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Design Sponge
May 8th, 2008
before and after: jessica’s shoetopia chair


today’s final before & after comes from shoe-boutique owner jessica of shoetopia in cincinnati. jessica was trying to figure out how to update her display windows for the spring season and decided to update a set of two chairs she found at a used furniture store. in order to incorporate them into her “living in yellow” shop theme, she decided to spray paint the chairs a bright “sun yellow” and use them in her front window showcase. i love the bright pop of yellow against the blue window frame. great work, jessica!


[image above: jessica's chair before]

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15 comments
Jane said:
May 8th, 2008 - 12:08 pm

I love anything in yellow! Beautiful job Jessica!

Jane said:
May 8th, 2008 - 12:08 pm

I love anything in yellow, beautiful job Jessica!

Wendy said:
May 8th, 2008 - 12:30 pm

While the idea was lovely, that poor chair was practically destroyed by the ugly yellow paint. Just look at how pretty the wood was in the before picture. What a shame.

sarah said:
May 8th, 2008 - 2:27 pm

i love this color combo actually, and i usually don’t like it when people paint over wood since it’s tricky to pull off. this one is working for me though. mostly because the hue of acid-y yellow combined with the more natural tapestry color. i’m sure it gets alot of attention in the window.

The Lab said:
May 8th, 2008 - 2:52 pm

Ooohh, we love Shoetopia here in the ‘Nati! It is such a great shop, we had a happy hour there with Edelman Leather and the ladies at Shoetopia were the best! Love it!

May 8th, 2008 - 3:00 pm

Way to go!! LOVE it! So neat to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary!! Very eye catching…

Anna said:
May 8th, 2008 - 5:37 pm

Now I know this post is about the furniture… but who made those grey and beige shoes at the front?? They are gorgeous!

May 8th, 2008 - 6:47 pm

Such a transformation. Bravo!

May 8th, 2008 - 7:04 pm

Love the color combination she choose. It goes great in that window!

Jessica said:
May 8th, 2008 - 7:08 pm

Thanks for all of the wonderful words! We really did have a great time going yellow this spring…am already thinking about the fall season, and it’s only May ;)

p.s. Anna – the shoes are made by Terra Plana out of the UK.

sue said:
May 8th, 2008 - 11:18 pm

So excited to see Cincinnati on d*s!! I noticed this window the other day – it makes the whole block look better!

tricia Bateman said:
May 9th, 2008 - 9:26 am

i live in northside and LOVE shoetopia. great to see the mention on d*s. i noticed the chair and the new window recently, too. very nice. hooray for independent stores!

Emily S. said:
May 9th, 2008 - 10:53 pm

So nice to see a Cincinnati store (not far from my neighborhood) on your blog, Grace! Thanks!

CB said:
May 10th, 2008 - 6:39 am

I’m a huge fan of design critique, and I’m new to this site. So anything I say, please try not to take offense. So okay … I find the yellow to be rather sweaty and sticky looking. I loved the original chair and would have enjoyed a washed out color on the wood. Or bold color (not neon yellow) on the wood and a vibrant fabric to set it off. The existing fabric, though, works so nicely with the shoes in the window. But the yellow just doesn’t work. That said, I would certainly notice your window from afar. :o) And I love window design.

Mary T. said:
July 25th, 2008 - 6:09 pm

Cincinnati! My hometown! What an awesome store, and in my old neighborhood, too. Excited to see it online. (Her husband owns our favorite video store, too, sigh. We really miss them now that we’ve moved.)

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