by studiotullia | Oct 3, 2018 | DIY, INTERIOR DESIGN
It’s impossible to stay on top of all the featured designers and guest participants, but click on the image below to go to the ONE ROOM CHALLENGE headquarters where all participants link in once a week for the next six weeks. Pick some favorites and follow along. There is a lot of talent and drama out there.
TREPIDATION
With some trepidation, here I am six months later, still trying to renovate the dining room. For those of you who don’t remember, I attempted to address the dining room last Spring with the SPRING 2018 ORC and ended up putting this project on hold. A trip to San Francisco, the twins’ birthdays, illness, and a major hitch lead us down a dark path of incompletion. The major hitch being that we decided to redo the ceiling rather than paint over the nasty asbestos tiles. I was trying to do a quick fix and my husband Shiloh got me to slow down and take the time to do it right. I really had no idea what we were getting into.
RECAP
Here is a quick recap of our storied dining room. When we moved into the house the dining room was a deep orange and has remained that way for over a decade. You know why? Twins. Charlotte and Arthur came along and needless to say, the dining room had to stay that way for awhile.
When we first moved in, we found the brass light fixture at THE REBUILDING CENTER in Portland. it was supposed to be a $40 temporary fix. I have banged my head on that solid brass fixtures more times than I can count. I relished carrying it to the curb this Summer where it was promptly claimed by some poor innocent passerby who has no idea how hard that thing is when you walk into it.
The curtains will also be replaced.
The chairs will be reupholstered.
MOUNTAIN WHITE
To get rid of the orange, I did a few base coats in MOUNTAIN WHITE by METRO PAINT which is my go to white. I’ve used it all over the house – in my office, in the upstairs hallway. Its recycled, quality paint that is extremely affordable ($40 dollars or so for a 5 gallon tub) and it is a beautiful white for bluish Portland light.
See the ugly ceiling? It looked even worse after the white went up. That’s when we decided we couldn’t bare to look at it every evening over dinner. It would bother us. We’d ask, why didn’t we replace it when we had the chance??? 
THE DEMO
This is the ceiling without the wooden trim covering the seams.
Then he cut into the ceiling to replace old wires and add new ones for the wifi and smoke detector.
Then he bought dry wall to install over the tiles since we were only going to lose 1/2 inch if we took them down and that would have been a nightmare.
He had to build these wooden braces to hold up the dry wall during installation.
And there’s this lovely grate that my father in law and a few others have fallen through when a chair leg finds its way into the holes.
So, 6 months later, clean slate.White walls, white ceiling. Let the fun begin.
INSPIRATION
The room that remains an inspiration is this room by San Francisco ABH Interiors:
I love the soft gray walls with the darker wooden tones and of course this incredible mural by GRACIE STUDIO. We plan to do an accent wall but with a more northwestern vibe. I like the lightness of the room with the warm sepia, aqua and white tones.
Swallows are a thing in Portland. And this John Derian Chimney Swallows Dawn Wallpaper available through Designers Guild is pretty wonderful:
So is this serene cloud wall by A NEWALL:
SO, the walls are where I am headed next.
Thanks for following along! I’d love to hear from you as we go along here…
by studiotullia | Dec 4, 2016 | STUDIO NEWS
STUDIO TULLIA is pleased to announce the arrival of our second annual “FLORA” calendar for 2017! It is available here on my website or at my ETSY STORE for $24 which includes free shipping for my lovely readers with coupon code FREESHIP. For an additional $4 we will include a dowel and string for you to hang your calendar. It may also be used as a tea towel. “FLORA” is an homage to nature and symbolizes the changing of the seasons and the phases of life.
We were late getting it out last year and it was quite popular so we decided to bring it back this year with a few improvements. As much as I like a Greek key motif, I decided to leave the border off. I wanted the lovely botanical imagery to be seen on a grander scale. So we enlarged the floral imagery as well as the actual towel. I also made it out of 100% cotton rather than linen/cotton blend.
Here is the new 2017 version:
This sort of gives you an idea of the scale of this year’s calendar (sorry its kind of blurry):
And here’s a detail shot below so you can get an idea of the detail within the print.
This is last year’s. We have tweaked a few of the flowers, the stems, and colors somewhat. Can you spot the differences?
CALENDAR INSPIRATION
The calendar was very much inspired by the iconic “Flora” pattern made originally by Gucci for Princess Grace in 1966. We also have featured 9 bouquets and a few lovely insects. Digitally printed in the U.S on a 100% cotton fabric. We found our images from a variety of sources including a watercolor of irises by my assistant, Amanda Victoria’s grandmother (featured in the bottom center).
Gucci commissioned illustrator Vittorio Accornero to create this lovely design. Using 38 different colors, the pattern is made up of flowers from all four seasons as well as beautiful insects such as butterflies and dragonflies. The Flora pattern was put on the silk with a stencil print: each color required its own stencil to be added separately, so to make one scarf 38 stencils were used!
Here is Princess Grace with the Flora Scarf by Gucci:
And here is her daughter, Princess Carolyn, sporting the lovely pattern in a blouse:
And, now, granddaughter, Charlotte Casiraghi is the new face of Gucci beauty. I can’t wait to check out the GUCCI Flora Perfume
There was a wonderful exhibit at the GUCCI MUSEUM in Florence, Italy all about Flora in Fashion which opened in March of 201. It must have been a beautiful exhibit with special homage to the flora pattern. This museum is on my bucket list for sure next time I’m in Florence!
This floral pattern has been reinvented for decades in GUCCI fashion and accessories.
