A Diamond in the Rough

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     Being an interior designer, I find my self traveling to other cities and states to find the perfect items for my clients.  Trust me when I say that sometimes  you will find some real gems and sometimes you will find some rather ugly items.  One thing that I have learned over the years is to take a good hard look at those items and try to figure out why they are so ugly.  Is the item out of scale?  Are the proportions correct?  Does this item need more ornamentation or less ornamentation?  Basically, what I'm trying to determine, is this piece worth saving?  Some items are worth saving while others are not.  Sometimes, an item can be a diamond in the rough.     Several months ago, I was in St. Louis looking for a cabinet to house a TV for a client.  When my partner stumbled across a floor clock that made her giggle.   It was rather ugly.  She walked a little farther only to find another floor clock that was painted a little  differently that was equally ugly and she giggled again.  At that point she called me over to look at the clock.  She was right it was ugly.  To quote her, "it was just a little too prissy".  Standing there looking at the clock, I realized that it really wasn't ugly.  By taking a closer look, the clock  had potential.  It had the proper proportions and the scale was correct as well.  The only thing that made this clock undesirable was the painted finish and that could be changed rather easily.  On our drive back to Nashville we played one of our favorite games.  How could you fix that problem?  Believe it or not that floor clock was our subject matter.  We tossed around a couple of ideas and came up with this solution.  We would have our faux artist (Steve Stanford of Renesiance Design Studio) paint a tortoiseshell finish on it and highlight the relief with a metallic gold finish.  Needless to say that clock haunted my partner mainly because she wanted a floor clock for her home.  It was the right size and shape for the space that she had in mind for a floor clock.  So, on our next trip to St. Louis she purchased the "Prissy Floor Clock" only to find that she had a diamond in the rough.