custom painting.

a couple of weeks ago, i completed this custom painting for a client. she and her husband needed something to hang over a mantel, and sent me several "inspiration" photos to get the ball rolling. they loved blues, whites and greens, and preferred a sort of interpreted nature scene. nothing too literal, and they liked modern art. this is (not a very good photo of) what i came up with!

i think it resembles an ocean...on a day that could be seen as either moody and dark, or perhaps even a sunny early morning.

i included lots of texture, since there wouldn't be a lot of color.

this area is the most colorful, and where the eye is therefore drawn to. my client said she'd love a tiny splash of hot pink, so there it is!

with a white conte crayon, i drew in "clouds"...this is my favorite one. you can barely see it, but they are obvious if you look closely.

here is a bit of a horizon line, and another cloud...

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for custom artwork or questions about painting in your home, please email me at kristen(dot)fountain(at)gmail(dot)com

morgan's nursery.

remember when i painted this all-shades-of-plum striped wall for a baby girl's room? well, her mom sent me photos of the finished nursery the other day, so i wanted to share them with you guys. i adore the contrast of the stripes with the suzani nursery set from cocolo couture!

opposite side of the room:

don't you adore the "morgan" letters? she got them here. i really like that font - i've never seen it in stores before. she painted the letters purple with some of our leftover paint.

cute mobile, which i took inspiration for my butterflies from:

the built-in's:

kitchen cabinets.

last week, i took on a big cabinet refinishing/painting job. these laminate cabinets had seen way better days, as they were cracking and peeling - something that seems to be very common with 10-year-old laminate. as you can see, there were lots of problem areas:

this was probably the worst, where it had peeled completely off in some areas, and my clients glued it back on. it took quite a bit of ripping, slicing, scraping and sanding to get it off!

thankfully, it peeled off pretty easily, and we got most of the fronts off within about 2 hours. as you can imagine, the surface underneath was perfect for applying paint - rough and fairly porous.

here is heather, who helped me out last week. so cute and sweet. check out that cabinet behind her...

i used a combination of paint stripper and elbow grease to get the goo off of the weird drawer that had been previously glued together...

here is what they looked like after we got ALL of the laminate off.

i think i've preached on my blog before about how much i love the "aura" brand by benjamin moore. it is self-priming (TRULY self-priming, unlike some brands out there), and the coverage is amazing. not to mention, it dries like an enamel, is not bad for the environment, has an "evening" agent that helps paint to spread evenly on its surface. i couldn't be more of a fan!

anyway, here is an example of the great coverage of this paint:

on the right side, the cabinets have one coat of paint (yes! only one...doesn't it cover well?), and on the left side, 2. i did end up doing 3 coats, but i thought this was a great example of the coverage.

here are all the drawer fronts and doors laid out on the floor!

and, here are a few shots of the final coat:

notice the long door and drawer - scratches gone! laminate, stay away!

annnnd.....ta-da! here is that pesky damaged drawer...all fixed!

this island was really, really dinged up, so a fresh coat of paint really worked wonders on it:

my traveling studio...

i hope to have a studio space soon, but for now...check out my traveling studio...

hah! i have heard about studio space available just for artists in other cities...does anyone know of great spaces like that here in atlanta? please leave a comment and let me know, if so!

snaps from the weekend...

i have a busy monday and week ahead, so i thought today i'd share something kind of lighthearted...some snaps from my weekend...

today is my baby brother's 23 birthday...these are presents i wrapped for him on saturday...

happy birthday, david!

on saturday morning, i bought a bike! jordan bought a bike (the black one in the background) a few weeks ago, and for some reason, i decided to join him in the bike-riding hobby. turns out, it's really fun. if only i could bike to work...

i bought it at loose nuts bike shop, in my neighborhood. they are really nice there, very knowledgeable, and no pressure. perfect!

on sunday, we rode our bikes to the grant park farmer's market, which was amazing. seriously, if any of you guys live around, i hope you check it out. lots of local organic farmers and other foods vendors (including cheese mongers, a traveling "farmmobile", and the king of pops!). it made me really, really happy.

