Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Cowboy Chic -- Lure of the Dim Trails Odds 'n Ends


When I started selling my cowboy chic furniture line, I needed a showroom for customers to visit, so our home became an evolving showroom as my work changed.  The photo above was taken about 1994.


The photo above taken about 1998, gives you a pretty good idea of just how little room I had in my 16' x 20' workshop.  In the photograph I can count five pierced-back chairs, a round table, a sofa-back table, two dressers, a magazine rack, and one of my signature mirrors all being worked on at the same time.  The photo must have been at the end of the day 'cause things look pretty tidy. 


In 1998 we remodeled.  We removed the carpet from the living room, and refinished the old hardwood floors.


The two photos above are the same living room as the top photo -- just remodeled.  I really missed the red carpet, hooked rug, and red gingham wallpaper.


Here is our family room about 1997.  You've heard of starving artists--well I'm here to tell you it's true.  Most of the antiques got sold along the way to pay the bills.  Things are even worse now.  I just sold some real treasures to buy 5-months worth of hay for my horses.


The photo above is our guest bedroom.  My wife called it "the shrine" because it housed my collection of bits, spurs, and other cowboy antiques--all gone today.


Even our bathrooms were wall-to-wall cowboy chic as you can see in this 1994 photo above.


In this 1994 photo above our dining room was "spruced-up" for a Los Angeles Times photo shoot.


I also had to build props for trade shows like the cedar paneled walls above and below that were constructed for my 1993 Western Design Conference display.


Although these pieces fit nicely in a two-horse trailer, it sure was hard work loading and unloading all that furniture.


All in all (for more than a dozen years) I had a lot of fun and met some fabulous people while selling my art.  This little set above was for the child of a rock star.

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