Maitland-Smith

Design Contest Winner - Professional Designer Category

Meet Cecilia Staniec from Wexford, PA, winner of the Maitland-Smith 30th Anniversary Design Competition, Professional Designer Category. 

Cecilia's winning design is the entertainment cabinet on the right, originally black with silver; Cecilia reversed the colors from the original piece shown on the left.   This was truly a winning combination.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally from Tennessee, Cecilia went to Meredith College in Raleigh, NC.  She thought of tackling law school, but changed her tune after falling in love with fine arts classes at Meredith.  Her art and color theory classes sparked a passion for interiors.  After graduating, she spent a number of years in the consumer products corporate world. Cecilia married her post-college love in 2001, and had three children between 2002 and 2005. 

 

She left the corporate world in 2001 and returned her focus to those old college class loves....art, design and interiors. Because she wanted a  challenge and was tired of working for someone else she began her own interior design company, A Darling Room.  In addition,  owning her own company gives her the flexibility to be both a stay-at-home mom and a designer.  Primarily working in residential design throughout the Pittsburgh metro area, she has traveled all over the country to work for clients.   Here is just one example of her designs.

 

Cecilia is a nationally featured designer for Kirkland's, Inc., a home decor company based in Nashville, TN. She has appeared weekly on the mykirklands.com website,  national Kirkland's communications and  retail store appearances.  Sure enough, I went to the website, and there she is  -- impressive.

 

In recent months, her bedroom entry in Design Trade Magazine’s “Give Us Your Best Shot” competition finished first overall for best bedroom design.  See her winning bedroom featured now in a layout in Design Trade’s on-line magazine.  

 

Cecilia gives back by doing volunteer work with the Junior League of Pittsburgh and the National Association of Professional Women, and is a contributing designer on My Perfect Color, Benjamin Moore Paints.  She has been featured in numerous media outlets, including Nashville House & Home & Garden Magazine, ShelterPop, Houzz and Ava Living.  In her free time, she loves to read, travel, cook and most especially spend time with her family and friends.  Cecilia is a self-admitted addict to HGTV and loves a challenging sudoku puzzle.....   Wow - what a busy lady!  This makes me want to sit down just reading about all that she does!

 

One of the great things about our competition was making so many new friends who are tremendously talented and creative.  It was a delight having Cecilia and her husband visit our showroom during the April market, and we hope she will enjoy her beautiful entertainment cabinet for a long time to come.  As Cecilia says, "I have big, big dreams and plans"  and we have no doubts that Cecilia will accomplish all she sets her mind to do.

www.maitland-smith.com

Oyster Veneering

Wood veneer that resembles an arrangement of oyster shells is called oyster veneer.  Oyster veneering began in Holland in the 17th century when sheets of wood were cut from a small branch, often laburnum or walnut, and sliced across the width of the branch, exposing the concentric growth rings.  Several of these slices placed together were arranged as ornamentation on a surface of a piece of furniture.  The small pieces making up the pattern are often called oyster wood.

Oyster veneer adds the look of texture as well as visual interest to a piece.   The look is more casual than a fine marquetry pattern, but nevertheless sets the piece apart from the ordinary.  Notice the oyster veneering on the bases of these lamps with lost-wax cast griffins and hand-sewn silk shades.   

Oyster Veneer is typically used on furniture, but Maitland-Smith loves to create the unexpected.   Visit our website, www.maitland-smith.com, to see more examples of the unexpected in furniture, lighting and accessories.  

Elegant and distinctive pieces for your home today, with quality and style to last a lifetime.....Do you have a Maitland-Smith treasure? 

Pie Crusts Are Not Just For Pies

No need for the rolling pin for this pie crust.

The pie crust table gets its name from the scalloped and raised decoration on the edge of the table top that resembles the outer edges of a pie crust.  This classic style gained popularity early in the 18th century in England for the afternoon social event of having tea and later Philadelphia craftsmen created their version in America.

After tea time, when the silver service and china cups were put away, the table top was raised and the table placed against the wall, saving space.
 

The pie crust table is timeless and has adorned drawing rooms for over 250 years.  The Maitland-Smith updated version (3030-849) has oyster veneer inlay, which adds further interest and dimension to this handsome piece. (More about oyster veenering later.) Additionally, the tripod base is hand carved. 

Americans love their tea -- not as much as the British -- but more and more are discovering the benefits of tea, particularly green tea.  What is your favorite?

The "What's Cooking America" website,  explains everything you need to know about "high tea" and suggests the menu for a typical English tea.  Reading this is sure to inspire you to organize your own tea party.

Besides the tea table above, this solid brass La Barge cocktail table with inset glass top (8110) is also described as "piecrust." As you can see, the brass rim of the top is also scalloped and raised. 

Next time you kick back with your best friend over a cup of tea you might consider adding a piecrust tea table as the perfect complement to your room.    
 To see these and more exceptional occasional tables, visit the Maitland-Smith and La Barge websites today. 

We'll Keep You In Stitches

1285 stitches to be exact.  That is how many stitches are in the Maitland-Smith hand-made silk shade on this pierced celadon ceramic lamp with brass accents.   (1745-618).  

Numbers don't lie.  There are no shortcuts for creating beautiful  lamp shades of the highest quality.

Not only this shade, but almost every Maitland-Smith silk shade is custom made for individual lamps by the artisans in the Maitland-Smith lamp studio.  Starting from scratch, most frames are individually shaped and welded.  Accurate measurements ensure that each shade is straight and its proportions are correct.  The welded frame is wrapped in muslin ribbon and secured in place providing the surface for attaching the fabric.

