Kristen F. Davis Designs

How To Spraypaint

2012-01-31T02:09:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to do a few "how-to" posts here, because I get more and more emails asking how to do this or that. One I've gotten recently, is how to spraypaint well. There are lots of pointers that I think can be helpful, and I also made a short (only slightly helpful) video.

That's me...spraypainting. It's earth-shattering stuff, folks.

Nah, it's just that I thought the video of how I do it might help. I think one of the main problems people have with spraypaint, is that they hold the can too close to the subject. The key is that you want to stay at least a foot or so away. It's hard, because you want to get close, to get better and faster coverage, but really, staying back a bit keeps drips from happening. It also gives you lighter, thinner coats, which, in turn, adhere better in the end, and keep from giving a cloudy appearance to your finish.

Another technique you'll notice, is that I sort of shake the can as I spray, I don't just hold it straight to the subject. I never really noticed that I did that, until I started watching this video. The reason I do it, though, is so that build-up doesn't occur on my painting subject, thus resulting in drips.

Something else I try to do when spraypainting, is to think of my arm as a machine. hah. I think about how a machine that sprays paint onto something would spray it: evenly and staying at the same distance away from the subject - weird, but I think it works!

Anyway, hopefully some of these techniques help, and if you guys have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section, and I will answer them there!

PS how do you guys feel about me doing some tutorials where I'm talking into the camera? If you like the idea, what would be helpful to know about? What are some good subjects?

Dining Chair Makeover!

2012-01-30T02:40:00.000-08:00

I painted these fun dining chairs this week...I love the new orangey shade!

I did a light distressing on them, too.

This photo is probably a better representation of the color:

I sprayed them, rather than brushed them, and I loved the smooth finish!

Kitchen Rug

2012-01-26T02:21:00.000-08:00

I bought a rug off of esalerugs.com on Monday night, and it arrived on my doorstep yesterday (Wednesday). Wow! Speedy delivery. Besides that, I am also in love with it. See?

I took this with my phone, so the quality is poor...and it was also night-time, but I just had to show you guys. Here is another shot that I took to text my friend (in the afternoon):

I love it! My friend had ordered a rug from there and had great results, and I also read on Bryn's blog about her buying one there, so I thought it'd be a great place to go, and it was.

A Few Things...

2012-01-25T02:25:00.000-08:00

Just a few things to share on this Wednesday morning...

first, thanks to my friends Janell and LaKeitha at House of Fifty Magazine for including my living room, alongside one of my blog idols, Jenny from Little Green Notebook. Also, it was written by Kim Myles from HGTV's "Myles of Style"...so cool!

The article is about working with what you have, and are able to create, rather than buying everything as-is. Quite a contrast to a recent Mary McDonald quote that Emily addressed on her blog yesterday (also thanks to Emily for including me!). I love making things and painting items for my home...there is such a sense of satisfaction and pride that comes along with turning "trash to treasure", as they say. I am always so happy and satisfied after I've created something pretty for my house. There is nothing like pulling a room together, when you've had budget restraints, and have to be really creative to get the look you want.

(yes, that's a screenshot from my computer, because I am apparently not tech-savvy enough to figure out how to get a photo of just the page...)

anyway, next up, yesterday, a client sent over her deposit for a future job in stationery that she had made with a drawing I did for her twins' nursery (this one)...it made my day!

here is the framed original, on the shelf:

also...I am currently painting a client's kitchen cabinet doors in my studio...it's a welcomed first in this painter's book

they're all resting on paint cans, so that they don't touch the ground, hah! I have a lot of paint at the studio :)

lastly, I went to Starbucks yesterday, and noticed a few great design elements I loved. This subway tile is exactly what I'm thinking for our kitchen. It's white, even though it looks creamy or gray in this photo. It's beveled, which I love, and I also like the look of a dark gray grout with it:

I also really liked the putty-ish grays that were used on this wall, that was really made more elegant with the wooden trim elements. The light fixtures were pretty, too. Way to go, Starbucks!

that's it for today...enough with my rambling, and happy hump day.

Sofa Table

2012-01-24T02:04:00.000-08:00

I recently completed a new sofa table painting project, and I have to say that I really like the way it came out. It was really fun to paint, too! I'm starting to get the hang of this style of painting, after having painted this piece for the same client:

here is what the sofa table kind of looked like before I got a hold of it (it was your basic wooden piece - very simple):

what we were kind of going for:

and, after:

my favorite part about it is that vine pattern in the middle - I feel like I could make those brushy patterns all day. It's really relaxing and fun to do.

somehow, I don't have a horizontal photo of the top, so these long-ways ones will have to do! Shoot.

It completely changes the feel of this traditional type of furniture, doesn't it?

Pantone's MyColor Spokesperson Announcement!

2012-01-23T02:18:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I'm here today with some super-exciting news. I was chosen to be the spokesperson for MyColor™ inspired by PANTONE® paint line, which is available now in select Lowe's stores! Remember when I blogged about painting the pieces for their brochures? Well, that turned into this, and I couldn't be more excited about it!

The paint is currently available in select Lowe's stores, Lowes.com, and Pantone.com. I will be writing a blog for them, detailing projects and ideas inspired by and using MyColor^TM inspired by PANTONE® paint. I will of course always link to the projects from here, so hopefully you'll see lots more cool DIY stuff from me this year.

The blog will be up soon, but if you want to check out the paint, you can follow the link here. I'll be sure and let you know when the first post goes up! :)

I love lamps.

2012-01-20T02:38:00.000-08:00

There are a few home decor objects that I could really become a professional hoarder with.

chairs,

throw pillows,

lamps.

I can't get enough of any of those things, and I always seem to find more that I just have to add to my collection (which lives in my tiny home). However, even though I found some thrift store lamps that I spray-painted orange and placed on either side of our bed, I always knew that I'd fin some better ones - those were just holding the future lamps' place. Well, yesterday I found those lamps (yay)! They're sort of Chinoserie-style, made maybe in the '50's or '60's, and I really love them.

They're a good bit taller than the lamps we used to have, too, which is great because those were really too low (Jordan was always bumping them, and it was annoying). I can't decide if I'm going to paint them or not. I sort of love the vintage paint job on them, but I'm not sure if I'm in love with the yellow...time will tell.

I do, however, adore the white details on the yellow base. The very bottoms with the little circus-tent shaping is the best!

(these photos were taken last night - sorry for the terrible lighting!)

the whole bedroom - can you tell I like symmetry?

Jordan's side:

mine:

I love them! What do you think -- should I paint them or no?

thinking about it...

2012-01-19T06:42:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about painting the lower halves of my kitchen cabinets a darker gray or putty color...here are a couple of examples of what I'm thinking:

I love the gray of this kitchen island. If we had an island, I'd do that, but since we don't, I was thinking about just the bottoms of our cabinets. What do you guys think? I can't decide if it would drive me nuts or not. Or maybe I should just paint all the cabinets? Hm.

Here is a look similar to what I'm thinking, though this kitchen is a little "airier" than my personal taste:

I love the hardware on those, too!

I saved this image because I thought the charcoal cabinets were so pretty! I could perhaps go for a super-dark color like that, too, but my living room walls are similar, and I'm not sure if that might annoy me.

here is another two-toned kitchen - not necessarily a fan of that green, though. I do love green cabinetry, but I like greens that read as browny-putty-khaki greens, rather than bluey ones.

love this kitchen below! I also need to get with the program and re-tile our backsplash, which I painted white a long time ago. It could be cool to tile our entire back wall to our kitchen, but I doubt that will happen...most likely just the backsplash. Dad, are you reading this? let's do it! :)

Simply Buckhead Magazine Feature!

2012-01-18T02:49:00.000-08:00

Hi! I realize I sort of disappeared for a few days without saying that I would be gone! Sorry for that... We actually went on a little trip, so I was MIA from the blog-world for a bit, and it was a nice break. :)

However, I am back today with exciting news: Some of my work was photographed and published in Atlanta's Simply Buckhead magazine, in a house that I have done some work in!

(my work is bottom right)

and the Chinoserie nursery mural I painted in the top left here:

Here are my photos of the same rooms...

Lyford Cay inspired Breakfast room:

and the Chinoserie nursery:

thanks to Simply Buckhead and Heather at H&H Home! If you are out and about and want to pick up a copy, it's the one with Clark Howard on the front.

Toy Box Makeover!

2012-01-12T06:26:00.000-08:00

Recently, I made over this toy chest. My client had the toy box in her room when she was a little girl, and her mom painted it whimsically for her and her brother. It was obviously a sentimental piece, and she wanted to use it in her baby's nursery, but with a more toned-down painted look.

Here is what it looked like before:

The bedding that my client bought was the Eli's Elephant Nursery Bedding from Pottery Barn.

Very cute! So, here is how I transformed the toy box:

Heather (who helps me out at the studio sometimes) helped me sand and paint the entire piece off-white. That obviously toned the whole thing down, then I went in and did decorative elements. I knew that my client wanted it to be simple, so I kept the whimsicality to a minimum.

Vintage Nesting Table Find!

2012-01-11T02:16:00.000-08:00

hello.... Thanks for all the kind words about my sailboat painting... I appreciate the sweet support!

In my New Year's Post, I vowed to share more happenings about my daily creative ins and outs, so, I thought I'd share these cute nesting tables I found at one of my favorite secret thrift store spots. They were only $25 (for all 3!)

I haven't decided what color I want to paint them (something bright, most likely), so until I make the decision, I set them down in the living room where they'll probably live. Mika, naturally, has taken to sitting on them all hours of the day and night. I found him resting on them not one,

but two times, within the first few hours of bringing them home

cats are weird.

I think he even slept on them last night, replacing my soft, warm, blanketed feet in the bed (his usual night-nesting spot), with a hard table downstairs. What a strange guy he is.

Sailboat Painting

2012-01-10T03:25:00.000-08:00

I recently completed this large sailboat painting. Check it out!

it's really dreamy, watery, and willowy. I'm used to a more graphic and defined style, so this was a little bit of a challenge for me.

