I met Michelle Doyon at our PINK Creatives Retreat last spring. She has been a pastry chef and designer for over 20 years and is one of the most sought after wedding cake bakers in Austin. She’s competed on Food Network’s baking shows and won The Big Bake Holiday in December 2022.  She’s a real pro!

When I met her, she had just purchased this old pink house in a small town just north of Austin in hopes of opening a second location for her bakery.  She had two things she needed me for: the tasting room and the tea room.

Part 1: The Tasting Room

Since she is a sought after wedding cake baker, she wanted to have a tasting room and needed some chairs for the space.

It’s right off the kitchen and when I saw it, the room had just received new tile and appliances. (the pink fridge!)

I found a set of six old French chairs to complement the table.

She wanted to wallpaper the wall in the space, so I was working with the sample and figuring out the right fabrics.

Since she wanted the chairs to have different fabrics on the front, back, and seat, I finally came up with this mixture below.

Part 2: The Tea Room

Michelle also had a large room in the back of the house where she wanted to host tea parties. She showed me a room stuffed full of old chairs…a person after my own heart! She picked 20 chairs to replace the seat fabrics. These chairs would make up the tea room.

She also had this amazing Marie Antoinette wallpaper for the back wall.

We selected 3 different fabrics to use on the chairs so she would have an eclectic mix.

Michelle already had some super fun decor for the whimsical space like the figurine below.

(What I wouldn’t give to have this in my home!)

The room turned out amazing and very whimsical…just like she wanted!  She is still setting up, but gave me a sneak peek.

She really took it to the max with colorful vintage tablecloths.

There were so many fun dishes throughout the space. I’m scheming to figure out when I can use this for a party!

 

Back to Part 1: The Tasting Room…

She replaced the ceiling fan in the tasting room with an antique chandelier. It’s perfect against the wooden beams.

She painted the bead board to complement the wallpaper and chairs.

The mixture of fabrics were dynamic and the natural light in the space just helped everything to shine.

The added green color along with the chair rail in a raspberry paint was perfect for the chairs.

There’s a stained glass window just behind the chandelier that was the icing on the cake (no pun intended!).

This was such a fun project to work on. I rarely get the opportunity to do local jobs, but I’m so glad I met Michelle. She really is a visionary who is not afraid to branch out and grow her business.

The bakery is open and the tea room opens in a few weeks. You can check out more about Michelle’s bakeries by clicking here. Trust me, I’ve sampled more than my fair share of her sweets and they are to die for!  To see more videos of this space, head on over to my YouTube channel.  Click here.

Who would think you could take ugly chairs like the ones I used and turn them into something amazing with a little imagination.  If you want to learn how to do this, I’m hosting my Ugly Chair Challenge January 24-28. It’s just $10 to join and will be the most fun you’ve had in a long time, I promise! Click here to check it out!