Welcome to Design Guide, The Source for interior design products, services and fine home furnishings. Find interior design resources in Dallas / Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio.
Welcome to Design Guide, The Source for interior design products, services and fine home furnishings. Find interior design resources in Dallas / Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio.

Rescue, Restore and Redecorate: an apt mantra; as in nature and in the world of design, one does every day. As a room full of eager students draped with black aprons waited to be taught, Amy Howard took center stage to show us why she is so passionate about restoring old pieces of furniture and how we can do it just as well as she does. Naturally, with grace, she brought us along the journey that lead to her childhood love to Rescue, Restore and Redecorate discarded furniture. I understand, dear reader, that you may be thinking this is just a post about another product to cater to the DIY’er frenzy. Well, it is not. And, yet, it is.
All the love and effort to bring a discarded piece back to life matter to Amy. She recounts a drive to the flea market she and her husband Gene were on when their pastor called, telling of his dream the night before of Amy and Gene teaching others to rescue, restore and redecorate. Touched by the message from their pastor, Gene says: “Isn’t that what God does for us? He rescues, restores and redecorates us bringing us new life.” So, you see my friend, her new product line isn’t just about the latest craze it has a deep personal meaning for her. Amy is a true southern lady with a charming personality to match. She has always had a keen eye for exquisite styling, and a timeless style of furnishings that designers like me would wait in line for hours just to get our hands on.
Although Amy manufacturers and sells a beautiful collection of furnishings, her product for the DIY market is just as wonderful as her collection pieces. Recently, my dear friend Leslie Wood (@Hadley_Court) and I had a fun time trying our hand at her workshop with her latest “green” one step paint product. It was a true delight having Amy teach us how to wax, gild and buff our wood moulding pieces into little gems. Her product is extremely easy to use (5-6 quick steps) and makes an old piece beautiful again, which perfectly fits with her Rescue, Restore and Redecorate mantra.
Here are the moulding pieces before:

Below are my finished pieces after (One Step Paint: Wax, Gold Gild and Dust of Ages):

There are many different applications in her line that can be mastered by anyone who has the desire to learn. A few of my favorites are: Toscana Finish kit (turn a chair into an Old World antique) and lacquer in a spray can.

Deforrest Judd (Am. 1919-1993)
Place to Picnic, 1953
Oil on masonite 28 x 38
Signed lower right: Deforrest Judd 53
Deforrest Judd (Am. 1919-1993) was a landscape and abstract painter. He was a longtime professor at Southern Methodist University, in Texas, from 1946 until 1982. Judd also taught at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts.

Deforrest Judd (Am. 1919-1993)
Prickly Pear Cactus 1971
Oil on canvas 30 x 40
Signed lower left: Deforrest Judd 71
Born in Hartsgrove, Ohio, Judd studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art, graduating in 1938. From 1939 to 1942, he did post-graduate work at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center as a student of Boardman Robinson.

Deforrest Judd (Am. 1919-1993)
Prickly Pear Cactus, 1991
Oil on canvas 20 x 20
Signed lower right: Deforrest Judd 91
Judd's painting style has a noticeable evolution over the years. The 1950's mark his almost cubist one-dimensional oil abstractions with his use of palate knife, reminiscent of fellow painter and Dallas Nine artist, Otis Dozier. Landscapes focus on native plants and foliage and are a prominent subject for Judd. Whether it's the native cacti of Texas, or spruces of Colorado, Judd's experimental use of color makes these paintings applicable and relevant in any space.

Deforrest Judd (Am. 1919-1993)
Blue Mounatin, 1977
Oil on canvas 38 x 40
Singed lower right: Deforrest Judd 1977
His work is in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Museum of Southeast Texas (in Beaumont), and many other private Texas art collections across the state and country.

Rug Design: Coral SKU713
Delos Rugs is proud to showcase their new collection, Latitude, in their soon-to-be published, magazine-worthy catalog. They are the only company that sells made-to-order indoor/outdoor rugs, and all of the patterns within their line are available for this quality rug.
“What is surprising to me is how many large pieces roll through our manufacturing facility here in the U.S.,” says Leah Phillips, owner of Delos Rugs. “We didn't realize how many designers were going to utilize this collection for areas of high traffic, indoors.”

Rug Design: Hewn SKU36356
They also boldly added a pure white rug to the collection, because they had so many designers request it. It’s a “risk” that makes sense, because where else could you get a pure white rug that would actually be maintainable?