I like the reflections of the boats in the water...

I used mainly acrylic paint, with oil and chalk pastels, too. I was trying to figure out to how to seal chalk pastels enough to do my normal glossy sealer on top, and I found that using the ol' tried and true cheap hairspray did the trick! I just did lots of light coats of aerosol hairspray, and it sealed it enough to be able to paint a liquid sealer over the top of it. I was glad that it worked! The situation was making me wish I had one of my college professors to call up and get the answer :)

brushy.

here is a good illustration of the chalk pastels on top of painted parts

I hope you enjoyed!

Wedding Invite Work!

2012-01-06T06:22:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a total break from the norm today, to share something completely different than anything I've done on here before. A few months ago, I was contacted by an old friend to draw her wedding invitations. I know it's in my "bio", but I was a drawing major in college, and drawing/doodling is one of my favorite things to do. I especially love coming up with new fonts. So, needless to say, I was down!

Brittany sent me some moodboards she'd made, and they were all beautiful and really unique. Her wedding was going to be "a desert mod kind of theme", and one of the major inspirations for the invites was Jim Flora cartoons. Brittany is also the lead singer of "The Bridges", which is a very talented (and beautiful) family band based out of Nashville. Needless to say, she's a creative spirit, so I had fun interpreting what she wanted for the invites!

Here are the moodboards:

Here was an example she sent me of fonts that she liked:

My drawing and writing is a lot more organic than blocky fonts, but I still wanted to try and incorporate it.

Here is a Jim Flora cartoon...you can see the moon-shaped drawings that I also incorporated.

and here is what I came up with!

hope you enjoyed! have a great weekend.

Painted Trees

2012-01-05T07:14:00.000-08:00

My first job of the new year was painting in Jordan's sister's little girl's room. She is 4 years old, and just recently moved out of the room that became her baby sister's nursery. This is her "big girl" room, I guess, and I painted 2 trees and some birds, flowers, and butterflies.

Casey has the "Hailey Bedroom" set from Pottery Barn Kids. I painted some trees on the wall that were softer but complementary to the quilt, and also some images directly from the quilt's cute patterns.

Check it out!

There are 2 trees, one on each side of the room.

(the cute owl artwork is from Target)

This is the tree on the other side of the bedroom.

here is what her bedding looks like:

And I painted a little over the bed, too:

I love the polka dotted leaves!

There are butterflies on the other side of the bed - for some weird reason, I forgot to take a picture of them!

Here are the sweet birds that fly beside one of the trees:

And there's also an owl perched on top of her closet door:

You may or may not remember, back in 2010, I painted an entire dresser (for a different client!) based off of this quilt!

here it is:

Fireplace Accent Wall

2012-01-04T06:06:00.000-08:00

Remember a while back when I did this wall? Well, a client found it on Pinterest, and hired me to do another one! I love Pinterest. :)

here is the original one that I did back in October...

And here is one that I completed last week! My clients picked the bright happy colors, and I think it's so much fun for a young couple with a love of color!

this accent wall on a fireplace wall is a great way to add height to the room, and it really adds so much color and personality.

The gray line is actually glitter paint from Home Depot! It adds a fun touch.

it was hard to get a photo of, but you can kind of see the silver glitter in the paint.

Favorite Projects of 2011

2012-01-03T02:15:00.000-08:00

Happy new year! I'm not much of a "New Years Resolution" kind of person... but, a year's end is a great time, for me, to clean out, categorize, and put things into perspective. I thought instead of writing a bunch of resolutions and goals out on my blog, I'd do a "favorite projects of 2011" post. I know that some of you have been reading my blog for a long time, but others have only found it recently, so you might enjoy going back and checking out some old projects. After going through my posts, I have realized I haven't done so many home projects and DIY projects on here lately...everything has been mostly client-projects (Which is good, because I am happy to be busy with work!), and I'd like to go back and start showing you guys more stuff I do around here and some fun DIY stuff too. I love decorating my house and coming up with craft projects, so maybe that will be a goal to start back in 2012...oh wait, I said no resolutions. :) Anyway...here is my favorites of 2012!

January 2011:

Sky mural in a master bedroom:

This wins the award for biggest backbreaker of the year, along with favorite ceiling mural :) I painted this all by myself, and did it in about 4 days or so. It was a challenge, but it was a fun one, and I'm happy I did it.

Faux metallic letter tutorial:

I did this DIY project based on those zinc letters you can buy at Anthropologie. It has become a big hitter for my blog, because of Pinterest! It was so easy, too, and so cheap.

February 2011:

Jungle-themed nursery mural

This was just plain fun, and my clients for this project were SO sweet. I hung out with the grandparents of the baby who was going to live in this nursery, and they were just some of the nicest people I've met.

March 2011:

Trellis Wall (the first time I'd done it!)

I did that for a baby girl's future nursery, and it was so light and airy and dainty in person. After I did that one, I did several more color variations of that same pattern throughout the year!

April 2011:

My sofa makeover! This is a big one.

Remember it was a vintage find from the thrift store, and I bought it for only $25. I had it reupholstered in white cotton fabric, and I still adore it. It's holding up well, too - no stains or anything, so far.

It looked like this before:

I also completed this nursery in April, which was a big project, and one of my favorites the whole year:

May 2011:

Lyford Cay inspired breakfast room:

I did this for a friend/client/decorator I work with, and we both loved the way it came out...it was such a fun project!

June 2011:

Custom Argyle Stenciled kids room

I made that argyle stencil for a client's little boy's room, and I love the subtlety of the pattern, along with the other prints and patterns going along in there.

July 2011:

That time I made a headboard.

I love my custom headboard that I made...plus, I'm proud of my saw-using skillz I've acquired this year. All in all, I think I've learned how to do a lot more building-of-things, and that makes me happy. Did I mention I got a new corded drill for Christmas? I did. I can't wait to use it.

August 2011:

Chinoserie nursery!

This was done for the Scotchblue Painters tape painter's party, and it's another one of my favs.

September 2011:

Finally getting myself together, and marketing and posting my Moroccan stencil up for sale! This was a big thing for me, because for months and months, everyone kept telling me to do it, but I couldn't figure out exactly how I wanted to do it. Finally, I just made it happen, and I'm glad I did. Here it is, if you want to check it out.

October 2011:

The studio! I think it's obvious why this was the most exciting thing I did in 2011. This was a super-busy month for me! I worked the whole time, and also painted and cleaned the studio when I wasn't working. I had one aching back.

November 2011:

Building a cornhole set.

like I said, I'm proud of the building skills I've acquired this year...however, I will never build another cornhole set...too much work! :)

December 2011:

it's a tie between this geometric artwork and the Rube Goldberg inspired painting.

The end. I hope you enjoyed my superlatives of 2011...it was a GREAT year for me, and I'm so excited to see what all happens this year. I'm also looking to make a few changes to my blog in the coming months, including a new layout, logo, photos, etc. I would love to know what you enjoy seeing and what you'd like to see more of on here. Leave it in the comments, please!

Reader DIY.

2011-12-30T06:27:00.000-08:00

Dana wrote to me a few weeks ago to show me a project that was inspired by your's truly. I'm always really honored when this happens, and I love showing you guys the projects as well...

she had a little spot in her house that was not serving it's purpose well, so she and her husband got to work. She did this cute chevron pattern in gold and black on the back of the shelves, and it's so cute! To read more about it, check out her blog. Thanks, Dana, for sending it in!

If you have done a project that was inspired by my blog, or you just think you've done something I'd enjoy sharing, please send it to me at kristen.fountain@gmail.com

Table and Chairs Redo

2011-12-29T05:51:00.000-08:00

A lot of my work in 2011 has been furniture painting - which I love! People seem to be turning over a new leaf, and realizing that you don't have to buy an entirely new set of this or that...you can paint it instead, and save a lot of money.

That being said, a few weeks before Christmas, I painted this dining set. Before, it was a little more traditional and boring:

The table top had some scratches, and the chairs were just blending right into the rest of the set and the floor. I painted the bottom of the table, and the chairs, and did a distress all over them:

I didn't do a whole lot to the top of the table, but I did fix it up a bit. I used stain and seal (a faux painting product) to cover scratches and to darken it a bit, then did a couple of coats of polyurethane.

I painted the table at my client's house, and brought the chairs to my studio to use my paint sprayer on. Funny story: I took them into a smallish room to paint them (without much ventilation, apparently). There are 6 chairs, so it wasn't a small job. I was concentrating on painting the chairs so hard, that when I went into the the bathroom to wash my brush, I realized that all my hair, my face, my nostrils and even my eyelashes had a lovely white dusting of paint all over them. My hair looked like an old lady. I was just about to head out the door (to go home and shower!) when my landlord (and friend, so we had a laugh) came in to ask me about something. I looked crazy...talk about bad timing. :)

Christmas Memories 2011

2011-12-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

I have about 100 photos from Christmas Eve Eve, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after Christmas on my phone...I'm thinking about making an album of Christmas Memories (my mom has one, and it's very cute), but I thought incase time gets away from me, and that doesn't happen, I'd record a few highlights here. This is me diverting away from normal interior design stuff again. :)

the day before Christmas, Jordan and his brother exchanged gifts at our house. They both had bought each other records...we laughed when they both obviously had bought records for each other, but it turned out that they had bought each other the exact same record, which was Coldplay's new album. Funny.

Christmas Eve, we always go to my mom's house and my grandparent's house. This is me, my brother, and my stepbrother's little boy at my mom's house, about to have dinner. Don't ask me why I'm looking at the wall... at least we're all smiling.

This is my brother Andy, and my brother David. Aren't they cute? I love them.

Just a photo I took at my mom's, after lots of gifts had been opened. That's my stepdad and my stepbrother's little girl in the back. I like how it's dusk outside and the tree is reflecting in the window...pretty.

This is my stocking! Every year since I was a baby, I think. My Nana, my dad's mom, made it for me (she made them for all her grandchildren). I love it! I remember really loving all the sequins on it when I was a little girl. Why do little girls love sparkles so much? heh.

