Concept & Craft: Wall Clusters

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What makes a house a home?

There are countless ways to answer that question; however, our answer lies in how the family represents themselves inside. 

Your furniture, your art, your knick-knacks, your books and movies, your family photos…these are the things that truly make your house your home.

Here at Lott Furniture Co., we are invested in bringing you home and want to help any way we can! So, we are introducing a new series of blogs called Concept & Craft written specifically to do just that. We are doing the digging for you, so you can get your hands on the best design tips, DIY projects, unique finds, and newest trends in interior design.

Gallery walls have been around for what seems like forever, but we’ve found some new ways to make them especially unique to you and your home. Traditionally, people have mostly used art and photos (Which is definitely still acceptable!), but we wanted to show you guys a few unconventional options to mix up your gallery wall!

Recently, we created a permanent wall cluster for our front window wall in the store and used only antique and repurposed items. And the best part is that we only spent around $50 dollars!

Shadow boxes are always a great addition to a gallery wall. This one is an old sewing machine drawer!

Anything can go in shadow boxes. We used ink bottles and old odds and ends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed on over to The Rusty Chandelier and bought some old antique frames of all different shapes and sizes, found some old stove parts in The V, and repurposed a few sewing machine drawers into shadow boxes for some vintage ink bottles we discovered in the office.

Try putting frames inside of frames.

These are three antique drawer pulls we found upstairs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and use things that normally wouldn’t be seen hung on a wall. That’s what makes your space uniquely you.

If you want to stick with photos, art, and keepsakes, we found you a super easy and fairly inexpensive source to create your gallery wall online. Check out Framebridge to create your own wall cluster and have it shipped to you, starting at $39 dollars. This website is so cool because you can ship them what you want to frame, upload files onto the website, or take personal photos directly from your instagram! There’s 3 steps:

  1. Choose your perfect frames from a wide, custom selection.
  2. Upload your files or mail in physical pieces.
  3. Receive your gallery wall!

For some sample wall cluster layouts and extra tips click here and here.

Also, one of the coolest wall clusters I’ve ever seen was on HGTV Home Town last night! Erin and Mallorie picked out a selection of antique plates and placed them in a unique pattern on the wall.

Check out this video on HGTV’s website of how they did it here. And it gets better. You can get Laurel Mercantile Co. hand curated plate clusters on their website! Check them out here.

This was the first of many blogs to come dedicated to help you make your house a home. Stay tuned to see DIY projects, useful design tips and tricks, and cool finds!

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-Keri Rowell, Lott Furniture Co.

 

 

The Arabian Theatre

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1927. As twilight ends, you check your pocket watch again. The soles of your Wingtips tap hurriedly along the brick streets and paved sidewalks down Oak Street. By now, the street lights and neon signs have been switched on to light your way.

You tip your hat as you pass neighbors and friends, and free your hand from your pocket to greet more familiar faces through the windows and open doors of buildings. Cigarette smoke and sounds of laughter pour into the street and join the bustling city outside. It’s dark now. Dusk seems miles away, as Saturday night begins.

As you meet the end of Oak Street, you cross 5th Avenue between Model T’s and other jaywalkers to pass Hotel Pinehurst beside the theatre. You nervously check your watch one more time, even though you are five minutes early. As you look up, you see her. Under the light of The Arabian sign are many people socializing as they await showtime, yet she remains alone. She catches your eye and smiles.

Then

The Arabian Theatre opened April 1, 1927 with much excitement from the citizens of Laurel. The investors were Charles Green, Ben Schneider, and Sank Taylor, along with the Saenger Brothers Amusement Company out of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The theatre showed silent films until the 1930s.  Reuben DeGruy was the first manager of the Arabian, and his wife Ruthie entertained the audiences on the theatre’s “Mighty Wonder Organ”.

The design from The Arabian came from Emile Weil’s architect firm, the same firm for all Saenger theaters. Arabic, Egyptian, Persian, and Moroccan styles all inspired the interior design and architecture. At the time, all of these styles were very popular and pretty standard in many architectural designs. This was because of the deep interest in the Eastern part of the foreign world that was attributed to the discovery of King Tut’s mummy in 1922.

Laurel Little Theatre bought The Arabian in 1977 and made an $80,000 renovation to the building. The lobby and auditorium remain original, but the proscenium arch and stage were built in 1977. The Egyptian winged ‘sun phoenix’ was first featured on the back wall of the theater, but was placed on the arch during the renovation.

Now

The theatre doesn’t show movies anymore, but features many plays and musicals every year. Many actors and actresses have performed in the theatre, including some you may have seen on TV.

  • Tom Lester, ‘Eb’ from “Green Acres”
  • Patrick Weathers from the “Saturday Night Live” cast played ’Stanley Kowalski’ in the 1978 showing of A Streetcar Named Desire
  • Parker Posey featured in the theater’s Harvey in 1981
  • Mary Elizabeth Ellis, ‘The Waitress’ from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”

Laurel Little Theatre is a deeply loved and historic landmark in our city. We are so happy to have a performing arts theater in our town, and appreciate it’s immense and ongoing contributions to our community.

Also, this month is The Arabian’s 90th birthday! To celebrate, the theatre is holding a 1920s themed movie night and costume party this Saturday, April 8, 2017 at 7:30 PM. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served, and the very first movie projected in The Arabian will be shown again! Be sure to make plans to see “It” starring Clara Bow, and enjoy a night back in time. Call 601.428.0140 for more information on tickets.

*A very special thank you to Wess Hughes, the LLT historian, for his contribution of historic information. (All photos courtesy of the LLT website)

Don’t forget to sign up in the gold box for email updates so you can be the first to know every time we post!

-Keri Rowell, Lott Furniture Co.