Painter Girl

When Lightning Strikes

I received a call from one of my clients last week, asking me if I could come and do some stenciling in her kitchen and two baths.  Now, I had just finished stenciling her kitchen and one bath late in 2008, so I thought it was odd that she would want it redone so soon.   Turns out... her house was struck by lightning in April.   She explained to me that the utility pole, at the end of her driveway, was struck and the lightning traveled through the wires that connect to her house.  You can see the shattered pole in the photo to the left. A fire started inside of the walls, causing extensive damage.  Her family had to move out for three months while the walls were taken down to the studs to replace all of the wiring.  Now the house is back to normal, with a kitchen upgrade, but other than that, it looks exactly the same as when I was last there!  They were very lucky that someone was home, just as this happened and could call for help immediately.

Here is the "Before" picture.  I will be doing a stencil design on the soffit.

 

Since the homeowners liked what I had done, less than a year ago, we are sticking with the same basic design, only changing out the flowers to coordinate with the new window treatments.  

I started out by doing this classic Palazzo Scroll design from Royal Design Studios, in two shades of gold.  Next, I am adding this Peony grouping to every other scroll.  I had to reach in the "way back" section of my stencil collection for this one by DeeSigns,(which I could no longer find a website for) but it really went perfectly with this fabric.   Years ago, I had done this sample on mylar, so I used it as my guide for placement, which is why you see the blue tape pieces.  The colors will be deeper, to match the fabric. 

I did manage to get all the flower groupings done, but still need to go back in and add some hand painting with high and low lights.  I will show that tomorrow, along with one of the bathrooms I will  do.

Starting the Girls Bedrooms

Yay!  This job is finally underway and I think it is going to be a lot of fun.  I will be painting in 3 sisters bedrooms and also extending a mural in a bathroom that I did a few years ago in this house.  The girls are all very excited and were very involved in the planning.  There are actually four sisters in this house, but the youngest will have her room done next Spring, for her 6th birthday.  She is very excited about me being at the house and keeps checking on me throughout the day.  I think I'm going to have to paint just a little something in her room before I leave so she will not feel left out.  She wants a horse mural when it is her turn, but she also likes dogs a lot.

I have done a lot of work in this home during the past 6 years.  Today I just ran around and quickly snapped a few photos of the upstairs where I am working.

I think I did this last year or maybe 2 years ago.  I still love it.  Very bold.  It's a large room.  The other walls are painted a deep eggplant color and one is painted a deep orange, the colors you see in the concentric circles.  This stencil can be order from the Stencil Library.

I did this soft limestone finish on the walls in part of this hallway and in the two story foyer which you start to see on the far right.  I came back about a year or so later and did the stripes in the remainder of the hallway.  They are done using the same limestone finish for one stripe and alternating with a Lusterstone stripe.

The first room I am working in, is the Jungle Room.  This room belongs to an 8 year old girl.  The pink walls will be changed to orange and the ceiling will be blue with clouds.  I worked on the ceiling today.  This is the "Before Picture".

The Jungle will be in this corner, extending on the left wall about 2 1/2 feet and then over onto the right wall for about 5 feet.  It will fade out on either side, into the orange walls.  It is supposed to rain Saturday (what else is new here in the Boston area?!), so I am planning on working at least an half day to get the Jungle going.

This is my new favorite beverage of choice!  I've never been a lover of soda or carbonated drinks, but this is lightly carbonated and just tastes great!  It was my reward today after I completed 2 coats of blue on this ceiling. :-)

Well if you hang in there with me for the next few posts of boring prep work, you will soon start to see some real fun happening on these walls and ceilings!

Slipping In A Quick Job

Over the weekend I returned to one of the Learning Zone Child Care Centers to do just a few embellishments on the walls.
This building is the location of the first Learning Zone, so the owner is gradually repainting, replacing carpeting, etc. and giving the place a little face lift. Keeping with the same themes as the new buildings, I did another picket fence, just adapting it slightly for the space.

I love doing these numbers.  Very fun!  I did not, however, like how dark the purple turned out over this blue wall.  I will ask Melissa what she thinks and probably change out that color to a nicer purple next time I am in there to do more work.