Christmas morning at our house! Mika was a good boy this year (kind of. Minus the scratches and bites he likes to randomly give). He got sardine toys and a catnip ball. mmm.

The damage after Jordan and I exchanged gifts. It was fun!

This is at Jordan's mom's house...she has about 30 people (or more!) over for Christmas dinner every year. It's fun, and the house is bustling with kids and adults. I love it. I took this picture before dinner (obviously).

Jordan and his cute niece in her Christmas dress. She is delectable.

This is me and Chase, Jordan's nephew. He's really cute! He liked the photobooth function on my phone. :)

We had brunch at our house with my dad and my stepmom the day after Christmas. My brothers girlfriend is mid-bite or something..oops.

Last but not least, did you know they had cat game apps for iPads? Pretty awesome...they are on Friskies.com.

There's a little glimpse at our Christmas holiday - how was your's?

How I Use Wood Filler

2011-12-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

I hope Santa was good to all of you! I had a great Christmas with my family and friends...I'm always a little sad when the Most Wonderful Time of the Year is over...but, life goes on, and there's more to look forward to.

As I was going through pics from the past few months, I realized I took some photos of a little wood-filling session I did when I was painting some cabinets, and I never shared them with you. So, I thought I'd do that today! This is just how I do it - I'm sure there are other ways, but everyone seems to like to get a little insight, so I am sharing.

I use Elmer's wood filler - the kind that comes in a tube. I think that all wood filler (unfortunately) dries out kind of quickly, so I usually just buy a small container, and it only gets used once or twice before it dries out. Annoying, but true.

here is a photo of the painted-over holes before I went back to fill them and paint over them:

before I even fill the holes, I sand down the area with my electric mouse sander. Sometimes, (especially when hardware is involved, like hinge holes) the hardware that is pressing in on the surface (the wood and the painted surface) can create indentions. It's good to sand down the indentions beforehand, to alleviate a little bit of extra work at the end.

So, after I do that, I slather on the wood putty.

I go heavy on the putty. This means that you most likely won't have to do a second round of wood filler, because you are going above and beyond with this first coat, filling all possible spaces. It takes a little while for wood putty to dry - longer than wall spackle. It's because it's thicker and stronger. Let that coat dry entirely, then you are ready for sanding.

I sand my wood filler just like I sand a piece of wood that I am trying to get smooth and pretty. I start with a heavier grit paper, like a 150 (not too rough), then move down to a 220. That way, you get the big bumps first, then you can smooth them out with a softer paper. Sometimes I just do the softer paper with my hand, and not the electric sander.

When you sand it down, there should be almost no wood filler showing at the end - this is how you'll know it's done its job. It's supposed to be completely smooth on the surface.

see, completely smooth:

(other than a few pieces of sawdust that were promptly swept away!)

Before I paint, I do a coat of primer. Wood filler can make your painted surface look matte, which is not what you're going for :) I hope this was helpful for you guys, and leave any questions in the "comments"!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T06:45:00.000-08:00

Hi! Just wanted to say Merry Christmas. I'm about to do some cooking and prepping for all the Christmas festivities, but I wanted to drop in and show you guys pictures of my humble Christmas decor. It's a little boring, but I thought I'd share anyway, since I've done it every year since I started this blog.

first up, the tree!

You can see my DIY hand-colored ornaments - they turned out pretty nice! Other than those, we have lots of vintage ornaments and a few keepsake ones from when I was little. I got a skinny faux green tree from Hobby Lobby this year. (you might remember my vintage red tree, and my white tree from last year. I get a new idea every year...I'm such a weirdo. I do still love all my trees, and next year I'm sure I'll put another one up! One day, when we have a bigger house, I'll have all of them out.) For some reason, I was really wanting the look of a real tree, and we debated going to the Christmas tree farm and picking one out, but the idea of sweeping needles and watering it seemed a little daunting. Plus, Mika has a real affinity for eating plants, and I'm sure he'd try to chow down on a live tree hanging out in the living room...silly cat.

I bought cute wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby. I bought two kinds - one is chartreuse green, and one is white with gold polka dots. I bought mint and kelly green ribbon to use on the packages. As the season has been coming to a close, and Christmas gets closer, the wrapping has turned into a not-so-pretty mish mash of all types of bags and bows, but I still love my new wrapping papers. Jordan always wraps his gifts in Trader Joe's bags, so there's also that :)

Here is our coffee table. I had a lot of pretty vintage ornaments leftover after we decorated the tree, so I just placed them in this big vase that we have. Simple and pretty.

On a non-Christmas-related note, I also recently bought that tray at Pier One, along with the coasters. I love them both!

I have a few vintage Christmas items throughout the living room. Here are some angels that sit on the table beside our couch. (please ignore that mirror on the sunburst mirror. I got it at a thrift store, and for some reason, the mirror WILL NOT COME CLEAN. It drives me nuts.)

vintage Santas on the bookshelves!

My mom finds most of my vintage Christmas stuff at yardsales. I think most of it is from the 50's/60's - that seems to be the time period that I love the most, when it comes to Christmas decor!

vintage trees (actually, the one of the right is vintage, the other one is from Target a few years ago) and a cute vintage angel girl. (Side note : do you love how I have a Bible and a True Blood book resting side by side? Oops)

my mom found this ceramic tree for me this year at a yardsale:

I love it, because when I was a little girl, my Nana had a few of these in her house, and we had one that she gave us at our house, too. My brother and I kept it in our bathroom as our nightlight during Christmas. The little lights come out, and every year you place them in their little holes. This one didn't have a light stand to rest it on, but thank goodness for the new battery operated lights that they make! I bought 2 sets at Target, and just placed them on the inside. It's pretty! The little deer are also finds from my mom, I think. The woman is a master yard sale hunter.

Last but not least is a tiny touch of Christmas in our bedroom. I put this little white tree from the dollar section at target on our shelf:

I placed a few color-coordinated balls on the tree, along with a vintage glittery deer

I took two shots of this shelf, and Mika was not in the frame on the first one. He quickly jumped down from the bed, and then jumped up onto the chair. He loves a photo opp.

I meant to pick up another pack of tiny white battery lights, but I apparently forgot to. Oh well, next year!

just for fun, here are all my Christmases since I started this ol' blog:

2008

2009

2010

Hope you enjoyed my decor...Merry Christmas!

Hand-painted Armoire

2011-12-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I did some painting on an old Depression-era armoire. It was very dark stained wood, and we did a fresh, light makeover on it, with some handpainted details.

here is the before photo of it:

and here is the inspiration photo of what we were going for. I didn't want to cover the entire thing with detailing, like this, but we loved the floral detailing.

here is my after:

it took about 5 coats of paint to get that piece fully white. and that includes 2 coats of oil-based primer! those old stains love coming through paint - they don't want to be squelched. :)

Anyway, after we got it all white, I did the hand-painted detailing, which was really fun. I topped it all off with a wax sealer.

I think she's going to get some pretty glass knobs for the drawer and door.

Morrocan Stencil Tone on Tone.

2011-12-21T05:11:00.000-08:00

Recently, I did my "Moroccan" Stencil in a tone on tone look (meaning, the exact same color paint for wall and stencil, but the wall was the flat version, and the pattern was high-gloss). I hadn't done that before with this particular stencil pattern, and it was my client's idea, but I really love the way it came out. It's very sophisticated, but still playful and interesting. Check it out:

(FYI I believe the color is Rockport Gray by Benjamin Moore)

(the paint was still drying when I took these shots!)

I did the whole wall that will be behind the beds (this is a guest bedroom, so there are two queen beds), but it was hard to get a shot this day, so I just have some detail shots. I promise to get better pictures once the room is completed! The plans are so beautiful for all the decor - I can't wait to see everything come together!

I also painted this dresser a while back, that will be in the room as well:

It was an old piece my client already had, that was completely "brown" wood....I just painted the bottom of it off white, and did some antiquing on it, as well as distress the drawers. She added the beautiful Mercury glass knobs from Anthropologie, and we left the top of the dresser dark stained.

Geometric Artwork

2011-12-20T02:13:00.000-08:00

Hi! I've been a super busy little painter bee as of late. There are all kinds of projects going on in and out of the studio, and when I went to upload photos of recent projects onto my computer, I realized just how many things I've been doing lately. Woof! I'm ready for a little slow-down time during the holidays, but before that, I have a few projects I'd like to share with you guys.

Remember last week when I said that I was finishing up some canvases for Strongbox West? Well, they're done! And here they are:

They're sitting in the studio here (obviously). I can't wait to see them installed at SBW.

They're pretty big - each canvas is 4' by 4'.

These things took forever! As you might imagine. It was mainly waiting for paint to dry, before I could tape off another section to paint. There was lots of working on these, then onto something else, then these, then something else, etc!

I love the bright colors in these, but I think what makes them actually cool is the contrast of the bright colors with some earthy colors as well. Notice the sage green and tan mixed in with neon green and citron.

I also did this big painting for Strongbox:

This one might make you nauseous if you stare at it too much.

Incase you missed my other work at Strongbox, check it out here, here, and here.

Reader DIY.

2011-12-15T05:28:00.000-08:00

I had to share this: last night, I got an email from a reader saying that she already made the antler DIY that I posted yesterday...now that is some quick work...my kinda girl.

check it out:

see the little antlers at the top?

I love how her wall is Christmasey...so cute! Thanks for sharing, Cara!

ps - if you create any of my "DIY" ideas, please email them to me! I would love to feature them here.

Faux Mounted Antlers

2011-12-14T02:28:00.000-08:00

Soooo, the whole faux-mounted-antler trend may be at LEAST 5 years old, but I'm still kinda lovin' it...especially when the "antlers" are "mounted" on neon racks and are miniature.

