Designing an Identity by Stephanie.Kate

Baby Bliss

2011-11-15T15:07:00.000-08:00

There is always some little reminder that makes you squeel with joy and realise how much you love what you do.

Here is mine

A Vintage Louis XV Bergere chair from byStephanie.Kate that was purchased by a lovely lady by the name of Kelli, who was giving it as a gift. The chair was meant for a new born baby girl's room, can anyone say lucky baby! I would have died to have a chair this beautiful. Though I must say the adorable little button-nosed beauty does out shine the chair. I had to share this customers appreciation photo with all of you as it gave me tingles when I first opened it.

This little lady is going to have some serious style by the age of 5, I can already see her in her mothers heels and lipstick ;)

Good luck keeping the boys away daddy!

New in the Shop!

2011-10-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

New Items at Stephanie.Kate

Enjoy!

Bitten

2011-10-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

It looked more like a mosquito bite but anyways.

I have been bitten by the bug, the creative bug that is, in the sense that I decided to start painting again.

It has been years. And years and years and years.

I used to all the time growing up and even in college I was painting up the walls, where ever and when ever. Most of our design projects entailed some kind of painting or drawing, whether it was water colors, charcoal, pastels or our fingers!

I discovered I am better off with media you can keep fine tuning as I tend to find myself subconsciously using the palm of my hand and fingers to blend and rub for shadowing effect. Didn't work so well with acrylics...heh

'OCTO'

This one was first, it's so rough it doesn't deserve a name..sheesh

I also rehabbed a pair of handsome brass candlesticks.

Before

After
From bland & black, to slate blue and shabby chic! Once I got down to the original beautiful brass base, I couldn't resist letting it peek out occasionally beneath the new slate blue.

I love them..

Ta-ta for now,

Bubble Wrap Heaven

2011-10-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

Hold on to your toenails people, this post is going to be ugly.

I'm hoping by now for the sake of this post, you have realized I have a sarcastic sense of humor.

I have finally returned stateside and have been out of control busy since the second I got here.
Things have been hectic to say the least, and not just with me.
John was so busy when I arrived at the airport he was no where to be seen!!
His boat charter schedule got overwhelmed with trips and boats to fix.

So there I was, little ole me, at the airport, bag in hand, pouting....

Luckily when your boyfriend works on a dock full of other burly men, they are usually more then happy to help out due to the insane fraternal/bromance/I'll do anything for you "Mannnnn," kind of friendships. To my rescue came his friend Kevin who happily delivered me to the dock like precious cargo, where I was quickly handed a Miller Lite can and instructed to drink it.

It was a nice welcome.

Back to the goodies.
I have discovered I have a hidden talent for packing large furniture. Hence...

This is a chair, just in case you couldn't tell.
One of the chairs off Etsy, that had to be packaged snug as a bug in a rug.
It's going in a babies room, lucky baby!

FedEx originally was 'supposed' to pack it for me, and you would think from this amazing packaging job that they did it too! Nope. When I returned with the chairs after getting a TYPED quote. I was quickly brushed off by the manager that must of been napping when I was there earlier inquiring.
She very firmly announced that I was mistaken and it was simply impossible for them to charge, "THAT LITTLE!," for something "THAT BIG!" Insert Santa Clause laugh here..

I just about ate that smile off of her face, as I'm sure you can imagine I, nor John, was happy.
She kept remarking about how impossible it was, even with all the attempts that I made to explain to this toddler about how it could be done.

"But if you just cut here, BUT I knowwww, it will fit here."

"MA'AM, NO MA'AM, I'M SORRY MA'AM" she said.

Then she made the genius remark,

"Well I never was good at playing tetris!!" Followed by a big belly laugh again.

Hmph...

I didn't eat her alive, or bite her head off just a little. Although I wanted to.
I glared and bugged my eyes a few times in disgust at John. He hmm'ed and haww'ed a bit to make me feel better. Such a team player!

No, I just bought their boxes and did it myself.
I might print the picture and go back to educate that non tetris playing toddler, and also inform her how little people really like to be called MA'AM.

Who didn't play Tetris when they were a kid...???

Well, I did geeeeeeeaz!

I'm so impressed by John and I's skills Im going to show you more, so zip it!

