out of the woods...

...my title is so hilarious. the older i get, the better i am at puns. my computer is fixed, an i'm back on the blogging train.

anyway, last week, i had the privilege of working on some really great pieces for some really fun and creative people! too bad my computer was broken, because i had so much to share! anyway, first up, is this fun wall scene that i hand-drew, then painted.

my client was considering using the cole & son wall paper "woods", but decided to have me hand-paint an inspired version of the paper instead.

this room is for a client's teenage daughter, who is getting a new room makeover...

before:

after i did some drawing...

after:

i wanted them to have a similar look (sketchy and "drawn"-looking) to the cole & son paper, but more organic (as they go off the top of the wall, onto the ceiling!) and natural.

i am still alive.

hey guys,

my computer is still sick (it actually was fixed, but now it's being bad again - WAHHH), so no normal blog for me today (my photos i want to share with you are on MY computer, and i'm currently using jordans). i have some really great stuff to share with you this week (im so bummed i was not able to post a project i finished yesterday with you guys), so hopefully you all haven't given up on me!

i promise i'll be back as soon as my computer decides to stop being a little stinker...

his & hers nightstands.

last week, i made over this nightstands...stripes and flowers...his and hers

and, after:

&

hey guys, sorry the photos in this post are gigantor...first of all, photobucket is still weird, and i can't figure out why it won't make my photos the right size. second of all, my macbook is being very naughty (white screen when i start up with a blinking question mark? sad!), and i do believe that i might need to take it to the geniuses - therefore i'm writing this on jordan's computer. anyway...i can't fix the post for now - sorry for the weirdness!

tree + birds for baby.

last week, i painted the nursery of a baby that won't be born for a few more months. my painting was one of the first moves towards "nursery-fication", so i hope he/she likes. :)

the parents specified that the birds look like wrens, so i did my best to create wren-like birds!

there were 5 birds total. mommy and daddy birds, taking care of a baby bird, and two birds "hidden" in the room (i always love to do a couple of unexpected things!)

this guy was perched on top of the closet door :)

"faux" painting knick knacks.

i really don't like the words "faux painting" because i feel like they denote ideas of cheesy sponge painting and weird plaster (though, sometimes i do like faux plaster work!). however, faux painting techniques can really be used for the chic decorator's benefit - if you use them the right way.

sometimes, i do small jobs like this that i don't post here, but i thought i'd post these two that i did yesterday for a client, so you guys could see that faux painting doesn't always have to be cheesy! brooke (who i painted this and this for) had these two frames that needed to match her house a little better.

this first one was a little too "tortoiseshell" for her style, and it hangs by the front door:

i did similar painting styles on this frame as i did to her vintage refrigerator, just with a little more "patina" on the edges of the frame:

and, just for a reminder, here is the refrigerator i painted for her, which is a new china storage spot: (so you can get an idea of her style)

i also painted this mirror, which was just too bright and brassy for the space:

before:

and, here is a photo of a corner of the frame, so that you can see the detail of what i did. i added a few layers of bronze, brown, and silver, to calm down the brassy/orange tint, and give it a more subdued, worn metallic feel:

much better!

___

p.s. photobucket changed their layout and a lot of the styles of the program. it's really difficult to write blog posts now - here's to hoping they change it back. i wanted to add more photos, but writing this post took forever in itself!

ikea hack...sort of.

a few months ago, i bought this toothbrush holder/cup from ikea.

i only bought it out of neccesity, but it bothered me that the base of it was silver, and all of the other hardware in our bathroom was "oil-rubbed bronze". so, i did what i always do, and painted it. this time, when i painted the bathroom a dark bluish-blackish-grey, i painted the base of the cupholder the same color.

yesterday, i switched out the cup that it came with with this vintage bird juice glass i recently found at the thrift store, and i just thought i'd show you guys the new look:

the towel is from anthropologie. and, speaking of that store, when i was there, i almost bought their clear toothbrush, because i really HATE the unsightliness of the neon toothbrushes in a bathroom. however, it looked a little painful on the gums. has anyone bought and tried this toothbrush?

elizabeth's dresser.