lastly, here are some photos of the flowers on our stoop...

i planted these 2 succulent pots 2 weeks ago, and we also have flowers in the flower beds that are growing like crazy.

hope you guys also had a nice weekend!

dresser.

a couple of months ago, i painted this dresser for one of my sweetest clients yet. she'd had an e-design board made by bryn, and bryn suggested this beautiful "rock quarry" color by benjamin moore for this dresser that our client already had. i don't have a "before" shot of it, but i will show you the outcome...

i love the color, and the pretty knobs from anthropologie that they bought.

i'm currently painting this client's kitchen cabinets, along with a large custom painting that she commissioned, so i'll be back monday with photos of those. have a great weekend, everyone!

centsational girl article by courtney lake.

please check out this article, featuring your's truly today over at centsational girl. courtney from courtney out loud wrote it, and he did a fabulous job tackling "breaking design rules". a favorite topic of mine, as i tend to break them every time i decorate my home. :) if you aren't familiar with courtney's blog, please do check it out - he is great, and one of my favorite blog-friends. very encouraging and funny! plus, i'm in the company of some other bloggers that i really admire - so i feel special!

becky and deb at living livlier

and

bryn at bryn alexandra

my topic of choice? mixing bold color & pattern - one of my favorite things to do.

more reader projects!

i'm so happy that sometimes my little hair-brained projects turn out nicely, and that you guys get inspiration from them - it's so cool. such a unique community of crafty folks out there, and i'm excited when i get emails from "readers", sending me photos of projects they got off my blog, and are re-creating in their own homes.

anyway, i wanted to share with you 2 projects that were sent my way recently, both inspired by my blog. this first one, by bethany (at dwellings by devore - a VERY cute blog, that i encourage you guys to check out immediately) was inspired by my striped shower curtain post here.

i love the orange, and you know i love that black wall! so awesome.

next up, is tara's project. again, orange is a heavy accent color, along with turquoise. her room is so cute, and you can't go wrong with her color combo :). her chevron curtains were inspired by my chevron curtain tutorial, and i love 'em! thanks for sending, tara.

...and her cute room! i love the artwork over the bed, which reminds me of a yellow/white grouping of paintings that are sold at pieces, here in atlanta. very cool. and how cute is her dog on his matching bed?

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if you have a project inspired by one of my DIY posts, please send it to me at kristen.fountain@gmail.com...i love to see them!

lavender trellis wall.

the other day, i completed this trellis wall for a client's baby girl's nursery-to-be. i did it on a lavender wall, with a shimmery/pearly/silvery paint. i made the stencil myself...

as you can see, it's about a 15ft ceiling - pretty tall.

the crib will be up against this wall - i love the tall ceilings - so impactful. this nursery belongs to a client of the very talented interior designer sherry hart - thank you so much, sherry, for the referral! :) sherry and i both worked with room service atlanta together, and she is truly such a sweet person. please take a moment to check out her blog if you get a chance. and, here is her room service room - so awesome!

lyford cay inspired breakfast room.

i'm really excited to share this next project with you guys. heather, from the ever-so-chic duo at H&H Home commissioned me to paint her breakfast room walls with trees, a la this awesome room at lyford cay club, re-decorated by tom scheerer.

i sketched out the trees, and went to town:

here it is from the other side of the room. heather got this awesome gold mirror, and don't you love the ever-so-slightly pink ceiling? that's her nod to the pink couches at lyford cay - i love it. she has such great taste, and her entire house is amazing! so incredibly cute.

incase you are interested, here are the colors we used. heather was searching online, and couldn't figure out the brown anywhere, so she emailed tom scheerer, and he emailed her back with the exact brown from the lyford cay drawing room - so nice!

all colors are benjamin moore:

Ceiling: Mellow Pink (at 50%) eggshell

Trim paint: Cotton Balls in Semi Gloss

Background wall: Middlebury Brown eggshell

Trees and decorative items: we used Dove White eggshell and custom glaze