West Elm’s Martini Table

May 7, 2013 1 Comment

New rule: the seventh time I recommend something, I have to blog about it.

I’m exaggerating (who, me?), but this little accent piece has come in handy so many times! It’s not right to keep it to myself any longer. I’d like you to meet West Elm’s Martini Table.

West Elm Martini Table Colors

It’s a stool! It’s a table! Obviously it looks good in contemporary settings…

West Elm Martini Table in contemporary penthouse

…and with mid-century pieces…

West Elm Martini Table in white

…but if you use it in the antique brass finish, I argue that it can go a little more traditional. (A little. It mixes, not matches.)

West Elm Martini Table Gold

You can even use it outside.

West Elm Martini Table in outdoor seating area

Pretty versatile piece for $150 smackeroos, isn’t it?

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, is based in Washington, D.C.

Filed Under: Color, Contemporary, Furniture, Mid-century modern, Modern, Table Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Dramatic makeover! Commode/sideboard/buffet transformation

December 8, 2012 3 Comments

Who out there loves a makeover? I do! I do!

A client had this piece of furniture in her living room. It was lovely but tired, and it needed repair. The client wasn’t sure whether it should stay or go.

Vintage commode

We weren’t sure what to call it. It didn’t quite seem like a sideboard, which is the term I use for leggy storage pieces in the dining room. It isn’t a buffet, which is a more solid storage piece. It’s not a credenza, which I think of a office furniture but technically isn’t…and it’s not tall enough to be a console table. (It’s not a table at all, actually, is it?)

Side view of vintage commode

The word I finally settled on was, “commode,” which also isn’t quite right, but it felt like the best option. I just learned, on a recent excursion to the Hillwood Museum (tagline: where fabulous lives), that the furniture term COMMODE comes from the word, aCOMMODate, because the piece of furniture aCOMMODated all of the items that a fancy family needed to have at the ready to entertain guests. Who knew?

But I promised you a makeover! The moment I realized that we were looking at unrealized potential, I called Evelyn Avery of Avery Art. They are the absolute masters of furniture restoration and refurbishing. (As a bonus, her artisans can build any piece of furniture you can dream up. And they make the most beautiful lamps, custom mirrors, frames, TV-concealing screens…Evelyn also is a dealer of wonderful art from the 18th through the early 20th centuries. It’s one-stop shopping, really.)

So here’s what the piece looked like in progress (eek!):

Commode during restoration

And HERE, Gentle Readers, is the picture Evelyn just sent me:

Refurbished Empire commode

Ta DA, right? Isn’t it just stunning? I can hardly believe it’s the same piece. And in addition to being prettier, it’s also healthier, in that all of the loose pieces were cleaned and re-attached, weak parts of the wood strengthened…this will last forever now.

I wonder if Avery Art could do a refurbishing of ME? Hmmmm….

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, has been serving residents in the greater Washington, D.C. area since 2004.

Filed Under: Dining room, Furniture, Living room Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bossy color’s high/low living room – finished!

April 21, 2012 34 Comments

Hello, Gentle Readers! It’s taken seven years, but I believe I’ve finally cracked the code on my living room.

I mean, why rush?

Laugh if you must (guffaw, even), but I maintain that it’s infinitely easier to work on other people’s houses than your own. Especially when you’re getting paid to work for others and not for yourself. (Quite the opposite, in fact.)

Anyway, here’s the finished — you heard right, darling husband: I actually said, “finished!” — living room:

Yellow living room

I was feeling good about everything, but as the day of the photo shoot grew near, I felt something was missing. Can you guess what the “finishing element” was? The very last thing I did to the room (except the flowers)?

The green Crate & Barrel pillows on the sofa.

Isn’t that crazy? But everything was matching a little too well….it was, Yellow! Pink! Blue! And again! Yellow! Pink! Blue!  Which I  love, but I needed that kind of unmatched color. I needed some green.

Sound familiar? This is kind of what happened with the powder room. Maybe it was a vitamin deficiency.

And the green does match, of course: it pulls out greens from the artwork. But it doesn’t match any of the furniture.

Here’s where everything is from:

**Paint color** (added 4/25): Benjamin Moore, 343 Sunrays

Rug: Safavieh Soho collection, from some horrible online source

Drapes: custom, yellow faux silk from Stroheim & Roman, blue silk stripe from a discount shop in VA. Drapery hardware is Robert Allen

Sofa: Craig’s list, reupholstered in Robert Allen velvet

Small sofa: Mitchell Gold’s Mona Sofette, reupholstered in Schumacher fabric (Tiraz Ikat, I think?)

