How to get perfect painted stripes.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I am crazy over stripes. Any time a client is at a loss for what to do, I always throw 'stripe it' out there. It's quick, it's classy, it's my "go to" way to bring a room together.
This week I made a little discovery about getting perfectly perfect stripes. I was doing a horizontal stripe project in a 3 year old boy's room. I had several rolls of Frog Tape for delicate surfaces (the yellow NOT the green), and 1 roll of 3M Delicate Surfaces Painter's Tape (blue, with an orange middle).
Let me back up and tell you first about the base coat. Lately I have been using a lot of Sherwin Williams' Durations paint, in the Matte finish, and this project was no different. The Matte finish dries relatively quickly, and I feel like roller marks and brush strokes are kept to a minimum.

With my basecoat only hours old, I was able to tape right on it and my tape stuck. Both tapes we sticking just fine with minimal burnishing.
Since I was applying 4 different colors, in 4 different sizes, I taped all of the largest sized stripe. I lightly brushed over the edges of the tape, with whatever color would be adjacent to this stripe.
Why would I do that? So that anything that did bleed under the tape, would be the color of the stripe adjacent to it...making any bleed unders invisible. I hope that makes sense.
Once my 'seal down' coat was dry, I rolled on the paint with a 6 or 3" whizz roller. I continued this process with each of the 4 colors. (Typically 1 of your colors will be your bascoat color)

When I pulled my tape down the next day, I was so happy to find that I had no visible bleed unders. I also didn't have any areas where my basecoat pulled up. I have never had that experience with any other paint besides Durations Matte. I have to say I prefer the Frog Tape, only because it gave me completely crisp and perfect lines in the corners of the room and at the ceiling line. So high five Frog Tape! I did not have to eat into my profits at all with any kind of touch ups whatsoever.

Happy Scrappy

I've been seeing a lot of this 'covering walls with reclaimed wood scraps' going on lately.
It's a great way to keep some junk out of the landfills, and turn said junk into a great looking feature wall. I love heavy texture, and this is a relatively easy way to get some crazy-heavy texture on the walls. The biggest trick is finding enough of the wood to cover the wall you hope to cover. Pallets are a great source of wood, but you could also find reclaimed painted panelling, old flooring, barn wood... vintage yardsticks even ( although you would need a bajillion of them!)




Once you have found an abundance of material, the wood will need to have the nails or staples removed, rough edges sanded and I would also suggest sealing all surfaces of the wood with a matte sealer,such as Aquaseal or Dead Flat Varnish ( both by Faux Effects International) .


If you can't find the chippy and peeled off painted look that you want, create your own! You could use crackle mediums, wax or Vaseline to create a resist, and good old fashioned sanding for a look like this. When I am asked to create an authentic layered/peeled paint look, I frequently trowel on thin layers of venetian plaster over a basecoat of the same color as the plaster. Once the plaster is dry, I sand the entire thing, heavily in some areas to reveal the underlying wood. After wiping off the dust, I glaze the whole piece with a thin brown glaze for an authenticly aged look.



This project could be duplicated using staircase spindles, chair backs and other miscellaneous wooden parts, attached within a grid work. Gingerbread house parts can be easily found at most lumber yards. Once applied, the entire work is sprayed white, or any one color for that matter.


This project appears to have been completed with a few different sources of wood.






Not sure if this is actually reclaimed wood, it's very uniform and clean looking. I love the layout and linear appeal.





Here, plywood panels stained in 3 different shades were randomly applied to the walls. Plywood comes in a variety of thicknesses, even rolls of veneer thin sheeting is available.


Your project is largely dependent on the source of wood you find. There is sure to be a measure of serendipity to a project like this, here it looks as though the walls were covered with the backs and insides of large furniture pieces!

For a more modern take, varying sized bits of MDF were applied to this wall, and then sprayed glossy white. I LOOOOOVE this one! When painting an entire wall of applied wood a single color, don't forget to caulk any 'cracks' prior to painting.
This idea inspires me to buddy up to a carpenter and score some sweet scraps!

Emerald

Remember this? Kiera Knightly perfection in the movie Atonement....I'm inspired not only by her freakishly flat tummy, but by this particular shade of green: Emerald.
It's going to be big in fashion this fall, the Middleton sisters are HUGE fans of emerald.




I love a splash of leopard with my emerald, thank you very much! (people.com)




I'm also noticing this trend of mismatched colors, which I think is really nifty. I keep trying to convince a client I'm working with right now that her blue lamp does not have to be the same exact blue as her drapes....she's not buying it. But mismatchey-ness creates some tension that I quite like, do you agree? (glitterguide.com)




Speaking of blue....I am all over the cool end of the rainbow spectrum anymore. I imagine this photo is photoshopped all to pieces, but it's a photo of the Northern Lights, via National Geographic. I want to live in this exact spot, forever. Sigh.


How to work it:




Keep it simple, with white and God's other favorite color-brown. (porterhousedesign.com)
I love that they extended the wall color onto the ceiling. Without all that white, and the ceiling mounted canopty it might be too heavy, but this works!


Just add a pop, and pair it with blue for a summery fresh feel. (blog.hgtv.com)



Stripe it with other shades of green. There's that toothpaste green again! (I recently painted the shutters on my house toothpaste green. I'm nothing, if not committed!) (designsponge.com)

Chinoise' it up! Emerald green is a perfect alternative for predictable red or royal blue, and looks great up against black lacquer... (Lonny Magazine/ Miles Redd)

...or zebra or any other black and white graphic print (bijouandboheme.blogspot.com)

Carrie Underwood, Queen of all things wonderful

all sparkley at the CMA's!

