Designer showcase home 2016

Something new for us during the past year was the chance to be involved in a designer showcase home.  The house was used to benefit McCune Brooks Healthcare Foundation's mammogram program.  The entire home was decorated by several area designers and then open for viewing.  It will soon be sold to a new owner!

If you are from the Joplin or Carthage, Missouri area, you have surely driven past this stately home located at 903 S. Main Street, in Carthage.  The master bedroom was our choice, and is located on the upper left side if you are viewing the house from the front.

The bedroom, and the majority of the house, was papered with what I was told was Brunschwig and Fils grasscloth.  Some rooms left it intact, as was the upstairs landing.  It was repaired and painted, and came off looking very rich.  A pale grey paint was chosen which gave a new look to the previous red grasscloth, which had faded from many years of morning sunlight.

Our gold masterbedroom's wallpaper had darken behind some furniture and in need of repair as well.  Luckily, the foundation was willing to have it stripped off and only a small amount of the wall underneath needed some patching----whew!

This photo shows the landing color through the doorway.  Notice the transom over the door was covered in the gold grasscloth!  This wall seemed to be in good shape, but the color scheme was not what we were envisioning for this beautiful room.

This wall provided the inspiration of natural sunlight and a great view of the huge Ginkgo tree (one of 3 on the property!).  The fireplace mantle was not original to the home, and we did not know when it was added.  The tile was a mustard/brown/black color, and definitely not part of a color scheme we wanted to work around.  Fortunately, the master bathroom was being totally redone and we scored some of the Carthage marble that was being removed to make room for a glass shower!

Notice the mauve carpet in the photo above---it was also removed by the people working for the Foundation and the wooden floor was refinished with a beautiful walnut color stain.  It made a striking contrast with our light, airy color scheme:

With the help of some awesome reps and giving vendors, we were able to use Thibaut wallpaper and fabric, Norwalk furniture, Lili Allessandra bedding, Global Views accents, Angela Rose Distributing for hardware, and Wendover Art for our renovation!

See what I mean about the bright sunlight being a great inspiration.  Just look at the way it shines across the seating area!

Besides the orange accents in the pillow, lamps and artwork,we had the little closet papered with a fun orange geometric wallpaper from Thibaut, as well, which added the little kick of something unexpected to the room.  We also changed out the handles and knobs with glass and silver hardware to match the original glass doorknobs on the doors.  The large built-in you see was added a few years ago to house a TV and provide extra storage.  There was originally a doorway to the nursery from that area.

This angle shows the doorway to the master bathroom.  We love the decorative chest from Global Views---it has classic detailing, but is also somewhat contemporary in appearance.  The ceilings were tall in this house, but it was also finely detailed, so any furniture pieces that are too bulky looked out of place.  The Norwalk chairs have a low back so they didn't hide the fireplace.

Notice that we had the fireplace painted a pale grey, which blended very nicely with the marble from the bathroom.  It also tied in with the rest of the house, as the landing was very close to the same color and it was repeated in several other rooms.  We used a lot of polished silver accents, but kept the gold/brass around the fireplace opening, keeping it from looking too cold.

Our final accents of glass spheres on the fireplace with the colorful watercolor and orange and green florals were recipients of the morning sunlight.

It was a bit of a sad day when the furniture and decor was removed and brought back to the shop.  We left the drapery in hopes that the new owner will love them as much as we did.....and possibly would want some of the items brought back :)

Yes, you can have a cream sofa!

Norwalk's Copley Sofa

 

 

Norwalk Furniture has added more performance fabrics to their line.  And even better news is that it is not one of the higher priced fabrics----in fact, it's one of the lesser priced ones!  That is hard to believe, I know, but besides having a nice texture to them, and good colors, they didn't out-price themselves.  We love being able to brag about durable and washable fabrics, but it's tough when it makes the furniture cost prohibitive.  With their new "Revolution" fabrics, Norwalk's furniture prices won't give you sticker shock!

A little more about Revolution, in case you didn't already go to the website: 

Woven with Olefin yarn, the fabrics are virtually unstainable, easy to clean, and extremely durable; yet beautiful and soft while also resistant to fading from the sun. Revolution Performance Fabrics® are made with upcycled fibers and have no chemical treatments making them easy on the environment.