To read more about the fascinating history of the “Flora” pattern, visit the museum website here
STUDIO TULLIA has always had a great love for flowers, floral patterns, and insects as evident with our branding and choice of fabrics for our products…we are from the City of Roses (Portland) after all.
I have always looked to Tricia Guild for her colorful, floral patterns available in fabric and wallpaper. Here are a few shots from her latest collection:
And look at this wallpaper!
ENTER TO WIN A FREE CALENDAR!
If you would like to enter to win a 2017 STUDIO TULLIA Calendar, do one or more of the following (each one gets you one more entry).
1)Join my website mailing list and leave a comment below about your thoughts on Flora
2)Follow my STUDIO TULLIA Instagram and leave a comment about the calendar.
3) Like my FACEBOOK page and leave a comment about the calendar.
4) Follow my PINTEREST page (not sure how to track this though…)
WINNER to be announced on MONDAY, DECEMBER 26th so it should arrive in time for New Year’s!!!
Thanks as always for reading along!
Best,
Suzanne
by studiotullia | Nov 26, 2015 | SUZANNE'S DESIGN PROJECTS
STUDIO TULLIA is pleased to announce the debut of our first ever “Flora” calendar for 2016! It is available at our Etsy store here for $20 which includes free shipping in the U.S. For an additional $2 we will include a dowel and string for you to hang your calendar. It may also be used as a tea towel. Flora is an homage to nature and symbolizes the changing of the seasons and the phases of life.
As you can see, our calendar was very much inspired by the iconic “Flora” pattern made originally by Gucci for Princess Grace in 1966. We also have featured 9 bouquets and a few lovely insects surrounded by our signature border. Digitally printed in the U.S on a linen/cotton fabric. We found our images from a variety of sources including a watercolor of irises by my assistant, Amanda Victoria’s grandmother (featured in the bottom center).
Gucci commissioned illustrator Vittorio Accornero to create this lovely design. Using 38 different colors, the pattern is made up of flowers from all four seasons as well as beautiful insects such as butterflies and dragonflies. The Flora pattern was put on the silk with a stencil print: each color required its own stencil to be added separately, so to make one scarf 38 stencils were used!
Here is Princess Grace with the Flora Scarf by Gucci:
Princess Grace of Monaco with the Flora scarf!
And here is her daughter, Princess Carolyn, sporting the lovely pattern:
And, now, granddaughter, Charlotte Casiraghi is the new face of Gucci beauty. I can’t wait to check out theinstagram Gucci Flora perfume.
There is a wonderful exhibit at the GUCCI MUSEUM in Florence, Italy all about Flora in Fashion which opened in March of 2015 – looks like a beautiful exhibit, with special homage to the flora pattern. This museum is on my bucket list for sure next time I’m in Florence!
This floral pattern has been reinvented for decades in GUCCI fashion and accessories.
To read more about the fascinating history of the “Flora” pattern, visit the museum website here
STUDIO TULLIA has always had a great love for flowers, floral patterns, and insects as evident with our branding and choice of fabrics for our products…we are from the City of Roses (Portland) after all.
Here are some favorites I wanted to share:
The floral pattern on upper left is a new Designer’s Guild Fabric, the bags are Gucci and the dresses above and below pay modern homage to the flora pattern by designer Zatra Shahjehan as seen at Pakistani Fashion Week. Follow her on Instagram
I have always looked to Tricia Guild for her colorful, floral patterns. Here are a few shots from her latest collection: Caprifoglio – check it out:
To see more painterly gorgeousness on fabric, go here: Latest from Designer’s Guild
To follow my Pinterest Flower Board, go here.
Well, I better stop for now with Flora. Already have some ideas brewing for our 2017 calendar.
If you would like to enter to win a 2016 STUDIO TULLIA Calendar, please leave a comment here below about your thoughts on Flora and/or “like” my STUDIO TULLIA facebook page or follow me on Instagram for another entry. Winner to be anounced on Friday, December 12th.
Thanks for reading along,
Suzanne
by studiotullia | Oct 2, 2011 | INTERIOR DESIGNERS THAT INSPIRE
I used to work for Randolph & Hein, a posh showroom in San Francisco, about ten years ago. I really wanted to work there because they had Osborne & Little and Designer’s Guild fabric lines. Old time favorites. The quality, colors, style, and marketing of these iconic English companies was wonderful to sell and be around. Not to mention the trade shows in NY, London, etc where I got to meet Tricia Guild, Nina Campbell, Anthony Little. Such characters, great style, and so many gorgeous fabrics! I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time when fabrics were discontinued and fabric wings were being given away. One of these great silks ended up in my collection, that I ultimately used for a pillow in my store.
Just my luck, HGTV magazine chose to feature the pillow with the fabulous fabric that is not available anymore in their debut issue hitting newsstands on October 4th.
http://www.chron.com/life/article/HGTV-Magazine-debuts-Oct-4-2191560.php#photo-1629511
I have tried to track down this fabric, made several phonecalls, emails… to no avail.
Well, I have been revisiting Designer’s Guild’s latest offerings and per the usual, everything is fabulous.
I did happen to find some wonderful silk fabrics that might be appealing to a reader who likes the above pillow. What do you think?
I thought I would also share a few other fabulous shots from Designer’s Guild’s website:
Here is the link, if you want to see more:
http://www.designersguild.com/fabric-and-wallpaper-showroom/fabric/
Just a weekend at one of the chateaus where they have their photo shoots would make me a happy girl…
