Decorating Gets Personal

Calico colleagues share their design projects

If we have learned anything over the past two months of quarantine and work-from-home, it’s the renewed importance of home not only as a safe place, but also a comfortable and beautiful space. When you walk in the door, you want to have that “welcome home” feeling. Investments in home decorating and home furnishings pay returns that you can enjoy every day.

This is a good time to look around and make plans for design projects for your to-do list or your wish list. Most every home has a room that needs updating, tired window treatments or furniture that begs to be recovered. Perhaps extreme family togetherness has been hard on your home—not to mention dogs and cats! To inspire you, we asked Calico staffers to tell us about some of their own projects. Here are their stories:

BECKY’S GUEST ROOM RE-DO
Becky Steele, Marketing Department, Calico Home Office, Kennett Square, PA

Becky wanted to update the guest room that a daughter and son-in-law use when they come to visit. She is incorporating her daughter’s farmhouse style in her design selections. Here is Becky’s story:

When I was thinking of this room, I went back and looked at images I had on my Pinterest boards and used one of them as my inspiration. It featured shiplap on part of the wall and wallpaper above it. The shiplap added architectural detail, enhanced with a wide ledge at the top—a perfect place for black and white photos from family vacations.

I began looking at wallpaper from Calico during my stay-at-home and found exactly what I wanted to use: Olive Branch in Charcoal from Magnolia Home by York. It’s going to be the perfect addition to the 3-foot space above the shiplap. While waiting for the wallpaper, I visited York's website and discovered some of their patterns were available to use with their “room visualizer.” You can upload a picture of your room and select which wallpaper to apply. Once I saw the paper virtually in the room, I knew what my purchase would be.

Being home also gave me time to think about what type of window treatments were needed. I am considering hardware and grommet draperies from Calico’s Quick Ship Program: Emporio Linen in Ivory with black grommets.

For the hardware, I would use the 1” Quick Ship Metal Hardware Set in the Iron finish with bent returns. Another option would be to replace the existing blind with Relaxed Roman Shades. I would still go with a solid off-white fabric—but may think about a contrast band at the bottom.

JAN’S PILLOW PROJECT
Jan Jessup, Marketing Department, Calico Home Office, Kennett Square, PA

Several months ago, Jan transformed her kitchen/family room by reupholstering a loveseat, armchair, ottoman and dining chairs—plus adding fan-pleated striped sheers to filter the afternoon light from windows to her garden. What was missing: the pillows! We all have unfinished projects, and this was hers. Jan had used six different fabrics in this area, so it was a bit of a challenge to figure out what to do. Here is her process:

I’m a visual person, so I like to lay things out and mock them up when making design decisions. To plan the pillows for the furniture in this room, I used leftover fabrics and trims to visualize the effect.

The loveseat is covered in a painterly linen floral print that I fell in love with, Adelaide in Meadow. The vibrant colors are like being in Monet’s gardens at Giverny. The next question was how many pillows and what size? The loveseat is 62” wide—I think two pillows is boring and five is too many unless for a sofa. An uneven number of pillows is always more visually interesting, so three pillows seemed right. I borrowed pillows from my living room to stage here—two 20” squares and a 12” x 18” rectangular pillow—looking at size, shape and proportion.

The next question: use contrasting fabrics—or the same floral as the loveseat? Even though the silk living room pillows were the wrong color and texture, it gave me a sense of how contrasting fabrics would look. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t choose the same fabric for pillows as the fabric on the frame. But since there is already a lot going on in this kitchen/family room, I chose the floral fabric for the larger square pillows. They will be welted in the same teal contrast cord that was used above the loveseat skirt. And, because I’m a little obsessive, I cut the pillow pieces to match the pattern at each side of the back of the loveseat.

Next up: the 12” x 18” rectangular pillow. That was easy. I used the embroidered fabric that is on the backs of my dining chairs. Repeating fabrics like this helps pull a room together. This pillow will have a contrast welt in a solid pink linen-like fabric.

Now, for the armchair. I need a pillow here for back support. I tried a 12” x 18” pillow here for size: too small (left photo). How about a 16” x 24” pillow? Too large. Then I measured the inside of the cushion where the pillow would live: 20” wide. Calico carries pillow inserts in a 16” x 20” size. I bought a feather/down form and decided that would be just right and in scale with the chair (right photo).

