Custom Wallpaper, Fabric and an Art Studio Tour

   Hi Everyone!

I have been uber busy this past spring/summer, getting ready for an open-to-the-public art studio tour.
Here is the link to Arts North! Studio Tour.
I will be showcasing my fabric and wallpaper designs as my art form.

I will also be hosting 3 guest artists in my own home - hopefully they will all fit into the dining room!

I will be right next to them in my tiny, but pretty art studio room.
(more photos of that after the tour is over)

This will be my very first time participating in such an event and the first time ever having the public entering my tiny cottage!
Talk about pressure and nervousness...

I have been scrambling to not only design fabrics and make things with them (like throw pillows, chair slipcovers, sachets, tea towels, etc), but also to whip the few rooms open to the tour, into viewable shape.
Mainly, the dining room, which is the first room of the house upon entry.

The room needed to be upgraded so my sweetheart and I installed beadboard wainscoting all around the room, which I then caulked and painted.
We tried our hand at crown molding which is now caulked and painted too.  So much work!  But so worth it.  It really adds character to a room, a house.
We will do this in the family room too - a winter project!

I then repainted the walls a lighter blue and wallpapered one small wall area, to showcase my designs and how they work together to create a cohesive look in the room.
The rest of the wallpaper will get done after the tour.
I have 3 guest artists who will be hanging their framed art on the walls and the last thing I want are numerous nail holes in my newly hung wallpaper!

I designed the wallpaper to coordinate with the curtains and slipcovers on all the chairs!

I thought I'd share one small corner of this room (the rest isn't ready yet!!) as I am 10 days out from the studio tour and still have loads to get done.

Years ago I painted murals and furniture for a living and after I left that behind for a career in graphic design, I still painted pieces for my own home.
The table is a piece I did 10 years ago, or so.
Way before chalk paint!
I used acrylic latex over Kilz primer.  Several coats of paint in a soft white and a pale Swedish blue.
Protected with 3 coats of Crystalfin poly acrylic in semi-gloss.
The top was done with a fine nap roller.  
No unsightly, unprofessional brush marks anywhere!! (and I am proud of that)

I added faux nailhead from Do it Yourself Chic and gilded it with composite sheet gold leaf, as well as parts of the base.

The fabrics are all mine, sewn from my designs I feature for sale on Spoonflower.
If you are looking for fabrics and wallpaper in a Swedish cottage look, please visit my shop:  LilyOake

I adore the linen cotton canvas and have nearly all my designs printed on that fabric content, but there are 18 different fabrics available, plus 2 types wallpaper and gift wrap too!

Let me know what you think!

And if you're in Seattle on September 12th and 13th, please swing by to say hello and tour the other 11 studios with their guest artists, in the neighborhood.

A table I painted 10 years ago, pre-chalk paint.  Gilded and protected by Crystalfin, its still like new after heavy use!

The table base with Swedish blue and gilded accents....and an elegant tail model, courtesy of Tessie!

Sweet Pea models one of the linen slipcovered chairs, in "Jane's Rose Bouquet" in blueberry.

The Start of Lilacs Lilac Season at Elinor Cottage

Lilacs on a Jane's Rose Bouquet linen-cotton slip cover in blueberry blue

Lilacs on Jane's Rose Bouquet in blueberry blue, printed on linen-cotton canvas

Lilacs on Lake Emily Summer Roses linen-cotton fabric, in blueberry blue

Warble for Lilac Time, by Walt Whitman

Warble me now for joy of lilac-time, (returning in reminiscence,) Sort me O tongue and lips for Nature’s sake, souvenirs of earliest summer, Gather the welcome signs, (as children with pebbles or stringing shells,) Put in April and May, the hylas croaking in the ponds, the elastic air, Bees, butterflies, the sparrow with its simple notes, Blue-bird and darting swallow, nor forget the high-hole flashing his golden wings, The tranquil sunny haze, the clinging smoke, the vapor, Shimmer of waters with fish in them, the cerulean above, All that is jocund and sparkling, the brooks running, The maple woods, the crisp February days and the sugar-making, The robin where he hops, bright-eyed, brown-breasted, With musical clear call at sunrise, and again at sunset, Or flitting among the trees of the apple-orchard, building the nest of his mate, The melted snow of March, the willow sending forth its yellow-green sprouts, For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in it and from it? Thou, soul, unloosen’d—the restlessness after I know not what; Come, let us lag here no longer, let us be up and away! O if one could but fly like a bird! O to escape, to sail forth as in a ship! To glide with thee O soul, o’er all, in all, as a ship o’er the waters; Gathering these hints, the preludes, the blue sky, the grass, the morning drops of dew, The lilac-scent, the bushes with dark green heart-shaped leaves, Wood-violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence, Samples and sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere, To grace the bush I love—to sing with the birds, A warble for joy of lilac-time, returning in reminiscence.

Happy First Day of Spring!

I'm sure many of us wish there were more visible signs on spring this year, then just a calendar date!
So here are my spring lilacs from last year, when our warm weather arrived way ahead of schedule and my lilacs were in full bloom at least a month before they normally are.

I can't wait for this year's blooms. I have been keeping a close watch on the budding of the leaves and other signs of spring, around my yard.
It felt wonderful last weekend on a mild day in the low 60's, to be out dead heading hydrangeas and cutting back the roses.
I couldn't help but blow a few kisses at the 16 lilacs in my yard, starting to leaf out!
I will do a big photo shoot of this year's crop, as soon as they arrive.

Most of these lilacs are specialty varieties from
The Hulda Klager Lilac Garden in Washington
I make a trip there every May 1st to buy another plant or two for my yard.

Did you know LilyOake is the ancient English folk name for the lilac?
It's my favorite flower and I thought it was perfect for my business name.

Enjoy!