 

 

 The sofa in the photo above, is from Norwalk, and is their best seller.  We think it will fit in great with a wide variety of home decors.  The rounded arms are not oversized, but the cushions are comfortable, and can be ordered in several grades of firmness.  The legs have a few options,  and although you can't see them in the photo, we are partial to the style we have on this one.  But if a skirted sofa is what you need, this one can be ordered with the skirt, too!

There's a lot of options in furniture, and we have several in stock, but if you can wait 30 days, Norwalk is also a custom order and can be made to your exact needs.

No more waiting until the "kids are gone", you can own a cleanable, durable sofa---NOW!

 

 

 

 

Designer Showcase Home

We are so excited to be part of a local designer showcase home.   It's not something that happens very often in our area, and it will help raise funds for the Mammogram Program for the area, as well.  Those are just two great reasons to be involved.

The upstairs Master Bedroom will be our room to redo.  Luckily, we aren't the ones having to pull the old grass cloth off, repaint the trim, or redo the hardwood floors.  Our job is the fun part of choosing colors, fabrics and bedding, finding furniture, and generally putting icing on the cake!!  But that's what we do for our clients. 

Here's a panoramic view of the room from last week.  Most of the paper is gone, carpet will be taken up, trim will be painted, then we'll get to work.

Keep watching for more updates on the Showcase home as we take you give you a peak into our choices for wallpaper and fabrics. 

Are my colors out of style??

If we are asked that question, we will reply based on what we see trending at Market.  We do believe most people are not willing to sacrifice their favorite pieces of furniture for the sake of a trend.

The recent photo of the red chairs prompted a lot of customers to ask: " is red back?"  We didn't know if left!  However, how it is displayed in your home is probably the part of the equation that caused it look dated.  These particular chairs are a custom order for a remodel, and were chosen based on the client's love of the color.  BUT, they will be on a fresh backdrop of pale walls, brightly patterned area rug, even lighter color drapes, and a khaki tan sofa.  The pillows we chose for the sofa will have some of the familiar jewel tones, but the overall look is still a fresher look than the dark golds and muddy browns of a few years ago.

Oh no, you still have the brown chair/sofa and you are tiring of the drab, dark den you loved just a few years ago.  Those pieces aren't out of style, but the feel of the room needs lightened up.  Such an easy fix with a few lighter colors in pillows and/or throws placed around makes a quick change to that! 

So you really are ready to change up a few things, but not sure how to add your other colors of accessories that you still love.  The grey tones you are seeing around really do work with color!  Can you count how many different colors are teamed up with our grey sofa/chaise?  Any and all of those look great with this neutral color, so go ahead, bring on the new color!

We are happy to work with your favorite colors and help you add in the new pieces without having to start over again!  Don't forget, if it's a fresh coat of paint you need, we are available to help you choose that, too.  Come by and we'll talk about how we can help.

Yes, there really are fabrics that are "kid friendly"

If you've visited our store you know we carry several lines of upholstered furniture.  Norwalk Furniture, made in Norwalk, Ohio, has added even more "cleanable and scrubable" fabrics to their line.  They were one of the first companies to offer Sunbrella fabrics, but now they are also able to offer a very similar fabric, BUT AT A BETTER PRICE!

You'll be thoroughly impressed with the feel of these new fabrics, and it's hard to believe you can even clean with bleach if you should need to.  These Olefin fibers DO NOT have a chemical treatment, so no worries about your family and pets being exposed to dangerous chemicals.


                       


Now you can  buy that furniture while your kids are young:  not only is a well made sofa going to hold up to heavy use, but now the fabric will not be at risk from your pets and/or kids!

Enjoy the video of the workmanship that goes into each piece of furniture at Norwalk.

The price of decorating

Most people have a budget when it comes to decorating their home.  However, that shouldn't mean you cannot find those extra items that make your home reflect your personality.  We work hard to find something from all price ranges.   Here are some actual examples of our current shop inventory:

 Something as simple as this scented flower diffuser is a great decorative piece and doubles as a room freshner......$22.00!

 If you have a chair or sofa that needs a change, everyone knows pillows are the quickest and easiest thing to add.  These monochromatic pillows all have embroidery or some special feature, but their prices range from $42 (for down filled) all the way up to $242!  Wow, how can they be so different?  All we can say is look for yourself, you might not be able to guess, or you might know immediately.  It's a good example of our varied price ranges.

