Painter Girl

My Ipod Seems To Be Controlling My Life!

I recently acquired an Ipod Shuffle.  Now, I am not one for a lot of new high tech products and up until now could only answer "What Ipod?", when asked "What's in your Ipod?" 

Because this is all still quite new to me, it's taking me a bit to get the whole system running smoothly.  First, I had to get the music on the this little thing.  The first few days, I did not have nearly enough music on there to get me through the work day, so I listened to the same series of songs a few more times than I would have liked.  After a few days of this, I added more.  Then... I discovered Podcasts.  So I added some of those.  Of course, adding all this takes some time!  I'd try to do it at night, but you know how that goes.  When you're at work, you have the best of intentions of getting x,y, and z done when you get home.  Then, you get home later than you had hoped, other priorities need to be attended to, and by the time you crawl into bed, you're exhausted with no new music/Podcasts on the damn Ipod for the next day!  When that scenario would happen, I'd try to add a few things in the a.m. before I left for work.  Of course, it took longer than I thought to download and I'd then be late for work.  One day last week, not only was I running very late for work due to this Ipod, when I finally got to work and plugged myself in... my battery was not charged so I could not even listen to anything!

This week I am trying something new and put a lot on this Ipod over the weekend.  Hopefully, there will be sufficient content/context to keep me entertained through Friday!  I really didn't think I would use the Ipod all day while I worked, but since I am on this job alone most of the time, it's been great!  I decided that a few days of a solid mix of music was fun, but I really should be using these hours a little more productively.  I have now subscribed to several NPR podcasts for variety and will add some books and perhaps try to learn Italian over the next few months.  I think I'm going to like this little Ipod once I get a good system down.  I love that it is sooo small.  Only about an inch square.  I clip it onto the side of my bib overalls and run the wires under the bib so they are not hanging down in my paint or catching on my ladder. 

Sali Convention

On Monday,  the on line registration opened up for the annual SALI Convention.  I signed up for 3 classes:  Faux Marquetry with Modellos, taught by Melanie Royals; 21st Century Print Room; and New Stencil Techniques, both taught by Helen Morris.  I'm excited about going to this convention, since the last one I attended was 2 years ago in Chicago.  I'm eager to learn some new techniques and add some new samples to my portfolio.  I'm sad to learn that many, many of my decorative painting pals will not be attending convention this year due to our uncertain economy.   It's scary to hear one after another tell me their business is suffering and they just cannot justify the expense this year.  I can relate, and had to really give this convention experience a lot of thought.  I feel the classes I've signed up for will benefit my business and because the convention is on the east coast this year (Charleston, SC),  travel expenses are less for me.   At all Sali Conventions, several of us always share a room to keep that cost down.  I'm hoping, in the end, enough of my painting pals do go, so we can still keep this as an option.  The convention is not until July, so some are waiting a bit to make the decision.  For more information about the SALI convention visit: http://www.sali.org

While work has been steady for me so far this year, work that I typically get every year from local builders of the McMansions is non-existent.  The bulk of my work is coming from commercial sites and from homeowners who are renovating.  I have not been in a newly constructed house in well over a year, now that I think of it. Often I see a big increase in business once tax refunds start arriving.  With gas prices rising daily,  grocery costs soaring, and every bill we open increasing, it leaves all of us with fewer and fewer dollars for necessities, never mind luxuries like decorative painting. 

Speaking of Floors...

A few weeks ago I painted the floor in the home office of the Big House Job.  I used a floor enamel, oil based in a pale shade of green.   The floor had never been painted before, and was quite old and worn.  After a coat of primer and 2 coats of the green paint, I felt like the floor was not durable enough to withstand too much abuse so I opted to apply an oil base polyurethane.  I know that oil polys do yellow over time and warned my client this will happen.  We decided to go ahead in hopes of having a strong finish.  Well, less than 1 week later, the floor had already yellowed terribly!  Because the floor is old and uneven, the yellowing also was uneven and looked like dirty stripes on the floor.  I did some more research and decided the best bet would be to scuff up the poly w/sandpaper and then repaint with a floor and porch enamel. 

