The Look for Less: Pearson Room in Traditional Home Update

Thought I was finished with this, but in this morning's Sunday Journal-Sentinel was an ad flyer for Lazyboy and lo and behold, I saw a sofa, and chair that reminded me very much of the same objects in the Pearson ad inspiration photo from May, 2012 Traditional Home that I blogged about earlier this month (see post from April 30, 2012).  Here is the inspiration photo, one more time:

My original sofa selection was a bench seat, which I like most of all on a sofa.  Two cushion sofas are uncomfortable for three people to sit on, and three cushion sofas make people feel as if they're encroaching on their fellow sittees if they "sprawl" a little too much.  Too much like sitting at Sunday tea when you were eight years old, with knees together, feet flat on the floor, balancing a cup and saucer with a vile cold brew.

In today's Lazyboy ad I saw the Metro Stationary Sofa on sale for $699 (originally $999):

It comes with a huge selection of different upholstery.  In the photo above, I selected "Mariner" in Ecru.  It's hard to tell in this image, but the texture/pattern reminds me of the sofa cover in the inspiration photo, even though the color isn't a spot-on match.  This upholstery choice is more expensive, but is also on sale at $999. 

The Metro Stationary Sofa on sale is a three seater (strike against).  There is also a two seater "apartment size" sofa that I like more but is not on sale and starts at $1,219.  Nope, I don't think so, but it sure is cute.  Metro is not a skirted sofa like the one in the inspiration photo, but the shape of the arms is similar and it looks like a modified tuxedo style sofa, both pluses in its favor.  Also comes with two accent cushions, like the inspiration sofa.

Also from the same Lazyboy ad, the Keagan chair, on sale starting at $879, depending upon upholstery selection (originally $1,199). It's got similar lines and a great wood detail on the arms - am loving this chair!

I thought it looked good in "Dimples" in Linen, which would cost $899 on sale:

The Look for Less: Pearson Room in Traditional Home 3

Wrapping up, I came across a few ideas today that are budget-wise!

Oriental Vases:

Back to looking at vases -- I had suggested (1) shopping at thrift stores, should also mention rummage and yard sales and (2) making a collection by painting some glass vases.  I know white is very popular right now but I also recently saw some vases that were "swirl painted" on the inside and they were very very nice! They would not be "oriental" style vases -- but perhaps some hand-painted ideograms on the outside might add to the look...

Centsational Girl had a recent blog on how to swirl paint glass vases (April 24, 2012) -- love love love how they turned out!  The vases she used are not the size of the vases in the inspiration picture -- here it is one more time:

But large relatively inexpensive clear glass vases can be purchased at lots of different places -- TJMaxx comes to mind, and I'm thinking you all will have your own favorite "go to" stores for staples like this, whether you buy new but discounted or go hunting at some thrifts, etc.  And you could always score some actual Oriental flavor vases or jars in the color-ways of your choice.

I also came across this cool blog entry today at Turnstyle Vogue (April 26, 2012), DIY: Ballard Designs Knock Off -- shows how to turn a large glass bottle (with cute little handles) into a "terra cotta" look.  This technique could be applied to probably just about any kind of vase, bottle, jar, jug, urns, etc.  Plates too -- now that would look cool -- a couple of really large plates done up like this (or clear glass swirl painted) up on black or brown "Oriental style" plate stands. 

The Painting:

Paintings are expensive -- at least, the kind I've found online, even at discount places like Overstock.com.  There is, again, the smartest option of shopping at your favorite thrift shops, rummages, etc. to find one or more paintings or prints that really ring your chimes, in the colorways of your choice.  I was trying to find something similar in content (a landscape) and color-tones (blue/green/grey/taupe) and long enough to fit over two bookcases/cabinets, while trying to stay true to the overall look/feel of the inspiration room.  Not easy!

I didn't find anything long enough, which meant shopping for two related-theme paintings -- now making the task more difficult!  I thought about a triptych but I did not see anything at Overstock.com, for instance, that I cared for.  Like I said, art is so personal!  I want inexpensive, but I don't want CHEAP LOOKING!  Minimum cost for two likely paintings at Overstock would be between $350 and $400.  No way would I pay that!  That's nearly the cost of a trip to Las Vegas to visit Isis, my honorary 'sis. 

