Painter Girl

Projects in the Works

I've had too many projects going at once to find the energy to sit down and write a post lately.  I do enjoy this blog and have missed posting and reading your comments, so I am going to try to get back on track here.

This is what I'm up to at the moment.  I spent about 3 weeks redoing my back hall.  I thought I took some before pictures, but cannot find them now.  Anyway, you will have to take my word for it, but my back hall/mudroom was just sad, sad, sad.  I had done a crackle finish on the woodwork years ago, and to add to that ugliness, the walls were in bad shape and naturally cracked!  I had stuck down some vinyl tiles on the floor.

Now since this is MY main entrance (friends and guests typically use my front door), and I know it is very bad Feng Shui to have an uninviting entrance to your home, I had to give it a little makeover.  Like most, I am on a shoestring budget this year, which meant I would have to utilize a lot of what I already had to work a little magic.

I used a Texture for my base on the walls first.  This helped to disguise the poor condition of these sad walls.  I then rolled on one coat of Ben Moore's Aura in this great green shade, Agave.  All woodwork was painted with the Aura's Silhouette.  I think you will be able to see the texture of the walls in another photo.

Storage is key for me in this small mudroom.  I painted this once blah white cabinet with another Aura color called Buttered Yam and changed out the knobs for wooden ones which I stained a dark brown.

 

For more storage, I purchased these 2 plastic containers made by Itso, on sale at Target last week. 

 

I also bought this Itso storage configuration at Target.  The base unit comes flat packed in a box and assembles in seconds without any tools at all.  It is very sturdy and you can add on additional components such as doors and bins,  or stack more units.  The canvas bin on the top of this unit is large enough to hold 2 pair of skates and a bike helmet.

The floor posed my biggest challenge.  After ripping up the vinyl tiles, scraping and sanding off the glue, I gave it a coat of primer, followed by a grey floor and porch paint.  I was painting on the plywood sub-floor.  The grey door is steel and was poorly installed by Home Depot years ago.  When the door opens, there is only about a 1/4" clearance between the bottom of the door and the floor.  This makes it impossible to put down a real rug, or even floor tiles.  So, my solution was to try out using a yoga mat.  It's very thin, sticks nicely to the painted floor and now these yoga mats come in some great colors with designs printed on them.  The door opens easily over the mat and the mat is very wipe-able when my wet/muddy boots and shoes enter from the outside elements.  I'll just have to see how it holds up over time, but the mat was only $15.

I've been experimenting with glass etching, so continued my experimentation with my window panes.  To achieve this look, I stuck round dots (from a stationery store) onto the window pane and applied some EtchAll.  After 15 minutes, the EtchAll is wiped off and viola... an etched pane!  Of course, I ran out of the EtchAll because I was using up the end of a jar, so have to put in an order for more to finish this project.  I am going to etch ever other pane like this and may do the reverse of this design on the remaining panes.  Will post when done.

 

The wall space is very limited, and I have just this small strip of wall to be able to add a graphic design.  I am thinking of painting something tall, like a thin, bare tree w/o leaves as a silhouette, using the same color as the woodwork.

There was this odd little space to the right of this cabinet, due to a gas pipe that runs from floor to ceiling.  This turned out to be the perfect home for my hockey sticks!

 

I will add a few hooks to the horizontal woodwork here and need to put my key holder back up on the wall below the switch plate/outlet.  It seemed like it took forever to complete (well almost complete) this project, but that was because I've been working on 2 bathrooms and a restaurant job at the same time.  I will be posting those jobs shortly.

More Office Organizing

In my constant battle to find places to put all of my "things" in this small room, I decided to hang my large Faux Marquetry floor samples on the wall.  I patched all the holes that were left when I took down some pictures and touched up the spots with the base paint.  Next, I went to Home Depot and bought two pieces of corner molding, cut to the size I needed.  I used some Stain and Seal I had in my studio to stain the wood and then nailed the pieces to the wall to use as long, shelving.  Now my samples are not lying around getting damaged and act as art work on my walls.  Modello's were used for all of the sample designs shown here.  You can read more about these samples in a previous post here.

