Monday, March 3, 2008

SHOW + TELL BUTLERS PANTRY

Hopefully by now you trust the ugliness below will be transformed in the very next photo. This is the 4th room in a series of my Before and After extreme makeovers. Images are a bit dark.



VOILA!! Before your very eyes is another in my series of personal Before and After makeovers. This space is what I turned into a butlers pantry, assuming this tiny room had a more noble purpose other than holding cleaning supplies (that didn't get used?). The designers and St. Margaret's Hospital Guild took over the Levey Mansion and held another amazing Decorator Show House, this one took place in 2000. It takes us designers 6 months to do our magic, and I was always working up to the last minute.

The first set of B & A above is the sink area. What you can't see is the huge hole in the think plaster wall under the sink, or the tremendous amount of mold on the walls when we pulled the wallpaper down. I wondered if there was an award given for dying in the line of duty.

The ceilings were so low that some people were too tall to come in. It was said that I was given this space because my husband and I were the only ones that could stand up without hitting our heads. Not so in the closet. I had a near concussion more than once (B & A below).

I hand painted the tiles above the sink; wish I had a good image because that was a pretty big undertaking and turned out quite nice. Notice the cake?

Next images below are Before and After of the counter area across from the sink. Replaced the formica with wood on this side. I wish these colors weren't so dull. It was actually a crisp maize yellow and cobalt blue accents.



Below are Before & After of the wall cabinets. I had to do some real fancy talkin to get permission to paint the insides of the cabinets and the ceiling, but it made a huge difference in lighting such a dark area. I also added lighting inside the cabinets. Stuccoed the walls and applied a maize Tuscan finish.


For my next trick, I will go inside this tiny closet and not come forth until I've hit my head at least a dozen times real hard. Most sane designers would have locked that door and called it a day. Not I. My husband actually conversed with an authentic British Butler, who helped us know what the duties and responsibilities of a butler would have entailed in this mansion. So we decided to turn the closet into an office of sorts. We do realize just how short or hunchbacked this butler would have been, but just work with me. We got an antique typewriter, phone and an actual Butler's certificate. I actually wish I had a little nook like this, except I'd still hit my head frequently.





I won a First Place ASID Award, First Place Key Award and the Maggie Award. The darn room was too small to photograph, so it didn't make it into any magazines this time. So there you have it, and I'm that much closer to organizing my old photos.

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