Painter Girl

Basement Stairwell Makeover

I realize this is far from the most glamorous makeover I've ever posted, but it is a huge improvement for my basement stairwell, the gateway to my studio, aka The Dungeon. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit, but I had never touched this stairwell in the 20+ years I have lived here, safe to sweep the stairs occasionally. I thought I had taken at least one "before" pic, but now cannot locate, so you will just have to take my word for it, that it was truly dark and dingy.

I had a zero budget for this project, so started by mixing a few left over paints together to make a peachy/light orange color.  The walls and slanted ceiling are in very bad condition, so I did the best I could with the prep work and joint compound.  I applied 2 coats of this paint to walls and ceiling.  I had all of these hooks and storage units already, so just cleaned them up and rehung in new locations.  

 

As you can see, only the top portion of the walls are actual walls to paint.  The bottom half is stone block from our foundation on the right, and some miscellaneous wood slats on the left.  I decided to keep this rustic look and not try to glamorize in any way. The ceiling is stenciled with my new favorite stencil from Royal Design Studio, the Large Endless Moorish Circles.  I used this previously for my dining room Roman Shades and am currently stenciling some drapes for my living room with it.  

 

Here's a closer look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did find one "before" pic, of my sad door.  I had a cat door here before, and since I no longer have cats and have no intention of acquiring any soon, I decided to remove and board up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting it all Linen White definitely helped to lighten things up in this dark space!

 

 

 

 

 

I've had this Two Bad Ants poster in my basement for years.  My daughter has always been petrified of ants, so her Uncle Chris gave her this book and poster as a child to try to ease her fear a bit.  She is STILL petrified of ants and did not want this poster in her own home, so I decided to hang it here.

 

It's a very clever book and the illustrations are great!

 

 

 

 

Lastly, I painted the stairs with some left over floor paint and added the numbers for a little interest.

I should have done this years ago, because it is so much cheerier going up and down these stairs now to my studio and to do laundry!

 

 

 

Trees

My love of trees is no secret. 

I have birch trees on the walls in my livingroom.

 

Recently had two jobs, back to back, where I stenciled some trees.  I used two stencils that were new to me, which I had been eager to try.

 

First up, is this beautiful Topiary Tree stencil by Olive Leaf Stencils, done in soft shades of blues over a yellow/gold background.  These trees are stenciled on all walls in this dining room. I love this tree.  You will be seeing it in my own home, shortly!  I'm sure I have a wall somewhere that needs this tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up, is a fun tree from Cutting Edge Stencils, their Large Tree with Birds.

I did this for my daughter's long time friend, Tanya and her husband, Shant, who are expecting their first baby very soon.  Once the baby is born, I will return and add her name in between the two trees.  The crib will be placed in the center.

The Contortionist

This back splash I recently stenciled, using the Hourglass Allover design from Cutting Edge Stencils, proved to be quite the challenge!  The stencil itself, is a breeze, but the logistics of getting this large stencil into this very small space, was another thing!  It would have been a bit easier had I decided to cut the stencil, but you KNOW how I feel about cutting my stencils!  It's truly a last resort for me, and this is a young stencil in my fleet of stencils, with many more jobs in its future, so no way was I cutting it!



I started out with the easiest part of the back splash, behind the stove, where there was the most wall space.  I used a metallic bronze/gold paint, which does not always show up as metallic in these photos.

 

 

 

 

Ok, now we are getting to the tricky part!  This is a very small, galley kitchen and this corner was very hard to reach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only way I could really reach it was to sit on the edge of the counter and put my feet in the sink.

 

 

 

 

Then, I had to bend my head and contort my neck  and try and stick my hand with stencil brush out at some odd angle to reach the wall and be able to stencil.  It was only about two feet of painful stenciling, but it took me forever to do it.

 

 

 

Once I was out of that corner, I was home free!  You can see all the blue tape I used on this stencil, vs. spray adhesive.  The spray adhesive probably would have been the way to go here, but my nozzle was defective on the can I had with me, and I just did not want to have to go out and get another can, now that I was already here.

The tape ended up working just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

I had only previously used this stencil in a hallway, but I really like it as a back splash!  I do always feel this stencil needs some embellishment, so I add a dot and put a gem in the center where the pattern connects and there is just a blank space. See close up below.

