29 April, 2009

This Request Goes Out to Shelly and PVE

Several months ago, during an open house, Babe and I seized the opportunity for a peek-see inside one of the homes we had been admiring/stalking down the street.

I became instantly obsessed with the beautiful paper they had covering all their books and the following morning slipped their cleaning lady a properly written note begging for insider info regarding the materials used. I was pleasantly thrilled when one of the men of the house called me within 30 minutes of my covert operation and generously gave up his trade secret.

My little project would require an X-Acto knife, a cutting mat and a 36" ruler for cutting precise lines.

And rolls and rolls of vellum all of which were found at Pearl Paint.

My new acquaintance Paul was lucky enough to have one of his assistants in NYC do all the labor. I, on the other hand, could not keep my help from laying down on the job.

So I called on my old high school book covering talents (minus the doodles of polo ponies and Madison Clark's initials) to get the job done.

I won't lie, it took me weeeeks...

And, naturally the dénouement was much more striking in Paul and Eric's floor to ceiling built-ins...

But, j'adore how it dressed up our little Parsons shelf. And, all my toiling has paid off in compliments and drools received from friends and guests.

Kindness of Paul Sinclair and Eric Berthold for so generously sharing their design secret.

9 comments:

  1. Oh la la! I am loving the covered books. How creative? And, I dropped in to let you know I tagged you, so you're it! Xoxo-BLC

    PS: If you want the full list go to a tagger's page, I just kept the ones I haven't seen before. :)

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  2. You did a fantastic job!! These look great!!

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  3. Dear Allie in Gtown,
    This design trick definitely appeals to my OCD anal retentive side! Thanks for sharing, Denise

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  4. I move into my apartment on Capitol Hill on June 15th...this was just added to my summer project to do list!! Pray I don't get carpal tunnel from it all!

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  5. what a FANTASTIC idea. so clean & chic.

    ...i just came across your blog via DC Prep. i think i'm in love!
    xoxo,
    ShoreAesthetic.blogspot.com

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  6. Seriously, I am loving getting to know your ocd side!
    The books look as though they have a layer of "screen" for Summer. Sort of a "suncsreen" if you will~
    pve

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  7. dahhhling, i don't know how i found you, but i'm glad i did. your piece on bookcovering is off the chain! if i ever get my library done, i'll do it this fabulous way. here's to you and paul and eric and your patience!

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  8. Wow- that is a fabulous look!! I can't believe I never thought of doing that before. I am so stealing this idea the next time I move!!

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  9. You must have hoardes of patience. Can you pass a bit this way?! Very nice idea.

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