My client decided to go with white this time.  I used Benjamin Moore's Floor and Porch Enamel.  Last week I applied the first coat and as soon as I started, I could see this paint was a much better floor paint.  The green floor enamel I had used was made by Pratt & Lambert.  I don't often use Pratt & Lambert paints because they are not readily available in my area, but I have been using a their Designer White for the trim in this house as well as on the ceiling, and have liked the wall and ceiling paint.  I put two coats of the white on and we both decided we like the white in this room much better than the green!  I will take some more pics when the furniture is placed back in here.  So far, all the furniture is white, a table, desk and filing cabinet.  She is thinking of getting a pink desk chair.

Not taking any chances... I taped out the door while it dries!

This is the chalkboard wall I did a few weeks ago in the 2nd floor playroom of this same house.  As you can see, the room is still not put together yet, but you can see how much fun this wall will be for the 3 yr old twin boys!  I added the alphabet in chalk at the top, so it can be erased and changed to something else later on.  The bottom 2/3rds of the wall is also magnetic.

Porches

This past weekend I gave my tired old front porch a fresh coat of paint.  The wood is very worn, and has been painted many, many times...both by me and previous owners.  Over the years I have done painted rugs, large diamonds, and various borders on this porch floor.  I have also painted the risers of the front steps, using various stencil designs.  But, because there are so many layers on the floor now and because the wood is old and deteriorating, the paint does not survive after the Winter.  This year I must replace my back porch floor, which is in even worse condition.  So, I decided to just sand the front porch floor and stairs and give them a coat of grey porch paint, to get one more year out of it.   However... if your floors are in decent shape, I strongly urge you to do a little experimenting.  I searched through my digital pictures and could not find any of my own porch.  I only have some actual photos and no scanner, so I am posting some work done by others to give you a little inspiration.

This porch floor is by Norman Warren. 

This image came from this great website, Manage My Home. The link will bring you to a page that has a wealth of information about painting floors.

ArtSparx is another great site with a lot of information about painting floors.

Look for more ideas and information about painting porch floors in my next e-newsletter, which will be out in early May.    To subscribe, please use the box in the right hand column. ;-)

Model Apartment

Today I am posting some pictures I took of the Model Apartment Marc furnished for the Commercial Job we are presently working on.  This is a one bedroom unit in one of the 3 buildings I mentioned in yesterday's post.  I was not involved in the Model unit, but loved the way the apartment turned out and thought you might be interested in seeing it.
All work done by Marc Bordet, Bordet Interiors.

 

 

Meeting Update

I am sorry I have been absent from this site for a week!  Except for the Monday meeting, I was over working at the Big House Job and then coming home to basically collapse.  I was tired all week and by the end of the week had a sore throat and cold-like symptoms.  I think it is allergies, but not sure.  I've been lying low for this 3 day weekend.

Last Monday, Marc and I had a meeting with our commercial client and had a chance to look around again at the job site.  I had not seen this site since last August. These commercial projects can move at a snails pace!  This job consists of 4 buildings: 3 apartment buildings and 1 clubhouse.  Marc furnished and decorated a model unit in one the apartment buildings, which I will post tomorrow.   I will be using 3 stencils, all from the Stencil Library for this job.  In the 3 apartment buildings I will stencil the ceiling in the entryways and a small recessed wall space that faces the elevator as you get off on each floor.  In the clubhouse I will do some work in the Lounge area, a long hallway, and 2 bathrooms.  The apartment buildings will be ready first.  The Clubhouse will probably not be ready until the end of May or some time in June, since there is some major construction happening in that building first.

This is the Lounge in the Clubhouse.  That's the former bar leaning against the wall.  The wall with the light is coming down so you will be able to see into the galley kitchen.  A new counter will be built.  The carpeting will be replaced with tile.  I was going to do some stenciling in that soffit area, but Marc is unsure now what he wants to have happen in that space.

