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November 16, 2022

Let's Meet Paige Ledom

November 16, 2022/ Meryl

Hello friends I’m pleased to introduce Paige Ledom of Paige Ledom Studio to you. I have a piece of Paige’s art and I really love sharing brilliant creators - you will absolutely want to add a piece to your home as well!

Hi Paige welcome to the Chalet - please share a bit about yourself: Hello and thank you for welcoming me to your Chalet! My name is Paige Ledom. I’m 27, and I live in a suburb outside of Kansas City with my husband Max and our beloved dog Obi. I grew up here and have never lived anywhere else. Funnily enough, as a teenager I thought I needed to move somewhere that was more obviously exciting to live an interesting life. As I matured, I learned to appreciate and in return, love the Midwest. I enjoy traveling but nothing gives me that comforting feeling of home like this place does. I don’t think that feeling occurs by happenstance, but by actively choosing to create that feeling.

My husband Max, who may have the most fitting name in the history of fitting names, has always been a maximalist. I’ve always known him to have interesting little tchotchkes and curiosities. When Max introduced me to his parents for the first time, I remember going to his family’s home and being in complete awe with what I was seeing and then immediately understood the origins of his maximalist ways. I had never seen a home like it before in person. It was cozy, layered and looked like I had stepped into the pages of a decorating book. I needed to know more. His mother Lynne introduced me to the wonderful world of vintage and thrifting. I feel like I became her little apprentice absorbing as much of her knowledge as I could and then applying it in my own way.

Since then, it has been an integral part of my decorating viewpoint and I have never looked back. Meryl when we spoke last I told you I was going vintage shopping with Max and his family. There’s this store we absolutely love and it’s only open once a month; so we go there and then get dinner after. Its always a great time.

Paige please share about your family and growing up: I grew up the oldest child of two. I often enjoyed playing by myself and retreating to my imagination. I don’t remember feeling bored often as there was always something I wanted to create. I would draw a billion people and dogs, write stories, design rooms and outfits. There was always some kind of output for this creative buzzing I felt inside.

I have two hard working parents, Jerry and Kendra. Jerry was in bands during his younger years, so it was common to hear the guitar being strummed somewhere in the background. Kendra told me she always enjoyed art classes while she was in school. She was the mom that would save every shred and scrap I made. I feel grateful that my parents always supported and encouraged my creativity.

Where and What you went to school for. What’s your 9 to 5 gig: I studied Visual Arts Education at the University of Kansas. Which is what I describe to people as a fine arts AND education degree, so I have a license to teach what I’m most passionate about. We were required to choose an area of emphasis and mine was drawing and painting. I remember being inspired by canvases thickly opaque with layers of texture and color.

Another interesting component to this is that I am the first in my family to pursue higher education. When making this decision, I knew I wanted to be making and be surrounded by art every single day. My path to obtain this degree was not as straightforward as it is for some. I didn’t have parents that shelled out cash to live on campus and have “the college experience”, like a lot of my peers. I worked the entire time I was a student and commuted close to an hour to get to my classes. Not attempting to give myself a major self-congratulatory pat on the back here, but my studies do feel whole-heartedly earned. I am currently teaching art to elementary aged students. I work on Paige Ledom Studio nights and weekends.

How did you decide on your name: Think of how a home can begin with one vine lazily dangling on its exterior and, over time, it becomes completely encapsulated in a beautiful way. This is the maximalist approach I take in my home, it’s overgrown with gallery walls, unusual finds, and color. When you purchase a piece of art or vintage from me, I am sharing a little clipping of my overgrown vine with you.

Now, I know your business is still evolving but, I must ask what made you take that leap and start Paige Ledom Studio (originally The Overgrown Home): The Overgrown Home started as a creative project for me to share my own interior decorating and connect with others while we were all spending most of our time at home during the pandemic. I was feeling “stuck” with the art I was creating and needed to shift my creative focus elsewhere for a bit. Through that, I realized how much I enjoyed this work and wanted to continue navigating this path. That “stuck” feeling was self-generated because I wasn’t allowing myself to venture into new territory but still expecting different results. It doesn’t work that way! Opening my creativity up beyond my paintings, unlatched new doors for me. Next thing I knew I was sifting through junk in my art studio and began playing with a basket of paint swatches and making collages.

