I'm Featured in Bungalow Magazine!

Big news, friends. My house is featured in Bungalow Magazine! Bungalow is a new Texas shelter mag and you can read all about me and my house HERE, including some secret redecorating I've been undertaking. I'm planning to do a full post next week all about the shoot and interview because it was a really interesting experience, but I am currently bouncing a cranky baby, making 800 client mockups, and managing my social media "empire" (ha). So for now please be satisfied with a few of my favorite shots. Then get yourself over to Bungalow and check it.

erin williamson design

erin williamson design

erin williamson design

Come back next Tuesday for the full scoop! You know you want to hear all about the seedy underbelly of magazine styling and photography.

Anything could happen.

One Room Challenge: Week Six -- REVEAL!

Hi everyone! Welcome back for the final installment in the One Room Challenge series, wherein I and a host of talented bloggers aim to transform a space in six extremely short weeks. Feel free to catch up on previous posts HERE. Before we get started, I just want to give Linda of Calling it Home a big shoutout for organizing this challenge. Without the threat of public failure, I probably would have flaked a month ago. So who's tired of looking at an empty green box where my dining area should be? If you've been following along, you know that I started with a fleshy peach disaster of a charmless room that housed sad chairs, a hideous table, and wicked dirty grout. I planned to push myself into designing something bright, edgy and polished, yet still breakfast casual. I had big dreams to resurrect my cracked marble Saarinen table in hopes of creating greater seating flexibility, but that plan failed and I was left bereft. What's a tableless girl to do when the world is waiting for a dining area makeover?

arsenic austin interiors

Bust out the sandpaper and spray paint, that's what. I waited and waited for St. Craig to reward my fervent prayers with an oval top for my leftover tulip base, but Frankensaarinen table was not to be. I investigated many fabrication options but was stymied by cost and lead time. So my sad, flaking, peeling old table got a coat of semi gloss black paint on the apron and legs. Then, we sanded the top finish off and wiped on about five coats of dark walnut Danish oil.  It actually looks not too shabby, and I love the matte quality of the finish. Plus the fruitwood inlay really pops now.

That left me with the art conundrum to solve. This was a toughie. I really have too many choices and I like them all for various reasons. What I chose surprised even me...

arsenic austin interiors

Say what? Maybe it's because it was PITCH BLACK and pouring on shoot day, but the acid yellow of this 70s abstract painting appealed to me. Let the sunshine in!

arsenic austin interiors

I tried lots of art in multiple situations with tons of different styling options, and somehow this dark horse ended up the winner. When I paired it with the crazy Clarence House fabric I used to upholster this vintage ebay bench, something clicked into place for me and I saw things differently. It really is so important to shift your perspective and keep an open mind. Wine helps.

arsenic austin interiors

I know I kept saying I was going to use that red Robert Allen fabric -- I do love it and I even ordered a yard. But me and Clarence House have a thing going on. Don't tell Robert... I don't want him to be jealous.

arsenic austin interiors

So far the brassy bench is popular seating -- like elbow your baby brother out of the way popular. I'm pretty happy with the way it opens the dining area to the kitchen, in that it feels less fenced off.

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And then there is the vintage head vase... it's 80s deco eurovibe o'clock up in here, with a Fornasetti twist. Say that 20 times fast.

arsenic austin interiors

Everything on the table is thrifted -- from the $5 flatware to the fringed napkins, cobra commando candlesticks, glassware and Bavarian china.

arsenic austin interiors

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I have TONS more china, flatware and glassware, but I just put way too much work into the table to completely cover all that sexy woodgrain up.

arsenic austin interiors

In case you were wondering, the other half of the room still exists.... Of course my ugly door has been properly rejuvenated with a shiny brass doorknob. And what's that on the kitchen side of things?

arsenic austin interiors

Oh, it's just a creepy haunted mirror. No biggie -- apparently I have to showcase something haunted in every room. I have no idea what this thing is, but my hunch is turn of the 20th century central European. The hammered brass vase came from Round Top and it is far cooler than pictures give it credit for.

arsenic austin interiors

This picture is supremely awful... it was the end of a (literally) dark day and the kids were (literally) three seconds from walking through the door, but I wanted you to see the whole humble setup.

arsenic austin interiors

Even the china cabinet got a mini restyle. Notice all the gold glassware that didn't make it to the table...

arsenic austin interiors

I bought the unicorn for a client kid room, but little Susie may have to live in a land of shattered dreams. Or maybe I will let it go... I am a giver, after all.

