landing

hello! hope everyone had a nice christmas...

just wanted to share a little project that i did a few weeks ago...

i wanted to rearrange our landing area below the stairs (i bought a new dresser for our bedroom, so this small one needed a home...it really probably doesn't fit this area so great, but there is no where else for it, and i love it, so it will not be finding a new home!), so i did this:

the vase is just full of sticks from outside, and i framed another piece of handmade paper i had left over from this table i painted. the drawing above the framed paper is a sketch i did in a life drawing class in college.

it used to look like this:

anyway, i bought that little garden stool a few weeks ago at ross, and turned it upside down so that it would hold an umbrella. the only problem was that it was white on the bottom. so, i did what i always do and pulled out the paint and brush...

i just painted all the white parts black...

worked like a charm!

zoe's room

monday and tuesday, i helped make over my cousin's daughter's room (she is 10) for christmas, and here it is!

here is the "before" shot:

i had greg paint her room this pale turquoise, and the ceiling was painted one shade lighter than the wall color...i love painting the ceilings in addition to painting the walls - it makes a big difference!

anyway, i came in and added these fun stripes, along with the big "Z" above her bed (her name is zoe):

i picked out the colors for the stripes based on this great PB Teen bedspread. i also painted the bed white, with a chartreuse color inside the squares on the headboard. it came from here, and started out as unfinished wood!

before (and the first coat of stripes!):

and here is a better view of it now:

the colors are a little crazy in these photos because i didn't finish until it was dark outside, but you can at least get the idea. we also bought a great chartreuse lamp with a barrel shade (from Marshall's), and i added hot pink pom-pom trim to make it a little more girly.

there are also chocolate-colored drapes coming in, but they weren't there in time for the photos! bummer. anyway, i also added some chocolate-colored "chalkboards" with brown chalkboard paint from hudson paints. i replicated the shapes of the flowers on the quilt. there will be shelves installed above the dresser...

the paint's still wet in these photos! hah!

a couple of weeks ago, i helped my best friend change some things up in her house, just for fun. she bought a few new furniture pieces and accessories, and wanted a different eye to help bring it all together...and you know i love doing these things...soooo, here's what we did:

before:

we don't have a "before" shot of the couch area, but at least you can get an idea...i moved the curtains up a few inches, since the ceilings are sooo very high. this way, they only "kiss" the floor, rather than drape. as you'll see, she added an awesome oriental rug, and i pulled some other things from around the house to set on the coffee table.

i really loved the idea of the eclectic grouping that she had at her entry way (with the mirrors, candles, etc), but i thought it could use a little re-"wrangling". (hah!) i took everything down, and re-hung it...i also moved those two hooks to the right side a little, and made a "coatrack" area for guests to hang coats, or set bags, etc., as you walk in...i thought it made more sense than to just have the two hooks hanging there vertically...eventually, a TV will replace it, but for now, i like the warmth that the cute little settee adds.

this is to the left side of the couch. she added another leather chair, which really helped fill in some space, and i moved a little side table in between the two chairs. she will later replace the little christmas tree with a lamp, but for now, it does give a nice glow! she also took down the colorful frames behind the chairs on the wall, and we moved in some other artwork for the walls...

and, here are the after shots:

i set the cute little garden stool to the right of one of the chairs to help anchor the space a little, and to provide guests with somewhere to set a drink when they're sitting at that chair. she also added that cute red throw pillow from pier one, which i think is great with the new rug...

as you can see, the ceilings are SO tall in her living room, which is great, but it does create the need to fill the space a bit more! i tried to bring the eye down a little by moving the lighting "down" with the floor lamp next to the sofa, rather than across the room, where it used to be.

she also got a couple of the ribba ikea frames, and we spraypainted them blue...(one of them broke in the process, so we are trying to fix it! darned cheap ikea frames...) she added some hand made paper, and voila! artwork. i really love the touch of blue there...

here is the new entryway area...

(try to ignore the giant holes i left behind in my tornado of hammer, nails, screws and drill...)

here, you can see the little "coat hanging" area...should probably have 3 hooks, but we were just workin' with what we had in the house!

curtains pulled up higher! much better.

"new" door...

in my life, procrastination on one project means another project gets done. i guess this is good? heh. friday evening, i was procrastinating in finishing up some portraits i was working on, and ended up painting the back of our front door turquoise. i've had the paint for months, and have been planning to do it for a while, but hadn't gotten around to it...anyway, here she is:

before:

(oh, i also changed things at the landing where the stairs are...i'll blog a bit about that later in the week...)

midway through...

and, she's done! it's a fun little shot of color in the room, and i like the black on the door with the black on my chevron curtains...i didn't do the trim around the window, because i wasn't sure that i wanted to draw the eye up there at all, but i may go back and paint it at some point.

i love doing things like this with paint (obviously) because it's free and easy, and makes a great little surprise when you come in...unexpected!

a makeover first: oyster chests

this week, i completed a furniture makeover that was a first - a set of antique oyster chests. my client inherited these beautiful, unique tables, but was never quite happy with the blue color in her home. they were painted a while back (we couldn't tell if the paint was original to the tables, but i'm guessing no!), and the highly distressed country blue color didn't fit the rest of her home. she decided to simplify them quite a bit, but "keep" the gold detailing that was painted on so long ago. (aka, i just re-painted the areas that were gold before, and painted the rest of it a creamy off-white {benjamin moores "sparkling wine"})

here they are before (sorry i didn't get a photo of them actually sitting the right way. as you can see, the top part is separate from the bottom):

now, as you guys know, my camera is fairly new, and apparently i still haven't QUITE figured it out. hence, my large photos of these are blurry! sorry, guys. here are some "zoomed" in ones where you can see the detailing:

i like that they are updated, but that we still sort of kept an antique feel, with the gold detailing. they feel "fancy" and new, but still neutral enough to blend in with many house palettes, and hopefully she'll be able to use them for many, many years to come!

those little lines were tedious! she will be replacing the antique brass knobs with crystal glass ones.

are you my mother?

my computer is back home and...cross your fingers...working great...

i'll be back tomorrow with a new project, but for today, i wanted to share this great photo that one of my client's husbands took of her and the tree i painted in their nursery. isn't it cute? i love having creative clients...