one of my favorite people to paint for (because she always commissions fun, imaginative, creative things - and she was an old highschool friend) asked me to paint her daughter's dresser in colorful, fun patterns, and i had a blast doing it! jaclyn also commissioned this, and her house is full of great pieces and lots of color. i've said it before, i'll say it again - i love working with creative people. anyway, elizabeth's current dresser will be going into her future baby brother's room, so it was time for her to get something "new" of her own. her room is bright, playful, and fun, so it made sense that her dresser be the same :)

here is the "before" of the standard dresser:

aaaand, the after:

now, as you can tell, this is not the room that the dresser belongs in! a couple of years ago, i painted in elizabeth's room, and here are a few pics of it:

she's done a lot to the room since then, but at least that gives you a better idea!

elizabeth's bedding is a quilt from pottery barn with lots of patches with different patterns and colors. i tried to draw from some of the patterns, and then some of them i just made up as i went along. jaclyn specified the polka dots on the top and sides, and i think it's suuuuch a fun, playful addition! this is why i love people that aren't scared to have fun with their decor.

there were also birds and owls on the quilt, so i did a sweet little bird at the top.

good morning.

i painted these for a baby nursery i designed and painted a month or so ago, and then rian emailed me and commissioned some for her nursery. i thought i'd share a pic of them - i finished them last weekend. i can't wait to see photos of them hanging in her nursery!

___

if you are interested in decorative painting for your home, please email me at kristen.fountain@gmail.com

chair find + a hello to my friends.

hey! sorry i was so very bad about blogging this week - i literally feel like all i did was paint, email clients, paint, come up with new painting ideas, and go to a hanson concert. true story. but i love every second of it. being extremely busy is my favorite thing!

anyway, i wanted to show you guys a sweet little treasure that i found this week at one of my favorite thrift store spots. it was only $10. i'm pretty sure that it was brand new, as it still had the plastic on parts of the seat. but, the arm on the right side was in pretty bad shape, so i just simply removed both arms and voila! new chair.

1. i might replace the fabric at some point,but i don't mind the tan weave-look that is going on here...plus, i think the cording is nice.

2. i'm throwing those flowers away now...after looking at this photo, it's safe to say they're dead.

have a great weekend! :)

refrigerator makeover.

earlier this week, i painted an antique refrigerator...brooke rescued this refrigerator before it was headed to the goodwill pile (from her in-laws, so it was a family piece), and she had a vision! we used inspiration from the restoration hardware catalog, and i really kind of just played with washes and finishes until we came to a place that felt right for the piece. i wish you guys could see the rest of the room that this piece is now in...it's really beautiful! brooke has great taste, and i can't wait to show you the piece once she has it all decorated. :)

here is the sad before (you can also see the poker table that i painted for her a little while back!):

as you can see, it's a really cool piece. it had great potential, but the current state was not-so-good. the inside had been spraypainted at some point, and all in all, the piece was a little yucky.

i did about 5 different washes on it...including a "blackened bronze" wash, that you can see if you look closely.

i also did a new finish on the inside, which was metal, and in need of mooooore than a little attention. there were 3 layers of paint used to make this finish, but we thought it turned out really nicely. metallic and fresh, but still "vintage" and worn-looking.

those little metal poles will have the original wire shelves put into them to hold the dishes, etc. the shelves are the icing on the cake - i'll show them to you guys later.

she will be using it as storage in her dining room for glasses, dishes, etc. i'll be sure and show you guys when i get a photo of everything inside!

oh, and that back area with the hole is going to be filled in, too. we removed that door to paint it, and didn't get to put it back in for the photo...anyway, it will not be a gaping hole!

mini table makeover.

hello.

sorry i didn't blog yesterday -- busy, busy 'round here. anyway, i thought i'd share a little table makeover i completed this weekend...

megan had this table already, and wanted to give it a new look for her future baby's nursery:

such a great way to take pieces that you still have, but aren't using, and make them useful again -- rather than buy new things.

the knobs are from anthropologie (i snatched them up a couple of years ago, and they've yet to be used!)

silhouettes via "the nesting game"

my friend molly has my affections for blog crush right now. it's fun to see someone you actually know posting their home, home decor ideas and projects on the internet (it makes me feel better about doing it, too. hah!).

anyway, molly and her fiance recently did a framed silhouette project inspired by my boyfriend, jonathan adler. their projects are always so well-thought-out and work like a charm. check out her blog for more, but today, check the silhouette project. if you are scared to hand-paint a silhouette, this is your project!

their inspiration was from this photo, which is in jonathan adler's book:

part of molly and taylor's project in the works (i always enjoy a project that involves spraypaint, you know. and, this is great, because this way you won't have those pesky brush marks):

final product! so cute! and as a bonus: taylor's kids have the coolest names ever.