Three years of Sweet Home Charlotte

That's me in Creative Loafing!

It all started the summer of 2011 when my friends at Cottage Chic submitted my name to Creative Loafing for the their new Style section. Creative Loafing was looking for real peeps with real style on real budgets. Well... that was, and still is, moi! 

My fashion business partner Allison Bumgardner and I had started a fashion blog the year before, and in an attempt to seem sort of cool, I decided to start one on interior design. Our company's name was Closet Candy and our slogan. . .wait for it  . . . "How Sweet Is Your Closet." With branding in mind, NOT Sweet Home Alabama, I started my blog Sweet Home Charlotte. And I started it fast, posting as many blogs as I could in time for the Creative Loafing story. 

The story came and went and I kept on blogging. It's almost four years later, and I am still at it. Sweet Home Charlotte is dedicated to living a life all your own, it's about creating and building your own style one little piece at a time. Sometime those pieces are bought, sometimes they are remade and sometimes they are handcrafted; and they are always special.

At least five years ago my most precious Mama went down into her basement and produced this yellow taffeta mildewed chair. She insisted that I take it with me. I had zero immediate plans for it. So I put it in Scotty's warehouse. This fall I got it back and stuffed it in our basement. Being a "fabricaholic" and all... I last minute gave my upholsterer some remnants and we rocked that old chair out for under $200 total!

OLD CHAIR

*turns out the old chair was very well made in mahagony and horse hair.

NEW CHAIR

The Back Makes It Extra Special!

That's what this old blog is all about. Please ask me if you need sources or help remaking your sentimental old pieces into new one's. I get my kicks doing it!!

I am grateful beyond words for my readers, for those of you that follow Sweet Home Charlotte and for those of you that voted for me in Charotte Magazine's Best of The Best BOB Awards. I WON!!!!!! I have no idea how it happened but it took my breath away when I found out!

Diggin It. . .

Bohemian Spring

*I am crushing on all things beaded and fringed. There, I said it. Whatever it is, it cant be wrong!

*Layer, Layer, Layer. . .These magnetic boho bracelets just came into the shop and for $30 they deliver just the right pop of arm candy. The strong magnet keeps the strands just where they are supposed to be.

*Charlotte's own Laura James proves once again that vintage is always better. Her gold tassel beaded necklace (heirloom quality of course)is perfect for the spring concert series. Just add a white tank and you'r perfectly worn in jean and step out. 

*I was playing around in the studio with silver leaf and neon paint and came up with this fun little mixed media piece. Float it in lucite or add a fun mat and have fun.Email me at tcpresson@gmail.com for more information.

*The girls from the last Sex & The City movie had one for less than the price of a pair of Jimmy Choo's, you should too! Check etsy and ebay for great prices and score you're very own.

What The Future Holds

After years of playing with lighting design and developing my artistic and creative passions, I have decided to raise the bar and take this side hobby of designing and painting to a whole other level. I am so grateful to my friends, my blog followers and  my boss Lynn Anne Bruns and co-workers at LAKB Design, for supporting me on this crazy journey I am calling my life. You can always find me at the shop, working with our amazing customers and clients and continuing to grow as a designer and an artist. 

This Thing Called Art

My artwork is inspired by taking the ordinary, and juxtaposing it into the extraordinary. I begin by looking at the beauty in the everyday and blurring those lines; abstracting shapes, color and most often texture. Life is built on experiences and art is built through layers. #neverbeflat #alwaysbegrowing

• Watercolors and Mixed Media on archival paper starting at $75
• Custom pieces available starting at $100

• Small scale abstract oil/acrylic and mixed media paintings starting at $150
• Large scale abstract oil/acrylic and mixed media paintings starting at $400

 Design Services

*above taken at the Cisco showroom in Highpoint, NC

• Lighting Design: What feels like a hundred years ago (ok it was probably 1999) I started working while I was at Queens University for my friend Katina at her local Dilworth lighting shop. Katina taught me "to always look up!" and ever since I have been tripping over just about everything.  I recently was invited to lecture on lighting at my alma matter (for my sweet friend and architect Ray Sheedy)and it was a huge honor. Since then my phone has been ringing away with wonderful new clients wanting lighting help. So I figured it was about time I told everyone else. . . 
• Lighting Consultation:$45/an hour.
• Flat rates available based on individual projects.

•  Color Consultation: Years of practicing in the fine arts has taught me the importance of our surroundings. When the weather outside is dark and stormy so often are our moods. Interior color has the same effect as the weather on our spirits. Choosing the right paint colors and wallpapers within our home sets our moods everyday. 
• Color Consulation: $45/an hour.
• Flat rates available based on individual projects.

A recent art installation at a client's home. Interior Design by the fantastically talented Kathy Wilder of Kathy Wilder Interiors.