Another project I finally got around to completing is this door.  The door was a great score a few months ago, that someone had put out in the trash on their sidewalk in my neighborhood.  I had been looking for a door that had these panels, so I could use some for chalkboards and others for bulletin boards.  This was a very quick and easy project that cost me nothing but my labor.  The door was free and the homeowner even helped me put it into my car.  I had an opened roll of adhesive backed cork in my studio that is so old I don't even remember why I bought it in the first place. (Because it was soooo old, I had to spray the back with some spray adhesive to get it to stick.)  The cork was cut to fit 2 of the panels and applied.  I painted the remaining three panels with some chalk board paint I also had in my studio.  I had a magnetic strip tacked on my wall before, so I decided to add this to the door.  Now I have 3 different functions all on this one door: bulletin board, magnetic strip and chalkboard.  As you can see, it did not take me long to fill it right up!

 

A Little Stencil Project for My House

I've had these two, very plain muslin Roman Shades for a few years and have always been meaning to add a stencils design to them.  Over the weekend I finally got around to that project.  This is a quick, inexpensive way to breathe a little life into some tired window treatments.  You could easily do this to plain, cotton window panels or shades.

The stencil I used is from Royal Design Studios, Sophisticated Borders, Flower Chain.

For paint, I used some left over Ben Moore Aura.

In less than an hour, I had some new shades to hang up.

My Kitchen Project Round Up

At the end of last week, as you may recall,  I was preparing a few surfaces in my kitchen for a quick makeover.

(Before, above)

I added a little splash of color to the inside of this recessed shelving and just gave all the woodwork a fresh coat of Linen White to brighten it all up.

This boring door needed a little something, so I turned it into one giant chalk board.  I painted a "blank month", using a white paint pen, so now I can just fill in the calendar each month, as needed.

I love the dramatic look of the black door against the Linen White woodwork and find this large calendar format much more useful than those small squares found on most calendars. 

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.

A Little More Progress on the Home Front

It's been a hectic/busy week, so I've had little time to attend to my Kitchen Project.  I did manage to get my flower design stenciled on.  I am using, once again, Helen Morris's fun Sticky Weed stencil.  You may recall I recently did this in a Powder Rm for a client, plus I already have it in my own home office/guest bedroom.  This time I am taking a little different approach in its' use.  I rolled on one layer of Lusterstone Weathered Bronzed, and troweled on another layer.  This is just going to serve as the background color.

Next, I will be using this assortment of stencils, in some way to add designs to my flowers in metallics.  I was going to use some foils too, but just remembered I lent my big bottle of sizing to another decorative painter, earlier this week and do not want to have to buy more.

I am off to do the coloring portion of the Granicrete Floor job shortly.  Will report back on that later.

Two New Projects

I have two projects that I will be chronicling here this week.  Once is my own project in my kitchen which I will call Adieu Asparagus.  The other is my first attempt at installing a Granicrete floor system with Stacy over at a client's condo.

I decided that it was time to say goodbye to my Giant Asparagus in my kitchen.  I've had it for a few years and I just need a little change.  I'm not even a big fan of asparagus, but this space is tall and narrow, so the shape was right.

I started by troweling on 3 layers of Portofino plaster, mixed with Bella Fresco Gold.  I put 2 layers on Sunday and 1 when I came home from work on Monday.  This is some left over plaster from the Beacon Hill ceiling I did a few months ago. It has a little "shimmer" to it.  Next, I will add a stenciled frame. 

Now for the client project of the week, the Granicrete floor.  I experimented with this cement based system in the class I took in Atlantic City with Nancy Jones.  Stacy, has taken some extensive classes in NH and is a certified Granicrete applicator, so I am just along for the ride on this one, playing assistant. 

The first step was to seal the plywood.  There was wall to wall carpet in this room, that has been pulled up.  The sealer is like a thick paint and is applied in a thin layer with a trowel.

This layer dries fairly quickly.  Next we laid down this plastic mesh covering.  It gets stapled to the sub-floor.  That's as far as we got for today since we both had to leave early for other appointments.  More tomorrow.

My Bathroom Project in Progress - Part 2

I first saw this great fabric, Garden Party,  on J. Caroline's blog several months ago and instantly fell in love with it.  When I decided to redo my bathroom, I immediately thought of a use for this fabric and ordered a few yards and some jumbo rickrack from J. Caroline to make my shower curtain.  I have just enough of everything left to make a valance, which I hope to get to soon.

