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Text by Mary Forsell •
Styling by Kathy Curotto
She’s come a long way from the days of hauling chande-liers home on airplanes
(see our December 2006/January 2007 article). Annie Brahler, founder of Euro
Trash, now commands an entire 50,000-square-foot warehouse in unassuming
Jacksonville, Illinois. Informally referred to as “the lab,” this enormous
Victorian brick building has become a think tank for the Euro Trash team, which
includes carpenter extraordinaire Phil Black and seamstress-designer Pat King.
“We’re even more inspired,” says Annie, whose clients are mainly interior
designers and select furnishings shops. “Now we have a loading dock, a freight
elevator, and two showrooms.”
More space means more opportunities to
brainstorm new spins on their specialty: creating one-of-a-kind furnishings that
reuse architectural elements and common household paraphernalia, much of it
gathered overseas. “Now I can play house,” Annie says. “I really get to see what
the stuff looks like in room settings, rather than having it all lined up or
crammed together.”
For Phil, having showrooms on site “is a lot like going
into a grocery store. You take a little bit of this and that and put it
together, and something great happens!”
SOFA, SO GOOD
Ignore the bright orange or canary yellow color of a
used sofa and just look at its lines. Stay away from sofas whose cushions can’t
be detached, since you’ll be tossing them anyway.
ACQUIRE AN ACCENT
Pick an accent color and use it throughout the house—but
sparingly.
A
little goes a long way.
(1) Plain white fabric contrasts with gilded woodwork on a child-size
settee. Juxtapositions of plain with fancy are a Euro Trash signature. (2) Candlesticks made from converted lamp bases. (3) A smattering of
perfume bottles in the master bedroom. (4) The team at work—Annie (on settee),
seamstress/designer Pat King, carpenter/furniture re-imaginer Phil Black.
(5) Annie’s Beaux Arts-style home was a testing ground for the company, a place to
try out fresh ideas. The living room is all about comfort, but has an undeniably
luxurious air. Who would believe that both sofas were dumped by previous owners?
Annie reupholstered them and added feather-bed cushions. Behind the striped
sofa, a whitewashed flour bin serves as a console.
Style on a shoestring page
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