Painter Girl

My Mom's Quilts

I thought I had mentioned on this blog, at least once, about my mother's beautiful quilts.  Now I cannot seem to find a post to link to.  Some day I will figure out how to really use the features on this blog!  Until then, I will share with you my Mom's most recent quilt:

 

 

 

 

Here is a closer look at her details.  She sews the pieces together on her sewing machine, but does all the quilting by hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at how perfect her stitching is?! Did I mention my Mom is 88?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are two more quilts she did a few years ago, which are also hanging in her living room.

 

 

 

 

 

The details.  The background is a solid black, but I enhanced the photo so the stitching would show up, which altered the black a bit.

 

 

 

 

The close up of this one came out terrible, so I just have the full view.

When I was home visiting her last weekend, she showed me a new wall hanging she is making for her front door. It's about half the size of this last one and is a "welcome" quilt.  I'll take pics of her progress when I am there again in a few weeks.  I hope I can still remember what a needle is used for, let alone produce a quilt, when I am her age!

Thinking About the Master Bedroom

While my clients are off vacationing, I have a few weeks to think about what I want to do with this room.  The Master Bedroom is a fairly good size, but there is only one wall that is not broken up with windows and doors.  There is also a fair amount of furniture in this room. 

I have already decided that the full wall, which is the headboard wall, will be the accent wall.  I will carry in this Celedon Green Foil background, from the adjacent Master Bath, on that wall, but am still searching for ideas for the pattern and the remaining three walls.

 

 

 

Here are the rug and fabric samples.  There is a lot of rug.  It's wall to wall.  The fabric will be on four window valences and some pillows on the bed. 

 

A close up of the fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More of the fabric.

I also have a large, folding screen to play with, which should be a lot of fun!  What's throwing me is the fact that all of the furniture in the room is French Provincial, but my client does not want to go in that direction.  I am thinking the panels of the bureaus may need some of the same foil treatment. 

Well, I'll let you know what I come up with...

The Milton House Foyer/Upstairs Hall Job

I am well underway with this job and hope to have it completed in a few days, but will start from the beginning to show you the transformation.

Here is the "Before" picture, taken from the top of the stairs on the second floor.  This floral wallpaper was everywhere, right down to the foyer.

When I was pulling together design and finish options for this area, I had in mind that it would flow with the adjacent back hall I had just completed.

 

The carpet was staying, so I had to work the small floral, diamond pattern in with whatever I came up with.

The ceilings are low, 7'5", so I felt I needed a design that would give this space some visual height and not close it it, as the wallpaper did.

I had come across this wallpaper pattern online somewhere, and I'm sorry to say, I don't know where.  I liked the way the flowers were in vertical rows.  I saw Melanie Royal of Royal Design Studio was posting some new pics on Facebook of her latest stencil designs, so I sent her this pic and asked if she had anything in an over scale, vertical floral design coming out.  Well, lo and behold...Melanie to the rescue!  Ask and it shall be yours! 

This new stencil is one the Hearst Castle designs Melanie has been working on.

It is called Phoebe's Tulip and comes in two different sizes. This photo is from the Royal Design Stencil website. 

I showed it to my client and she said "no flowers". :-(   Well... when I looked at the Tulips and then at her wallpaper, I could see her point.  But, there are floral patterns everywhere in this house, so I new she loved flowers, but just wanted a change from the all over repeat pattern she now had with the wallpaper. 

I was determined to make Phoebe's Tulip work! 

To be continued...

 

 

 

 

Sandra Kiss-London

I was saddened to learn over the weekend of the recent passing of Sandra Kiss-London.  I had the pleasure to meet Sandra quite a few years ago, when she and her husband Mark London were just starting to market their Faux Like A Pro line of decorative painting products.  Their studio was/is located in Allston, a short drive  from my house.  I would go to the studio for a few hours every week, to work on samples that would be used in displays in stores that would be carrying the Faux Like A Pro line.  In return for my services, I received samples for my own portfolio to show my clients, so it was a win/win situation. Sandra was my first introduction to the world of plasters and I can tell you, she was way ahead of the game, even back in 1997.

Sandra was a dynamic young woman, who had endless energy and a passion for creating new and exciting finishes.  She had a thriving decorative painting business prior to opening the Faux Like A Pro studio.  Sandra taught classes at the studio and in later years designed a certificate program for decorative finishers.  Her work is well known, having appeared on several television shows such as NECN's New England Dream Home, The Style Network and Comcast's American Builder.  Sandra's esquisite work has also been featured in several publications, including a cover for Design Times Magazine. 

At 43, this talented young woman lost her courageous battle to breast cancer on July 31, 2010.

 

Note:  I was later informed that Sandra had bone cancer, not breast cancer.

Don't Miss this Week's Web Chat with Helen Moris

That zanny and talented redhead, Helen Moris, will be inspiring all of us this Thursday, December 10th, with some fabulous wall ideas.  The Web Chat will be held 1 PM (WET) which translates to 8 AM (EST) here in the states.  There is a handy time calculator here to convert this time for your time zone.  House to Home will be hosting this Web Chat.  For more details, click here.  Helen, who took this great photograph of you, so I may credit??? I will be in my car driving to my job site at 8 AM so will not be able to participate but will check in to see how it all went! 

