Wall Mural For Kredible

Hi! I hope you all had a great long weekend. Mine was nice, but I jumped right back into my kitchen cabinet project, and am finishing it up over the next two days. It's coming along nicely, though, and I think might be my favorite kitchen I've done. Dream kitchen, seriously. I will show you guys pics.

But, for now, I wanted to share a mural I did last week at Kredible. Their logo has this little flower/pac man looking thing in it, and they wanted to replicate this pattern on the wall. Kayte (the designer for the space) contacted me about painting it, and I did. It turned out pretty good! If you follow me on Instagram (@kristenfdavisdesigns) you might have already seen some of these.

Check it out:

Here's when I was first starting:

it was a two layer stencil. First the navy part, then the lighter turquoise.

and when it was all done:

this was while I was doing touch ups which is why there is painters tape on the wall, still. I mark spots so I don't forget them, with painters tape.

what do you think? I had fun with this one!

Design Work Lately

I recently have mentioned that I have been doing some design work on the side. I have long done paint color consults, but took on some other design work when a neighbor asked me to. She came over because she was buying a house that the builder that built our house was building (weird sentence). She wanted to see something in our house that was similar to how her's was going to be, so he sent her over to look at our finished project. Long story short, she liked our style, and hired me to help her select paint finishes. Well, interior paint finishes turned into exterior paint finishes, too, and then that turned into all of her light fixtures, and now other design decisions like furniture and window treatments. 

I thought I'd share a few photos of our work, because the house is all finished now and she closed last Monday, woo! It was a lot of work to take on on top of my regular work, but SO much fun and so rewarding for her to be so happy with it. Christopher's homes are so different - a mixture of modern and other styles, so there's really not a way to pin down the style, which makes it fun to mix in all my crazy taste :) 

Here is her exterior. I got to pick every paint color, and even helped pick out the stained glass for the  transom window, which was made by a local stained glass artist. It was so cool to go to her studio, and see all that she does. She does work for huge companies like Coke and Disney, too (in her awesome little Cabbagetown backyard studio). We are lucky to have her work on our windows! (Jordan and I also have a window made by her)

House exterior color is "Granite Peak" by Sherwin Williams. The door is "Hep Green" by SW, and it is AWESOME. haha. I love the bright door. Trim is Extra White and black color is Black Magic, both by SW, too. Our lights are Schoolhouse Electric. 

Here's the stained glass window before it was made, after we selected the glasses. 

I need to get a photo of it finished and upclose.

The colors look black here ,but they're really dark gray.

Another fun element that is one of my favorite parts: the powder bathroom.

 i picked out the sconces which are from One Forty Three (hand made! Really cool company), and the mirror which is from Pottery Barn. It's a leather band that holds up the mirror. Amy (client) wanted a "whiskey bar meets modern" vibe, so I think this pretty much sums it up. That sink is cool, and was Christophers design. The wood was salvaged from the property before they built the house.

another fun design element that I love is the master bath. I got to pick the counter top for this space, and instead of going with a marble, quartz or corian, we did wood. 

my friend Jason (who built my console table) made it. 

Here's a photo he sent me before it was installed:

cool.

I also picked out the kitchen backsplash, the countertops and the base color for the bottom cabinets. 

we love how they turned out!!

now we're picking out shades. Woo! So much fun.

Hope you enjoyed the mini tour. I need to take pics of all of the light fixtures and show you guys. We found some really cool ones. 

have a great weekend!

Guest Room

This weekend, I randomly decided to tackle our guest bedroom. It has been looking not-so-cute for several months now, with just hand-me-down stuff from other rooms hanging out in there. I decided to FINALLY hang some blinds in there (we have had temporary shades on the windows since we moved in last June), and I guess that got me in the mood to fix up the rest of the space. This is what it looked like before:

I realized I had a decent amount of cute things that weren't being used, so just used things I already had in the house for this space. I only bought the blinds and the new bedskirt. 

I hung the headboard that I made for our old bed at the condo. It took me FOREVER to hang it by myself! But I did it, booyah. Anyway, I hung it a little too high, so I put the bed on risers. Which, in turn, meant I needed an extra long bedskirt. I prefer beds up high, though, so it was okay. I ordered this bedskirt on Overstock, and it came in like, no joke, 48 hours. I love amazon and overstock. 

I made the bed in some white sheets we already had, and used pillows and bedding that I already had, too. 

