Painter Girl

Ceiling Designs

When I was over at my client's home that features the mural I posted yesterday, I also took pics of the bathroom I had done earlier this year.  I love this stencil design, the Crossed Garland, again by Melanie Royals.  I've used this stencil so much, that I have actually worn it out and have had to replace it!  It is very versatile.  I will be using it once again, on an upcoming ceiling project.

Here it is.  I used only 2 colors, a soft brown for the leaves and a berry color for, what else?, the berries...

Here you can see the where the ceiling meets the glazed walls. 

This part of the bathroom has a very slanted ceiling with a skylight. 

This view shows the monogram "F" and some ivy above the shower door. The room is divided into 2 areas.  The foreground, before the arch has the vanity and toilet, and a lower, flat ceiling.  After the arch, the ceiling is slanted and goes up to about 12' in height.  This area has the shower.

Mural Additions

Earlier this month, I wrote about returning to one of my client's homes to add to a mural, (http://paintit.typepad.com/painter_girl/2007/11/adding-to-a-mur.html).  I returned to this home yet again this week to do some new work in the Master Bedroom and a small bathroom.  While I was there, I took new pictures of the mural with the additional work.  The last time I was there, my batteries ran out in my camera, so I was not able to get clear pictures.

Here is the mural before the additions.

Here is the mural with the new additions.  I added the dark blue pail on the right because a new grandchild was born into this family.  I also added a 2nd Golden Retriever (near the umbrella), as this was also a new addition to the family.  A white fence was constructed around the deck over the summer, so I painted that in too.  It's fun to see the mural grow and change as this family grows and changes!

Newport Art Museum...napkins

Ok, I finally resolved my problems with the napkins I was making.  Well... I haven't totally resolved some of the issues, but... these 2 napkins will just be on display, not for use... will not have to be washed... so they will be fine. ;-)  The next batch of napkins I make for my own use, will be tested thoroughly.  I'll wash them multiple times, iron, etc. to see how they hold up.  Marc will also test drive a few to see how they endure.  I am hoping they will hold up to repeated washings, because I just love this idea and am going to try to market them in the near future.

Here are the two I am using for the Newport Art Museum event Marc and I are participating in:

Too cute, huh???!  This is a photo of Marc as a young boy. The photo was done by scanning the picture and then printing out on T-Shirt Transfer paper on my printer.  The image is then ironed onto the fabric. I glued on the trim around the photo and stenciled all other design elements with fabric paint. The only part not washable at this point is the trim I glued on.  Supposedly, the transfer is washable.

Here are both napkins.  That's me on the left, at about 7 yrs. old.  I got some glue on my napkin and tried to wash it off late last night, but when I checked on it early this a.m., the glue was still there!  I quickly stenciled another napkin and did a new picture for it.  I was in rush to get out the door, so did not take a pic of the "clean" napkin.  I gave both napkins to Marc today, because he was going back to Newport to finish the room.  I'll be sure to take pics on Friday at the opening.

This pic is blurry, but I wanted to show the opened napkin, so you can see that it is stenciled all around the edges.  My friend Susan did the scanning for me and she had it come out in sepia tones, vs. black and white or color because she knew that was the look I was going for. These will eliminate the need for a placecard at the diner table and be lots of fun  at parties and get togethers, don't you think?  I'm very excited about creating more, using different themes.

Newport Art Museum

Today Marc and I brought all of the furniture he will be using in our room at the Newport Art Museum.  I could only stay 2 hours to help him unwrap and unpack things due to other commitments, but I did take bring my camera for the Before Pictures. ;-)

The room is small, about 12' x 12'.  The art work will remain on the walls and the table came w/the room, so we will use that for our dining room table.  Marc has all other furniture and some accessories on loan from Country House in Cohasset, MA.  Country House specializes in custom draperies, brand name furniture at discount prices, gifts and accessories.

Here is a few that is opposite the fireplace featured above.  Marc made some window treatments himself for these windows. You can see a glimpse of them lying on the table at this point.  When I left, Marc already had a good start on decorating the mantle.  I will show the "After Pictures" when I return on Friday for the Wine Tasting/Opening of this event!

What's next?

I hope everyone enjoyed a little R&R with family and friends over the Thanksgiving Holiday.  As we head into the final Holiday stretch of the year, I have a 3 fun projects are on deck to keep me busy.   One, which is pictured here, is an event Marc Bordet and I are working on together, Holidays Tables at the Newport Art Museum.  We have 1 room in the galleries of the Griswold House to decorate a Holiday Table.  I have stenciled a table cloth and 2 napkins. Marc will work his magic and pull the room together.  I will post pictures of the finished room later this week, when I go to the site and actually see the room.  We have a fun cocktail party to attend this Friday, November 30th, when this show opens, so I'll bring my camera.  Well, I'll bring my brother's camera, since mine is still not working. :-(

I've finished the tablecloth, but am having some technical difficulties with the napkins, which I will discuss more when I can figure out what I am doing! 

