Painter Girl

Stools finished and delivered

Recently I was commissioned to redo 2 stools and featured this "Before" photo of one of them.  The two stools were to be put in a Laundry Room I did a few months ago.

 

Here is the "After" shot.  The stools were kept simple in style and color so they would blend in with the room vs. compete with the wall finish. 

The walls in this Laundry Room were done with a Portofino plaster in a color called Butter Cream. 

 

Although the details are not visible in this photo, you can see there is a border running around the room.  That border coordinates with the stenciling on the stool.  You can view more of this project in this previous post here.

The cabinet doors were finally installed in the kitchen, so I took a few more shots of my walls I did a few months ago.  The cabinets were in when I did the walls, but the doors were all MIA for quite some time!

Camp, Repair, and Re-Make

It's the end of Day 3 for Mad Science Camp and all is going well.  I have a great group of kids to work with and we are having a lot of fun!  Tomorrow is Mad Messages Day (there is a different theme each day) and we will be using Morse Code and doing some finger printing. 

Camp is over at noon, so I am fitting in a few small jobs.  This one is a repair.  I did this dining room 2 years ago.  The top portion is a sage green Lusterstone and the bottom is Champagne Mist Lusterstone.  The homeowner had an outside faucet installed and the plumbers came through the lower portion of this dining room wall by mistake.  Now, usually I enjoy doing a repair, especially if I am repairing my own work, and have my own notes to refer to.  But this time my notes failed me.  I think what happened
was the client changed her mind about the finish below the chair rail last minute and I never revised my notes.  Anyway, brought the wrong products, so will return tomorrow with the Lusterstone and take care of this.  The good news is my client just had a new baby girl, 2 weeks ago, so I will get to see that little cutie again.  :-)

I returned home and started the prep work on two stools.  Here is what they look like "before".  I did not do this paint job.  Someone else did, several years ago. 

End Tables Finished

This week has been spent catching up on some much needed office work, doing a quick touch up, one consultation and completing this furniture project:

I left off a few posts ago, showing this before shot.  I have 2 of these identical tables to transform.

Everything primed and ready to go!

Completed and delivered!

 I used a scroll all over repeat design from Royal Design Studios on the top, painted the legs and some trim a solid grey tone and did a soft multi color stipple on the raised top row of panels.  There is also some metallic silver brushed into the recessed grooves on the trim work.   A fun project and the room is now much lighter looking with the dark wooded painted.

Furniture Repair

Today I thought I would just show the process I used for repairing the two pieces of furniture for my client.  They are minor repairs that I was able to do while here working on the Living Room and galley Kitchen.  This piece, a deacon's bench, had been chewed by a dog.  I sanded and plastered.

I lucked out and was able to find a base paint that was a very close match and felt I was almost done with the repair after applying 2 coats!

It's hard to see in this final picture, but I did add a little, very fine graining in a deeper brown.  Unfortunately, I was not thinking I needed a high gloss sealer and only had a matte sealer with me for the 2nd piece of furniture.  I applied this, but will see if the carpenter who is doing some other work at this home will add a little high gloss poly to this corner.

 

Next, I tackled the cabinet that had the burn mark and finish that was worn off when someone tried to make the burn mark disappear.  In this photo, I have already sanded the area, filled the burn hole and put on two thin layers of a pale yellow base paint.

The top of this cabinet has some hand painted flowering vines in each of the 4 corners.  The left hand corner was damaged from cleaning with a solvent and from the cigarette burn repair.

I thought I would just trace one of the other corners that was in tact, flip the tracing paper over and transfer into the opposite corner.

This is the corner I traced.  But, then I decided the design was so simple, that it would just be easier for me to flip my traced corner vine over and copy it vs. doing a tracing.

That seemed to work well for me.

I added a few more dark blue tones and highlights, then sealed with a matte sealer.

Living Room Project Continues

 Now I have added the final details to the flower groupings... a little darker blue and some green stems.  There is too much furniture all pushed together in the middle of this small room to get a good, full room shot at this point.  I will try to get some finished room shots on my last day, when I can put some of the furniture back.

While I am here, I am also going to repair two pieces of furniture that have been damaged.  This first piece, a bench, had been chewed by a dog the homeowner used to have.  I sanded the chewed corner and then filled in with some wood filler and have left it to dry for now.

This cupboard was a piece the homeowner bought quite a few years ago.  I don't know where she got it, but it is all hand painted and quite pretty.  Unfortunately, her late husband was a smoker and left his cigarette on the top one day. :-(

Someone took some type of cleaning solution to the top and took off some of the finish, so now it has the burn mark as well as the finish wiped offed in this one corner.

So far, I have just sanded the burn mark and filled it in.  More later.  I have a small garden mural to do in the galley kitchen here and then I will be done.

Furniture Fun

I haven't done a piece of furniture in a while now and had forgotten how much I really do enjoy doing the occasional piece for a client.  My studio is really too small to do a lot of furniture, so I limit the amount and size of the pieces.