(this was before I did some tweaking)

I love the lighter bamboo shades. Thats' what I wanted for other rooms in this house, but I couldn't find them. Then I read on Little Green Notebook that she found these paler blonde ones at Lowe's recently, and so I went to get them there. The shades say that they can only be cut down to 18", minimum (and I needed 15" for our really skinny windows). However, I took the blind out of the package and analyzed it, and realized that it was doable, mechanically, if I could get the guy at Lowe's to cut it down that low. He was really reluctant, and it took some pestering, but eventually he agreed to do it, and it worked perfectly fine. Truth be told, if he had not agreed to do it with their machine, I was just going to saw it down myself, duh. :) I was having such a hard time figuring out what to put on these windows, and finally realized this might be doable. Anyway, I'm really happy with them.

thank you, Max, for modeling.

i moved the recent thrift store wicker cabinet find to this room, too. It fits perfectly! It was feeling too short in the dining area, with the tall ceilings, but with these shorter angled ceilings in the guest bedroom, it's the perfect height. And those bottom shelves are empty if guests need to put stuff in them. 

I also put the mint green mid century modern dresser in here, and my anthropologie runner on top to cover where it needs a fresh coat of paint. :)

I have had that white shaggy rug for forever. I decided to DIY a Beni Ourain style  on it, just for kicks. If things went south, I could always just throw it away. It's a weird size for this room (AKA not the right size), but like I said, I'm working with what I have. I got out a Sharpie and went to town with drawing lines. I like when Beni Ourain rugs are not evenly spaced, so I ended up going more freehand with these lines, so it was really easy. Just drew 'em on.

First, I started off taping, then realized that wasn't really necessary.

I got the idea to Sharpie it on from this blog. I was going to use my fabric dye, and I'm glad I didn't have to! I was really happy with how it turned out.

That bamboo mirror was a thrift store find from the past few months or so. It was actually just a gold bamboo frame I got for like $2. I had a mirror cut for it and inserted it. There's a glass and mirror place really close to my house, which is handy.

I also found this cute bamboo magazine holder last week at a thrift store.

what do you guys think?

More Rug Painting Fun

Well, I'm going crazy. I painted two different rugs this weekend. In addition to the one I painted last week.  

I bought this ugly but promising rug at a thrift store for $8 last week.

I gave it a nice lint rolling to clean it up, first.

I found a rug on ebay that I used as my inspiration for colors. I broke out the Frogtape, and went to work. I hadn't used Frogtape until last week, and wow. That stuff works great. You don't even have to do the paint over trick with it! I am a convert.

Anyway, I bought the extra thick 2" version, and made little triangles. This is how I cut them:

I would tape the end to the counter top, then cut like five diamonds, then tape on.

I found the center, then started taping from there. NOTE: I didn't do it perfectly, since it was the weekend, and this is a tester project for my own home. If it were for a client, all the little diamonds would be the same size, in a straight line, etc. I already have an eye twitch from so much work and stress lately, so I am not trying to add to that on my weekend time by driving myself crazy ;)

after it was all taped. There was only one point where I got confused, which was trying to match that funky triangular pattern on either side. My brain started hurting but i figured it out.

and painted:

I used regular house and craft paint that I already had. I think that eggshell works best, because it's not shiny and it is fairly pliable when it dries. Either way, this is not like, a fancy long term rug solution (like the dye). I have done this before. It's like one of those rugs you buy from urban outfitters, thats printed? Maybe a little better with holding up, but you know what I mean! It's fun for a short term, trendy solution if you don't wanna spend $$$ on a rug.

'

here's where I was starting to get excited!

and here is where I have to leave you, because I have to go to work!

i'll post the final outcome soon! have a great monday.

Rug Refresher + Happy Friday

Hi, all. 

I am headed to the studio soon, to have a meeting with a potential client (showing her around the studio - hopefully they aren't deterred by the paint and tools strewn about everywhere. That's what a studio is supposed to look like, right? That's what I tell myself). I also have to finish some really cool bamboo chairs (doing a faux finish on them -- I have already painted them a solid color.) Anyway, I'm excited it's almost the weekend. I have a project lined up for myself that I'm happy to finish. I started it the other night, but didn't get to finish because I was doing it after work, and it got dark outside. 

