The first telephone call is made to Pamela Whitney now living in the DC area.  Pamela is the decorator who worked with Kathleen on all the rooms in the addition. (www.pamelawhitneydesigns.com)   She designed all the furniture and had it made in a factory in Mexico.  Television armoires that also serve as dressers, desks that double as nightstands and headboards high enough on the wall that you can lean against them to read without being bothered by mouldings.  Pamela has an instant and excellent understanding of what is needed.  Kathleen has a formula for fabric in a room.  One hundred yards of the principal fabric for quilt, drapes, shower curtain and pillow shams: thirty yards of a stripe or nubby solid for dust ruffle, pillows and trim; and ten yards of an upholstery fabric for easy chair and cushion on the straight chair.  Off the two ladies go to Springfield, Massachusetts, to a shop that bills itself as the largest fabric store in America.

Stay tuned for the next installment of “A Room Redo”…

White paint on woodwork around windows in Room 201 is peeling in large patches.  Why, the wall  feels a little damp.  The best roofer in America (Sam Design) looks it over.  We will need a carpentry crew, metal bender, and of course, his team.  And he knows a place in Granville, up on the Vermont border,  that will be able to duplicate the purple gray fish scale slates that we will need to replace across the front of the building.  All the workmen used Room 201 as a staging area.  When the outside is fixed, and all the contractors have gone home, we look at the room. Peeling paint on the woodwork, dated colors, a quilt that no longer fits the new thicker mattress, a stain on the rug.  It’s time for a complete redo. 

Stay tuned for the next installment of “A Room Redo”…