Anyway, Back to it.

Virtual Pinboard

2011-09-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

OBSESSED...

Is the only word to describe it.

Being that my absolute favorite thing to do in Design School was make mood boards, this is like being a kiddy on crack, or in a candy story, which ever it was.

You can search for interesting images and then pin them all together in a labeled board of your own. You can also search other peoples and get great ideas.
Subjects range from Donuts and Dieting to Home Decor, Kids, Wedding and Music. Just about anything under the sun, minus the kitchen sink. Oh wait that's on there too!!

View my Pin Boards and start your own!

Vintage Pin Board
http://re.pn/b/X0ho

Chairs, Chairs, Chairs!
http://re.pn/b/X9j5

White & Grey Interiors
http://re.pn/b/XaHG

Hillbilly Thrift

2011-09-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

The first purchase I made for my shop was a pair of vintage orange velvet chairs. They were the catalyst of the pursuit to opening my store and really believing I could do it.

I found them online attached to a phone number and instantly was grilling the poor man on the other end of the telephone about these chairs. When I was convinced they needed to belong to me, I had to convince someone else....John.

I was in the Bahamas at the time and if I wanted them he would have to pick them up. I asked if they could be put on hold but the owner refused unless I gave him a credit card, and you know that wasn't going to happen. Can you imagine, one day later and I'd have a ferrari and a pair of anaconda leather shoes charged to my card. Well maybe the toy version, as that is just about all my mastercard can handle right now.

I had to take my chances that they would be there on the following Monday. So I did, and forwarded the link to John. Thinking that I would have to remind him and send exact directions of where to go in order to even get him off the couch, to my complete disbelief Monday rolled around and I received a phone call from John. He had not only taken it upon himself to call the man and gotten directions himself, but already gone and picked them up! I was over the moon!

They were so beautiful, so boho chic, so PERFECT!

Like I said, they were the catalyst to my new idea and venture.
They had minor bumps and bruises, but that was exactly what made me love Vintage so much more. I was consumed by trying to dream up reasons of how they got those pretty little scars.

Maybe their previous home was a cigar parlor and they got caught in the middle of a gentleman's brawl, or maybe they fell off the back of a truck and some lucky lady was walking home from the grocerie store and high tailed them up to her apartment (I would!), OR maybe they were shipped from some crazy far away exotic place!

Most likely none of those scenarios, but we can dream.

The only thing I cared about was that I got to sit in them and love them for an entire month. Oh yeah, that's right, they made a front row debut in my living room. Of course I have to test out what I'm trying to tell other people they should have and own, it would be wrong not to do so.

They are still there, in my living room in Florida. Waiting for me to return and give them a little TLC, only to be shipped off to their new owner STEPHANIE..Haha what a genius she is, not only does she have good taste but her Mother had great taste in names too...Coincidence, yes.

Anyways so back to the story.

I had never met the owner or been to where John had picked up the chairs from. I was really interested in going for my self and seeing what other goodies they had for me to scoop up.
Boy was I in for a shock..

As we pulled up to the building and parking lot I figured "ahh, it's alright, I don't see anything scary about it."
If you know anything about thrift stores, you know they can be very scary at times depending on what neighborhood you're in. As I hopped out of the car I was suddenly alarmed by the man that was only a few feet away, drinking a beer at mid day none the less and sitting on a large sofa directly next to the door that I had to enter. In other words, I was going to have to either talk to this man to get in that door or brush by him due to his incredibly close proximity to the door handle. Which just so happened to be right about the same height as my left cheek, catch my drift? John and I approached and he very gleefully grinned, revealing his last two teeth hanging on for dear life.

"Well Hello there! How's ah' you two fine people's doing ta-day?" He said in his very refined english.

"Super!" I said while I grinned and glared at John at the same time.

"What can we do for yall's ta-day?"

"Ohhhh, just looking thanks!"

"Well alrightie, lil lady if you's ah have any questions, you's ah come right back ear's to me okays?"

"Oooookayyy!" With a massive smile/frown combination on my face.

I was frightened, and couldn't believe that I had mistaken the store owner for a bum catching a mid day cold one and a snooze on the outside couch. Could this really have been the same person I had spoken to on the phone weeks earlier? I was in stitches.

