Blair Barbara - Furniture Makes the Room: Create Special Pieces to Style a Home You Love

To my sweet family, Jon, Conley, and Brynn.
You are my everything.

Text copyright 2016 by Barb Blair.
Photographs copyright 2016 by Paige French.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Blair, Barb, author.
Furniture makes the room / Barb Blair ; Photographs by Paige French.
pages cm
1. Furniture painting. 2. Furniture finishing. 3. Interior decorationThemes, motives. I. Title.

TT199.4.B535 2016
684.1dc23

2015015943

ISBN 978-1-4521-3999-9 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-4521-4359-0 (epub, mobi)

Designed by Hillary Caudle
Typeset in Alright Sans, Eames Century Modern, and Letter Gothic

Arm-R-Seal by is a registered trademark of General Finishes Sales and Service Corp.; Behr paint is a registered trademark of Behr Process Corporation; Benjamin Moore paint is a registered trademark of Benjamin Moore & Co.; Citristrip is a registered trademark of W.M. Barr & Company, Inc.; Community Tap is a registered trademark of The Community Tap, Inc.; Cusco is a registered trademark of Carrosser Co. Ltd.; Etsy is a registered trademark of Etsy, Inc.; Fiddes Wax is a registered trademark of Fiddes & Sons, Ltd.; Fiestaware is a registered trademark of the Homer Laughlin China Company; Fire-King is a registered trademark of Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation; FrogTape Delicate Surface Tape, Multi-Surface Tape, and ShapeTape are registered trademarks of Shurtape Technologies; Instagram is a registered trademark of Instagram, LLC; Klean-Strip is a registered trademark of W.M. Barr & Company, Inc.; Minwax, Minwax Polycrylic, and Minwax Special Walnut Stain are registered trademarks of Sherwin-Williams Company; Miss Mustard Seeds is a registered trademark of Mustard Seed Interiors, LLC.; ModPodge is a registered trademark of Enterprise Paint Manufacturing Company; Montana Gold is a registered trademark of L&G Distribution.; Murphy Oil Soap is a registered trademark of the Colgate-Palmolive Company; Old-Fashioned Milk Paint is a registered trademark of The Old-Fashioned Milk Paint Co., Inc.; Pratt & Lambert is a registered trademark of Pratt & Lambert Inc. Corporation.; Purdy, Purdy China Brush Series brush, Purdy Nylox, and Purdy White Bristle Brush are registered trademarks of Purdy Corporation; Pyrex is a registered trademark of Corning Incorporated Corporation; Ralph Lauren is a registered trademark of PRL USA Holdings, Inc.; Spackle is a registered trademark of Muralo Company, Inc.; Stendig Calendar is a registered trademark of High Design LLC DBA; Titebond II Premium Wood Glue is a registered trademark of Franklin International, INC.; Zona is a registered trademark of Lakeside Collaborative, Inc.

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When I consider my first memories of home and what helped shape my personal views of dcor, I think back on my upbringing on the West Coast in a little town outside of San Francisco. The home I grew up in was definitely eclectic. My parents did missionary work overseas, so our home was full of treasures from their travels: carved wooden elephants and camels from India, and side tables made of cherry wood with bone inset designs of tigers, elephants, and trees. There was also the gorgeous writing desk that we still call the Singapore desk because it came all the way from Singapore (where I was born, by the way!), with its detailed carved scene of men pushing an oxen-pulled wagon up a hill. The pendulum clock of dark weathered wood with tarnished brass innards, and my mothers big oak table with the five extra leaves that we were always excited to extend for guests. (Years later, I serendipitously found one just like it at an antique storeit was my first big purchase as a married adult.) My mother had the gift of hospitality, and her table was always gorgeous but not fancy, because everything had been found and collected. Mom had a soft spot for Depression-era glassware in reds, greens, and yellows, and she collected vintage Fiesta ware, Pyrex, and Fire-King. My childhood home told the story of our familywhat we experienced and valued, where we traveled, the people we encountered, and the beautiful tables we set for feasts with friends and family.

I learned from an early age that creating a home means filling it with things that you love. Home doesnt mean perfectionit means taking the time to collect and gather furniture and objects that you find beautiful and meaningful. I learned that the value in possessions lies solely in the value that we give them.

Now that I am grown and married with a family, my home tells its own story. You can find bits and pieces of my childhood home (like my own collection of vintage Fiesta ware and colorful Pyrexgo figure) among the newer cherished items: artwork created by my children; the picture of the clay cliffs on Marthas Vineyard where my husband and I stayed for our tenth anniversary; the artwork created by friends; favorite thrift store finds (like the signed print I bought for three dollars and later discovered was done by a famous German artist!); the little stone dinosaurs from a family cross-country trip; the antique picture of Robert E. Lee that my father-in-law used to salute every night before bed, which now hangs in our dining room, reminding us of his quirky personality; the piece of our old fence that my sister-in-law painted with the words eat good food, now hanging in our kitchen; the tablecloth that we pull out every Thanksgivingwe write on it what we are thankful for, then safely tuck it away until the next year; the big wooden window frames on our den walls that I rescued from a garbage pile in Tennessee many years back; and painted furniture pieces in every room, each with its own story of beauty and redemption. My home tells the story of my life, and if I were to walk you through its rooms, I would love sharing these tales with you.

What story does your home tell? What would I see, walking through its rooms? What treasures would come to life as you shared their stories with me? I hope to help you answer these questions and connect more deeply with the items in your home, and to show you how to bring intention into your space by choosing and creating furniture pieces that express your story. After all, home is about more than high-end designers and the latest trendsits a place where we have total creative freedom and the rules are made only by us.

My deep connection with the concept of home is what inspired me to start my studio, Knack, and it is why I have made furniture design my lifes work. Rescuing a forlorn piece of furniture and turning it into a work of art is a way to bring soul into your dcor. In these pages, I reveal the multiple functions that live within every piece of furniture and walk you through the process of unlocking the unique personality of the pieces you cherish. I hope you come away with a whole new outlook on furniture and how playing with different settings is a way to keep your home fluid, fresh, authentic, and alive.

The heart of this book is about creating a space you love and that reflects your life. Youll find that step one is understanding that furnitureand the meaning, colors, stories, and accents that come with itis what truly makes a room.