I have this rug that I bought at Scott's a while back. The colors are a little dull, though, and so faded. It's perfectly fine the way it is, but of course I can't leave well enough alone. I decided to pick up some Jacquard dye when I was at Sam Flax the other day and give it a try. You can paint the Jacquard dye on, and then set it with an iron on the opposite side, once you are done. I used Jacquard dyes in college, in a textiles class, so I have a (very) little experience. I bought several colors. I am actually planning to use them in an even more fun rug project, but this was the first thing I decided to attack. :)

Here is my rug before:

You really just simply paint the dye on. 

here are the dyes I bought. I analyzed other kilim rugs that I love online ,and bought colors that coordinated with those. I still need to go back and get fuchsia. The hot pink is awesome, but it's not that fuchsia color that is so popular in the kilim rugs. The good thing about jacquard dyes is that they are water based and you can mix them together like regular paint. You can also dilute them with water.

I painted all the brown triangles to black. 

it's looking a lot more playful already. I still have a bit to do, though. It's time consuming, because you want to make sure you paint each individual strand of the weave, so it looks woven in, not painted on. Also, you run out of dye rather quickly. The containers are small.

It's going to look good, though! I'm going to put it back into our dining area, I think. If Max can bring himself to stop chewing on it (and everything else in our house, ARGHHHH!).

Alright everyone, have a great weekend. Wish me luck on my rug projects!! :) 

Butterfly Mural

Last week, I did some work for Vicki. It was so nice to meet her and her super cute daughter, who I did this fun butterfly mural for. They will be hanging a girly chandelier from this outlet, and I did some freehand butterflies around it. We were supposed to be doing a stencil, but the stencil didn't come in in time, so I just freehanded them instead.

her daughter requested the colors, naturally :) 

What do you think? It was a fun project!

now, i'm headed out the door to finish this room up...

I made that stencil yesterday.  I'll share more all about it later...

have a great day. this week is flying by!

Union Jack Flag Painting

Yesterday was fun. I painted a GIANT Union Jack flag for a client. This canvas was five feet tall and seven feet long. That's large. The challenge was simple: paint the flag. Easier said than, done, but it worked out! It's funny how with flags, if you don't get them perfect, it's very noticeable. And it's easy for them not to be perfect. I remember when I was painting the American Flag for my Shoney's work, it was the same way. You think: oh just a few stripes and stars and call it a day. No. It is very specific. Anyway... I forgot to take a final photo of the whole thing (weird), but here's a little clip (I was trying to convey the large size).

me + my painting.

during the taping process:

I always do that trick where you tape off, then paint over in your base coat color, to get really crisp lines. It works every time, really well.

after work, I stopped by a thrift store on the way home (People always ask which ones I go to - the answer is ALL of them. and I prefer ones that aren't really inside the city, because they seem to be better), and found lots of great stuff. Two black lampshades, a bamboo brass magazine holder, a cool large cobalt blue and black drippy vase, some brass office organizers (gotta start working on decorating the office and the guest room this summer), a sweet summer hat for max (HAHAHAHA), and... wait for it.. a giant plastic ice cream cone:

(this is Tico, my brother in laws dog)

The lady at the register said, "So what are you going to do with all this stuff"... I said.. "decorate my house?" haha. I guess my selections were not normal, but I was really pleased with my haul. 

Anyway... happy Tuesday! Have a great one.

Abstract Black and White Walls

Last week, I painted an abstract wall design for Dana. I can't remember how I originally found Dana's blog, but I have been reading it for a while now. She's a talented designer, and mom to the cutest little boy. Anyway, I felt like a real stalker driving to her house, because I had already seen it online, so I knew what it looked like :) Funny. 

I did an abstract circular painting style in her powder bathroom, and I can't wait to see how it all turns out when she has it decorated. 

Here's a photo I took when I was first getting started:

we used "Black Forest Green" by BM, and I loved the color. It's a dark black/green, that is sort of hunter green like. It's a great color.

and all done:

(mirror not hung yet)

I think the key to doing abstract painting designs like this, is making sure you tape off the top and bottom of the walls (at the ceiling and at the bottom trim), and let your pattern go into the tape. That way, it seems more like wall paper. I've seen so many people do stencils to where they just let the top of the stencil go to the top of the wall, but don't continue the pattern further up, if that makes sense, and it just seems cut off.

Anyway! I like how it turned out, and it was fun to do. Can't wait to see how Dana decorates the rest of the room!

PS, speaking of abstract painting designs, did you see Jenny's bathroom? I love the pattern, and the peach walls remind me of my bedroom!