Btw, I love J. Caroline's blog, as well as all of the fabric lines Janet carries.  She

writes with a great sense of humor and is just very down to earth, as well as one very talented lady when it comes to turning trash into treasures with a little paint and/or fabric! I check in on her often and love to see what new fabrics and trim she has added to her on line store.  I also discovered another great blog through the J. Caroline blog, called "How About Orange".  This is Jessica Jones' blog, who is another very talented lady!  Jessica, a graphic designer, has some of her fabric and ribbon designs featured on J. Caroline's blog.  Jessica posts many great links on her site, as well as some fun projects.  Now if I could only find a few spare minutes to actually make those projects!

Of course, I could not leave my walls completely naked, so I added just a small grouping of these fun flowers that I thought coordinated well with the flowers on the shower curtain.  This stencil is one I am re-using from the class I took with Helen Morris of the Stencil Library.  It is a simple one overlay, so it took me a whole 5 minutes to do this!

More about this makeover later....

Yay...it's June!

Last week just got away from me in terms of trying to find some quality time to blog, so I will try to be better this week.


Today I happily spent most of the day outside in my yard, weeding and getting some plants in.  This is the side of my garage that faces my backyard.  Usually I put a window box on that shelf, but this year opted to put my birdhouse collection here.  Last year we had a new lawn put in and the constant watering from the sprinkler really took a toll on the paint. I think this will have to be repainted at some point soon.


This Dogwood tree is in the front yard.  I should have taken a picture of it earlier when it was in bloom!  To the right is a beautiful Wisteria, which was also in bloom when the Dogwood was.  The Dogwood does not bloom again, but the Wisteria does continue to bloom off and on throughout the  Summer.  I separated some of the variegated Hostas and put  more behind the tree to fill in.  There used to be a post and beam fence there, but it was removed last year, so now I need to fill in the bare spots.

I've had this front yard going for about 15 years now.  Almost everything comes up on it's own each year, but I do fill in with a few plants.  This year I added some basil, tomatoes, a curry plant, Gerberea Daisies, and a few Nasturtiums.  A few weeks ago, my brother, who owns this two family home with me, and lives upstairs, called a landscape service to fertilize our back lawn and mulch the beds back there.  They came when no one was home and ripped up all of my soaker hoses that I had running throughout this front garden and a side bed!  They then mulched everything in sight!  I was livid when I came home from work to find my soaker hoses in a heap in the driveway and all my beds mulched before I could even get my plants in!  I still could not bring myself to reconnect the hoses and snake them all around today.  I know it will take me several house to do. :-(  I'll give it a try next weekend.  I just wanted to get all my plants in today.  When I was watering everything with the garden hose, a neighbor who I have given several of my plants to, came by and asked me what happened to my soaker hose system.  When I told her my sad story, she offered to come and help me  re-install it!  I love my neighborhood.  ;-) Also, see that unpainted basement window frame?  I have 6 of them to paint.  (That's on next weekend's list too!) 

Last Summer my brother had to have his dog, Jake, put to sleep.  He was a great dog, a miniature Schnauzer, who was 14 years old.  This little stone has his name on it, and there is a picture of him in the frame.  While Jake is not actually buried  here, my brother wanted a small memorial to him on our property. I overheard 2 young boys talking, who were looking at the stone and picture the other day.  One was telling the other that the dog died and the owner buried it right here in their yard! 

Trying Out a New Stencil

Recently I placed an order with Helen and Rachel over at the Stencil Library for some stencils for upcoming jobs.  I had to include a few treats for myself with this order and one of them was a stencil called "Sticky Weed".  I first saw this design featured on their blog and knew I had to have it!

It's a big stencil, one overlay.  I have been waiting for just the right design to put over this daybed in my office.  There was so much static electricity in my house today that I did not even have to use a spray adhesive to attach the stencil to the wall.  I barely needed this tape!  I just used it for a little extra security.  This stencil was from Helen and Rachel's "Special Offers" and was discounted because it had a broken bridge, which was easily repaired with tape.

This was a very quick and easy.  I just used a small foam roller to stencil the design and it was done in no time.  I love these instant gratification projects!  Now I think I am going to stencil a saying over the fireplace in this room and I'll be done.