Getting a Little Inspiration

Over the Fourth of July weekend, while visiting with family in the Berkshires, I also visited the Clark Museum and Mass MoCa.  The Clark is located in Williamstown, MA and is small but wonderful museum housing an impressive collection of  French Impressionist works as well as European and American paintings.  I was there to view the current exhibit, Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence.  This is quite an impressive display of works by both Georgia O'Keeffe and Arthur Dove.  O'Keeffe was greatly influenced by Dove's work and they maintained a lifelong respect and friendship.  I was not familiar with Arthur Dove, but found several inspiring ideas for wall finishes in his work.   This exhibit runs through September 7th.

Next, I headed over to my favorite museum, Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA.  This is a huge museum devoted to contemporary art and always a lot of fun to visit.  Since I am out in this area often to visit my mother, I am a frequent visitor here as well.  The museum is quickly expanding and I found myself getting lost as connectors led me from one enormous building to the next. 

While I loved every exhibit here, the one that really spoke to me was Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective.   This link will give you a wealth of information about the exhibit, Sol LeWitt, and the process of creating this installation.  Here are a few photos I took while there.  I think you can see why I could easily relate to this exhibit!

The shear size of these painted walls and the enormous size of the rooms in this converted mill complex make quite an impression.  There is also a great little cafe, Lickity Splits located just beyond a fantastic museum store on the ground level.  It's also my sole source for internet access while out visiting my Mom

Master Bath Screw Head Ceiling

For the remainder of last week, I was back on Beacon Hill working on the ceiling in this long, narrow Master Bath.  While I wish I could take credit for this awesome design concept and technique, all credit goes directly to the Queen of Creativity, Melanie Royals.  This finish, which Melanie calls "Loose Screws" is part of her Boho Modern Workshop series.

This was a finish I have been dying to do since I first saw it last summer at both the Sali Convention and Faux Event Convention.  I knew instantly that this would be the design to adapt for this Master Bath used solely by the man of the house.  It has a great masculine feel and gives this odd shaped ceiling a lot of character.  This curved, overhang part of the ceiling is at one far end of the bathroom, over the toilet.

This view is from the far end of the room, under the curved ceiling, looking toward the opposite end of the room, into the shower area.  The screws are repeated as a border on the remainder of the ceiling, with a metallic green glaze in the center.

Another view, into the shower stall.  And here you can see the curved, overhung ceiling again.

The color palette was inspired by this great sink and granite.  This was a very fun finish to do!

Get Out And Vote Today!

 

Let's hope we have something to celebrate about tonight! :-)

Talk About Inspiration!

While I'm on my "inspiration kick", I thought I'd share with you a glimpse of this project I have had the pleasure to be a part of.  About a month ago, I did something I often do when I want to target a new neighborhood for potential business.  On a sunny afternoon, I walked door to door and left my over-sized postcard in their door. (note to anyone who wants to try this form of marketing... it is illegal to leave such materials in a mailbox, so place it elsewhere). 
 

Here is the front side of my postcard.

And here is the back side.  I can use it as a mailer, or when dropping off in person, at homes, I can write something in the blank space... such as "Get your home ready for the Holidays!" I get all of my postcards and business cards from Vista Print, on line.

I always enjoy this little activity, because you I get to leisurely stroll around some very nice neighborhoods.  Sometimes I get no results, but other times I do get one or two clients out of this.  It really only takes one new client to make this more than worthwhile.

Anyway, on this particular day, as soon as I returned home... I got a phone call!  This lovely woman called to tell me she was just looking for someone like me to help her with this "Van Gogh Bedroom" she was recreating in her home.  She has been working on this room, engaging several different artisans to help her with the elements in this room, for the past 3 years.  I am only going to post 2 pictures, because I know she wants to have this room photographed and submitted to our local media soon and I don't want to spoil that.  When this room is unveiled for all to see, I will post more about this.

This is the painting  of  Van Gogh's bedroom that the room is based on.

One of my projects was to paint this table.  (some else previously painted the walls).
I did do some additional work in this room, but will post at a later date.

I think this bed that was commissioned by a furniture maker in Maine, is the best part of the room!

More to come when the room is complete and unveiled!

I am off to visit a friend in New Jersey for the weekend.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  And of course... Go Red Sox! ;-)

Meet Kari & Kijsa

This is just one of the reasons why I am enjoying blogging so much.  A short time ago I discovered a blog written by two sisters, Kari & Kijsa.  If you go to their blog and look at this entry on Tuesday, October 9th, you will see a gorgeous nursery that was painted by Kijsa.  Well, as soon as I saw this picture of this room I had to email Kijsa to tell her how this room inspired me to paint a nursery for one of my clients several years ago.  You see, I saw this very room featured in a magazine several years ago, and immediately ripped it out and put it in my reference notebook for Fabulous Children Room Ideas.  Shortly after that,  I had a client call who wanted a nursery done, and I showed them this tear sheet and drew up a sketch for their nursery, using Kijsa's nursery as my inspiration.  I never knew who created that room.  I think that info was not on the sheets I tore from the magazine.  :-( Anyway, I sent Kijsa a note with this story and a pic of the room she inspired me to paint.  See Kijsa and Kara's response, which is listed in my blog under We're Going To The World Series.  It is no secret that I often say, "Sometimes I don't feel like I have a creative bone in my body!"  I can execute the job alright, but I have a very hard time coming up with the concept most times and rely heavily on inspiration from other sources. 

I loved the way Kijsa had "frame" her work, so I used that concept.  This was a very, very small nursery, with little wall space.  The "frame" is done with Melanie Royals
leaf stencil.  The birds, frogs, and rabbit are from Lynn Brehm's line of stencils (I added the clothes on the rabbit and the crown and hat on the frogs). 

Here's a little closer look. I believe the crib bedding had a frog theme w/frogs wearing crowns and pointy hats.