Shopping The House

The other day while I was watching Nate, he was talking about "shopping your house" before buying new accessories and furnishings.  I love that even cute celebrity designers with big budgets do this. 

 The first thing I do before making a shopping list for a project is snoop around the clients house.  

There a few reasons why...  

1.  To save money  

2.  To find things that have personal meaning to the client 

 3.  To keep the new space from looking unnatural, like it was professionally staged

Most of the time, the client is surprised that their stuff looks good in another room.  It makes them happy to see it incorporated into their newly designed space.

Recently, while styling a new built-in bookcase for a client, she brought me this plaque from another room  and asked if there was anyway to update it.

It has special meaning to her and her family.  She didn't care for the way it looked aesthetically so, I brought it home to my studio for a little makeover.  

The back of the plaque was felt so I taped it off with Scotch Blue Painters Tape.

I started with a coat of Krylon Classic Gray spray paint. 

After it dried, I used a sponge roller to lightly graze the raised lettering.

I rubbed a little metallic craft glaze over the surface, concentrating on the edges.  The glaze aged the new finish a tad and kept it from looking, well, spray painted.    

Do you have any "shop the house" success stories?  I'd would love to hear them.  What have you moved around/re-purposed lately?

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