I picked up this coffee table and 2 large end tables from my client.  I forgot to take the "Before" shot of the coffee table, so you see it all finished here.  When I deliver the end tables I will get some better shots.  The rug in the photo, will be replaced, so the colors of the table did not need to co-exist with this red rug. 

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The middle panel... the marble, is real.  It drops into a recessed frame.  I have a soft limestone glaze on most of the piece, which is not showing up in the photo.  The 2 panels on either side of the marble are done with Royal Designs Scroll All Over stencil, as well as the raised panels on the sides of the table.  I outlined these 2 panels with a very tiny scroll border from Laser Excel Stencils.

I currently have the two end tables in my studio.  Here is the "Before" shot.  I primed them both out with Stix.  This is a great, oil based primer that sticks to slick or glossy surfaces.  I lightly sanded the furniture before applying.

I now have both tables sanded and primed.  These two tables will be in the same room as the coffee table, so I will be using some of the same finishes and stencils, but have decided to bring in a medium toned gray.  Stay tuned.

Tomorrow I start a new job.  I will be doing some stenciling in a living room and a small garden mural in a galley kitchen, plus repairing some damaged painted furniture, so I'll just be visiting these end tables for quick coats of the base color before or after work for the remainder of the week.

Spring Fever

With Spring bulbs peeking through the ground and longer, warmer days, I'm in high gear with a few Spring projects around my own house.

My family and friends always ask me how I manage to get so many house projects done.  It's not that I'm so thrilled to paint my own trim or touch up walls, etc., but since I am usually already in paint clothes it does make it a little easier!  On days when I am working in my studio, which is in my basement, it is even easier to tackle a small project while I am waiting for a layer or two to dry on a sample I might be making.

I started out thinking that I would just paint the inside of this recessed shelving, my favorite color in the Benjamen Moore Aura line, AF-430, wasabi green.  When I removed everything from the shelves, I realized a little caulking and patching was going to have to happen first.  So out came the Ready Patch,
the  joint
compound and caulking gun.

Well, now that I had all that out, I thought I might as well do the wainscoting too, at least on this one wall.

Then I decided to include this one door too. :-)

This is as far as I got.  This is an old kitchen, so I had to do a lot of caulking!  Most of this will just need a fresh coat of Linen White, like I said, the interior of the shelves will get some color and I decided to do the entire door in chalkboard paint.  I always hang my calendar on this door so instead I am going to paint a giant, blank one month template in white and then just fill in with chalk each month.  That way, I can make the squares BIG and have plenty of room to write in each square.  You know, how those little calendar squares are just never big enough?!  More progress on this front tomorrow.

The studio project I am working on is this set of four cabinet doors that belong to a client's built in wall unit.  I'll do the doors here and return to the client's home next week to complete the project.

Armoire Completed

Well, for those of you in this business... you know what a pain in the butt Thanksgiving through Christmas can be.  Lots of juggling with the schedule to fit everyone in on time or to fill time slots from clients who end up postponing their work until after the start of the new year.  That said, I'm busy working on 2 ceilings in one of my favorite homes.  I'll post more about that tomorrow.  Right now I need to bring you up to date with the last house I was working in.  After finishing the Family Room I had an Armoire to paint for them, so did that last week.  You will recognize my Family Room walls in the background of some of the pictures.

Here's the "Before" picture. The Armoire was painted once, a long time ago, by someone else.  This is the color it was when they bought it several years ago.  It had been sitting in their garage until recently.  The walls in the background are also the "Before" picture.
See how bland...dull and boring everything is in it's neutral state.

Ah... a much warmer, inviting look for both walls and armoire, don't you think?  This is the best "After" picture I have right now of this room because it is still awaiting Marc's magic touch with some new window treatments, furniture and accessories.  But... back to the armoire.  A flat screen tv sill go in the top portion, so little of that interior will be visible.  And of course... the drop cloth will be gone! ;-)

Here is the door detail.  The inserts of the door panels, the 2 bottom drawers, and the side panels are all done with plaster.  Once dry, the plaster is glazed with an umber to look like leather.  The stencil design is raised from troweling the plaster through the stencil and then glazing.  The entire piece is waxed.  This stencil design is one of Melanie Royals, but I do not have the info about it on hand at the moment.  I will try to insert a link later.

The drawer, without knob, also has a raised design.  This was a free stencil inserted in a trade magazine.  The stencil is by LaserExcel.

The side panels are done with the faux leather finish, but with the addition of some bronzed lines to form a diamond pattern.

The top of the armoire also has 3 raised designs, one center and one on each side.  Again...free stencils from LaserExcel. Over the years I have amassed quite the collection of their free stencils that are found in trade magazines.  Their small size works well on furniture or fabric.

