Greensboro's 2010 Chic Chateau Showhouse Tour

(Graphic Designs for posters done by talented Jacqueline Alvarez: ssijackie@gmail.com)

SSI Design Group designers have been totally immersed in preparations for Chic Chateau 2010...a Triad area showcase home that will be furnished & accessorized with thrift shop and consignment store finds! The project represents SSI's major contribution to charity and involves seven designers...all of whom set out on unpaid missions all over the Triad area to find the perfect furnishings and accessories to complete their assigned rooms. Pertinent information about touring this fabulous showhouse include:

Chic Chateau Showhouse Tour Dates

September 24 thru 26; October 1-3

Open Friday and Saturdays 10AM-6PM

Sundays: 12-5

Admission: $10

House Location: 3702 Stratton Hill Drive, Greensboro, NC 27410

Additional Special Events include:

Pearls & Purses Fashion Show

Tuesday, September 28th 6 PM

Ticket Price: $25

Includes hor d'oeurves & beverage

Courtesy of Pepper Moon Catering

All consigned jewelry and accessories for sale!

Lunch & Learn

Wednesday, September 29th 11AM

Ticket Price $25

Also includes house tour, lunch

Courtesy of Panera Bread

The entire contents of the Chic House are up for sale and benefit the following very worthy Triad area charities:

• The Barnabas Network
• The Children's Home Society of NC
• Habitat for Humanity
• Housing Greensboro
• Ten Thousand Villages

Some miscellaneous pictures and plans for the house....


A preview of what we have planned for the 2010 Chic Dining Room.... While the recessed niche normally would get used for a china cabinet we have decided to get an old fireplace mantle from a salvage supply...we found one that dates back to 1865.... we stripped off the peeling paint and left enough of the crackled finish to make it look distressed.


We found this Jacobean 1928 vintage dining room table with it's unique stretcher base discarded at a warehouse. Even though the top veneer was lifting we loved the base and set about removing it's mahogony stain from the walnut wood!


A shot of the base as it was being stripped. We used the typical gel-like stripper to remove the old varnish or sealer and then used regular houshold bleach to bring the raw wood to the beautiful grayed, reclaimed wood look. I love the way some of the mahogony finish is left in the fluted grooves giving definition and highlighting the leg style!




And this is the final result... after the top veneer was re-secured there was a harlequin diamond pattern fauxed onto the top! An outstanding transformation that gives an old discarded table new life for many years to come!

The exterior elevation of the R & K Investment Properties craftsman style "Hudson" plan. R & K build amazing houses....their signature features always include fabulous moldings and Master Bedroom sitting areas with fireplaces. See their website at http://www.randkinvestmentproperties.com/

Inspired by the Restoration Hardware's vintage look...complete with the look of grayed oak cabinetry... we worked with kitchen designer Travis at Distinctive Designs http://www.ddicabinetry.com/ located locally in High Point, NC to develop the plans and the look for the custom kitchen.

A view of the Great Room or main living area....It's an open floor plan...great for families and entertaining as you can see in this picture which shows how it connects with the kitchen nook area...

The Dining Room with a recessed niche for a china cabinet... what a smart idea to save on space in a smaller dining room. It's easily do-able when you're building a house and the Dining Room backs up to the garage as this one does...

The foyer entry of the Chic 2010 house.... We worked with the builder to balance out the feel of the window of the door...we're adding molding to simulate shutters on either side of that upper window...a great trick to 'enlarge' a window and to make this two-story foyer feel more balanced! Check back as we'll post another picture with the end result!

A view of of the Master Bedroom as seen from the doorway into Master Bath. This R & K "Hudson" house plan includes a large Master Bedroom as you can see here...complete with fireplace and sitting area!



For more information about Chic Chateau see the Chic Chateau blog at http://www.thechicchateau.blogspot.com/ or call 336.822-2043.

Furnishing a Weekend Getaway!

With the market now flooded with bank-owned vacation homes and condos several of our clients have been reaping the benefits of the reduced prices! We, in turn, have been fortunate to complete these new havens with beautiful funishings! The pictures that follow are of a recent installation in Sunset Beach, NC....a coastal community north of Myrtle Beach. This view from the dining area of the condo is one of the Intercoastal Waterway heading South. The 1300 acre stretch of marshes and dunes of "Bird Island" (shown on the opposite side of the waterway) provide an important habitat and nesting areas for many endangered species. Local lore has it that sections of Bird Island have become a nude beach....something that is banned in the state of North Carolina. Accessable primarily by boat, you can easily see birds, deer, wild goats and some unusual human sightings!

....a view of the Intercoastal Waterway and Bird Island. The ocean can be seen in the far distance from this fourth floor condominium. According to Wikipedia there is, on Bird Island....slightly hidden among the dunes....a plain rural mailbox which contains an assortment of pens, pencils and notebooks. The outside of the box is marked "Kindred Spirit". Visitors apparently use the notebooks to record special thoughts and sometimes private prayers....allowing them to make public statements in complete anonymity!

Our clients found some beautiful hand-carved birds at a local artisan's shop!

If truth be told, these furnishings were originally planned in 2007.... designed, earmarked and consequently stored....for another Virginia condo that ended up going into foreclosure. It didn't take but one floorplan for us to realize that we could easily adapt everything for this new space. It was and is a happy ending for our beautiful furnishings!

When we first developed these plans back in 2007, navy and white things (believe it or not) were hard to find! We purchased William Sonoma bedspreads and had our workroom repurpose them into panels which take on real Ralph Lauren look! Combined with periwinkle blue, the result is an awesome nautical color scheme for a beach or lake-front home!

Vacation Homes.... Furnishing an Entire House

These are recent pictures from our job planning, designing, coordinating, ordering and installing a client's Virginia Beach house that overlooks the Chesapeake Bay. The view below is from the Master Bedroom balcony... the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in on the far right...
The completed Living Room...

View of the empty foyer with it's beautiful architectural staircase...

A unique table...two old lobster traps with a piece of glass as the top! Great look!

The pictures below are for "Emily's Bedroom". Emily wanted a black and white color scheme accented with some bright lime green. We used some of the great patterned ready-made sheer panels and had our work-room embellish them with some black & white check fabric! We think it's a great teen haven!

A great Charleston Forge Table with a fossil stone top! Cute accent for this bedroom!

Below are some pictures taken during the whole-house installation as it progressed during the two days we were there...

Our New SSI Design Group Picture!

Talent Abounds in Everyone!

L to R: Anne Bell Woods, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell, Melinda Bell Dickey, Beth Bell

We got this wonderful email the other day from one of our senior staff designers, Melinda Bell Dickey, that her mother had sculpted this beautiful bust of General Andrew Lewis, a Civil War patriot. The bust was officially installed this week in the Virginia House of Delegates at the state capitol in Richmond, Virginia.

Mel wrote: "The bust is just stunning, especially in person, and the overwhelming significance of what this means is so very evident when you are standing in this historically relevant room. The bust will be in the old house chamber in a space that has been waiting for this bust since 1932! It is the very room where General Robert E. Lee took his commission....a room designed by Thomas Jefferson....and of course for a designer that is prettty amazing in and of itself"!

While Anne Bell Woods, the talented mother of Melinda, and indeed the creator of this amazing work of art is not someone with whom we have a personal relationship, I am pleased that she is someone connected in some fashion to SSI. And that amazement is not because we want to somehow tag onto her prestigious honor but serves as a reminder that anyone...virtually anyone...can achieve wonderous things if we follow our dreams, our instincts and our inspirations.

Congratulations go out to Anne and to proud Melinda! You inspire us to be all that we can be!