Redoux: Nia from Summerland Style and Friday Redoux link up!

 I am saving my bestest for lastest. Nia is my first "real" friend that I met in cyberspace, way back before there was even a "redoux" blog.  Nia used to post fantastic before and afters on "Design Sponge" and I was smitten with her style.  I clicked around to stalk her and found she had this adorable website:  Summerland Style

After reading through the whollllleee..... thing, and stalkerazzi like looking at every picture, I realized, this woman looks like MOI!  Except she has a better nose and bone structure....Even my husband thought it was funny that we looked alike.  Well, I am not sure Nia knew what to do with the energetic girl from SF that kept emailing her and popping up on her blog.  Eventually she must have decided I was legit and just a big fan.

Maybe now she will finish that airstream trailer, load up her family and come down the coast to meet the "la famille folle entière".     

Nia is definitely in my BFF blog group of friends.  I don't know if she feels the same way.....but here she is:

étonnamment de la boîte créative - Nia

OH YES.....Go Visit her and wish her HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! It is her birthday today.

Summerland Style Blog

One more teency announcement....Go to the bottom for Friday Link UP party.  

Hi everyone! My name is Nia and I created a little furniture company back in 2005 called Summerland Style. I'm currently in the midst of a website/blog redesign and I've been doing a lot of reminiscing and distilling of the qualities that define my brand. A few days ago I had the "aha" moment I was searching for -- the missing link that bridges the gap between what Summerland Style is and how you can bring it home with you. Let's take a walk down memory lane and see how it all came together.

In the beginning I felt like my furniture needed to be bright and eye catching. I focused on accent pieces that were polar opposite the beige you can find anywhere.

Then came a season where I noticed that the shabby chic-type vendors that I regularly do shows with were making money hand over fist. So I tried to fit in there and produced things like these:

They were nice and fresh but I felt like I sold out a little. I had begun to develop a line of signature furniture that I could create and produce by this time that were Summerland Style through and through. The line would include ottomans, benches, daybeds and headboards. I created a prototype headboard for a repeat client that turned out fabulous.

It was done in a supple white vinyl. Amazing! This year I have succeeded in wrapping up all my custom work for clients and I will be focusing on designing and producing my signature line available online and at select markets in the Pacific NorthWest. But what was my "aha" moment I alluded to earlier?

All these years I've been trying to assign a visual or concrete quality to my work -- pattern, color, texture. But last week a latent memory from my childhood came flooding back that made everything make sense for me. I hope you'll check back on my progress when my new website launches and get the full story. But in a nutshell Summerland Style is about a perfect moment in time. Creating Summerland Style in your home is about creating an environment reminiscent of easy, carefree, perfect summer days. It's going to look a little different for each person but I think we can all relate to the lasting impression a perfect moment in time can create.

I just snapped this pic of my nine year old yesterday that perfectly illustrates my point.

I'd like to thank Karen for this opportunity to meet you all. She and I have developed a great cyber friendship and I keep threatening to road trip to San Francisco and crash at her place. I think she thinks I'm kidding ; ) Enjoy your summer everyone!

Thank you so much Nia! Now Friday Redouxs! I am featuring :

One of my favorite things to do is to take a cheapo fram and make it terribly expensive. I have to admit, I was running out of ideas, this is one of the best I have seen! Thanks, Deborah, from upcycling my life

Here is her before:

She painted them white, roughed them up a bit, then she did this:

Then I used this beautiful stencil (Dreamweaver Large Flourish, LJ 896) with Dreamweaver White Matte Embossing Paste...as easy as frosting a cake! Once they were dry, I overglazed with a simple mix of brown acrylic paint and water. YUM!!