I’m revealing the dining and living room of the Wilmette Tudor I’ve been working on. You may have seen glimpses already! These clients found me on Instagram and we shared the same values on what to incorporate into the space. You may be able to guess this, but it included lots of color and pattern as well as vintage. The most important, anchoring piece for them was the dining table and based on the feel of the space and the size requirements, I realized we were going to have to look into a custom piece.

This may sound intimidating, but there’s nothing more rewarding than working with an artisan or small company to create something unique and specific to your space and it doesn’t have to be hard or unattainable. Designers have lots of independent makers and manufacturers in their rolodex and always love discovering a new company to work with.

For this project we were trying to incorporate a vintage, french farmhouse look, but with a colorful and whimsical spin. If you’re thinking Magnolia Home, think again! You can find vintage French farmhouse tables, but they are pricey and often too narrow for modern spaces. I found the vendor we ended up working with, Inventia Design, on Etsy. In addition to liking the pieces they had advertised, I was able to find out more information on the company and manufacturing process by visiting their website. They advocate their process which is reassuring when working with a new vendor.

I am normally not a fan of new pieces made to look old, but Suzanne from Inventia has perfected her very own unique aging process and sent finish samples to review. We went through several rounds of sketches and like any good trade, Suzanne gave valuable opinions and input into the design.

We also had a custom bench made, a slightly different style than the table. Photos courtesy of Inventia Design

The clients now have a brand new dining table, one that fits the antique French farmhouse aesthetic. Many meals will be shared here and it will be in their family for generations to come.

Another piece of furniture that the clients wanted to incorporate was some sort of bar cart. The room could handle another substantial piece of furniture so I thought we should push this a little farther and come up with something that filled the space, but also served that function. Since the clients love color I thought to consider painting a vintage piece. I worked again with Ashley from Vintage Refined and selected a piece from her inventory.

The piece was the right size, but the doors at the top opened to reveal shelves, so there would have been no room for the booze. I worked with Ashley on how we might remove these and make the inside more attractive by painting it black. To take things a step farther, we opted to create a shelf in the top drawer for serving. When the drawer is pulled out you have a ledge and it also lifts up so you can still use the drawer.

photos courtesy of Ashley Harding

These simple modifications made the piece more functional in it’s new life as a bar cabinet. I might want to turn into this in the next life, especially if I got to be this color green!

There are endless possibilities in design and we all liked to be pushed a little bit to create something completely unique, functional and personal. I hope this post gives you some insight into the process and possibilities when working with me. I also want to give thanks to Inventia Design and Ashley Harding, and all local artisans for that matter, for making my job so fun!

Wilmette Tudor Project Reveal- The Dish On Custom Furniture