I did one room with assorted shapes on all walls.  Again, this is something that goes very quickly and packs a big bank for the buck! :-)

This week I will be back working on the Laundry Room and Back Hall/Mudroom that I started at the end of last week.  I feel like I'm coming down with a cold. :-(

Wall Unit Finished, Laundry Room Started

Yesterday was a busy day for me, running around in two different directions.  I spent the morning finishing up with the Wall Unit Project.

The doors all went on quite easily, much to my surprise!  Sometimes you can spend hours trying to line up doors.

Here's a closer look at the finish.  I edged the inside frame of each door and drawer with silver.

The closet doors were given a fresh coat of paint and the panels were done in the same way.

I will return to this home in a few weeks for one more project in this same room.

In the afternoon, I headed west of Boston to another long time client.  I started my prep work in the new Laundry Room.  I was able to roll on the first coat of a very pale yellow Portofino plaster.  Today I will return to trowel the next layer and begin some prep work in the adjacent hallway/mudroom.

The Wall Unit: On Site Work

Last week I was in my studio working on the doors for this week's Wall Unit Project.  I originally did a finish on this very same Wall Unit a good 10 years ago!  I was amazed to see just how well it held up, but now it is time for an updated look.  When you see some of the photos from the on site work, take note of the finish on the walls, which is also at least 10 years old.  I'm trying to get the client to let me do a new finish on these walls, but she still loves it and is reluctant to cover it all up.  I may be able to convince her to do an accent wall to keep us both happy!

I found the copy (very faded!) of the blue print given to me when these shelves were being built 10 years ago.

 This is the old finish that I am going over.

And here is the selected finish on a sample board.  It's a very simple rolled on Lusterstone.

The far right side of the Wall Unit has this shelf unit.  I have it primed out and base coated now. 

It's difficult to maneuver around this room, but this shot shows almost all of the Wall unit, except for the shelves seen above.  The four doors that I still have in my studio, cover the open areas that have drawers.  The middle unit has no doors.  It is all primed and partially base coated at this point.  I'm using a Ben Moore Aura color.  I'm using the Aura for two reasons: 1) it dries very quickly and 2) I will only need to do one coat before I apply the Lusterstone.

I will also be doing the same finish on the raised panel portions of these closet doors. 

Here is one of the finished doors. I've added a little silver detailing around the inside edge of the recessed panel.  I will work on this more today and hope to finish up on Wednesday.  In the meantime, I will try to come up with something for the accent wall and a floorcloth idea for the kitchen. :-)

Learning Zone #5: Day 1

Ok, here we go again.  Back by popular demand after the carpet fiasco, I am adorning the walls here at the latest Learning Zone Day Care Center.  This one is the largest Center of them all.  It's still under construction, but all the walls in the areas I need to paint have been readied for me.  The painters are still here touching up, doing trim, and painting a few other rooms and hallways.

This room will have just this one wall on whimsical flowers along the baseboard (to be applied). It's the infant room, so the babies can crawl up to the flowers. :-)

I didn't do this wall in the last Center, but did do it in one of the others.  I only had a few hours here today, so I did the easiest rooms.  I finished the office area, using the circles, some plain, some with words.  Also, I was able to start the tree branches hanging down from the top of the wall, in another room.  I'll take better photos when I am there today. 
Since I will be doing all of the same designs once again, some for the 5th time, I think this should go quite fast.  My goal is to see how quickly I can knock off each room, adding a little twist to each design to keep it interesting for me.

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!

More Samples

When I was working on the samples the other day, trying to match my original finish, I also brought along with me, some new samples for the Laundry Room and Mudroom.  Often, my clients are not home when I am working at their house, so I leave a lot of notes and samples for them to look at when they return.  This system works well for clients I have been working with for several years now.  New clients need a little more hand holding, a little more explanation of how the finishes will work and look, etc.  With Repeat Clients, the trust has been established so there is a lot more freedom.

I taped up a Silver Moss (Lusterstone) sample for the walls in the Mudroom.  The smaller paint chip is the base color for the painter to prep the walls.

This Iridescent Gold Striae sample is for the 5 doors in the Mudroom area.  It will just be used as an accent, not for the entire door.