Chalkboard Bureau turned Buffet

I know I already posted some pics of that bureau I rescued from my own yardsale, but I thought you might want to see some updated pics showing how fun and functional this piece is turning out to be!  I am still debating whether or not I want to add some colorful casters to the legs.  I do have the original casters that came w/this bureau and I am thinking I may paint them a bright green to match the green used on my walls and on that other bureau I stenciled. 

Here is the side and part of the front.  I only polyurethaned the top, so I can use it as a server, since it is in my dining room.  Remember... all the paint is black chalkboard paint.
Also, I decided to put the glass drawer pulls that I had on before, back on, rather than buy new ones.  I'm trying to recycle what I already own vs. buying more "things".  You can clearly see in this pic, where I have no bottom drawer.  This broke a long time ago, so I just kept the bottom of that drawer and made it a shelf.  I am looking for a long wine rack to insert on that shelf to store wine bottles w/o rolling around.

Here's the front.  Two small drawers, side by side on the first row, then 1 long drawer below, then the shelf.

Here's one of the sides... all decked out for Halloween!

Yardsale Rejects

About a month ago, I had a yard sale. Two of my bureaus did not sell.  Not one bite.  One, was missing the bottom drawer, but I had been using it, right up to the day of the sale, in my own bedroom.  I had long since removed the broken drawer and replaced it with a shelf that held 2 lined baskets for items.  I thought it looked fine and it was certainly still functional.  Well, it turns out, not only did no one want to buy it for a meager $25 in my yard sale, but it was also rejected by all the local non-profits that take in used furniture!  The other bureau was in good shape, but since it that was so rejected at the yard sale, I decided I would keep it and do a little makeover with both this bureau and the Missing Drawer Bureau.  I needed some furniture for my dining room makeover, and I was determined to make these two pieces work!

I painted The Missing Drawer Bureau with black chalkboard paint.  I only polyurethaned the top, since I will use this as a server in my dining room.  The shelf that replaces the drawer was painted with the same orange that I used on the border of the floor in this room.  I will lay wine bottles on this shelf and hope I find a wine rack at some point that fits in this space.  I do already have a chalkboard in my dining room, but I just can't seem to get enough of this chalkboard paint!  I did see this idea somewhere, in some magazine, I believe....  Oh, I am in search of some fun drawer pulls. I want something bright with lime green and/or orange...the 2 colors that I've used in the dining room.  Please send me any leads! I think I will write on the front of the drawers, with white chalk, what I end up putting inside the drawers.  The sides are also chalkboard paint, so I can draw some seasonal pics!  If you look closely, you will see I added a small, horizontal stripe to each front leg, to tie in with the green stripe on the the wall, the lamp and the floor.  Oh, and that lamp, which I love!, was dirt cheap at IKEA.  Looks cool at night, for ambiance! What is that flower???? I bought it 2 weeks ago and it is still going strong!  It seems to be in the cactus family.  It came w/no identification.

Here's another view. Remember, this room is still a work in progress... need to hang artwork, etc.!

This turned out to be my most favorite piece of furniture, to date!  I simply gave it all a coat of Ben Moore's Linen White and then did this All Over Stencil Design in the same green that I have as an accent color in the dining room.   The stencils is an All Over Scroll by Royal Design Studios.  I love this look.  This will now be the bar area in my dining room. With the 2 bureaus, one as a bar and one as a server, I have a ton of storage inside both.  Very handy since my small apartment has little storage!

Here's a closer look. And to think, I almost let this go for $25, in it's unfinished state.  Now I totally love it and it fills a need in my dining room! Who knew???

                                                                                                               

Yesterday I went fabric shopping, because this room also will need some window treatments.  I'm thinking of making some drapes in this black and white fabric, but I will still need to find another fabric with some color in it to bring some interest to this side of the room.  I want to bring in the orange and green too.  I don't have time right now to run around trying to find more fabric, so this project will have to be on hold for a bit.

Here's the double window that needs some help.  These windows are very old and drafty, and since I can't afford to replace them until next year, I want a nice, heavy fabric to keep some of my heat in!  I may add some color to those Roman shades or else replace w/a black bamboo shade.  The view out these windows is my driveway and neighbors house...not pretty.  That is my other chalkboard on the wall in the background.  These Phillip Starck chairs I bought a while ago on Ebay! They will be extra seating, eventually, and live in my office/guest bedroom.  I want green leather chairs, I think, at the table.  I need to hit the Lottery first!  I was all set to buy my chairs, until my hot water heater broke a few weeks ago, and my electric baseboard heat in my kitchen came on and would not shut off.  Both of those repairs wiped out my "dining room chair fund". :-(

A little Fall flower arrangement!

Last, but not least...here's my Happy Pumpkin I made to bring out to my Mom when I visit her next weekend. This idea is in the current issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine.  My Mom is an avid quilter and sewer, so I thought this would be fun for her. It's hard to see in this pic, but the noise is a silver thimble.  I love Fall!!!