Next, I mocked up this pillow with the ikat jacquard fabric used on the ottoman nearby (left photo) and added a length of the mingled cord used on both the chair and ottoman above the skirt. At last, I had a pillow plan!

I sent the fabrics and inserts off to a Calico pillow maker and she just sent a photo preview of the finished pillows. I can’t wait to take them home!

A Tip from Vern Yip’s Design Wise:

To keep a room fresh and interesting, switch out decorative pillows seasonally to change up the look of your upholstery pieces and bed. To save space, stick to your insert sizes and change out the pillow covers only. When empty, the covers fold flat and store easily.

DEBORAH’S SITTING ROOM RE-DO
Deborah Ubertini, Store Manager, Huntington Station, NY

The room pictured below was originally my daughter's bedroom. She is married now and has moved out. I fell in love with the Inside Out performance fabric Alaia OD/Opal and the room took off from there. We added the Byron Swivel Chair and white Hunter Douglas New Style Shutters. I found a wallcovering with the exact color of the Alaia OD fabric and applied that to an accent wall. Our sofa and ottoman need to be reupholstered too, but we will get to that soon!

SUSAN ADDS PILLOW PUNCH TO A SOFA
Susan Distel, Custom Labor Department, Calico Home Office, Kennett Square, PA

Susan’s new Calico sofa for her family room came with matching pillows—as they often do. She wanted more pillows to add color and style to the monochromatic sofa. “My goal was to tie-in my gold ottoman with my blue sofa. When this new print arrived, Lindell in Adriatic, I knew I had it!” Susan found a second fabric to add interest—and because she is an accomplished seamstress, within a few days, she had three beautiful pillows. What a difference a few pillows can make!

DEVIN’S DAMAGED WINDOW BLINDS: A QUARANTINE CASUALTY
Devin Dailey, Store Manager, Wilton, CT

I need to replace shades and blinds due to damage caused by kids and pets. This was an unplanned project due to my child being home too much because of the quarantine! Likewise, someone nibbled the shades in the living room—who did that?!

We have a pretty good sense of humor about this quarantine fail. Life with young kids and dogs...what are you going to do? We are considering wood blinds: Hunter Douglas Parkland® Classics™ Blinds made of 100% Basswood.

CYNTHIA’S MOVE TO A NEW HOUSE INSPIRED NEW DÉCOR
Cynthia Shaltz, Store Manager, Torrance, CA

A new residence often triggers decorating projects. For Cynthia, that meant reupholstering two Clemmons Swivel chairs in the Justina Blakeney Inside Out performance fabric, Lisette OD in color Fiesta. Next up: pillows for a sectional in this room!

DAWN’S KITCHEN REMODEL
Dawn Kotas, Store Manager, Grosse Point, MI

Dawn was in the middle of a major kitchen remodel when the pandemic began. Her husband began the project last year as a hobby in woodworking! Here is more of her story:

After mastering boxes and bookshelves, my husband started looking for a larger project and wanted to re-do the kitchen. I thought, whoa! That's a mighty big challenge to take on (and really - how long is this going to disrupt the kitchen?!). He promised he would build everything, get it all ready and then install in one day so we wouldn't be in a constant state of construction. Phase 1 lower cabinets went in last fall. Being at home this past month with a garage/workshop and all the materials he needed turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Phase 2, the upper cabinets.

The next phase will be countertops, backsplash, and of course, a Calico window treatment. I want to do a Roman shade again; I like to see a full view outside and keep the shade clear of splashes and debris from the sink. I am considering these two options:

1. The HD Vignette shade in Belfast Linen for a simple clean look similar to a Roman shade.

2. A flat Roman shade, either in the embroidered fabrics Brida in Delft or Cabril in Platinum.

A closing thought from Kaitlin Petersen, Editor in Chief of Business of Home:

“…by being home all the time, I also learned so much more about our living space. I appreciated some of the design choices I had made and began to rethink others. It’s an audit that people all across the country are making in the midst of this strange time. When staying well means staying at home, we begin to think about wellness in our homes in a whole new way.”