I must admit. Carrie Underwood and I have veeeeery little in common. I've got no pipes, no mile long legs and no luxurious blonde hair. (Let's talk about that hair and where can I get some?) I love love love this girl.

What's not to love? She has got talent oozing from every pore, she seems genuinely nice and humble, she sings about Jesus and glitter is her favorite color. Her only flaw, from what I can see, is that from time to time, she dresses like Mama Judd helped her pick it out, but ever since she fell in love with that cutie she's been dressing a whole lot better! She's taking risks and not doing the 'country' thing all the time. I love some of the sophisticated, bold and modern choices she's been making lately.

at the Grammy's with cute hubby.

performing on American Idol (after she was already insanely famous) .

You want to have crazy legs like Miss Carrie? ( I am currently on the 'crazy legs' workout plan cause I got myself some of those white dress shorts shown above and I've got a hot date with Mike in the big city this weekend).

Here's what you do:

get a set of AT LEAST 1o lb. dumbbells.

Grasp one in each hand and commence with AT LEAST 50 front lunges.

Now do back lunges. (You hate me yet?)

Now that your legs are all good and jello-y....put said dumbbells on your shoulders and do AT LEAST 50 squats.

Set your dumbbells aside and pick up an AT LEAST 15 lb. kettle bell and assume a wide plie position, holding the kettle bell straight down in front and do AT LEAST 50 plies.

Do that every other day, alternating with running or walking on off days.

Soon, you will have crazy legs, as in crazy good. On your big night out, use a self tanner topped with a glitter lotion. You can thank me later!!!! :)

(common sense warning...I am not a doctor so if there's any doubt as to your health and fitness, consult one first)

Time.....is there ever enough?

It's summertime and I am busier than ever!!! (What recession?) Lately I feel like there just isn't enough time, my kids are growing up before my eyes , I'm not getting any younger either, and I am bothered by all the things left undone.

I must look at my cellphone clock 100 times a day, pacing myself, making sure I still have enough time. I'd much rather have a lovely wristwatch like this one! Might just have to find one for my life outside of painting.



There's a lot to love about this room: the funky vintage cabinet AND the huge clock. Although I think I would be CONSTANTLY reminded that I'm running late.





I guess clocks with hands are 'vintage' now. I much prefer them to digital clocks simply relying on the microwave . I really like this entry foyer, it seems an odd place for a massive clock, but it works.
I think the chandalier looks a little too dainty but the rest of the space is uber cool.





I'm pretty sure this is a wall sticker (horrors!) but I would love to see this painted somewhere. I like the cheekiness of it, in contrast with the serious and fancy fireplace surround.








I found this project at Martha Stewart's website...if you want to make your own gigantic wall clock.

Quick trip to Anthropologie--new book!

Last night I took my oldest daughter to the St. Louis airport and while I was at it, I figured *heck* I might as well duck into Anthropologie to see the new walls. Luckily for me, the didn't have a lot of black and white, which is my STRICTEST rule for purchasing anything for my own home. It's not that I only have black and white in my home, it's just that anything new coming in, must not introduce any new colors at all. Anyho....

While I was there, I saw this dress. Ohmygosh! That would be so perfect to wear to Arts in Central Park ( if I the jury likes me and I am awarded a booth), but at $188.00 I couldn't justify it's purchase on this particular day.



It's a WE Love Vera! ...no wonder I like it.

I also finally got my hands on the book DECORATE by Holly Becker, founder of Decor8.
It's a scrumptious book,which I have not gotten to READ yet, but the weekend's comin'!

Amy's Awesome Anthropologie Abode

Sorry I've been away awhile but I can't wait to show you what I've been working on.
It shall be called "Amy's Awesome Anthropologie Abode...." but Amy has requested I not photograph it until it's all put back together. Humph, Amy. Ye know not how impatient I am. Well here's the inspiration anyway:

Laila bedding from Anthropologie. It's way cooler in person. There's a limey green diamond print in the back ground and the whole thing looks very Ethnic/Art Deco.

Tomorrow I start the stenciling behind the bed. I will be using the harlequin trellis stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils, in black on a gray wall.
I have already painted the walls Sherwin Williams Mega Greige and the tray ceiling SW Freshwater and the crown mould is SW Tricorn Black. ( I really can't wait to show ya'll!)

Here's the stencil pattern that will look so amazing in black!


My second oldest daughter is graduating from 8th grade on Friday ( in a dress my parents would have NEVER allowed) and we are having 30 (plus or minus) 8th graders over to the house, which for some reason has had me working on two paintings for the dining room for the last few nights. I inspired myself with THESE paintings for the aforementioned Amy. These are in her library and remain unnamed. One of my friends suggested "Cluster Pucks" which cracks me right up. Anyway, I am making a version for myself in hot pink, aqua, red, yellow, white, lime and black.
Just a reminder, I am now teaching my Abstract art techniques, click here for info.



Last week, I treated Amy's library to the Sherwin Williams Quartzstone finish in the Cardboard colorway, with a glitter glaze applied over the whole thing. ( Glitter is not showing in the photo, but I use Lowe's Granite Glitter additive in gold and silver, 1 packet each, mixed in with a gallon of glaze. Apply by rubbing on vertically with a big car washing sponge.) One thing about the Quartzstone finish....I have yet to have one match the color swatch, just so you know, don't leave the store without having them tweak it! We had to add a ton of Maroon tint to get ours to be the right color.



The week before that, I created this wall finish in her dining room. I will be sharing this recipe with my followers when I get a moment- Become a follower and get free recipes too!

I'm having fun in Amy's house, Amy is awesome!