Pink Ikat sofa

Pink chairs: the chairs themselves were to the trade, upholstered in a fabric from an outlet in North Carolina (but I think I tracked down the manufacturer at some point…Brunschwig? Can’t remember)

Round table in corner: Family piece, English

Horse sculpture: it’s leather! Junk shop – sorry, “antique shop” - in Royal Oak, MD

White lamp: thrift shop, St. Michaels, MD (12! The shade was $60, of course)

Sideboard: Family piece, English

Small chair: Family piece – my grandmother did the needlepoint on the back, which you can’t see, and the front is in a python pleather from Kravet

Blue lamp: Home Goods!

Nina Campbell wallpaper from yellow living room

Art wall: various artists, but the oil paintings are by Elizabeth Brown via her shop on Etsy (it’s called, “Dragon’s Appetite”), and the two silver-framed etchings/engravings/drypoints (how do I have a master’s degree in art history? I never mastered the difference) are by Christina Dixcy, who now concentrates on large-scale photography. She’s my husband’s cousin, and we have several of her pieces…these were gifts when our twins were born

Room & Board Portica coffee table

Coffee table: Room & Board (the Ikea one we spray-painted was ok, but we needed some white, and the glass was bugging me)

Pillows: green from C&B, as I mentioned, zebra from Mi Casa Bella on Etsy, and the blue and yellow ones I had made with fabric I found somewhere. Gee, that’s not very helpful, is it?

What makes the room look the best, of course, is professional photography. All of these pictures were taken by bossy color’s favorite photographer, Michael K. Wilkinson. Frankly, he’s a genius.

So there you have it, Gentle Readers! Bossy color’s living room, finished. For now.

Yellow living room with blue velvet sofa

Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is considered an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Filed Under: Accent pillow, Animals, Antiques, Art you can live with, Artist, Benjamin Moore, bossy color's house, Color, Drapes, Fabric, Furniture, High-low, Lamps, Living room, Pillows, Sofa, Table, Upholstery Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Thanks, New York Times! Big furniture, big mistake

January 5, 2012 24 Comments

NYT, thanks so much for including me in supersmart Steven Kurutz‘s article today, “Relax. There’s Plenty of Room.” 

It’s about oversized furniture and the ridiculousness thereof. I’m pretty sure this blog post - and this one - helped me land the gig.

Restoration Hardware, your days might be numbered. Please don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Woman sitting in oversized chair and regular chair

Mark Veltman for The New York Times

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Filed Under: Furniture, Press, Sofa, Thanks Tagged With: , , ,

Bossy color in The Washington Post! The case for the bachelor’s chest

June 2, 2011 12 Comments

Bossy color is in today’s Washington Post, in the District Local Living section!  The fabulous Terri Sapienza has written an article called “10 first pieces that will last.” It’s about the best investment furniture for recent graduates.

If you’re hell-bent on avoiding the Ikea abyss, on what piece of furniture should you splurge?

I recommend a bachelor’s chest.

Wisteria Louis XVI chest

Wisteria's Louis XVI chest

The difference between a bachelor’s chest and a regular dresser is size and scale. The bachelor’s chest is much smaller, and therefore infinitely more versatile. (See the article for what you can do with it – and where I have mine!) And it’s more portable than a regular, chunky chest of drawers.

Stanley Furniture bachelor's chest

Stanley Furniture's Continuum 3-drawer chest

It’s the ideal piece of furniture in part because it’s small and easy to move. When you’re a recent graduate sharing an apartment in NYC or DC, you won’t have SPACE for a big dresser! Let alone the desire to move it into a 5th-floor walkup.

Hickory Chair Reed & Ribbon bachelor's chest
Hickory Chair’s Reed & Ribbon chest

Other designers had great suggestions, too, like a desk or an “unexpected” piece.

With all due respect to Erin Paige Pitts – who’s room in the D.C. Design House was WONDERFUL, by the way – I think a sofa is the worst possible investment piece at this stage of life. They’re awful to move, and scale is so important – you really need to know what size the room will be. I think that sofas should be as close to disposable as possible when you’re still unsettled. That’s my two cents. Others may disagree.

If this subject is interesting to you, you might also want to read, “The 6 best decorating tips for your rental (if you can’t paint).” What I REALLY recommend if you can’t paint is to move as soon as possible. But I understand that that’s not always practical.

Take a look at today’s Post article and let me know what you think. Anything we missed?

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. She’s also a proud member of the Color Outlook team:  6 experts from across the country who podcast quarterly about color trends and forecasts.

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Filed Under: Bedroom, Foyer, Furniture, Hallway, Interview with bossy color, Press, Rental
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