People began asking about decorating services and inquiring about purchasing art and I realized I should take the next step by converting The Overgrown Home from a creative side project, to a business. My current focus is running my online shop by selling my art, vintage finds and gradually expanding my client work.

Fast forward to 2024 and Paige has rebranded to Paige Ledom Studio

Now, I understand you’re not an interior designer but, with your artistic eye you have created an amazing home and are now working with clients. So tell us about the genus of your work: Something I struggled with for years was feeling like I needed to make myself fit in a little neatly packaged box so I could be easily digested and understood. I needed to pick one title of what I was and stick with it. Was I a painter? Decorator? Educator? Photographer? Writer? That didn’t work out for me so well. It wasn’t until I embraced all the things that I was - that I started feeling happy and confident in my work. I noticed it didn’t matter if I was working in interiors or on paper, I was interested in creating physical layers. I curate and collect objects over time, filling my home with gallery walls, unusual vintage finds, art and color.

In my art on paper, I work in the same fashion. Gathering materials to make layered collages. Piece by piece and intricately arranged. Currently, I’ve been creating collages composed entirely of cut-up paint swatches from a rainbow mural I used to have hanging in my classroom. I had no idea at the time that I would be using these 5 years later as the primary material for my art. This is why I view everything as a potential source. Not only thrift stores and vintage shops but a piece of furniture discarded on the side of the road, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay and yes, salvaged scraps. My biggest piece of advice: never overlook something that has potential!

I consider myself an artist and interior stylist who has a knack for layering patterns, color, and texture. I work with clients who want that “collected over time” look in their home but, need help executing it. Every job I take on involves sourcing unique secondhand finds that represent my client.

I also accept a limited number of collage commissions each month for those looking for something specific. My rates are:

5”x7” $150
8”x10” $225
11”x14” $300
Plus $5.50 shipping. A deposit of 50% of the total prior to beginning the piece. I’m booking for January 2023 and beyond!

Commissioned Pieces

I plan to offer drops in my shop of “new” vintage and art. I will offer more print choices in the future and am in the process of deciding which pieces should be converted to prints next. I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the final result of the print and I always want to ensure they are as faithful to the original pieces as possible, which I feel is represented well in my current selection. My goal is to have several new print options available before the holidays but, I will continue to be selective not, every original will be offered in print form.

“I am first and foremost, an artist. I express that in the decorating of my home and on my works on paper. ”

— Paige Ledom

I always ask - Did you decorate your bedroom while growing up: Absolutely! Growing up HGTV was often on our TV. I felt inclined to grab the first tattered notebook I could find and start drawing out imagined room layout and designs. I had pink walls, which later evolved to blue, and then taupe. I remember seeing pottery barn catalogs and cutting out scraps to create collages of spaces, or I guess now I would call them the original moodboards. There was this computer game called The Sims, which I mainly used just so I could design further “dream houses'' in the game.

a piece of art Paige was inspired to paint after seeing fellow artist and Muralist Racheal Jackson’s work.

How was your recent fantastic trip to NYC! What did you see and what inspired you: Our days were packed full in NYC! Do I take an “overgrown” approach to traveling too?? The museums were fantastic. We went to The Met and MOMA. All the architectural details, like those in The New York Public Library always draw me in as well. We stopped by the Chelsea Flea Market where there were some interesting finds but, I regretfully didn’t bring a bag big enough to lug any home.

I was most inspired by seeing the contemporary collide into the historic and how they can exist together all at once. How a story can begin being written long ago and it shifts and changes by what we cut and patch into it.

Paige and her husband Max during a recent trip to New York City on the roof of the Met Museum.

Tell us how Social Media assisted you with your business: Social media has been how I have gotten this thing off the ground. I have met so many amazing, like-minded people who have encouraged and inspired me. It has given me the space to just be who I am and have that be okay. It has allowed me to reach and connect with great folks I never would have met otherwise.