This fireplace is also in the Lounge.  It will be resurfaced and I am going to do a metallic plaster finish here.  I have to do a little research on the finish and come up with some sample boards.

Ok, I am trying to learn a new program, PhotoStudio, so please excuse my very primitive attempt here!  Hopefully, I will get the hang of this program soon and produce something a little more polished looking. :-)

This is an arched ceiling in the entryway of the Clubhouse.  The ceiling will be painted and the Aliuim design stenciled on both sides of the arch, above the recessed rope lighting.  We are still working out the colors for walls and stencils.

The Fennel design will run the entire length of the hall, on both sides and in 2 smaller hallways that run off of that.  I have both the Alium and the Fennel in various sizes, so I can alternate height and placement.  This ugly wallpaper is coming down and the walls will be painted.  Colors to be determined.

There are also 2 bathrooms off this hallway that will have the Alium design stenciled on the walls.  The contractors were in there pulling out the toilets and vanities, so I did not think they would appreciate me snapping away!

In the 3 Apartment Buildings I will be doing the ceiling in each of the Entryways using another one of the Stencil Library's designs, a Rattan pattern.  I had it made in a very large size.

Then, when you get off of the elevator on each of the 4 floors, there is a recessed arched niche.  In this niche I will use a combination of the the smaller fennel and alium designs.  I'll have to take some pictures of those areas when I return.

Meeting Day

This morning I am off w/Marc for a meeting with our clients about an upcoming commercial project.  This is the job where I will be using two of the Stencil Library's giant stencils, Fennel and Alium:

   

I don't think the walls will be ready for me until the end of April or early May, but should have a better idea of the time frame after today's meeting.   Marc is the designer on this apartment complex project which includes a clubhouse building and 3 lobbies of the apartment buildings.  I had the 2 designs done in a few different sizes.  They will be very large and used in different ways throughout the buildings.  I will take some "before" pictures of the site today.

Office Days

I am having a little break with on site painting work for a few days, so am trying to be productive.  Now that Spring is here,  the sun is finally out, it's hard to chain myself to my desk, but I do have a few things that need to be done.

•   My taxes are out of the way and the checks are written :-(

•    I just finished working on some Christmas card designs to submit to the Jimmy Fund.  More on this later.

•   I am doing a little design work for my friend Marc Bordet of Bordet Interiors.  He needed a few ads done and I don't like his current business card, so offered to redesign that for him.  As a result of taking on these projects, it prompted me to clean up my computer and also fool around with a couple new programs.

•  Filing.  Does it ever end?

•  Marketing.  I'm putting together a pitch for some area closet organizing businesses.  I think this might be a good niche market and I have some fun ideas for further     customizing walk in closets and dressing rooms.

•  Tonight I will attend the monthly dinner meeting for New England Business Women Owners, and will report more on that tomorrow.

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. 

My Birch Trees

I was very restless and not feeling too sociable this weekend, so I decided to spend a little time tackling my Birch Tree Project.  A few weeks ago, I had drawn the outline of the trees on the wall and did a sample board.  Originally, I was going to use a plaster to give the trees a little dimension.  After thinking about how often I like to change my walls in my house, I decided to go with paint instead of plaster and just have the illusion of dimension, no actual texture on my walls.  I have 2 windows on this wall, so I did this series of 4 trees at the left end of the wall....

and this series of 3 trees at the right end of the wall.  (That ugly radiator will be a future project!)

I love my trees!  When I came into the room the next morning, the sun was shining on them and it looked so nice as I walked into the room. Birch trees have always been my favorite trees. :-)

Since I was only doing a few trees for myself, this was a quick project, maybe 2 hrs total.  But... should I do an entire wall of trees, or decide to use some texture or a different technique... I will be looking to those clever gals over at the Stencil Library.  Keep a watch on their blog for a new tree design they will be introducing shortly!