The Powder Room, which I just completed, is off of this Mudroom.  The electrical is not hooked up in there yet,  and the mirror and toilet need to be installed.  After I finished stenciling the Fennel, I unplugged my light and had already moved it to another area, so I took this picture in the dark.  I am surprised to see that it is pretty true to color!  The vanity in this room is awesome, so once the lighting is installed and everything else goes in, I'll take some more photos.

Next, I left some samples for the new Laundry Room.  Now, first I must say, I was very sad to learn the old Laundry Room was demolished to expand the new kitchen.  This Laundry Room was one of my favorite jobs I ever did.  Here is one photo from that room.  If you would like to see more click here.

This was all done freehand, no stencils.  The clothing replicated her 2 boys clothing, who were about 9 &  10 at the time.  Now they are both in college, so we are moving onto a new theme!

I left the samples all on the washer and dryer, with my cryptic notes! 

Back to Work

Well, here we are in 2009!  I hope you all had a Happy New Year.  I have caught up on all of my sleep and am ready to pick up the paint brushes again. 

I will be spending part of today back at my client's home where I just completed the Powder Room before New Year's.  I have a few touch ups to do in that room, but will mainly be working on some on-site samples to try to duplicate the finish I did 5 years ago.  As you may recall, I will be carrying this finish into the new kitchen space.  I have some good records of the steps I did for that finish, but I also remember struggling with several layers of that finish, so just want to try to work it all out before I actually start this portion of the work in a few weeks.  I am also presenting some finishes for the new mudroom and laundry room. 

I have been working in this particular house for 11 years now so I thought I'd share some of my past work with you.

This is a bathroom that is located in the basement level of the home.  The homeowner has a dog and cat and this bathroom is often used for grooming the pets.  I did this mural in 2003.  You know, I'm not even sure the dog is still in this home.  I didn't see him when I was there last.  He does rotate between this house and the ex-spouse, so I'm hoping he was just away, but will try to remember to check on that.

Here's a close up of the bandanna.  I did this so long ago, that I cannot remember who's stencils I used.  I believe some of the stencils may no longer be available.  I know the hooks and leash were stencils, but the grooming tool and bandanna were done freehand.  The paisley design on the bandanna is from Royal Design Studio.

I will feature more rooms from this home throughout the next few weeks.

Finishing Up for 2008

I returned to work yesterday, but had no time to post.  Just before Christmas, you may remember my streaky mess in this small Powder Room?
I primed with Kilz, sanded and applied 2 new coats of the blue base on the 2 walls that looked so horrid. 

Happily, I was able to easily convince the homeowner to go with striae stripes, vs. all walls done as a striae.  The result was a much nicer look, lighter look for this tiny room!

With this house complete, I have moved on to a client I have had for a good 10 years now.  The homeowner recently gutted the Kitchen, expanded this area and relocated the Powder and Laundry Rooms that were off of the former kitchen.  There is also a new side entry and nice Mudroom. 

My task, should I accept, and of course I will!... is to match a finish I did about 5 years and continue it into the new kitchen and expanded Breakfast Room.  Work is still being done in the kitchen, so I will start this part of the work late January.  Here you can see a false wall that has been erected while the construction is still in progress.  This wall will come down next week.  You can also see some of the finish I did 5 yrs ago, that I will try to recreate.

On the other side of this false wall is the Family Room, where the finish is still in tact.

Here's a sneak peak into the new kitchen space. 

 In the meantime, the new Powder Room is ready for me, so I am working in there.  I have base coated the walls and will be adding ....drum roll please... the Fennel stencil!  If the Stencil Library ever awards a prize for the most jobs sold with this design, I think I might have a good chance at winning. ;-)  I have used this design on a large commercial project, and 5 residential jobs, including my own bedroom.  It's an easy sell and works great for narrow spaces that are difficult or impossible to place furniture.

I will be posting more about this job later in January.  I'll take the Powder Room pics then, because there is no lighting or fixtures installed in there yet and it is kind of boring looking at the moment.

Over the years, I've done a lot of fun finishes in this house, so I also thought it might be nice to give you all a little tour of the various rooms I have done here.  I will begin posting those when I return on January 5th.  Have a Happy New Year!