Plans for 2023: I am looking forward to the opportunities a new year brings. My goal for 2023 is to seek out in-person opportunities in my own community, such as art fairs or pop-up events to be involved in. I LOVE my online community but I also think it’s important to find ways to be involved locally too.

I am eager to work with more clients too, whether that is in their homes or creating more custom art pieces.

Goldfinch print I purchased from Paige sitting in the diningroom of the Chalet.

Paige thank you so much for saying Yes, when I asked you! I’m a huge fan of your work and I’m blown away with the Goldfinch print I’m so lucky to own. I can’t wait to see where you take Paige Ledom Studio.

I appreciate this opportunity and you being so gracious to host me on your blog. It means the world to me! I am so glad we got to connect through IG. Thank you, thank you, thank YOU again!

You can find Paige on Instagram & her Website.

Til next time friends be well!

Images: Paige Ledom & Me

September 28, 2022

Let's Meet Marcie Millholland

September 28, 2022/ Meryl

Marcie Millholland and her beloved Cooper

Friends I‘m thrilled to share my interview with Marcie Millholland. Marcie is the lady behind the IG handle Made By Mollies Mom. She’s crazy creative - loves the art of the thrift and takes many of the treasures she finds to new heights by painting or re-imagining them.

Marcie has a Home and Garden Blog. Where she shares her thrifted finds, projects and diy adventures in her home. Every space of which she has touched. She’s also been featured on Apartment Therapy more than once.

Welcome Marcie I am tickled you said yes when I asked if I could interview you. Please tell us a bit about yourself. Thank you Meryl I live in the metro Atlanta area - Cobb County with my husband, daughter Mollie. Plus, of course, Cooper (my Golden Retriever named after the Cooper River in Charleston) whom certain people think I love most of all :)

I am originally from Charleston SC. We moved a lot when I was young (because of my dad’s job) before settling in Washington DC. I was lucky to spend every Summer in Charleston and local beaches and the school year in DC and Northern VA. I think those places have a lot to do with my design aesthetic. We also spent a lot of time in historic homes belonging to friends and in places like Williamsburg, Monticello and Mt. Vernon. My grandmother and mother were great at flower arranging and setting beautiful tables. My mother also had a great eye for antiques that needed restoring but were real treasures. They both could sew anything! We used to spend Sunday afternoons riding around the DC outskirts looking for quaint antique shops and barn sales.

I have the first item I bought at an antique shop in the VA countryside when I was 6 years old. My mom put the date on the back, and interestingly enough, it’s a little sign with a whale on it (always the coastal girl!) It sits on my “memory shelves” in the garden room. It was purchased at Thieves Market in Alexandria VA. I remember it as being a big warehouse full of treasures. My mom and I would walk over and wander through. And I remember it was cold!! My grandmother was also an amazing gardener.

Marcie did you decorate your childhood bedroom? I definitely decorated my room while growing up. My mom always let me “design” my room when we moved and it made moving a lot easier having a new room to think about. I once drew a “plan” for built in bookcases with a windowseat and my dad built them. I wanted ochre gingham/buffalo check cushions and curtains which my mom sewed. I also spent a lot of time in SC beach houses which, back in the day, were furnished with hand me downs and such from the primary homes. The couches were draped with off white slipcovers or furniture throws but underneath would be a fabulous, worn Sheraton settees or caned furniture. I used to sleep in a creaky faux bamboo bed that I would spend time imagining how it would look painted a great color. I still rearrange vacation homes in my head when we stay in them.

Where and What did you go to school for. I have a Bachelor of Visual Arts in Surface/Textile Design and a minor in Romance Languages. These were acquired after changing my major multiple times (International Business, Journalism, Studio Art to name a few) and my dad mentioned I needed to “wrap things up!” I have never actually worked full time in either area. I have had several creative jobs (just not production jobs like my degree prepared me for) including working for a gallery and painting furniture and custom color swatches/formulas for a decorator in Atlanta. I’ve worked in education and non-profit/NGO for a long time but the job I remember the most fondly was watering plants in large greenhouses for a local grower decades ago - it paid nothing but it was warm, classical music played in the greenhouse and I got to plant and water flowers. Marcie that sounds fantastic communing with nature and being soothed with lovely melodies!

