Thursday, May 26, 2011

Great Places to Shop in Lancaster County – (Eighth in a Series)

Here’s how an innocent mug led to a new dining room at The Artist’s Inn.

I’m always searching for something new for our bed and breakfast. When I attended a recent innkeeping conference, I ordered new mugs from Deneen – they are hand-thrown and made in the USA and our guests love them. I picked out a navy blue with a white glaze top.

I saw this as the perfect opportunity to change the color of the walls in the dining room (after all, the color of the dining room should serve only one purpose – to show off our new mugs in the best light). Bruce wasn’t too keen on the idea, but I was tired of the Williamsburg blue and wanted navy and so whining ensued.

Of course, the chair covers had to be changed to match – lucky for me our inn is about 15 minutes away from The Interior Alternative, tucked away in the Manufacturers Outlet Mall in Morgantown.



They offer a dizzying array of designer and home decorating fabrics, ready-made chair pads, window treatments and trim. I picked out enough material for six chairs (and little extra) and paid my bill of only $30. (They have terrific deals here as some of the bolts are seconds due mostly to color dye  – watch carefully when you buy but I’ve never had a problem and Waverly is very particular).  Unfortunately Interior Alternative doesn’t have a website, but their Google Places page gives some basic information.

The chairs only took about half an hour to cover,

and I had lots of help from the cats.

Bruce painted the walls below the chair-rail in about two hours.
We’re pretty darn pleased with the change, even though the blue doesn't quite match. 

So the next time you get the urge to redesign a room, you may want to check out the collection of stoneware at Deneen Pottery.

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