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¤ Do It YourSelf ¤

DIY Tips for that Western Chic look:  Use these tips to create a home or a kids room

¤ Faux Library.  Bolt inexpensive/unfinished pine bookcases from wall to wall and around a door way.  Fill in the area over the top of doors and windows with a shelf.  Run a pine pealed log crown molding the length of the wall along the top to hide seams and between the cabinets.  Drill a couple of branches into the pealed  fronts to hang bows and arrows or dream catchers from.  Fill the bookshelves with collections, vintage western stories and rodeo photos.

¤ Bedroom - Use a flat piece of flagstone on the top of an old table, small dresser or night stand. Stencil on a picture of a bucking horse or teepee on the piece.  Use cowboy themed drawer pulls.  Any type of painted or faux painted vintage finish works.  Do the same on a  dresser to create

 Today's Article:

Western Chic Style

The West’s vast grandeur conjures images of mountains, meadows lined with aspens and wildlife, small creeks and a feeling of freedom and self-sufficiency.   Weston Chic is drawn from the old cattle ranches, dude ranches of the 1940’s and more modern gentleman ranches.  These homes have an intentional goal to make visitors feel everything inside of the homes is built to  “last” for generations.  Each is a tribute to our past and the romance of the old west showcasing collections of memorabilia and fine art.  Craftsmanship and use of natural materials, stone, logs, iron and animal hides create fabulous one of a kind type of pieces.  Western homes are designed for entertaining with areas that encourage furniture to be pushed back for dancing, offices or libraries that double as billiard rooms and gardens and verandas built for Sunday barbeques and sunsets.     .  

Western colors are natural and drawn from the earth: wood, gray or beige stone, warm ivory walls, perhaps a dark red or terracotta accent wall drawn from sunsets.  Furniture and wainscoting is carved wood.  The mix of furniture styles and periods, may include some 1940-50’s influences, leather or heavy fabric sofas, collectable Molesworth Dude ranch furniture and one of a kind “new west” pieces. . Furniture looks as though it has been assembled a piece at a time and will last for generations.  Collectibles are displayed on a theme, arrowheads or colt pistols and have a provenance of a dated photo nearby from the same era. Traditional collectibles include Fiestaware, guns, Indian artifacts, grinding stones, baskets, tin spice and coffee cans, old mismatched silver, vintage postcards in a bowl, national park memorabilia, sheet music, Painted tin kitchen ware and tools.

Guest Cottages and bunkhouses run from rustic to authentic teepees to exotic Gypsy Wagons. 

During Round up, the garden serves as an "outdoor room" where hands and neighbors can be fed in quantity.  A big barbeque and an area with a claw foot tub, washboard, and clothesline pinned with vintage photocopies, (reminiscing of an outside laundry area) has drinks on ice.    Lanterns in trees hang over the focal point of the garden, an oversized wood table for eating and side tables for buffet.  Mix matched chairs and benches.  Flowers are “hot” colors, dense and planted in everything, a wheelbarrow, an old laundry roller, in the basket of an old bike.  A rock patio area serves as a dance floor and large rocks with flat areas for seating dot the garden.  A fire pit with comfortable rocks for reclining or chairs provides a respite from the dancing nearby.

 photos courtsey WitsEndRanch.com

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 also visit Today's Decorating  

Custom Furniture by Andy SanchezOur unique juniper furniture designs begin in the forests of New Mexico, where we find ancient juniper trees, sometimes over 1000 years old, that have died from old age. We bring the slabs to our studio in Algodones, a small historic community located approximately half-way between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. 

Accents @ home has a great line of western furniture and accessories.  .