From custom patterns, fabric is cut and pieces are sewn together.  The lining fabric is also cut and skillfully fitted and pinned into place by our seamstresses.    
 Many of the Maitland-Smith shades have hand-set pleats or other dressmaker details such as ruching, which are custom treatments that only highly skilled artisans can execute. 

 

 

 

 

The shade is finished with tailored fabric folds as trim, beadwork or other embellishments.     
 The attention to detail shown in our lamp studio is one of many examples of the hand craftsmanship that defines Maitland-Smith products.   Visit our website at www.maitland-smith.com to see our vast selection of accent lighting and find the perfect lamp, wall light or chandelier for your decorating needs. 

 

 

 

Design Contest Consumer Winner

Meet Dana Marpoe who is the consumer category winner of our 30th anniversary design competition.    

Dana was unable to join us and be recognized at our cocktail gala April 18 because of a death in the family.  Since she couldn’t attend the party, we invited her to come to our showroom last week for a private tour and of course, to see her winning piece.

Dana, who lives in Kernersville, NC with her husband and two cats, paints pet portraits.  The fact that she is artistic is no surprise when you see the way she changed this occasional table dramatically.  The original (3030-122) is a faded mahogany finished occasional table with marquetry on the sides, a black marble top, and brass gallery.   The next photo shows Dana with her winning table having black lacquered legs, Irish white apron and black tooled leather top.  She loves black and white and Hollywood glamour, which was the inspiration for her design.  She was even wearing black and white when she came to visit.  With her is Glenn Yelvington, our director of product development and design who finds her adaptation, amazing.   Our contest judges also had kudos for her variation from the original.  

 

I asked Dana to bring a few of her pet portraits for us to see.   In the first picture above, she is showing a portrait of Ellie Belle, a pit-hound mix,  and the larger portrait below is of Queenie, the Bishon Frise, which isn’t quite finished. 
Even her business card has a picture of the first portrait of her cat, Bandit, who happens to be black and white.    

You can see how talented she is.

Dana has lived in NC for over 20 years, but she is originally from Harrisburg, PA where she met her future husband at work.  When he moved to North Carolina, she moved too and they married soon after.  In that job she was in product development and has 4 patents – wow.   She quit her job in 1999 because, as she says, “she didn’t want to work in the 21^st century.”  Changing career paths, she went to school later in life, and received a degree in Fine Arts from UNC-G.  She began portraiture by first painting her pets and then the pets of her friends.  Gradually her fame spread and now she always has a canvas on the go of one of her much-loved creatures.

Dana found our showroom overwhelming in its breadth of product selection, and said, “it’s a world apart from what I have seen at other places… beautiful."

At Maitland-Smith we always like to make new friends, and we made a new friend last week. 

Visit our website, www.maitland-smith.com, to see the winning designs in our contest and click on "ONE Products" and create your own "ONE, Singularly Crafted for You" design.  Maitland-Smith products are available through our authorized Maitland-Smith Dealers and Designers. 

Maitland-Smith Celebrates With Contest Winners

At a cocktail gala during the Spring furniture market Maitland-Smith celebrated with the winners of our 30^th anniversary, "ONE Singularly Crafted For You" Design Competition.

 

Two of the three winners and two of the five judges joined us that evening.  The winners received recognition and a plaque from our president, Dan Bradley.  Of course, they were anxious to see their completed designs displayed in our showroom.  Needless to say, they were thrilled with their pieces! 

 

The Maitland-Smith Authorized Dealer/Designer category winner is Sandy Hankins, SH Designs, Greenville, SC.   
 

Her outstanding piece is a chest of drawers in black lacquer with penshell and matching tortoise finish.    

 

Cecilia Staniec, A Darling Room from Wexford, PA, won the Professional Designer category.    
 

Her entertainment cabinet in a silver finish with black lacquer was a favorite with the judges.   By an amazing coincidence, another of Cecilia's entries,  a handsome four-poster bed, won the on-line vote category. 

 

Black and white seemed to be a theme as many entries also were in this striking color combination.   Dana Marpoe, the consumer category winner, unfortunately could not be with us that evening.  Her occasional table is also in black and white.  We will meet Dana a little later. 

 

Shown in this photo is our president with the winners and judges. 

From left to right:  Dan Bradley, Sandy Hankins, Cecilia Staniec, Mark McMenamin, Sr. Editor at Interior Design magazine, contest judge, and Tim Schelfe, Director at Large, National Board of ASID, also a contest judge.  Tim also has his own interior design firm, Tim Schelfe Associates in Raleigh, NC. 

 We were delighted to host our talented winners and judges at the party as well as our faithful Maitland-Smith dealers and designers.   A good time was had by all as we celebrated the art of design and declared that our 30th anniversary competition had been a tremendous success. 

 

In the next few weeks, we will meet our contest winners individually and feature their winning pieces, so stay tuned. 

www.maitland-smith.com.

Design Inspiration

Do you ever wonder where furniture and accessories designers get their inspiration?  These creative people are always on the lookout for ideas from any source that can be utilized or adapted to a new design.

The artisans at La Barge recently received inspiration from a piece of jewelry -- a bracelet worn by one of our sales representatives.  

This beautiful bracelet had belonged to her mother and, of course, was very special.  The metal was fashioned into an intricate pattern and this pattern was recreated as embellishment on a stunning La Barge mirror.  In this photo you see the finished product with the jewelry design in polished brass encircling the center mirror.  (LM2387)  The four curved mirror panels are beveled where they meet.    

Just as jewelry expresses a woman's taste and style and adds the extra touch to a special outfit, decorative accessories add that extra pizzazz to your home decor... as a reflection of all that you are.  Visit the La Barge website to see more beautiful mirrors and accent pieces.