I pinned (On Pinterest) this photo from Furbish's accessories site to "DIY"...I'm not sure why or how, but this screamed "make something like this" when I saw it, so I did. Plus, I spent all day Sunday (WEEKEND, DING DING DING!) working in the studio on client projects, so I thought I deserved one project for me, for working on a weekend :)

I bought these little mounts from the wood section at Hobby Lobby. They were 2 for $1.00. I then spraypainted them with kelly green, orange and neon pink spraypaint that I already had. (I spray-primed them first, so that the woodgrain wouldn't show through)

Then, I used a small drill bit to drill in little holes where the "antlers" (aka sticks that I found in the yard, and cut to be all about 7" long) would go. I didn't drill all the way through, just about 1/4" deep.

I just eye-balled the centers...I didn't care if they were perfect, and I actually think that its kind of cute for them to be a little imperfect.

To make my sticks stay in the holes, I did a little dot of hot glue into the holes. Not too much, or you'll have a big hot glue blob on there. Just a little, then rub it in with your fingers to blend it.

I drilled in little hangers on the backs:

and, done!

They're hanging in our living room:

I kind of love them.

Wavy Wall

2011-12-13T06:40:00.001-08:00

I painted this gourd-y, wavy- pattern on a client's wall last week... I love the subtlety of a high gloss painted pattern on top of a flatter finish.

This wallcolor is pretty beautiful...don't know the name of it, sorry!

It was done in a "piano room"...isn't the decor pretty?

I love how the pattern becomes more and less noticeable as the daylight hits it, and as you walk around the room. It doesn't "scream" at you - it's just light and subtle

this is one of my custom patterns - if you are interested in having me do work in your home, please email me at kristen.fountain@gmail.com

Rube Goldberg Machine-inspired Painting!

2011-12-12T02:40:00.000-08:00

Last week, I did some more work for Strongbox West. You can see other work I've done for them here and here. Kayte Designs is helping re-decorate their space, and it's amazing. Kayte always thinks of the coolest touches, and has such a way with color. Plus, when I asked her what color we were using for this painting, she responded to my text message with "SW Tame Teal", and sent this photo as our inspiration for color (the glasses):

Which is (clearly) awesome.

I love folks that think outside the box. If you want to check out Kayte's new blog, go here.

Anyway, here is what I recently did at Strongbox. This painting is located on a short entry hallway, when you come through the front door, and head back to the offices. The painting is inspired by Rube Goldberg, and it was replicated from this decal. The decal was too small for the wall, so enter: me. (Plus, I hate decals, for reasons that you could probably guess)

I handpainted the whole thing, and it's about 7.25 by 3.5 feet.

The color was that Tame Teal by Sherwin Williams, but it's hard to tell in these pics because the contrast was so high between the dark walls, that it's reading as white or something.

The title of the decal is "it makes toast!"...because, it does, in fact, make toast. I showed the photo to Jordan (my husband) and he said "Why don't you just put the toast into the toaster?"..so practical, he is.

This is the definition of a Rube Goldberg machine:

"A comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation" -- Webster's Dictionary

I dig the light fixture hanging in the hallway...kind of looks like DNA.

this photo more accurately represents the blue..sort of.

Here are the other things I've done at Strongbox, incase you missed them!

chalkboard wall art (so much fun... I mean seriously...)

and the hand-painted numbered and lettered office doors:

(I told you Kayte's color selection was pretty killer)

I'm finishing up some canvas paintings this week that will be my final touch to the Strongbox decor...I'll show you guys those when they're done, too!

Cabinetry...

2011-12-09T02:51:00.000-08:00

This week has been one of those weeks that flies by while simultaneously dragging out as long as possible. I'm glad it's the weekend, but I surely do have a lot of work to get done before Christmas! AH!

Anyway, I accomplished a lot this week, and one of the things being this cabinetry refinish job at a residence that's having a completely new look installed in their formal living room. I can't wait to see this room all done. The designer, Alexis Solomon, has an AMAZING plan in line for the space, including a cool, modern brassy light fixture, a beautiful rug, and two (count that: TWO) awesome wallpapers that are being installed (one in the back of the shelves on the cabinetry, and one on the fireplace wall). The brick is also being replaced on the fireplace, with gorgeous gold tile. I can't wait to see the complete "after" shot of this room, and hopefully I'll get to share it with you guys, too.

Here is the "before" pic:

The cabinetry and fireplace look like wood, but it's actually a faux finish.

Like I said, the back wall of the shelves is going to be wallpapered. In THIS AWESOME WALLPAPER:

how great is that wallpaper? It's by Romo, and I adore it.

That fireplace wall will have a pretty, subtle wallpaper too, and a really great graphic mirror is hanging above it.

I painted the cabinetry in Benjamin Moore's "Midsummer Night". I talked about it the other night, but I really love it. I brushed it on with almost a washed feel, then did a brown glaze on top of it. I wanted the glaze to be very subtle...we were not going for a "Faux finished" look!

I really love how this color is gray, but very putty/brown, too. It's a warm gray. I think it'd be gorgeous on kitchen cabinets with cool brass hardware. In my next house...

The previous doors were replaced with these solid, more sleek and modern doors.

here you can see a more detailed shot of the faux finish, which was all over everything:

The old shelves were also being replaced with either glass or lucite shelves. Isn't it going to be great?

have a great weekend!

cabinetry...

2011-12-07T02:47:00.000-08:00

juuuust workin' on this cabinetry that I will be finishing up today, and hopefully showing you guys tomorrow. The color I am using is Benjamin Moore's "Midsummer Night", and I think it's so pretty. It's a brownish gray, that I think would be fantastic on kitchen cabinets. It's really a gray, but it has enough brown in it to be warm and inviting - excellent with the beautiful brass light fixture that's going in the awesome space these cabinets belong to. I can't wait to see this room when the designer is done with it - the plans are amazing! Anyway, I hope to have photos to show you guys tomorrow, so look out for a full "reveal".

PS I'm using Benjamin Moore's oil-based paint called "satin impervo"... have you guys used it? I really hate working with oil-based paint, but it was necessary in this case (I only hate it because of the smell and the clean up! I almost always end up just throwing away my brushes). Anyway, I am told that this is the best of the best when it comes to oil-based paint, but it sure is giving me headaches every night. Phew!

Nursery Furniture

2011-12-06T02:48:00.000-08:00

I'm back today with two furniture pieces I completed for a baby girl's nursery last week...here you go!

This piece was an old table, that was a dark wood stain. I painted it white, then hand painted this cute pink and green pattern on top! I can't wait to see this nursery all pulled together - the parents' plans for it were SO cute. All kinds of fun patterns.

here is another shot of the top:

kelly green & baby pink... I kind of wanted to keep this table! ;)

this mirror was a sweet find that was also a dark wood stain. It took a couple of coats of oil-based primer to keep that stain from seeping through -- not fun for this painter :)

I do love the way it turned out, and I think it'll be such a unique contribution to the little girl's nursery.

Neon pink Christmas in the studio..

2011-12-02T06:29:00.000-08:00

This week, I've been working all week solely in the studio. I have about ten different projects going on at once, and it's been very busy - but I love it!

I am a person that thrives on the atmosphere that I am in, so I took some time to do a little Christmas decorating at the studio with some leftover stuff from my Christmas decor at home. I took some photos yesterday for you guys:

I can't remember if I've shown you guys my little sitting area at the studio, but here it is. I hung a garland above the chairs, and decorated it with neon pink rope that I've had for a while (from Lowe's), and some hot pink vintage ribbon from my grandmother. It also has some white vintage lace strung on it, and vintage glass ornaments. I think I have more vintage glass ornaments than I'll ever know what to do with (they are so sweet and I love them so much).

I didn't put lights on the garland (even though I wanted to), because I'm trying not to overload the power outlets with all the power tools I have goin' on in there! I do have to remind myself this is a working studio, it's not just there to be cute. :)

I had to go to Lowe's yesterday for some other supplies, and I picked up a can of neon pink spraypaint. When I had a minute, I sprayed this stick neon pink (first I primed it with white, FYI -- the pink is very opaque), and then stuck it in a pretty vase with some other sticks that I wrapped with embroidery thread. I hung ornaments on them, and voila!

I adore the twirly vines on the stick, sprayed in hot pink. Nature is the coolest.

Now I am walking around, thinking about else what I can spraypaint hot pink...

I also set out these sweet little vintage bottle brush trees:

I also have some vintage Santa's over the door:

have a great weekend!

Cityscape

2011-12-01T06:31:00.000-08:00

Just a simple detail shot of a painting I'm working on in the studio right now...

yesterday, I worked on it with oil pastels on top of watercolor...it was fun

Armoire Makeover

2011-11-30T06:01:00.001-08:00

Last week, I did a furniture makeover on this old armoire. I don't have a "before" photo of the armoire, but it kind of looked like this:

except, it was pretty dinged up, so it was already kind of naturally "distressed." :)

My client had this piece in her bedroom, which she liked. She was going for more of a rustic look anyway, but the wood tone of the armoire was too orangey-yellowy. We wanted it to be more brown.

First, I did a coat of brown glaze. I wanted to tone the entire piece down, so I knew doing this would be the first step. Then, I decided to give it some character, and knew that adding some offwhite spots of glaze would give it dimension and texture, so I did that. Here is a photo after I did that:

Admittedly, it looks a little crazy here. But, after I did that, I did one more full coat of brown glaze, then a 4th "spot filler" coat (meaning, I just go in where necessary and fill spots with glaze).

Here is the "after":

It was really hard to get a good shot of it, because it was still wet, and there was a big window in front of it with light shining on it, but hopefully you get the idea!

Instagram

2011-11-29T03:22:00.000-08:00

Do you guys have an Instagram account? I'm super-into it, and post a few pictures a day, usually. It's so fun to take mundane moments and make them pretty with this iPhone app. I just thought I'd share a few photos that I've recently posted to my account, and if you want to "follow" moi, my handle is "kfddesigns".

Here are 2 vintage angel ornaments from our Christmas tree. My mom found them at a garage sale for me.

I love their hair-do's and halos made of tinsel. I feel like their hair and make up is very Bridgette Bardot! Plus, you can tell someone hand-stitched every bead on them. They don't make 'em like they used to, folks!

