In the details- Architectural details on older buildings

As the saying goes, they don't make thing like the used to, like this beautiful 1917 entryway of a Georgian Revival building. A juliet balcony with carved rosette underneath, deep brackets and a monogrammed wreath with carved ribbons on the lentil.  

Calkins Hall, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama

Historic Preservation- a tour at the newest project at The University of Montevallo

I am working on a historic house project, at the University of Montevallo. Montevallo is a lovely town filled with houses from many eras starting with pre-civil war through to a delish modern house with glass walls.

The King House is a pre-civil war house dates to 1840’s and was the first house in Shelby County to have glass windows. The style of the house is called an I-house with two rooms downstairs and three rooms upstairs. The kitchen is detached, as is typical in houses of this vintage. It keeps the house cool and can aid in preventing fires in the house.

My focus on this project so far has been the living room and the fireplaces. The living room needed an update with more modern fabrics to give it a home-y bed and breakfast feel, while keeping the classical style in the furnishings. We choose a soothing french grey and aqua palette that complimented the wood tones in the house and the french grey woodwork.

The fireplaces, which are not working, were updated with unglazed porcelain logs. The logs nodded to the use of the fireplace with the white porcelain nodding to the "unconventional" art school reputation of the school. 

Next on the list of updates for this project is the rugs, and upstairs soft furniture!

Floral design inspiration- creating large floral centerpieces

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Every year I would with a small team of fantastic folks on a fund raiser for scholarship money for a local student to attend my Alma Mater- University of Montevallo's fantastic art program.

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Every year, I do the floral centerpieces... usually on the fly from whatever lovelies I find at the local wholesale florist.

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This year is different. This year I am actually looking for inspiration for the flowers. I need it to be a big centerpiece, a purple and gold floral display, and preferably remarkable in floral style. That last one not always met, but striven for.

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Here is some of my Pinterest pinspirations for the floral centerpieces... and some non- floral centerpieces.

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So this last one is not my color scheme, but it is a punny version of my theme (Shades of Purple and Gold, in stead of shades of color, I could do "lampshades" of purple and gold.) I can totally see this idea of purple and gold lanterns hanging over the food tables... and it would be reuseable, which is always a consideration when raising money for a state university!

centerpieces without flowers

I was asked again this year to do the centerpieces for the University of Montevallo homecoming luncheon for 300 people. The theme was "proud past, bring future". In special events committee meetings, we discussed a connections to the buildings- old and new. Below is my quick concept drawing from the meeting and the final outcome.



This is the concept drawing with a brick path to reference the brick sidewalks on campus (the old) and the new promenade into town. Buildings are old and new structure.

In the finish product, I used wheat grass, organic and hydroponic, with polymer clay brick path and building images with blueprints backs, cut with deckle edge scissors.