How long you’ve been in your home and what is your favorite space? We have lived in this house for 30 years. My husband was in the family building business and the contract on this house fell through so we moved in “temporarily” and were supposed to stay only 2 years. It was not any of the things we particularly wanted in a home and very different from the 100 year old home we had just restored. But things have a funny way of working out, we almost moved multiple times, but here we still are. This house is truly an example of “loving the home you are in!” We did a small (very small) renovation to the kitchen and reconfigured the space to work better for us. Nothing fancy - just some additional cabinets and changing the back windows. We did add a screened in porch to the back of our house. It is pretty large now but it grew in stages as time and resources permitted. It is the most used space in our house and my favorite.

I know you added this wonderful hand-painted “rug” to the porch for the last One Room Challenge event. Yes, I did. Cooper and I spend spring until late fall out there. It’s where we watch tennis and the Braves. We nap in the swinging bed and read on the wicker chaise. There is a large rattan couch out there that we call the Golden Girls Couch. Mollie saw the same couch on an episode of Hawaii 5-0, the original one :))) We have had so many meals, great “porch parties” and celebrations out there over the years.

Featured Image I shared for SayNoToEmptyWalls

I know you love faux bamboo, zebra and chinoiserie touches. I love this view into your library - You were kind enough to use my hashtag on Instagram and I featured this image in my feed. In your original post you asked How many zebra rugs is too many? I would say there are never too many!

Can you talk about your design philosophy and how long have you been thrifting. I guess I started thrifting at age 6 with my first antique/junk shop purchase I mentioned above. Our first home was a 1904 farmhouse Victorian. We were young and didn’t know that old houses always need a lot more work than you think. After spending a small fortune on plumbing instead of the beautiful couch I wanted I realized thrifting/antiquing/flea markets was going to be the way I could furnish my home and find the kind of pieces I liked. It’s what I had grown up with as well so it wasn’t a stretch to go that route. Now I love that using thrifted and vintage pieces gives my home an evolved, lived in, unique look and that it’s economical and environmentally beneficial too. It’s very satisfying to me to bring something home, give it some fresh paint or recover the cushion and have it work in my space like it was made for it.

So tell us Marcie what’s the best thing you ever thrifted? The zebra rug in my library is a pretty epic find. I’ve been thrifting a very long time so I have found some great things. I have a Gampel Stoll mirror in my entry way that I found for less than $25.00. I posted a quick picture on IG stories when IG was new and a man messaged me immediately and offered me $800.00 for it. I realized I had found something even more fabulous than I realized and researched it. Mirrors similar to mine can go for $1500.00 - $3500.00.

I have a lot of bamboo and rattan furniture thrifted over the years for amazing prices. The coral faux bamboo cabinet in the main bathroom was a great deal at $50.00. It was smoke stained when I got it but I cleaned and painted it and it’s one of my favorites now.

I found a peacock chair for Mollie after searching for years. It was at Good Will and I pulled the tag ($24.94) and sat in it to call my husband to come get it on the way home. A man shopping there really wanted it and kept asking me if I was sure I was going to get it. Even though I promised him I was getting it he kept standing there. My husband was on his way so I sat in it until he got there to load it up!!

A Brighton Pavilion chair had been on my thrifting wish list for years. A few years ago a pair of Brighton Pavilion chairs with a matching side table popped up on Offer Up for $100 for all three. Wow! I messaged the lady that I wanted it and she agreed. It had only been listed 5 minutes when I claimed it. As we were trying to figure out pick up literally 100 people messaged her they wanted it. She knew then she had a hot item. She honored our deal. She was over an hour from me (maybe more in Atlanta traffic!) I told her that I didn’t want to lose out on the chairs but that I was trying to crate 100’s of books and school supplies to take to a school in Honduras and was leaving the next day. She said, “Oh Honey, I love shopping in your area. My husband will load the chairs up and we will bring them to you. You can meet us at the shopping center.” They met us near my house and her husband loaded the 3 pieces in my chair and she didn’t change the price. I have had more and more negative experiences on Facebook Marketplace over the last few years so her kindness and generosity make me love the chair set even more. I think fondly of her when I pass them in my entryway!