(thanks to amber and rusty for letting me share the photo!)

striped curtain how-to

good morning! my computer is once again under the weather (this time it's been sent away by apple, so hopefully this will do the trick?

my impatience is growing!), so my apologies for the spotty blogging. anyway, i wrote this post a couple of months ago, so i thought i'd finally share it with you guys today.

...

when i posted my project on the striped bathroom i did for a client, along with the matching striped shower curtain, i had a lot of inquiries as to how i did it - and it was super-easy, so i thought i'd share.

things you'll need:

1. paint: you just need the color that you used to paint the stripes on your wall - latex wall paint will do the trick.

2. a shower curtain: we used a basic canvas shower curtain from walmart. you can use any type! it may sound weird to say that you can paint directly onto the fabric, but let's not forget artists paint on canvases everyday ;)

3. painter's tape: don't skimp on your tape - quality makes all the difference in this department, and you'll want the blue or green tape that is made for regular wall surfaces (not the "delicate" one).

4. water color pencil: these are found at craft stores in the paint/watercolor section. buy one that is the same color as the stripes you will be painting.

5. a long level, or broomstick: something that will create a straight line for you to trace with.

6. a yardstick or measuring tape

7. paint roller, brush, and paint tray

this is what we started with...

here are my steps for creating the shower curtain:

i will assume that you have already painted the stripes on your wall! you can find plenty of tutorials for that online. in this case, i was working with a white wall that i painted tan stripes on, so we bought a white canvas shower curtain. (if you want two different colored stripes, simply paint your stripes in two different colors, rather than one, like i did)

1. hang your shower curtain up on the hooks that it will be hanging on. get it positioned at a height that you like, then make little dashes with your water color pencil where the stripes should be (example: if your stripes are 12" stripes, make a dash every 12" with your watercolor pencil, matching up the lines of the wall with the lines on your shower curtain)

2. take the shower curtain down, and lay it on a dropcloth. go to the side of the shower curtain that you didn't make the marks on before, and make identical marks on the other side that will create the markers for your lines.

3. after you make marks, take your level or broom, and hold it across the length of the shower curtain and draw lines with your watercolor pencil to mark off the stripes.

4. tape off the stripes with your painter's tape (make sure you pay attention to where you will be painting, and tape on the right side of the line! this is important, and an easy mistake). you can buy little felt squares at home improvement stores that help you press your tape down to try to prevent bleeding of the paint. this step can save you a lot of work if you really pay attention to it!

5. grab your paint, and paint those stripes! i always "edge in" with my brush first, then just use the roller to do the insides of the lines. you can do 2-3 coats to ensure coverage.

6. pull your tape while the paint is still wet! it will help with bleeding and usually makes a crisper line.

7. wait until it's all dry, then hang it! it will be a little stiff, but it should soften up a bit over time.

christmas decorations at my house...

i put up our new white tree this year...its very bright, and happy, and i love it!

i wrote about how i wanted a white tree last year, and a few months ago my mom found one for me. i also have quite the vintage christmas decor collection, thanks to mine and my mom's finds over the years...if you ask me, vintage santas are about 100 times cuter than present-day santas.

elf's view.

big ben ornament my mom gave my brother and i the year we went to london. i love the memories that each ornament brings up! sounds quite cheesy, but it's true.

jordan's mom gave me a bunch of these vintage ornaments a few years ago..

a long time ago, my grandmother made a bunnnch of ornaments similar to this brown one. i have most of them, and put them up on my tree every year...i always appreciated the colorful christmas ornaments, so i guess this is how i inherited them. i love them!

i also have this grinch that moves around the house...i have mentioned before how much i love dr. seuss (i even did this painting for my dad last year), and the grinch is no exception! he makes me smile.

my mom found these vintage japanese santa mugs, too. aren't they cute? i like how one of them (but only one!) is winking (second one to the right, in this photo).

and last but not least, i have a tree in our room. red vintage tree (this is the one i usually put up in our living room every year...2008...2009):

i am aspiring to be like my mother, who has a tree in almost every room! i'm pretty sure her "bedroom" tree was up even before thanksgiving :) i think it's the lights...they just make everything prettier.

i used some of my leftover pink zig zag fabric from this project as a tree "skirt"

nursery.

last week, i painted a tree in a nursery that is going to be for boy/girl twins! they are due around february, and i can't wait to see this room after it's completed - my client has some great decor in the works. i liked her unique color palette of cream/minty green/chocolate - a nice, different palette, and great for a gender neutral space.

here it is before:

and, after:

i thought it would be great to play up the high, interesting ceiling lines, and try and use up some of all of that space! i like how the tree is on both the wall, and the slanted ceiling.

my client asked for the multi colored leaves (boy leaves and girl leaves, if you ask me :) ) , and the little monkey. we both liked his little belly!

he needs a name...

and you know i had to throw some perched birds into the mix...

and one on top of the closet door: