November 6th.  If you're a customer, you'll be getting a postcard reminder.  Watch our local TV channels for some other reminders to shop at MLI. 

A challenging bay window gets an updated look

Yes, all bay windows are different, and almost always a challenge when it comes to the hardware involved.  Our latest candidate had the "typical" dropped ceiling we've seen in many homes in our area, but this one had a big difference:  no space between the window and ceiling.  See what I'm talking about:

The previous treatment used the small white oval rod for a valance (not in this picture) and the sheers, and a traverse rod for the panels.  These rods were visible from outside as well as inside when the sheers and panels  were pulled open.  The client still wanted panels, but didn't want to see the hardware---I agreed!  See the glaring picture below for the before:

Privacy was important, as well as finding a new fabric for the panels.  We decided to say bye-bye to sheers and give the area a newer look with bamboo shades.  She was quickly on board for this look, and after seeing the lining options, she new she could have privacy and added insulation for the windows.  Installation for the shades was easily an inside mount, as the windows were fairly deep set.  Here's the woven wood fabric:

Now to find a fabric for the panels and decide on their fullness.  The client did not want to lose the beautiful, full view she had through the center window, and realized the sheers had been covering the side windows  most of the time.  The old panels were very full when pulled open because they traversed over the entire window.  By using shades for privacy, we didn't need to worry about using so much fabric, but just to get the right amount of fullness for each single panel.  It was decided to use a single width for the middle panels, and one-and-a-half widths for the ends.  By using the napped sateen for lining, we knew they would have nice, rounded pleats and plenty of fullness. 

Here's some of the fabric swatches we sent to K. so she could see each in her home, with her lighting:

(embroidered leaves)

We also looked at fabrics with a dark background, but really liked the lighter, fresh look some of these offered.   The embroidered fabric was too pale, the middle fabric was too old fashioned, but the first fabric, with the tan and white leaves on the aqua background, was just right.

All that was left was ordering our  "hardware", which is referred to as a "pin strip".  If you make window treatments, you probably are familiar with Rowley Company.  If you're not in the biz, just trust me when I tell you they have thought of everything.  I think K. was happy to report to her husband that the hardware would cost less than twenty bucks!  Here's the little piece that made this bay window a success:

Finally, the finished window:

If you think you have a challenging window--let us decide.