I recently had the pleasure of working with designer and fine-art photographer Cheryl Maeder-Antonio. Her love for vintage furnishings and photography have grown into a business charmingly named Gardenhouse, where she displays and sells her fun and beautiful creations. Not everybody has the opportunity to get up every morning and enjoy what they do for a living! Read more from Cheryl, as she shares how her dream became reality.

Published on Cushion Source.com

By Anita Winter

Designer and fine art photographer Cheryl Maeder-Antonio is the proud owner of a unique outdoor/indoor furnishing studio named Gardenhouse. Cheryl would say the vintage-modern flare of her individual estate sale finds are what make her different from other retailers. However, after spending time getting to know Cheryl, we discovered that although her creations are, no doubt, exceptional, it’s really her infectious joy and passion for what she does, that helps bring her hard work to life.

Cheryl spent her early years in Switzerland where she first picked up a camera and fell in love with vintage furnishings. “I lived in Switzerland for eight years. At 29 years old, I moved back to San Francisco, where I began a successful photography studio photographing for major national advertising campaigns and fine art photography. I chose San Francisco because out of all the cities in the States, San Francisco felt the most European to me.

I learned how much I loved vintage furnishings when I lived in Switzerland and traveled through Europe. I would find vintage pieces in between my photo shoots. I loved discovering and redesigning them with fabric and different paint finishes to help create a whole new piece. I found it very exciting. Like my photographs, where I take ordinary scenes and create them into the extraordinary, I also like to do this with furnishings. I like taking a good, sturdy vintage piece that has character and soul and transform it. Throughout all my travels in Europe and when I lived in San Francisco, I would find vintage furniture for not only my home, but I would also help find furniture pieces for friends.

While living in San Francisco, she met and fell in love with her husband Gary. Cheryl recalls, “I was living on Nob Hill and had this beautiful loft apartment looking over the city. At the time, I was working hard building my photography business. A friend of mine from Canada was staying with me and taking a workshop in San Francisco, and she became friends with Gary who was in her class. One evening Gary walked her home to my apartment helping with her art tools. The doorbell rang and in walked Christie with Gary. It was love at first sight for the both of us.” Cheryl couldn’t have met a better match; Gary is a metal sculptor and painter!

Cheryl's Gardenhouse located in Palm Beach Fla.

Although her first love is photography, she was eager to incorporate her new found love for vintage furniture into a business venture as well. Amazingly, in 2007, Cheryl and her husband Gary gutted and renovated an old Baptist church in the historic Northwood village in West Palm Beach, Fla., where they opened Gardenhouse.

Cheryl came to focus on both her love for photography by showcasing it along with her love for vintage refurbishing. Her motto is, “vintage gone modern,” which says it all about her style. “I wanted to open Gardenhouse to combine both passions in my life. It has been such a gift to make my living doing what I love to do. Both the photography and the furnishings fulfill the different parts of who I am.”

Outdoor Cushions on Vintage Settee

So how did Cushion Source find its way into Cheryl’s world? Well, after reading a featured article about Gardenhouse, highlighted in Southern Living Magazine, we were impressed enough to call her and see if she showed any interest in having Cushion Source make cushions and pillows for her next piece. Fortunately for us, she emailed back, and the rest was history. Cheryl said, “My Cushion Source experience was an absolutely wonderful one. I found the site very easy to use, and it was enjoyable combining fabrics. When I found the Sunbrella Sailcloth Salt outdoor fabric, I began to play and work with putting other fabrics together, almost like pieces of a puzzle. During the selection process, it occurred to me how I loved combining the elegance of white fabric with navy. It felt very elegant and “Chanel.” When I saw the tropical patterns of the Robert Allen outdoor Baja Floral Turquoise and the Sunbrella Navy striped pillows, I knew that would add a Palm Beach element to the settee.”

Cushion Source delivered these gorgeous cushions and pillows to Cheryl with complete confidence that she would love them. Before Cushion Source, Cheryl had worked with an upholsteror to help make her lovely creations. Now, she has Cushion Source to help as well! “I felt taken care of working with Cushion Source.”

When I asked her about giving up photography or her love for vintage furniture, she said this, “That is like giving up one leg or the other… Both photography and designing furnishings are a part of who I am. Each of these are a part of my self-expression as a woman and a human being.” So what’s next for Cheryl? “I am looking to work on designs for wall coverings in the Gardenhouse brand, so we shall see…The exciting part of life is that you leave the possibilities open, I have a passion for life and know that if I give 100 percent to what I am doing, the next opportunity will come forth.”

Below are just a couple examples of Cheryl’s unique photography. No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you!  Cheryl explains, “My camera has become my paintbrush and I just play with the camera to get the effect I want.. I began photographing in this style while on the coast of Spain along the very same areas were the impressionists came to paint.”

So stunningly beautiful!

Dreamscapes: Cloud Nine

Check out Cheryl's Gallery of Photos Appropriately Named "Dreamscapes"s