Here is the tablecloth before I got my hands/brushes on it! It's cotton. It's brown.  It's boring.

Now to begin.  I am using the same Damask pattern by Royal Designs that I used for the Magnetic Memo Board Project.  I lightly sprayed the back of the stencil with repositionable spray adhesive.  I am just using one color, a bronze fabric paint, and one stencil brush.  Very simple, very easy. ;-).

Here I am stenciling right along.  Actually... here's where I quickly discover that this project is going to take much, much longer than anticipated!  I don't stencil on fabric often, I quickly discovered that the stenciling process was not going nearly as quickly as when I stencil a wall or furniture.  Each repetition takes quite a bit longer to stencil.

Tah-dah!  A few hours later... all done! :-)

Tomorrow I am going to the museum with Marc to drop off the furniture we will be using in the space.  I'll leave him there to work his magic, but I will take some before pics of the room to post.  At least the tablecloth is done and Marc can set the table.  I'll try to get the napkins done tomorrow night or Wednesday.  Now besides the technical difficulties that I am having with the napkin design, I left my 2 printer cables at my mother's house over Thanksgiving.  She is putting them in the mail.  I did have an extra for one of the cables, but the other one has to be ordered and is not stocked, so I'll either need to wait for the mail or maybe see if I can borrow a cable from my brother who has the same printer. 

Lusterstone Repair

Yesterday I returned to do a little repair work in a dining room I did for a client a few months ago.  They changed a pair of wall sconces and, as you will see, this left a little mess on their walls.

The former wall sconce was taller than the new one, so you see some of the previous red wall showing through.  Here I had already put one layer of base paint over the red, so it is not as prominent.
I first sanded, then applied 3 coats of my green base paint color.  The final finish on the walls is Lusterstone Sage Green.

There was also one switch plate cover that needed to be done, as well as this little chipped area around the new switch.

Here it is, all repaired.  I simply troweled on 3 very thin layers of the Sage Green Lusterstone over the dried base paint and blended well.
I used a blow dryer to dry each layer, so I could work more efficiently.

Here's a view of the top and bottom walls in this room.  The top is the Sage Green Lusterstone and below the chair rail is Champagne Mist Lusterstone.  This is a hard room to photograph.  The window treatments are not yet installed, so it's looking a little bare.  The homeowner will pull it all together over the next few days since she is hosting Thanksgiving in this room! ;-)

Creating A Magnetic Memo Board

First... just to wrap up the week:  I did finish that Family Room yesterday, but decided not to take the final pics because the room is just no where near it's finished state as far as furnishings, so not much to look at!  As I mentioned, Marc will be helping the homeowners to furnish and accessorize this room.  I also will be painting an Armoire that will house their tv and stereo equipment.  So, I decided to hold off on the final presentation of this room until it is more complete all around!

I do want to share with you a fun and fairly easy project I thought you may want to try in your own home.  Now don't be intimidated by the many steps.  I just broke it down to simplify.  Also, me being me, I could not just take the simple route.  You can very easily adapt this Magnetic Memo Board, changing the size, shape, stencil or no stencil, etc.  It would work great in a kid's room in a bright color, in a fun shape such as a car, giant pencil, heart, bear... you get the picture. I did mine directly on the wall, but you could also do this on a bedroom or closet door panel, or a piece of masonite and mount to your wall.  I am thinking to creating some of these on masonite to sell.If you recall, a few weeks back, I began the process of turning my daughter's former bedroom into my office.  I am happy to report that I've made some good progress with this project, although, of course, it is not complete.  It is to the point where I can actually work in there and so far, I am just loving having this space!  I am still looking for either a daybed w/a trundle or a very small sofa that will open to at least a full sized bed.  The room is small and space is very limited.  My darling daughter still has several boxes left in this room to go through, but I have been able to get her to sort through at least one box/week when she arrives to do her laundry and have dinner with me on Sundays. ;-)  The push is on though because the Holidays are fast approaching and I will need the extra room for the daybed/sofa.  Also, I think she realizes that if she should need a  place to crash after a long day working at the hospital and the weather is bad, it is closer for her to head here for the night than her apartment.  I think she will want to stay here Christmas Eve and/or Christmas night too, so her stuff has to be put away asap!  Oh... I digress... the point of today's post is to share with you a very simple project I made for my new office.  I needed a place to be able to post my notes, fabric samples, tear sheets, etc. so decided to make a Magnetic Memo Board.  I feel I've already overdosed on the chalkboard paint in my house, with the chalkboard buffet and framed chalkboard I have in my dining room.

Not to mention, the chalkboard framed picture I have in my kitchen of my adorable nephew! 

This project is so simple that I thought some of you might be interested in making one for a room in your home, so here is a step by step of how I did mine:

Here's the finished project. I put a trompe l'oeil frame around mine.