I do dabble in watercolors on occasion and once I'm finally retired I intend to take some extension courses on how to paint with acrylics and with oils!  My intent is to fill my house with tons of paintings stacked everywhere and climbing all over the walls, and maybe fool my family into thinking that they're valuable masterpieces once I'm croaked :)  Okay, maybe not so nice but FUN!  So, I wouldn't be adverse to trying my hand at a watercolor; in fact, I've got a stash of lovely heavy-weight watercolor paper that I bought from a little shop that used to be within walking distance of my house -- but sadly, it went out of business many years ago.  That paper has been resting in a closet ever since, waiting patiently for just the right project or inspiration that I know will come, some day.

Some thrifty bloggers have tried their own hands at creating art for their walls - and who better to create art that coordinates perfectly with your color scheme, design theme(s) and tastes?  And of course, there's no law that says one HAS to copy as closely as possible an inspiration room/photo/look!  There are no rules when it comes to wall art, except to do what pleases you, and use what you have, can make/create, or if necessary, buy on the cheap.

Add Budget Art to Your Walls and Don't Spend a Fortune -- but I don't think I need to tell you where to look for inspiration.  Heck no!  You guys have ALL been inspirations to me!

This morning at the office (bad Jan, bad bad bad Jan), I got the idea to shop for those prints on canvas, figuring hey, they're just fake, they must be cheaper, right?  WRONG.  I would not have discovered that, though, unless I went looking, and so I did.

I found two canvas prints that I though would do very well in "my" version of the inspiration photo -- the same deep moody colors, and landscapes - and two of them -- because one alone wouldn't be long enough to anchor the area across two bookcases/cabinets.  Price disallows their choice, but they remind me of the background in the Mona Lisa!

This is Autumn Oasis I by St. John, $158.00. 

Here is it's companion:

Autumn Oasis III (not II, but III -- why?), $158.00.

My last stop for this challenge was at allposters.com.  I have purchased posters from this online vendor over the years and have been happy with their prompt delivery and customer service.  Could I find something that would do? 

I just went - gasp - when I saw this poster.  It's called Walkway Over the Lake, and it's $6.99.  It is 36" long and 24" high.  So, a second companion poster would be needed - or a whole lot of faces and plates to balance out the other side of those two bookcases/cabinets:

And a companion poster of the same size, Waterfall Lake, also $6.99:

These are black and white or grey-tone posters, so they would have to be put on some kind of backer-board (I've used cardboard with edges wrapped in Contac paper) or mounted/framed using a method of your choice.  You are all so creative out there, I know you'd come up with something great!

While these posters definitely play into the grey colorway, swirl-painted vases, plates and the "Ballard Designs" knock off method to do vases, etc. could be used to introduce a balancing color accent.  Not to mention what you may already have in your "shop" at home.

The Look for Less: Pearson Room in Traditional Home

Sooooo pretty!

 This is an ad from the May, 2012 Traditional Home magazine.  I love this look - I'm just this traditional gal, I guess.  The photo above appears to have tones of blue/grey and ivory or cream.  The magazine page I scanned at first looked to me more cream and light taupe, except for the area rug, which had what I considered jarring tones of medium grey and darker grey in the dark stripe.  So, I am not exactly sure of the colorway in the photoshoot, but it seems to have grey or a grey-blue in it.  I thought the walls were a pale taupe, but they might be a pale grey.

I spent a couple of hours shopping online and came up with these options:

Sofa:

This sofa is not an exact match, but I love it for a couple of reasons:  (1) the bench seat -- there is nothing like feeling one has to sit right in the middle of a seat on a three seat cushion sofa or, heaven forbid, be the third person straddling the gap between seat cushions on a two cushion sofa.  (2)  I love a tight-back sofa for those same reasons :)  This is the Enzo skirted sofa from Sandra John. It has clean, crisp lines but a nod toward traditional design with that slight "camel" back and the subtle curving slopes in the arms. It's on sale right now for $1,395.00 and comes in several different upholstery options. 