You might already have a vase that just needs a touch of spring, so adding a $5.00 stem might take care of that.  Or adding a bright yellow smaller piece, like the one on the right, might be all your coffee table needs to look brighter....$15.00.

These vases range from $14 to $125 each.  If you just need a little added color or you need a special piece for your antique china cabinet, you are likely to find it at MLI.  One of our more popular items are our paperweights, with many of them at $12 each and we often are able to carry some for only $6 (of course they sell out the fastest!).

Don't let looks be deceiving when it comes to prices, come by and see for yourself!

How to choose a sofa

 

One of our newest additions, from the Parisian Loft collection, made by Precedent Furniture, features many ways to customize your sofa according to how you like to relax.

That might sound like an odd way to order a sofa, but we will probably ask you if you like a firm seat or a "sink into the sofa" seat.  Also, do you sit straight on or prefer to curl up with your legs underneath you. 

You  might be familiar with choosing fabrics and colors, but now there is even more to decide.....but they are easy decisions! 

This particular series of furniture gives us 2 options for the depth.  If you like to curl up and watch TV, you'll definitely want a deeper seat.  Or if you are purchasing a sofa for a small scale room, or your back requires you to sit more upright, the smaller depth would be what you are looking for.

Now choose your components:  sectional pieces, chaise, ottoman, chair, etc.

The Parisian Loft series also has 3 arms to choose from, which are more slender than arms styles from several years ago.  This works out great with side tables and take up a lot less space in a room, giving more area for actual seating.  The Track arm is generally considered to be more contemporary, with the Small Roll arm more traditional.  The Flare are reminds us of the English Arm style which has been around forever and is great to mix into more any decor.

The back style has 2 choices, as seen above.  The boxed cushion is traditional but more tailored in appearance with the cording.  The knife edge has a more casual look, but not sloppy.  These cushions fit on the back of the sofa and are not to be confused with scatter cushions.  The nice thing about unattached  cushions are that they can be rotated to keep them from looking smashed down if you tend to sit in the same place everyday.

As mentioned before, welting adds a tailored look, while the unwelted cushions might look less fussy and could also be considered more contemporary.  We have recently been noticing more furniture without welting in all styles and designs.  A note on that is that some welting can be the first to show wear, and the double stitching on the unwelted cushion doesn't.

You can see above that there are optional finishes for the legs.  The shape will probably depend on the other pieces in your room. 

Finally, some of the finished options put together to give you an idea of what your piece will look like.  If you have small children or pets, remember to ask us about fabrics that are easy to clean.  All of our furniture companies are expanding that area of their fabric lines.  The look of pet-friendly fabrics, as we sometimes call them, has come a long way. 

There's a lot more to tell you about our furniture lines, but we'd rather do that in person.  You'll be happy to know that our newest line is also made in the US, as we feel that is an important factor in custom upholstery.  Each piece can be ordered to your specifications, or if you like what we have in your store, we'll have it delivered ASAP.

New Store Hours for 2016

We gave it the "ole college try"! For the last 2 years, Madison Lane has been open on Saturdays and closed on Mondays. We were hoping the new location would draw in weekend shoppers.  

Now,  for 2016, we have taken a look at the traffic patterns for the area and the many people saying they missed us on a Monday, and decided to go with the flow!  Especially looking at our immediate neighbors, Dr. Hayes and Dr. Skaggs who are both open on Mondays, it appears our area is geared for the Monday through Friday shoppers.  Even though Rangeline Road can be a frightening place on the weekends ;)  it seems that is where everyone is going.

OPEN:  MON - FRI 11:00-5:00

If you were one of our Saturday shoppers, just be aware that will are still available for you on that day, just call and we'll make arrangements.  We realize many people shopping for furniture pieces need to bring their spouse in on a Saturday, and we are fine if you give us a 'heads up' on your visit.  

 The majority of appointments are made during the weekdays at 9:00 am if possible.  That allows us to be back in the shop by 11:00 or have someone covering the store for a few short hours if necessary.  We do quite a few "color consultations" during the week, and I'm not talking haircolor!!!  If you need a change and are thinking of painting, give us a call, we can help you get started on your redecorating project.  Also, measuring for window treatments, matching up fabrics for various projects, etc, are all examples of a typical morning appointment.

We are closed down for vacation the week of 1/4/16 - 1/8/16.

Happy New Year to our customers, and look for new things to happen at MLI in the coming year!!