This photo was snapped at a client's house. Aren't the leaves beautiful?

It was sad, because I was working at this client's house all week, and I snapped this photo on Monday. By Friday, the little red bush was almost bare, with no more leaves left.

Here is another snap shot of some vintage ornaments from Mom. I made a wreath with them last week, during the Thanksgiving break.

My drill, with a killer drill-bit (used when I built the cornhole set).

Took this photo while I was cleaning our office this weekend. The chair and rugs were on the couch, and I loved how everything was black, white and yellow. (PS do you read the black white yellow blog? This photo totally reminded me of it.)

*** update! Thanks to Rob (a kind reader of ye old blog), I have installed an Instagram widget in my sidebar, so you can check out the photos whenever (if ever) you'd like! Thanks, Rob.

Chevron Bench

2011-11-27T12:34:00.000-08:00

Hello! hope everyone is well-rested and well-fed - I know I am! I'm about to head to the studio to work on several projects, but before I go, I wanted to post this for you guys.

A few weeks ago, I made over an old bench that had seen better days. It was really scratched and dinged up, and was just a dark solid wood.

Heather (who sometimes helps me out in the studio) helped me out with it, then I finished it off.

and here is the final result!

I just did a simple white, because I knew the chevron pillow would be the show-stealer, and I think it works nicely. Plus, they'll be able to move it around the house, as they want to, over the years.

Julie had this cute chevron seat made to go on it, with purple piping! Julie writes a blog called Etsy Stalkers, (which is really funny) and she is re-doing her daughter's room, with pieces just from Etsy. Check out some snippets of her room:

I love the curtains she had made to match the seat cushion!

What a great pattern and color combo on this lampshade from Anthropologie.

I thought this cabinet with the interior painted lime green was a great choice! I also really like the Madame Alexander dolls inside - I used to collect them as a little girl.

Christmas ornaments in ANY color!

2011-11-23T02:01:00.000-08:00

Remember the craft I told you guys about last Friday? Well, I made them Friday night!

The reason I did this, was because I came up with a new color scheme for our Christmas tree ornaments this year, and I couldn't find ornaments in the right colors. I wanted chartreuse, kelly green, and a pale turquoise. The great thing about this project is that you can buy paint in ANY color you want - therefore you can make ornaments into any color you want, on the cheap.

Here were my supplies:

I bought everything at Hobby Lobby. Those are clear glass Christmas ornaments, and then 3 different colors of acrylic craft paint. I bought paint that was on the cheaper side, because I wanted it kind of watery. I knew that the watery-er it was, the better (because it would shake around inside the glass better!).

I removed the little tin metal tops to the glass.

I squirted a decent amount of paint into the inside of the glass (done over the kitchen sink!), then put my thumb over the opening and shook the ornament really hard. I did put a teeeeeeeny bit of water in some of them, to make the paint move around better.

make sure you cover the hole completely, or the room you do this project in might end up looking like a Jackson Pollack canvas.

the downside is wiping your thumb off after every "shake"

when I was done, I had 36 pretty, brightly-colored ornaments, ready for the tree!

They were half off, so each box was $4. the paint was probably about $6, so I spent a total of $18 for 36 new ornaments - not bad!

ta da!

I love my new color scheme. And yes, the tree is up, but I haven't decorated it yet.

Fireplace Mantle

2011-11-22T06:19:00.000-08:00

Last week, I did some whitewashing on a red (orange? pink?) brick fireplace. It's so much prettier now. I love how the brick is not completely painted over, but it's not as bold and contrasted as it was before! Plus, it's much better with their more neutral color scheme.

Before:

After:

much better, huh?

I just did a simple mix of latex paint, about 1/2 water, 1/2 paint. Maybe more like 3/4 water, 1/4 paint...somewhere between the 2! I brushed it on with a chip brush, and then kind of rubbed back...

Cabinets!

2011-11-21T00:37:00.000-08:00

Last week, I painted some kitchen cabinets that were dated and had seen better days. They were very high quality wood, they just looked very 80s/90s, and the maple-y finish wasn't doing the kitchen any favors. Check out the before:

and

and, the after!

so fresh and so clean clean, right?

I think it makes the space look so much larger! we replaced all knobs and cabinet hinges too, which I think makes a huge difference in updating the look. I always suggest replacing hardware after a kitchen cabinet painting. The color we used was Sherwin Williams Dover White, and I had it matched at Benjamin Moore in their Aura paint, which is the absolute best for furniture and cabinetry.

The walls were painted "Sea Salt" by Sherwin Williams, and they are a beautiful color.

Here is a detail shot of the new knobs!

My client went with Dover white because it was a creamy white - we thought it would blend in with the existing countertops and backsplash nicely, and with the trimwork that was already painted white...and good news - it did! My client was very happy with the outcome of the color, and so was I. Check out the cabinetry next to the trim:

You can see that it's creamier than the trim, but whiter than the countertops and backsplash, which is what we predicted. Picking out paint colors can be very challenging, but with enough thought and prep, it can be successful and very rewarding! We were so happy with it.

annnnnnd....lastly, I made another video for you kids! It's kind of boring (I don't talk at all, and it's not the best quality, because it was made with my iPhone), but hey, it's at least fairly helpful.

here are some points about the video, because you might have questions. It's kind of funny to video yourself doing something that is really routine to you...I realized that I do things weird ways, and do funny little tricks with my brush and roller that I am kind of obliviously doing , but they are intentionally done because they work for me. One of my main goals in painting cabinetry and furniture is avoiding drips, brushmarks, and roller lines. Those three guys are the enemy of a painter like myself. I think they show the difference between a professional paint job, and an unprofessional job. So, I avoid them at all costs.

1. The little "dabbing" i am doing with my brush at the beginning of painting each bevel, is getting a lot of paint into the corner, without it globbing on, which means it's not going to easily have drips. Weird but true.

2. there is a point where I am sort of slapping my brush against the side of the cabinet...that is an easy way to get a lot of paint into parts of the wood that are absorbing paint more than you'd like.

3. the sides and bottoms of the cabinet get rolled later. You may notice that they aren't fully painted at this point, but when I hang them back up, they are painted.

anyway, I start out painting the door with a Purdy cub brush, then use a furniture roller for the flat surfaces. This is what I always do! I try to cover most surfaces with the roller at some point, because it keeps from having that brushed-on look. Painting cabinetry is REALLY involved. It is not easy, and it's truly not something I recommend people "DIY-ing" unless they are really great at painting. An unprofessional paint job on cabinets usually looks unprofessional :)

The end. If you have questions, feel free to leave the in the comments section, and I'll try to answer them. Heck, maybe I'll even make a video of moi answering questions one day. Though, I don't know if I can handle my talking-voice on camera...

Craft time.

2011-11-18T02:10:00.000-08:00

So glad it's the weekend! It's been a LONG week for me...

I'm excited to relax a little this weekend, and to do a little Christmas crafting. (nerd, I know)

Did you guys see Sherry's ornaments she made for her Pinterest challenge? Well, they inspired me to make some of my own, and I'm going to get to it tonight. I bought chartreuse, kelly green and turquoise paint to make some of these guys with:

Except I don't think I'm going to make mine "swirly"...I think I'm going to try to do them solid colors. Yes, I would've just bought the ornaments pre-colored, if I could've found them in my weird new Christmas color palette I'm going for this year, but alas, I could not. Last night, I bought the clear glass ornament balls and the paint, and I also ended up buying a new Christmas tree (oops. hah!) You know me, I always have to change it up. I also bought matching wrapping paper and bows...what is happening to me (answer: turning into my mother circa 1995.)?

Hopefully I'll have some photos to share with you guys next week...have a great weekend! :)

I built a cornhole set!

2011-11-17T02:44:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I built a cornhole set for my stepbrother's wife to give him as a birthday present. She told me that she wanted to buy him one for his birthday, and I volunteered to build it. It was a little more intense of a project than I thought it'd be, but it came out well with a little hard work!

I used this tutorial from This Old House. I followed it exactly, and it came out fine. It's a size that is recognized by the American Cornhole Association, so it's pretty legit, people! :) I've yet to play it, but it has nifty legs that fold under for storage, and handles on the sides for easy carrying. I told Brandon he better never get rid of it!

Here's some photos of my project in process:

I accidentally cut my first piece of plywood incorrectly. (Major bummer, had to go back to Lowe's!) I cut the hole on one of the pieces one inch lower than the other piece! DANGIT. Rookie mistake. Oh well. I wanted the game to be correct and fair when Brandon and his friends were playing, so I knew the hole needed to be exact. I went back to Lowe's and got a new piece, and cut it correctly the second time.

Next, I built the frames. I had the 2 by 4's cut at Lowe's since I don't have a Skil Saw - it's much faster and easier. I just had to screw them together. After that I attached the plywood to the frames with wood glue and screws.

The paint cans are sitting on top to keep it from floating away, since it had wood glue on it.

After all that, I primed them with some Kilz (my favorite primer). I just used latex primer, and it was fine (I guess since it wasn't stained wood, just solid wood). I let them dry overnight, then I painted one red and one black, for The University of Georgia (Brandon's favorite team)

ta da! The website says it takes 6 hours to build, but it took me longer. I guess because I'm not a skilled carpenter. I'm pretty sure I could make two of these a lot faster the second time around, though...if there is a second time (doubtful).

Gallery Wall in the Studio

2011-11-16T02:24:00.000-08:00

In my studio, there is a little room in behind the front big room (which you've seen), and the bathroom (which you've seen). It's a great little spot for projects-in-action, and to store furniture and canvases that clients drop off.

Anyway, I had a bunch of random artwork and canvases at my house, taking up space, so I thought I'd just hang them in the studio to get them out of the way! I started a gallery wall in the middle room, and here it is:

I just hung everything with no rhyme or reason, and here is where it all came from!

