stenciled argyle pattern.

remember a while back when i painted this room? well, after i painted it, we (my client and i) were itching to do something in her son's room that was just as complementary and fun as my last stencil, but in a more masculine way.

here is what we came up with:

(his room is the exact same as her's, but everything is flip-flopped!)

i made a diamond stencil, and a stencil for the cris-crossed pattern on top of the diamond.

we wanted it to be very subtle, so the colors are "barely there". i love the subtlety!

here is the opposite side of the room - across from the bed.

detail shot.

here is the room with no lights on, so you can see how soft the colors are:

and, for the comparison, this is his sister's room, which i completed last summer:

happenings.

today, i shall share with you photos from my phone. some are sort of design-related, but they're mainly just other things. :)

i took this photo inside a cute children's store in seaside, florida a few months ago on a visit to see a friend. it was sooo cute inside that i had to capture it. love the "duckies" sign.

tetris sidewalk chalk art that jordan and i saw on a walk in cabbagetown park recently. it made me happy, for i love tetris.

this is from father's day. my brother and i made a mexican dinner for my dad...my dad's side of the family has a passion for the mexican food, and so do i.

here is my brother cooking enchiladas. they were delicioso:

i took this photo at my brother's loft...him and his friends carve into the paint on their counter

have you guys seen "waiting for guffman"? one of the best movies ever, and one of the few movies i own. i hate movies, but i love all of the movies made by these guys. hilarious.

i went down to st. augustine last weekend, and spotted this frightening johnny cash mural.

i also made friends with this cat really fast. i love cats.

yesterday, i was working on a new stencil pattern (which i should be able to share with you guys tomorrow), and used up an entire pencil! yowza

professional photos of my work.

i'm back today with some photos of the work that i did for the MyColor line for pantone, which is in lowe's, and other crafts stores (204 stores across the country!).

the paint company that i worked with sent over some photos of the professionally shot pieces i painted, so i thought i'd share them with you guys. it's very cool for me to see my work professionally shot for the brochures! :) incase you missed it, here is what the brochures look like in stores:

here is the first piece i painted, which is in pantone's "color of the year" - honeysuckle:

i painted him all over, and even gave him a haircut.

i painted an all over pattern on this tea cart ... it was fun to just go wild with my paint brush. they gave me very loose instructions as to what to do, so i got to let my creativity run wild. the only instructions i had for most of the pieces were the colors that needed to be used together (for the brochures, and for pantones color system).

in this photo, i painted this old wicker lamp, the chair, and the blue table, so that they'd work together for the brochure:

here is a photo of just the chair:

this dresser was super-fun to paint, and it was one of the first pieces i did for them. it's a little wild, but the colors in this line were all practically neons:

this bench was originally bright blue, but i toned it down with the major brown color (which i really loved). it's a browny/gray/green. i handmade the stencil i used on it, which i'm sort of dying to use on a wall, in a larger pattern:

this lamp was made because we needed something else in the "neons" color pattern...it turned out a lot fresher after they added a modern lampshade.

a little bench/side table i did.

decorative finial

this piece was originally sort of tacky...i decided "tomato" would be fun for it, to glam it up a little. it'd be nice painted with high gloss shellac on top, too!

restyling series on apartment therapy.

hey guys! so sorry i haven't blogged in almost a week. i was very busy with work last week, then went out of town for a long weekend. anyway, i've missed my little blog world, so i'm back today with a short post on the restyling 101 series that i did a while back. remember?

it was featured on apartment therapy, so i thought i'd provide the link here.

please check it out, if you have time and haven't done so already. i'll be back tomorrow with a longer post. have a great monday :)

traditional kitchen work...

last week, i painted the cabinets of a large, traditional kitchen. they were white MDF (not damaged like these cabinets, though!) to begin with, so i had to prime them all in a heavy-duty oil-based primer, before doing a creamy white with brown bevels on the outer cabinets, and a blue-gray on the island. here is a (tiny) photo of what they looked like to begin with:

colors used were benjamin moore's "creamy white" (for outer cabinets), and the new color AF 505, lightened by 50% for the island.

here it is! the backsplash is the last part of the kitchen remodel, which has yet to be completed, but i think it is coming along beautifully.

i love how she had new corbels added to the island, and we did a light glaze on top of the paint. the glaze was a gray-brown.

i like how the glaze sits in the carvings.

on the other side of the kitchen, there was a desk area:

and behind the desk, a little bar:

here is a detail shot of the cabinets. the rounded edges of the bevels usually give away the fact that the wood is actually a composite wood. i'm not sure why, but i think that it is because a rounded edge is easier to create than a straight corner. anyway, i think doing the dark brown lines on the bevels detracts the eye from the rounded edge, and creates the illusion of a cornered edge.

pantone's MyColor work...

a few months ago (in january, actually), i mentioned doing some work for a large paint company. the company that i did work for was a company that made the paint that is now being sold in lowe's (and other) stores all over the US! last week, i walked into lowe's to see pieces that i had painted on the brochures in the stores...very cool:

the paints are pantone colors, and come in quart-sized containers. they are all eggshell, and great for small projects...

see those brochures to the right? i painted most of the items in the photos.

guess what the "k" stands for? :)

kitchen progress this week...

this week, i'm working on another big kitchen cabinet and island job. i snapped this "in-between" photo of the island, because i really, really, really love the color!

it's a new benjamin moore color that we lightened by 50%, so it's not even a "real" color...but i am loving it so far. it'll have some glaze added later, so this isn't the final outcome. anyway, just wanted to share with you guys! i'll get the exact paint color formula for you soon...

have a great thursday.

lori may interiors guest post.

i had a guest post over at lori may interiors last week...head over here to check it out.

it involves one of my favorite projects, which may or may not include this:

thanks for having me, lori!

two furniture makeovers...

i completed these 2 simple furniture makeovers last week...i love the spark of color they add to the room, though!

after:

(color is "san fernando sunshine", by benjamin moore)

and, the other one...a bookshelf:

(before)

after!

i love how transforming furniture with the same color paint/style, makes them seem like a matching set, rather than collected-over-time pieces.