I offer this sofa from - get ready for it - Penney's - as an alternative.  The arm shape is similar to the inspiration photo, as is the general outline of the sofa (although not a tuxedo style) , and it doesn't have a skirt.  What I like is that it comes in an 84" version with three cushions ($700 - $1,000), and a 75" two cushion version shown below ($700 - $900), with upholstery options in several colors.  It's got the clean lines of the inspiration sofa and also comes with two toss pillows.  Sorry about the color - couldn't get it to change no matter what I tried!  You've just got to imagine it in a neutral, or a sky blue: 

Chair:

I didn't expect to find an exact match to the high end Pearson chair, but I liked these two chairs - I chose them for their lines and for the wood trim.  I did see chairs that had the "lines" of the chair in the inspiration photo, but no wood trim, and so I didn't include any of them here:

This is the Bedford chair from Ballard Designs.  Depending upon the wood trim finish option you select (there are five of them) and the upholstery (there are many), the price ranges from

$699.00 - $1,003.00.  Out of my price range, but I think it would look fabulous with the Enzo skirted sofa.

Here is an alternative to the Bedford chair, it's the Better Homes and Gardens Modern Outlook Upholstered Chair with Wood Trim (whew!) -- unfortunately, I could not find the price for this chair, but it is availabe at many furniture retailers.  I grabbed this photo from Belfort Furniture - check out the back of the chair - it's got a fabulous detail, and for that reason alone it might be outside of my price range, too.  It sure is a gorgeous chair:

Coffee Table:

Fell in love with this one right away, and didn't look any further. It's looks about the rigth size, the right color, and has the bottom shelf as the table in the inspiration photo, but it's also got those gorgeous slanted legs with the little 'oriental' dibs at the end, which takes this table to a whole new level Plus the price - $99.  Can you believe it?  It's solid wood and wood veneers, 49" x 16". This is the Clark coffee table from Home Decorators:

Bookcases/Cabinets:

The bookcases/cabinets in the inspiration are, let's face it, drop dead gorgeous!  Beautiful veneer, impeccable styling and that fret-work on the glass doors - wow!  These do not look like particularly tall cabinets - I figure they are less than 5 feet tall (60").  This kind of case work will be very expensive, way outside of my budget.

First choice for a reasonable alternative is this design, Stein World 58648 Newbury Collection Chippendale Style Bookcase, offered by many different vendors on the internet.  I found these cases at HOM Store for $767.53 - this probably does not include shipping.  I also found the identical case at - Appliances Connection (yes, you and I read it right - what is Appliances Connection doing selling case goods?) - for $975 but with free shipping.  It's finish is described as "warm oak" - hmmmm, not sure the different wood finishes will go together, but there's no way to be sure what they look like except to see examples in person for the chair wood color, the coffee table color and the case goods color - and good luck with that!  Always a hazard of shopping online, unfortunately.  It's a lovely case (this image is from designcenterfurniture.com) and a good size, HxWxL: 53.00x15.00x42.00.  Wood and wood veneers including burl inlays on the doors:

Two of these cabinets would look lovely anchoring that wall in the inspiration photo.

I did find other possibilities, but none had the same "feeling" as either the inspiration photo or my facsimile selection by Stein World.  Most of them were taller for one thing, and more expensive too.  Also, the glass doors did not have the decorative fretwork on it that makes these cases so special, nor the burl veneer on the doors.  Nope - Stein World Chippendale cabinet is the winner, hands down.

Area Rugs:

The pieced-together striped rugs in the inspiration photo left me cold. I looked for something "moderne" but different, something I thought would compliment the furniture and the case goods I've selected for my "look for less," but not stripes.  Here my selections:

From zincdoor.com, the Frontier Geometric Stone Hand Woven Wool Rug, $330.00 for 5' x 8'.  Two of these rugs would be needed to duplicate the "dual-rug" look in the inspiration photo.  The color tones in this rug are dried oregano, papyrus, stone, mocha.  I think the colors would complement many different upholstery selections available for the sofas and chairs I selected, and the pattern cleverly complements the fret work design of the Stein World bookcases:

This rug is the Modern Gray Mansoori Rug with Pattern by Kalora, and measures 5'3" x 7'7" and priced at $409.20 (on sale right now) with free shipping in the USA, at arearugsusa.net.  It is gray with a bit of cream in it and I think the design complements the lines of the furniture and the fret work in the Stein World bookcases beautifully.  It has geometry in it but I find it more subtle and soothing than the striped rugs used in the inspiration photo - yep, here I am, critizing whatever designer or design team put together the photo for the Pearson ad for using those striped rugs:

More later!