The big, orange, awesome piece was a gift from a client (hey, Katie! here's what I did with your cool wood piece! :)). Isn't it awesome? It was a tan color when she gave it to me, but I spraypainted it orange. It's very Jonathan Adler now, I think.

The chevron art work to the right of it is something that I made a while back. I just brushed chocolate-brown paint onto a little white canvas I had. Remember? The kitty cat silhouette was also something I made this same day.

The painting that looks like you are in Area 51 is a piece that I found down the street from my house, on the side of the road. You can see on it where someone was going to start some cacti, but they changed their minds and painted over it. The piece all the way to the left, that looks like it's probably supposed to be Venice, Italy, was also found in the same pile on the side of the road. I love the imperfection in these paintings, accompanied by the attention to detail. Someone put a lot of time into them!

The piece at the top left and the larger piece near the top right were thrift store finds. they're both oils, and I love them.

The gray geometric framed one is a section of our chair's fabric, framed.

The tiniest paintings are some oceany ones that I did several months ago.

The "Girl with a Horse" print was from a thrift store, and the piece above it was a trade I did with a friend in college. The "nouns dormons" painting you may remember from my old bedroom, and the dog and cat prints were a thrift store find YEARS ago, that I will always keep and love!

Recent Canvas Work

2011-11-15T02:51:00.000-08:00

just a quick drop-in to show you guys a painting I did a few months ago ... just for fun (weird, but true). It is now hanging in the studio, on a gallery wall that I need to photograph and show you guys...

it's very colorful! I love color, in case you haven't noticed :) It's 12" by 12" - square canvases are my favorites.

Takin it back to the 60's

2011-11-14T05:50:00.000-08:00

I wanted to show you guys something I painted for my mother in law, that I hadn't shown you before. I mentioned that her whole house is decorated in either modern pieces or pieces from the 60's, so it only made sense that we made this move with the play kitchen set she has for her grand kids. Are you guys familiar with this play kitchen set from Pottery Barn? Probably so. Her's was bright red, and when she started redecorating the house in colors of the 60's, the red just wasn't working. She wanted it to look like the avocado green kitchen appliances from the 60's, so I painted it:

I had to remove all the little stove handles and accessories to paint it, but it definitely looks like it belongs in her house now!

I even painted little daisies like a vintage refrigerator would have! They're my favorite part.

I also painted the "kitchen" table mustard yellow, with mushroom accents.

Video!

2011-11-09T02:36:00.000-08:00

Soo, I made a video for you guys. Most of you seem to enjoy seeing the process of how I do things, so the other day, when I was getting ready to paint over a watercolor sketch I did, I thought I'd video it.

here is the drawing of two elephants for baby nursery that I did:

this is the drawing, before I did the painting part

I used a watercolor pencil (I like Derwent brand) to draw out the little elephants. After you draw them out, you simply use water and a brush to paint over your lead drawing, to turn it into a watercolor look. It reminds me of those coloring books that you get when you are a kid, and you use water and a brush to magically make the picture come to life :)

Anyway, it creates a nice drawing-slash-watercolor look.

Here's the video - hope you enjoy! I was videoing with my left hand, while painting with my right, so forgive when the camera is out of focus!

Around The Studio...

2011-11-08T02:27:00.001-08:00

Since you guys enjoyed my sporadic, more "personal" post last week, I thought I'd continue in that spirit, and post some photos from around the studio.

There is a lot going on in there, and I can't describe how nice it is to have that place to work in. Clients are able to drop pieces off to be painted there now, and I can have as many projects as I want going on at one time. The only downside is that there is always something to do, so I feel guilty leaving! It's great being there, though, and I'm glad I took a little time to spiff it up some, so that I feel inspired while I am there.

my mom gave me these tiny vintage deer (she got them at a yardsale), and I have them sitting on one of the big windows in the studio, and it's the first thing I see when I walk in the door.

they are probably the cutest thing I've ever seen, including most babies and maybe even my cat.

I love them!

I played around with my camera a little yesterday, and took some photos of them. My friend, Jenny, told me how to take photos with the light coming in behind the subject, without making the subject dark, so I experimented a little, while waiting for paint to dry. And incase you are wondering, I took these in autofocus :) I just focused the camera on something that was a little darker, and about the same distance away, then moved the lens back to the deer in the window. Works like a charm -- thanks, Jenny!

back of the line.

next up, my best friend's mom (hey Lisa! Thank you!) gave me this plant! So sweet. She has a great green thumb (and a beautiful garden), and my best friend and I are always trying to get plant-growing tips from her. Every spring and fall, she tells us when we can do our planting, and she always tells us what to do if a plant looks less than healthy.

I am going to plant my new plant she gave me in this empty paint can from Lowe's:

From what I understand, it enjoys lots of sunlight, so I thought it would enjoy living at the studio. It's like a greenhouse in there!

Here is a photo of a not-s0-permanent (is anything ever permanent with me? No.) mural I did on the studio wall:

(incase you noticed - yes, I painted over the arrow mural I started. it felt too heavy to me, in the all-white space, and it was driving me crazy)

I did it with Japanese washi tape, and I got the idea from Pinterest. I ordered the tape from etsy, and now it hangs here:

I took that photo, because I really, really love the contrast of the neon tape against the distressed wood (that is a coathanger I made at the studio), but when I got home, I realized that the photo totally looks like a polar bear face, and now it makes me really happy.

Anyway! (man, this post is going to be long!)

here is the little "sitting area" I made at the studio:

via Instagram...

It's cozy, and it's nice to sit there for a minute, when I am taking a break, checking emails, or whatever.

here are two projects going on simultaneously at the studio:

(more on them later!)

and a detail shot of the table later in that afternoon:

it isn't done - the green will be more filled-in than that.

last but not least, my table, being put to use. it's really handy!

The Hallway...

2011-11-07T02:51:00.000-08:00

Hello! Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Remember how I told you last week that I painted more doors at Strongbox West? Well, here they are! (Here is the link to the first doors I painted.)

These other doors were not offices, but storage closets, etc, but they liked the look of the first doors that I did, so they decided to have me come back and add letters to the other doors. Yes!

Here's what it looks like when you look down the hall:

"A"

"B"

"C"

It makes me want to paint all my doors different colors! I really like the color combos with the offset letters and numbers.

Nerd Alert!

2011-11-04T02:31:00.000-07:00

Remember when I painted these doors at Strongbox West?

Well, they had me come back for some more work (and more door painting, but I'll get to that later) and it was really fun for a doodle-r like myself. Strongbox is a office center for startups that need a place to work other than home or Starbucks.

I drew (with chalk, on a chalkboard-paint wall) lots of old-school nerd cartoons and signage (a lot of the people that work at Strongbox do computer programming, internet based work, etc). Kayte (the designer) gave me some ideas to run with, and run with it, I did.

Check it out! Before:

After:

Nerd-talk.

I'm a big fan of the phrase "talk nerdy to me." I added the winky-face for a little flair. This entire mural takes me back to my IM-ing days of college. Hilarious.

Those are little video game dudes from the days of Atari (I think). I'm not so much of a nerd that I can actually pin-point what they are...anyone know?

Also, incase it's not blindingly obvious, a TV will go in the center where I labeled "TV"

I do, however, know a lot about those Mario mushroom dudes. One up!

As a side story, when the first Nintendos came out, my brother got one. He was allowed to have a TV in his room to play it on (which was not fair, because we weren't allowed to have TVs in our rooms before we were teenagers), and even though cable was not hooked up to it, it got like one channel and I was SO mad that he had a TV in his room and I didn't. end of story. I was like 8. Brother got blisters on his fingers from playing Nintendo -- ULTIMATE NERD ALERT! Good story, huh?

can you spot where I "signed" it?

I hope the folks at Strongbox have as much fun looking at this as I did drawing it. Also, it's nice to know that my weird college degree (drawing) is being put to use.

I also like the little paper airplane guys at the top - their faces make me smile.

Have a great weekend!

Handpainted Vintage Wallpaper!

2011-11-03T02:30:00.000-07:00

My mother in law's house is completely decked out in all retro/vintage pieces (well, for the most part. What's not vintage, is modern in design), and she has had me do two different vintage-lookalike "wallpaper" designs.

here is the first one I did a few years ago, when I first started out as a solo artist:

I made little stencils, and did a design that reminds me of the Jetsons :)

It's in her dining room, and you can see all her turquoise, orange, avocado and brown serving pieces on the shelves. She goes all out! It's fun to go vintage shopping with her.

Anyway, I wanted to show you that one that I did a while back, because this week, I completed another one in her bathroom, which she's redoing. About a month ago, I painted the cabinets (which were a light maple-y stain before) dark java stained on the stalls with buttery yellow doors, then she had new hardwoods put in. She goes all out! She loves the 60's vintage look (obviously). Anyway, I did this wallpaper pattern that I made up on the walls:

Avocado green, brown, buttery yellow, and the "50s" pink are the colors I used for this geometric print. I made a big stencil, and a few individual stencils to complete the look. It was fun, and a break from the norm!

(ignore the frog shower curtain - she's getting rid of that!)

Surprise Party

2011-11-01T02:50:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a turn from the norm here, and posting about a fun creative project my friend Lisa and I did. Lisa's husband (who is a good friend of mine and Jordan's) turned 29 last week, and Lisa wanted to throw a surprise party for him this (unexpected) year before 30. She recruited me to help her, so we came up with lots of ideas for the big party. Lisa and her friend Jen run Farewell Paperie, and Lisa is a graphic designer full of ideas -- it was fun to brainstorm together.

We went with a "beer" theme (Justin loves beer!), and ran with it. She booked a spot at the Wrecking Bar Brewpub, here in Atlanta (located in Little 5). We made signs with beer drinking songs themed around Justin (he OWNS an entire CD of Irish drinking songs that, yes, he listens to in his car), and we also had beer goggles and a photbooth.

Our most fun project, and one of the first projects in the studio, was making this bunting banner.

Lisa (naturally) owns lots of cute colored, patterned papers, so we laid them out in the order we wanted, then cut each little triangle with a template we made. The colors remind me of candy corn.