 

 

Right here.  There is just a blank space here on the stencil, so I use a foam applicator that makes these nice little circles, and then apply a gem.

 

 

 

 

 

This small galley kitchen is open to the living room, so this really dressed it up and gave the kitchen some interest!

 

Back to Basics

I recently had a blast from the past, when I able to add  a little something special to a small dressing room and awkward master bath, with two tried and true stencils I've had in my arsenal of stencils for years.  It just goes to show you, a good design, is a good design!

 

 

 

In the dressing room I used Melanie's grape ivy vine, which can't be beat for it's versatility.  This stencil lets you combine four separate vine stencils any way you wish. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the poor quality of pictures in this post, but the lighting was very bad in both rooms.

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I used one of my all time favorite flower stencils, from the Mad Stencilist, the Trumpet Flower.  This is also a very versatile stencil, with 3 large, separate flowers to arrange as needed.  These multi-overlay stencils have gone the way of the dinosaur for the moment, but I love when I am able to sneak one or two in on occasion.  It's so fun to watch the design develop in front of your eyes as you add each overlay.

 

Stenciled Bathroom Shade

I have this window in my bathroom that has always been a problem.  It's just a poor design where the window is framed in wood.... in the shower.  Who thought was a good idea?  I've always had an outside mounted window shade in this window, but the wood still gets wet, and eventually the paint cracks and peels right down to the raw wood.  I have come up with an idea that seems to be a good solution.   I added a piece of wood to the top of the window frame extending out about 2" on each side of the frame.

 

I painted it to match the frame, which blends in with the tile.  So far, so good.  The frame and the sill no longer seem to be getting wet.   Of course, then I could not just leave this plain, boring shade as is, so I decided to stencil it.

 

I used a stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils, called Birds on a Branch.  This project probably took all of 15 minutes since I used a small foam roller and only one color of paint.  Once dry, I sprayed the design with a clear, acrylic sealer to waterproof.

 

 

 

When the shade is up, light comes in through the frosted window, and some of the branch design is still visible on the shade.

Next, I'll show you my completed bathroom make over, Phase 1.

 

Window Weekend

Over the weekend I tackled my window treatments as part of my continuing bathroom and dining room makeover projects.  For the dining room, I started with two off-white roman shades I purchased online, from J.C. Penney.  The quality is surprisingly good for the money. 

I purchased this stencil, Endless Moorish Circles, just before Christmas when Melanie was having her fabulous 50% sale, highlighting a different stencil each day.  I bought it in two sizes, the large and small and am sure this design is going to be seeing a lot of use!

Originally, I thought I'd put this design on my bathroom window shade, but once my dining room started to come together, I decided this pattern really belonged in this room.

 

 

 

I put a drop cloth over my dining room table and went to work.  Because the fabric is a bit slippery and there are rods inserted in the folds of the shade, it was a bit tricky to tape it down.  I probably should have used spray adhesive but a)the only can I have left in my studio is defective and b) I hate gucking up a brand new stencil with glue, so I opted to tape and just be careful.

I found it best to use a stencil brush vs. a small foam roller for this project.

For paint, I used the left over wall paint from this room, mixed with a little textile medium.  I'm not sure I even needed the textile medium, because I'm not ever going to be throwing these shades in the wash. I think they would just be spot cleaned, should something happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here they are, finished and hung.  This project took about 1 1/2 hrs to do, then about 20 minutes to hang.  Quick and easy!  Of course, I made one mistake when ordering the blinds... you have the option which side you want the cord to be on, left or right.  I thought I ordered one of each, but instead ordered two "rights".  I did not notice this until after they were both stenciled and I began to hang them.  I can live with this error. I also read that the "proper" length for Roman Shades, when all the way down, should be just hitting the sill.  The length is not custom on these blinds, so I would have to shorten, if I want that look.  Again, I decided I could live with this longer length.  The plus side is, the longer length keeps out some of the drafts in this colder weather.

 

 

Here's another view.

The valance is detachable, secured with velcro, which was great to remove and stencil flat on the table.  I used the smaller version of this same pattern here, to mix it up a bit.

