The Designer Show House

Due to various engagement conflicts, instead of our usual Wednesday evening dinner, Foodie, Singer and I decided to pay a visit to the Community Arts Center DESIGNER SHOW HOUSE.  The house, Fishing Rock Farm – named for a popular fishing hole – is located in Media, PA and is an absolutely stunning multi-designer renovation project. The elegant farmhouse built in 1928 by EK Crothers, sits on 5 acres overlooking Ridley Creek. The entrance off of the main road leads to a cute little wooden bridge, flanked by two beautiful stone pillars.  The bridge could only be more adorable if it were an elfin covered bridge!

I was super excited!

Until my camera died.

Too bad, but….

….thank goodness my iPhone saved the day!  Athough the photographs are nice, I was not able to capture some of the delightful nuances of this yesteryear masterpiece.  Regardless, I hope you enjoy the vicarious snapshot tour of this lovely home!

Grand Staircase and Entrance Hall, Savery Design

A Bibliophile’s Study, PVM Designs

The Salon/Living Room, Turnkey Spaces. 

Love the painting in this room!

Camelot, Dining Room.  Simply Divine Interiors.

An Artful Transition, First Floor Porch. Decorating Den Interiors. My favorite room.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the metal root chairs!

In Bloom Nursery, Jane Eustace Interior Design.

Elegant English Retreat – Master Suite, Maria V. Nelson Interiors.

Home Office, Michele Plachter Design.

“Framed: - Second Floor Enclosed Porch, Barlow Tyrie Inc.

Back Hall, C Barry Marron, Embellisher.  I love the detail of the wallpaper on the ceiling.  Pieces cut and installed asymmetrically.  Fabulous.

Sewing Room, Janice Martin Couture

Kitchen, Michael Shannon Designs.  My second favorite room.  I adore the wall paper…colors, scale, everything about it!

Love the window blinds...they remind me (in a good way) of those in my Grandmom's house!

This was a monumental enterprise….Bravo CAC, bravo!

We stopped and had a glass of wine and dinner at Piccasso's afterwards. Met several other Showcase house visitors there! A wonderful evening.

The Porch

You might be familiar with this practice.

You have an absolutely functional and fabulous covered outside space, perhaps a porch or patio, and it becomes so loaded with stuff that the producers of Hoaders could justifiably pay you a visit.

We all seem to have the propensity (in varying degrees) to store old windows, doors and maybe even a radiator (or two) in such a space with good intentions of properly discarding or reusing the retired items.   They sit and sit until, one day you decide enough already and you get the crap hauled away, freeing the space to be used as intended.

Or so I’ve heard.

I have a lovely screened-in porch on the side of my house that fell victim to such an indignity…she was just pleading with me to beautify her, and so I did.

I had old shit stuff hauled away.

I replaced the screen door.

I had the floor sanded and painted a beautiful shade of YELLOW.

I gave the screen frames a fresh coat of paint.  And…

I got a new wicker rocking chair.

I think I'll get a ceiling fan too....what a serene and comfortable space now!

The best part...people walking by have absolutely no idea I'm there!

The Headboard

So, I see this bed in one of my favorite catalogs and I fall in love…with the bed. It came with a lofty price tag and considering S&H, it was prohibitive indeed, over $2,500...that's a lot of coin.

We know from previous posts that I have a cute talented Irish handyman, so I show him the picture in the catalog and asked if he could make a similar version. He said “Oh, that’s grand! I can certainly make the headboard.” I really only wanted the headboard but that option was not offered in the catalog.

Let the woodworking begin.

I need to acquire some power tools.

Himself chooses beautiful interlocking 5” pine strips and puts them together with 2x4's. Next, he created a template for the arched silhouette and cut the shape with a jigsaw. A bit of sanding and, voilà! I have the headboard of my dreams. I wish I had photos of the building process but he built it off site.

When he delivered my timbered treasure, I was beyond pleased. I distressed it a bit with a hammer, a chain and a pair of 3” black pumps and then stained it using Minwax Polyshades in rich a cherry to match some other furniture in the room. The faux distressing gives the wood a well-worn feel and the knots in the pine, accentuated by the stain, add variety, depth and a bit of chic imperfection.


The inspiration piece is made of reclaimed Douglas Fir and boasts weather wear and old nail holes. As you can see, it is quite lovely, albeit expensive. I had it in my shopping cart more than once but simply could not justify the expense. I like my homemade version just as well...the curves are not as defined, and are longer, sleeker (that was purposeful) and - BoNuS - it was cheaper. The entire cost of the project was $292.21, which included the $7.21 for the stain!