Lisa snapped this photo of me awkwardly hot-gluing the flags onto the ribbon. It's times like these, that I realize that I probably sit all contorted all the time when I'm working, but no one knows or realizes because I am alone. What a weirdo.

Lisa made this "logo" for Justin's party of a beer stein. Isn't it cute?!

We hung it up at the studio to make sure we liked it...

we did!

Those letters are my signature "font" : )

and, just like according to plan, the party was great (it was this past weekend).

here is a photo of me and Lisa in the "photobooth" gear, in front of our banner:

here is a photo of my friend E, me, and Jordan (don't you love his Kanye glasses?):

and, here is a couple of photos of me and some friends in the beer goggles:

me and my friend Wendy!

And, you might notice the drink has a koozie around it. Lisa also had koozies made with a little ditty we made up for Justin that says "Pick up a stein, and have a good time, 'cause Justin is turning the big 29!" We know how to milk a theme.

(side note: beer goggles make drinks taste like rubber, but they are fun)

me and my friend Ryan.

And, last but not least, while I'm getting a little personal today, might you want to see what I dressed like for Halloween?

Michael Jackson, Thriller-style. Now you know way more about my life than you ever cared to.

Nursery Tree

2011-10-31T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Last week, I painted a tree on nursery of a baby girl that will be born soon. Her nursery isn't finished yet, but at least you can see the tree I painted, and hopefully one day I can go back and get some photos of the nursery all done!

It's hard to see, because the colors we selected are pretty light, but you can make out the image of the tree here:

It even went onto the lavender ceiling a little bit:

I know you guys like to know a little about the process, so here it is: we wanted an organic tree - something natural, and not as stylized as a lot of my other "nursery" trees. I started by drawing just the limbs (with a watercolor pencil), then I paint everything else in with a brush, freehand. In addition to the light lavendar (the ceiling is the same lavendar color, at 25% intensity), we used another pale purple and green for little drops of color, in an otherwise monochromatic tree. I thought about adding detail to the flowers, but we decided we loved the silhouette look better!

New Light Fixture!

2011-10-28T02:15:00.000-07:00

Remember when I showed you guys the ugly light fixture that was in the studio bathroom? It looked like this:

Gross!

I bought this new exterior light at Lowe's for only $25, and had it installed. I know the photo is a little hard to see, but here it is:

It's galvanized metal, and I think it fits the "industrial" look of the place - plus, it was so cheap! It's much better now. That brass fixture with the country accented glass was KILLIN' me.

Patterned Walls

2011-10-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I painted this simple wavy pattern on living room walls. It mimics the pattern in the lamp that they have, and creates a subtle design.

I did the pattern in a high-gloss version of the wall color.

I built a table.

2011-10-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

My riveting post titles keep you coming back for more, eh?

Anyway, las week, I built a table for the studio. I was headed out to buy some salvaged wood from the Atlanta Salvage Outlet (I think that's what it's called - it's off Howell Mill), when I drove by a house that was being renovated in Grant Park. I saw a beautiful piece of chippy yellow wood sitting out by the road, so I immediately pulled over. Turned out, they had tons of long panel-like pieces of wood that they were getting rid of, and let me have. Yes! I'm sure construction workers think I'm crazy.

I also had these metal legs from a table that I bought from a thrift store for $10. The table was one of those mix-and-match Ikea ones, so I was able to easily remove the legs.

Here is a photo of that lovely chippy salvaged wood -- isn't it awesome? It was the exterior of the house, and you can see lots of layers of different colors that the house was painted over the years. It's also cool to build a table with salvaged wood from Grant Park, because it's where I live. Grant Park has tons and tons of beautiful old "storybook" homes.

When I got back to the studio, I laid them out on the ground, and figured out a pattern and size that I liked.

I wanted the table to be ten feet long, so I measured the pieces, and cut the wood accordingly.

I just laid all my wooden pieces out horizontally, then cut shorter pieces of wood and nailed them vertically all down the bottom of the table. I hope that makes sense!

As you know, I am NO furniture-builder, but it came out sturdy enough (I wouldn't necessarily recommend sitting on it...). It's going to hold brushes and supplies, and generally just be a long desk for the studio.

Here she is!

Rope Wall for a Nautical Nursery

2011-10-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to share this project with you guys! I truly enjoy my job, and the thing I probably enjoy most is coming up with new, fresh ideas that I've never done before (or never seen done by anyone else). Times like these are when I have the most fun, and feel the most creative, which is what makes this gig awesome.

My client told me that she and her husband were pulling together a nautical-themed nursery for their baby boy, in navy, white, khaki and lime. They wanted to leave the walls khaki, but other than that, I had a blank slate. I did a little searching under the term "nautical", and came up with this image from Pinterest:

I adored the rope pattern on the invite, and sent it to my client as a possibility for the inspiration for the pattern on the wall. She liked the idea, so we went with it!

Here is the nursery "before"

All of the cute nautical elements were there, but I really think the "rope" patterned wall pulls it all together!

First, I painted the white pattern, then went in and did all the little navy details with a brush. The plain white pattern looked like this:

All the little navy lines tone it down a bit.

I adore her navy rocker with the white piping, along with the chartreuse table skirt. And how great is the little lamp?

(ps, don't know where anything is from, sorry!)

A Commissioned Canvas in Beachy Tones

2011-10-24T02:46:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I got a commission to do a very large canvas painting. The canvas was 5 feet tall, and it was to go in a master bedroom, on a big blank wall. Here's what Sara said in her email to me:

"I love texture in paintings and we'd like to keep the color scheme within the same general family as the existing room (honeydew, acid green, light blue, white, cream...very relaxing and some would saybeachy-ish)."

She also sent along some inspiration images, and included links to some furniture items that are in the room.

Here is a fabric that is in her bedroom:

(from Ballard)

And an idea for the "feel" she wanted the painting to have:

(painting from here)

In keeping with the guidelines for the painting, here is what I came up with:

It's the first official piece to be done from start to finish in the studio :)

I also signed it, which I rarely do, but I felt like it made sense here:

A Pretty Cabinet.

2011-10-21T02:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry to leave you with a sort of boring, ugly post yesterday -- but good news: I'm back with the "after" today!

So, as you saw, this cabinet at the studio bathroom was less than desirable. Actually, the whole bathroom was pretty scary. I painted the floors and walls a fresh white, which helps a lot (it makes it feel clean, even though it's really not, yet), and I also painted and gave the cabinet a little facelift. Here is the "before" again:

Like I said, the cabinet door on the right looked like it had been kicked in, so I went ahead and hammered out the rest of the inside of the door, then did the same thing to the other door. Conveniently, there was a little frame where the wood went, so I was able to come up with a new plan.

I painted the entire cabinet "Palladian Blue" by Benjamin Moore (left over from a client job), which is such a pretty blue-green, and gives such a fresh feel.

I also spraypainted the knobs a chrome silver. I thought about buying new knobs, but figured this would be smartest, as it was completely free (I already had the paint).

I had some plexiglass cut at Lowe's for the doors (after trying unsuccessfully to cut the plexiglass by myself the first time, the second time I bought it, I gave them the measurements and it was much better). I got plexiglass, rather than real glass, so that I could bend it into the little frame inside the cabinet door. It took a little while, but I really love the outcome. It looks like a cute little medicine cabinet now!

I also painted the interior of the cabinet the same color. It was really gross inside that cabinet, dudes! Paint makes all things fresh. Ahhhh...

I went over to Urban Outfitters to buy this rug for the bathroom, but they didn't have it in store. They did, however, have this cute round one, and it was on clearance for $8! Score! I think it is probably a better option anyway, since it's a bathroom for a painter, afterall, and who knows what colorful paint might drip onto the rug. Better to not spend too much on it, I guess.

(it's hot pink, royal blue, white, and orange -- even though that photo looks reddish)

I also found the cute bamboo mirror at a thrift store last weekend. I spraypainted it with orange spraypaint that I had on hand (surprise, surprise), and hung it up.

(I hold my camera weird)

Today, the electrician is coming over to install a new light fixture -- to replace this beauty:

Hah! The ugliness actually kind of makes me laugh. I found a cool exterior light fixture at Lowe's that I'm going to have it replaced with. I'll try and snap a photo of it for you guys once it's replaced!

Have a great weekend!

An Ugly Cabinet.

2011-10-20T06:10:00.001-07:00

This is the studio bathroom cabinet...

Someone (I guess?) kicked a hole in the cabinet door on the left (!!!), and it was looking really ugly, so I went ahead and demo-ed the rest of the flat part out, and then did the same to the cabinet door on the right side. Have you ever demo-ed anything? It's pretty fun, I have to say.

Check back tomorrow to see how I made this ugly cabinet cute!

Striped Fireplace Wall

2011-10-19T02:57:00.000-07:00

I've been so excited to paint this fireplace, and now I am so excited to share it with you guys!

These clients are a fun, young couple, that have a great sense of style and are adventurous (my favorite types) in design. Check out their family room sofa:

The "FAMILY" letters were collected over a period of about 6 months, and they were inspired by the Novogratz's when they started the collection. Aren't the letters awesome? (PS if you haven't already, you should pick up Courtney and Robert Novogratz's book, Downtown Chic. It's chock-full of amazing photographs and inspirational stories. I got it for Christmas last year and love it).

Anyway, as you can see, this side of the room was fun and wild, and the other side was a little less so:

I suggested doing stripes on the fireplace wall, to counterbalance the more organic feel of the modern-y chairs that flank the fireplace, so that's what we did. I grabbed 6 colors from around the room, and went to town.

I like the contrast of the chair pattern and the wall pattern:

Here's a funny photo I took while I was figuring out my pattern! I kept messing up the very bottoms, so I decided to make little dots with my colors, so that I could make sure everything was how it was supposed to be before I actually started striping.

Stir Stick Lampshade DIY

2011-10-18T02:26:00.000-07:00

I know that I've been sharing tons of "studio" photos, but I've been doing so much stuff in there, I have lots to show you guys.