Almost Done...

I have no pictures to post today of the Family Room I am still working on, because it was a dark, dreary day here today, and the room limited lighting to play with.  I am using a small clamp on light to help me work on each wall, in addition to the recessed ceiling lights.  Tomorrow I will return to take a good look (with a stronger, portable light stand) at how the 3 gold glazed walls look.  I think 2 of the walls will need 1 more light layer of glaze, but it was hard to tell today while it was still wet.  Two good things have happened with this job: 1) The homeowner loves the walls now, so I did not have to repaint any wall and begin again.  Once the walls dried and the homeowners sat in the room, they loved it.  So did their adorable 12 yr old twin girls, so the whole family is in agreement.  They all feel the room is so much warmer now, even in it's current state of chaos!  2) The homeowners have brought in my good friend, Marc Bordet of Bordet Interiors, to help them put the finishes touches on some of their decorating dilemas throughout the house and to help them furnish the new Family Room.  I am very excited about this because I knew they would work well with each other.  Marc arrived today, and after a few hours on consultation, he had developed a plan for all the areas on the homeowners checklist, and everyone was excited about the changes that will take place.  I will be posting more pics when this work starts to evolve.  I think it will be fun for you to see how Marc works his magic. I will keep after him to take before and after pics.  I'll run around and take some more before pics when I return tomorrow, just in case.  I will be finished tomorrow, but will return to do that Armoire that is out for repairs at the moment and maybe a few other small projects.

On a sad note... I learned yesterday, that my good friend, Stacy Queen (who often helps me on my jobs) lost her mother, Gayle Queen,  very unexpectedly on November 14th.  At 69, Gayle was a very youthful, fun, energetic, lovely woman.  She will be missed dearly by her family and friends.  My condolences to Stacy and the Queen family. 

A Little More Progress Is Made... I think

Today I was able to roll on the first layer of the Tequila Sunrise Lusterstone and then later trowel on another coat.  My client has now decided to deviate from the two sample boards chosen for this job. I tried bringing a little of the rust color from the Tequila Sunrise wall into one of the gold toned walls, as a test.  This is drying now and we'll discuss it more tomorrow when I return.  I think I will probably just trowel on 1 or 2 more thin layers of the Lusterstone, watered down and then not add the Champagne Mist Lusterstone that was in the original sample board. The homeowner is nervous about having too much of a faux look going on, so now I am trying to make the gold toned walls a little softer.  Unfortunately, that was not decided until after I added the rust glaze mix on my test wall. :-(  I may be painting that wall out.  I have one more option I'll try on that wall tomorrow, then enough time wasted... I'll paint out that small wall and start fresh,rather than keep adding more layers.   The other 2 gold toned walls just have 1 light layer of glazes, so those should work alright, I am hoping, at least for the first layer or whatever the final finish is in the end.  Here's where I am as of today...

Here is a good view of the stone fire place, the Tequila Sunrise Lusterstone (not finished), and the gold toned wall that I added some rust glaze to.  See how the fireplace now "pops" with the rust toned Lusterstone finish?  I'll post again, below, the fire place wall as it looked before...

Look how dull and boring the stone looked against the tan-greyish wall color!  It was not doing the beautiful stone work justice at all.  The homeowner felt it made the stones look pink and I agree.

Here is a full view of the fire place wall. I will still do another 1 or 2 layers of the Lusterstone.

Here are the 2 remaining light colored gold walls that only have the 1st layer of glaze applied. 

More tomorrow....;-)

Residential Work This Week

Last week I began the prep work portion for the job I will be working on this week.  I am doing 2 finishes in a Family Room.

Here's the Before Picture.  The room had been painted a tan shade that had a lot of grey in it. This color made this room very cold looking.  The homeowners recently had the fireplace redone with this great stone work.  The horizontal board you see will hold a mantle eventually.  All the furniture in this room will be moved to their basement and new furniture will be bought. This room opens into their kitchen and breakfast area, so we are taking colors and inspiration from that room.

This is the opposite end of the room.  The Armoire is being customized by a carpenter to house the tv.  I will be painting this eventually and have the colors/finishes picked out. 

Here are the 2 finishes that will go on the walls.  The finish on the left is comprised of 2 shades of Lusterstone, Tequila Sunrise and Champagne Mist.  This will go on the Fireplace Wall.  The finish on the right is a finish I call Patrick's Gold Tone Limestone.  I named it after a client who had me do this finish in several commercial buildings he managed.  This finish is comprised of 4 different glazes, softly ragged on at the same time.  While wet, it is spritzed with alcohol and then some bronze veining is added.  The veining is not showing up in this picture!  I'll see if I can find a better shot....

Oh yes, this is a better shot of the Gold Toned Limestone, but a bad shot of the Lusterstone!  More pics tomorrow of the progress.