I would love to hear about your sewing…I love the faux pleated lamp shape you made. Thank you but this makes me laugh. I really am not good at sewing at all!! I fake it. The pleated lampshade tutorial requires zero sewing! I had to invent the process I used because sewing a pleated shade is beyond me. My mother and grandmother could sew anything!! My mother encouraged me to learn to sew - even paying for lessons. More than once. I cannot use a pattern to save my life. I have sewn simple curtains (like in my downstairs powder room) and I make pillow covers and recover the cushions on my porch furniture but I go at it more like an engineering project than a sewing project. I make my own paper patterns and use YouTube tutorials. My dream is to actually learn to put in a zipper in a pillow cover!! I make mine envelope style. I do have a huge fabric hoard - not being able to sew does not keep me from buying fabric :)))) Now, if you want a floor painted in checkerboard or faux grained or something like that or a driveway painted to look like brick (a very popular reel) then I’m your gal!!

I was so excited to be featured on Apartment Therapy. As I mentioned this lampshade trick was a necessity because I would never be able to sew one! I have loved pleated lampshades since my college days when I would wander in the cute Pierre Deluxe shop in Buckhead to look at the gorgeous block printed French fabrics (textile majors, remember?) All the lamps had these exquisite (and pricey) pleated shades. When they started showing up in the last couple of years in rooms I loved on IG and in mags I decided to fake one.

I am an admirer of your blog - please share when and how it came to be. I have blogged a long time, sometimes more regularly than others. I love the quick visual aspect of IG but I will always be a big fan of blogs. They slumped in popularity for a while and a lot of people dropped blogging but I’m glad to see a resurgence in blogs lately. Sometimes I just want to read/know a little more than a few lines on an IG post. I admire bloggers who post regularly. Maybe someday I will be a scheduled blogger. Ha! I started my blog in 2011 because I was working in education training early education teachers in creative teaching practices/styles for all learners but emphasis on non-traditional learners. I would present at conferences and teachers would ask for written support material. So I started posting little creative projects and activities for children. I would add in home decor projects and family/personal stuff, too. When I stopped doing that I kept blogging and it became more of a lifestyle blog. I like to blog so I’ve kept it up even though I think my mom and her garden club friends were my only readers :)

I always wanted to ask about your IG handle. The IG handle came from the blog. The blog name came from a little business I had when Mollie was a baby and I quit working rather abruptly. She was hospitalized often and required some surgery at 15 months (all good now.) We had to avoid germs in the outside world and were pretty isolated at home. I needed something creative to do so I started a little business painting jewelry and home accessories. I sold to some shops and had little home parties and I called it … Made by Mollie’s Mom. Mollie loved the name so I never changed it!

In addition to your IG feed you’re also involved with a Hashtag group. While IG can be challenging lately I do so very much love it! It is my favorite platform and I still think the amount of inspiration and community that is right at our fingertips is worth the glitches and such. I have been on IG since early days (my first post was in Feb of 2012 and was of one of my dogs - of course!!) and I have had some great opportunities and have made friends I DM (direct message) with regularly and quite a few I’ve met in real life which is so much fun. I was invited to join the #adwellingtoremember group by sweet friends - here are their accounts: @acquired_by_andrea - @bhomewithbernadette - @cjswank_newyork - @parkerkennedyliving - @pepperleigheclectic - @tortoiseandharevintage How is little ol’ me even in this group? It’s been fun to get to know everyone and choose accounts to feature each week. It’s a great group to be in - lots of talent and knowledge which is shared freely. Can’t beat that.

Here are a few items Marcie has created - a painting, matchbooks, one of a kind chinoiserie Christmas ornaments and her latest creation her Chinoiserie Fall Tree - that she shared on Instagram and her blog last week.