Unfortunately, when the shades are up, I have only this lovely dumpster to view until our construction is complete... which should be very soon!  Even without the lovely dumpster, my view is dismal from this room, just looking out at the driveway and the neighbors house.  I am thinking of frosting the bottom windows.  I did buy a can of spray frost some time ago and will experiment on some sample pieces of glass to see what that looks like.

I also stenciled a shade in my bathroom, which I will show you in my next post.  For all you DIYer's, these are inexpensive and quick ways to customize your windows.

Ties and Scarves for Silent Auction

It is that time of year again, when local artists are invited to work their magic on plain, black and white silk ties for the annual Washington Gateway Main Street benefit.   Last week,  Marc Bordet and Stephen Spinelli of Bordet Interiors gathered at my house to work on our donations.  Here are the results:

Marc chose the Bellissimo Dotz stencil for his scarf.

 

 

Click on the images for a closer look, because these pics are not doing this scarf justice. :-(  Marc randomly added different colored Swarovski crystals to the circles for some extra bling.

 

Stephen used a variety of small stencils from Laser Excel for his tie, also judiciously applying crystals.

For my scarf, I used Royal Design's Morrocan Scallop stencil, with the crystals. 

Here's a closer look.

 

 

 

 

 

We had an extra tie, so I decided to make a tie to coordinate with the scarf.

I'll take some pics of all the ties and scarves created when we attend the benefit on November 7th.

 

A Chance to Win Furniture Stencils!

Hop on over to the Stencil Search blog today:
http://www.stencilsearch.com/stencil-designers/furniture-stenciling/ for your chance to win not 1, not 2, but 3 fabulous sets of furniture stencils from Victoria Larsen.  Julie Kefta,  creator of my website, has posted this wonderful deal on her blog and all you have to do leave a comment on her site.  Now, god knows I can rarely get you to leave a comment here on my blog, but maybe the enticement of some free stencils will get you to put your fingers to the keys. ;-)  Good luck! (oh, and let me know if you DO win)!

Photos from the Stencilsearch blog:

 

 

 

 

Sample Making

I decided to create a few new sample boards to show off these fabulous stencil designs:

Grey base with pearlescent plaster troweled through stencil.

 

Stencil:  Large Acanthus Trellis Wall from Royal Design Studio

 

Snowflake White Lusterstone base with Silk Metallic Metal Glow stenciled through pattern.

Stencil:  Large Acanthus Trellis Wall from Royal Design Studio

 

Linen White base with Golden's Iridescent Stainless Steel (coarse) stenciled through pattern.

 

Stencil:  Zagora Allover Stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils

 

 

 

 

Base is a custom mix of two Ben Moore metallics.  Stencil done with white paint.

 

Stencil:  hmm... I know I ordered this quite some time ago from Kathy Carroll, although cannot find on her site at the moment.

Cape Kitchen

Finally able to get back to writing a few posts!  My Physics class officially ended on Friday, so now I just have to wait and see how I did.  It was definitately a challenge, so not so sure I'll be holding onto that straight A average. :-( 

In the meantime, I had a little trip to the Cape to work on a kitchen project.  Although the kitchen itself was large, there was not a lot of wall space to really work with.  My clients wanted to go with more of a seaside living feel, since this is their second home.

Here's the "before" shot.  The base color on the walls and ceiling is Linen White. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the Fishscale stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils, stenciling with a peach toned metallic.  (The columns were done several years ago by someone else).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did the fishscale pattern all around the kitchen and in the breakfast area.

 

 

 

 

Work in progress!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hardest part was above the refridgerator.  If only my arms were 6" longer, it would have been a breeze!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because there was so little wall space, and what there was, was broken up with doors, windows, cabinets... I decided it would be a good idea to put something on the ceiling.  Now this ceiling stretches into the family room, so I concentrated on something just above the island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More work in progress!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the finished project.  The rope border is a tried and true border I have been using for years from Royal Design Studios.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's another angle, where the Swarovski crystals show up better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and here is a close up of the carp.

 

 

 

 

All and all, it was a fun job, the client loved it, it was pouring rain 2 of the 3 days I was staying on the Cape, and my neck was killing me by Day 3.