And that's about it for my teeny tiny dinette makeover. Let's have a proper before and after, shall we?

BEFORE

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AFTER

arsenic austin interiors

arsenic austin interiors

arsenic austin designer

I think I accomplished what I set out to do. The room is functional and finished, plus there are a few surprise moments. Nothing like a little shock and awe to go with your morning cereal, right? By relying on thrift stores, craigslist, and ebay I was able to keep the budget in check. The bulk of my funds was spent on simple window treatments and a cowhide rug that can be used in different decorating schemes. Content to play supporting roles, neutral basics allow color and quirky accessories to take center stage in the dinette drama. And of course I can always switch out the cheapie flashies when my fickle side takes hold.

As Leonardo da Vinci said: art is never finished, only abandoned.  I read that in Parent's magazine or something. Hey, I'm no snob -- inspiration comes from everywhere.

It's been a blast hanging with you fine people throughout the challenge! Thank you for your support and comments -- they have been the wind beneath my wings. I read each and every word and I love them all, good or bad. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me all about what you think of the new old dinette. Maybe you can even talk me into doing the kitchen next... Maybe.

Please don't forget to visit the other participants to see how their rooms resolved. There is some amazing work taking place!

one room challenge

It's been real. Signing off and taking a nap.
xo,
Erin

One Room Challenge: Week Five -- Twas the Week Before Reveal

And all through the house, not a project was finished... it was time to get soused. The rest of that ditty can take a hike, except for the bit about martinis dancing through my head. That is how the poem goes, right? So friends, we find ourselves near the end of the One Room Challenge (catch up on earlier posts HERE). Let me say that six weeks is quite the grueling schedule to decorate, shoot, post, and completely redesign a room. But in all honesty, it's good to have deadlines... without them I might have lived in a Triple XXX peach dinette forever. Or at least until my husband threatened divorce. I'm pretty sure that was on the horizon, so a huge thank you to Linda of Calling it Home for organizing this challenge!

This past week was fraught with obstacles like kid sickness, parent sickness, and mental sickness. 'Tis the season for sharing, you know. Let it be known that I battled a veritable river of bodily fluids to bring you updates. Because I care.

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I am kind of being a tease here because a fair amount of choices have been made, but they are still top secret hush hush. Anticipation is the best part of... well, everything. Except for martinis. Anyway, I do have a table but I'm still working out seating and this represents just a tiny fraction of the options I have stocked in the garage. My husband is thrilled about this.

Thonet chairs and stools on top of stools on top of stools, oh my. I am having a lot of conflicting thoughts about seating right now. Some strange perversion of the mind has taken hold and is forcing a philosophical rigor upon the situation wherein I only like chairs that speak to the chairness of chairs. You know, like Plato and stuff. Somehow no cantilevered, nor panton, nor frankly any kind of not-plain CHAIR will do. This is a weird turn of events because I normally love all of those things -- just not for this space at this time. I may have to do a bench or stools to get around this self imposed hurdle.

erin williamson orc

Oh hey, did you notice that I got new blinds? Someone is probably going to say they look like the old blinds, but that is incorrect.

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The old blinds were this shiny orange monolith too heavy to be drawn up and down on a whim. So I got myself to Lowes and had some stick blinds custom cut, et voila!

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I think they look light, fluffy and neutral. Plus they hide my ugly window clips. I like them a lot.

I also got a new fancy door knob from Rejuvenation for the ugly arched panel door I hope to replace someday. It's a bit like gilding a stinkbug, but there is is.

erin williamson orc

Sexy black porcelain and unlacquered brass, yum. I'm going to let it get all dirty and patinated so it hides jelly smeared fingerprints. And then when I get a new door this baby is coming with... No one gets left behind! Except for ugly doors and blinds.

erin williamson orc

I have also been steadily accruing a huge amount of thrifted accessories for my table setting. I've never really put together a big girl holiday table before, so that is high on my to do list. This year, retinas will be seared and eyes will be generally blinded by all manner of scintillating wares. I have enough gold, crystal, and glossy porcelain to make Kate Spade cry uncle into her polka dotted napkins.

erin williamson orc

Hello $5 gold Florentine flatware! Rope-a-dope, people. I'm in it to win it.

Now if only I could figure out what to do for seating, decide on my ding dang art already, and nail down the overarching direction of styling and mood...

Maybe I'm just in it to finish it. Wish me luck.

As always, please do visit my lovely co-challengees to see how they are faring this week.

one room challenge