We didn't find anything that day, but I've been back several times since and let's just say I'm getting acquainted with their fine and dandy customer services yall's!

I love places like that, maybe not at first, but that's the adventure. Breaking boundaries and comfort levels you might not be accustomed to. What I did learn is that even though he might only have two teeth and was drinking a PBR for lunch, he's really nice and just as human as I am. Now every time I go in to that charming store, I am greeted with a big fat smile and don't have to lift anything that looks like it weighs more then a kitten.

Past to the Future

2011-09-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

If you interested in knowing what I mean when I keep talking about Up-Cycling
this and that, here is a sneak peak to what is to come on Stephanie.Kate the Shop.

A pair of Vintage Cane Back Chairs, with original wheel Casters.

I found these babies listed online by a nice lady who was trying to clean house.

They used to belong to her Mother and was begging me to take them away.

Well when I say me, I meant John....I was out of town and he just happened

to be off on a sunday and willing to drive to Miami for me. If you know John,

this is a rare occurance, he hates driving...

Paint

A nice thick coat of gloss white paint to cover the original faded wood frame.

Antique White

Dover White

Fabric

Grey-Blues & Spa-Blues, Pattern Geometrics & Stripes. Which one to choose!

Looking for amazing Designer Fabrics at a Discounted price?
www.fabricguru.com

Can't wait to post the finished product.

It's a Dog's World

2011-09-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sure is......

Meet Scooter, aka the Bean Dog. If you know Boston Terriers you get that joke...
I love to promote other Etsy Sellers, specially if they produce a product that I find dear to my heart.
Rubenacker, an Artist that knows exactly how to capture the Bean Dog's persona...

"Who Dun It"
Check him out.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/rubenacker

A Beginning with no End

2011-09-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

This all started from watching endless re-runs of those TV shows about picking and storage wars, you know the ones I'm talking about. My boyfriend John and I have become totally obsessed with the idea that we could do the same, thus began the journey of our "Thrifting." [I might or might not have just made up that term....]
There is something so special about all things Vintage. They have a certain mystery about them. You don't know who's handled them, what kind of home they used to live in, how many funny jokes or what juicy gossip they have over heard.
Then there is the excitement of digging for hidden treasure, through all the junk and ripped panty hose, there beneath is a 1950's gold & white leather bangle bracelet that screams for a second chance at making a statement on some ones wrist. At least that is what that bracelet is doing right now, on Mari's wrist, it's new proud owner. It's hard to ignore these kind of items, but also takes patients and a trained eye to pick a diamond out of the rough.

I have my bachelor's in Interior Design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. This has definitely been the driving force and foundation of my knowledge on different period pieces of furniture & artifacts, it is also my passion. Everyone has different taste and some might think of the things I find beautiful as junk, but you know what they say "one man's junk is another man's treasure."
That's what I was thinking when I went to my last Estate Auction and walked away with a 20+ year old engraved English Coffee Pot, that had bands of pure Ivory inlaid in to the handle. It's beautiful...
I bet it was at one point someone's pride and pleasure to own such a pretty piece of silver.

As history tends to repeat it self quite often, in fashion, trends etc, I find this to be my opportune moment to use the great structures and designs created from our past and bring them into the future.

Do you know what's in style now? Well take a look around you, would you rather have a brand new microfiber cookie cutter sectional sofa, or a Vintage French Louis the XV style Bergere Chair, painted and reupholstered in bold and beautiful fabric. I'd say the later, but that's just me!

Through this blog I'm going to tell you about my daily adventures with all the local flea markets, thrift shops, estate sales and auctions. There are some serious characters that I have come across already and I am going to enjoy telling you about them. I'm also going to share with you all my new finds and sadly some of the losses.
Last week I was at an auction and was in a bidding war with an elderly couple for a hand carved, curved arm mahogany loveseat sofa, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. The upholstery was immaculate, some type of silk blend cotton with an ivory cherry blossom pattern. I could have died when I lost the bid to them and almost thought about high jacking it when I saw it sitting next to our Louis XV chairs we had just purchased. But this is the game, and you don't always win!

This is just the beginning, with no end in sight.
Sounds like fun to me....

Stephanie.kate

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