Here's a DIY project that I completed (well, almost completed) over the weekend. I saw a similar project to this on Pinterest, and thought it'd be cute to do it in a larger scale, to make a big drum shade for my studio. Normally I'm not into "cutesy" things, but I thought the paint stir stick shade would be pretty clever in an art studio -- plus the whole project only cost about $40.

I went to Lowe's to try and get some paint stir sticks for free (which I thought they might do, since I buy paint there about 3 times a week, and I rarely take stir sticks, but no. Major bummer. I ended up buying them online here), and also picked up some veneer edging for my brace on the inside as well. Here's what it looked like:

I thought it would be a little harder than it was, but it ended up working out alright. I also thought about using two hula hoops as my inside brace, but I couldn't find any around my part of town. I liked the veneer edging, though, because it was the same color as the stir sticks.

FYI, the Pinterest version of this project just simply hot glues paint stir sticks onto a store bought lampshade, but I knew a gigantic (mine was 7 feet in diameter) lampshade would be hard to find, and pricey!

Anyway, This is how I got my two pieces of veneer to stay in place:

After I hot-glued the two ends together, I placed them on top of each other, and started hot-gluing the sticks on.

Pretty easy to finish it on up from there. I just figured out how many sticks I'd need, based on the length of my veneer (each stick was about 1").

After I glued all the sticks on, I decided to stain it a slightly darker shade than the natural tone they come in. I mixed a "java" stain that I already had, and a "honey" stain that I already had together, then diluted it a LOT with mineral spirits. I'd say the mixture was about 1 part java/1part honey/20 parts mineral spirits. It was almost clear! I brushed it on with a chip brush. Here you can see the difference:

After I had it all stained and ready to hang, I looped wire around 4 sides of the lamp. I wanted it to hang evenly, so I just measured out the 4 sides from each other.

I hung little white hooks into the ceiling, and hung the wire from them. Very easy, and you don't even notice the wire and hooks. I do plan to hang a light kit like this in the middle soon (duh).

As you can see, it got a little uneven there at the end. DANGIT. This is where you learn from my mistakes - just be really careful to keep your stirsticks lined up directly with the veneer.

It's not completely attention-grabbing in person, but yes, it does annoy me that it's not perfect.

I like how the stain came out. I didn't want it to be very dark, but just dark enough to not look like giant popsicle sticks.

Hand Numbered Doors

2011-10-17T04:48:00.000-07:00

Last week, I numbered some doors for Strongbox West, here in Atlanta. Their offices are being designed by some local designers I work with, and they are looking so cool!

Here's what I did:

The doors were all painted bright colors, and I numbered the offices doors, 1-5:

I just did everything by hand, though I'm sure it could've been faster to use a projector. I am happy with how they came out, though, and I hope all the talent at the Strongbox West is, too.

Some Stuff.

2011-10-14T02:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry for my boring blogs this week... I actually went on a short vacation with family Monday through Wednesday, so I'm a little lacking in interesting things to show you guys (or rather, lacking in photos of stuff!)

Anyway, I have plenty of good projects coming at you guys soon, but for now, two pictures:

one: yet another studio photo. Can I say just how nice it is to be able to spread out my paint-y stuff, and just paint? And yesterday, when I left, I could just leave it all there and not worry about cleaning everything all up. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Two:

A photo from my trip to Florida:

a photo of a photo, actually.

That's me, my stepbrother's little girl, my mom, and my stepbrother's wife. We took this at the illustrious Game Palace photobooth. I love photobooths...and don't you love how on the second picture down, it looks like I have one tooth poking out? So funny.

Happy Weekend!

Start of the Mural...

2011-10-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

I told you guys I started on a mural in my studio, and it's NOT done, but I thought I'd show you a couple of pics of the beginning stages...

first coat:

second:

I saw this pattern on Amber Interior Design by Brandon Malby, that is my loose inspiration. I like his colors and the imperfect zig zagginess. I don't think my design will be so colorful though!

White Floors!

2011-10-10T06:25:00.000-07:00

I painted the floors to my studio white last week, and I'm loving the way they look. It's much "cleaner" looking, and it's a great fresh look for the studio. I like it being a blank canvas for my work, too.

It took 4 coats!

remember they used to look like this?

muuuuch better now!

I started a mural on this wall...can't wait to finish it and show you!

Cow Fencepost Artwork

2011-10-07T03:03:00.000-07:00

Remember this cow artwork I made a little while back? Well, it was delivered to my client, and they hung it and invited me over to snap some better shots of it.

Incase you are a new follower, I built the "canvas" for this piece out of salvaged fence posts.

(here it was when I was in the process of cutting the wood, before I painted it)

I'm really excited with how it turned out! I love it in Henry's cute "big boy" bedroom, and I think he likes it too.

I love the contrast of the more modern bookshelf from Ikea, combined with the rustic painting. The painting is quite rustic, but I think the simple black silhouette keeps it from being too "country".

A few months ago, I also painted Henry's new big boy bed a pretty gray:

He's moved up to a new room, because they are getting ready to welcome a baby sister to the family...and guess what? I'm painting something for her room soon, too! :)

Studio Space

2011-10-06T03:24:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to say that I've found some studio space to work in here in Atlanta - really close to my house. The space has 3 rooms, plus a two hallways and a bathroom. It's really perfect for me and all of my creative ventures. I spent yesterday doing a little moving and painting, not to mention planning how I am going to jazz it up a little. I know it's just my studio, but it has to be at least a little inspirational, as far as looks go. I actually really dig the white walls and cement floors, but I think I'm going to paint the floors high-gloss white.

the little squares on the floor are just from the linoleum squares that were just removed.

I added a little unnecessary curb appeal yesterday. Chartreuse green planters with trees and a turquoise doors is a lot more "me" than the previously dingy white door.

I'm really excited to move all my artsy stuff into the space, and just be able to spread out everything and be creative. It's been a struggle to contain my "work" stuff here at our condo -- for the past year or so, whenever I've done something at home for a client (be it furniture or canvas work), I always feel the need to clean everything up and put it away during the project, so that our home stayed neat. Now, I can just leave my projects out and work on them as I like. Much better! Plus, I'll be able to work on client's larger pieces at my studio, versus invading their homes with moi. :)

All in all, a step in the right direction, and I couldn't be more excited.

Sadie + Stella

2011-10-05T05:32:00.001-07:00

Hi guys! I'm guest blogging today over at Sadie and Stella, about my "Favorite room" in mi casa.

Check it out, dudes!

(I love their logo.)

An amazing before and after!

2011-10-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

I have a pretty great "before and after" for you guys today. Check out this Craigslist find that my client bought:

the photo is tiny, but you get the drift. It was a wooden frame upholstered in an 80's-ish fabric.

She had the sofa reupholstered, and I came in and did a wash on the frame:

as you can see, it fits a lot better in the space now! (I also painted the coffee table, but it was drying outside when I took this photo)

such a pretty room!

Greywashed Bookcase

2011-10-03T02:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the sad weekend cat post -- I have a planned worked out to help find a home for the little kitty, so hopefully he will come to me soon! He is really skittish, and runs away if you try to pet or reach out to him. Thanks to all of you who emailed and commented about what to do to help him!

Anyway, I wanted to talk about this bookshelf that I painted for a client a couple of weeks ago. It was a family piece that was sitting unused, and it looked like this:

The scrollwork on the edges was really cute, though, and my client and I knew with a little TLC it could look a lot better. I white/graywashed it, and now it is the perfect piece to accompany this baby nursery:

much better, huh?

Here a photo I snapped partially through the first coat:

I could tell after one coat it was going to look a lot better!

Here are some detail shots:

I like how the woodgrain is still really prevalent, but it's much lighter. I did two coats of whitewashing, and then a wax sealer topcoat.

Please Help!

2011-10-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hey guys... I don't normally post on Saturdays, but I have a really urgent special request! All of you know how much I love my kitty cat, Mika. Well, there is a stray cat in my neighborhood that really, really, really, needs some TLC and FAST! It is clearly getting into lots of fights, and its poor nose and ears look like they are just getting chewed on and chewed on. I've never seen anything like it, and it's making me want to cry. I have fed him and given him water, but I can't bring him in, because I know he's a stray and he might carry diseases that I don't want Mika to be around.

I know this blog reaches a bunch of different people, and many of you are in Atlanta. If you know of any organization that will take him in and take care of him and/or find him a home, I would love to know! My email is kristen(dot)fountain(at)gmail.com. I have contacted no-kill shelters in the past here in Atlanta, without much help. I'm sure there are some great ones, so any information would be great. Until then, I will try and persuade the kitty to stay around here, so he doesn't get in fights with whoever he is fighting around the neighbor hood. It's breaking my heart! Here is a couple of photos of him, if any of you are interested in taking him in:

you can't really tell that his ears are chewed in this photo, but they are...

this photo of his nose is just too much to bare. :(

Cabinet Refresher

2011-09-30T04:36:00.000-07:00

Last week, I painted this bathroom cabinet. It was a traditional wooden stained look that my client felt was a little "blah" for the space. I am also doing a large-scale dramatic painting for this guest bathroom, and we thought darkening up the sink cabinetry would help to bring in some glam to a space that's less than impressive for guests right now (thought the cabinetry is very beautiful either way)!

before:

and, after:

I did a simple black paint, with rubbed (Distressed) edges. As you can see, the walls will be painted, and my client intends to replace the mirror, as well as the light fixture. I can't wait to show you guys the complete "after".

I had a hard time getting photos of this bathroom, so forgive the weird lighting!

(the streaks on the cabinet are the wax sealer that I use. It was still wet when I took this photo, hence the obvious lines, but that will go away!)

thank you all for the great feedback (and purchasing!)on my Moroccan stencil! I'm really excited to be able to sell them now, and I appreciate the support.

Moroccan Stencil FOR SALE!

2011-09-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to announce that my Moroccan stencil is now FOR SALE!

So many people have inquired about being able to purchase it, and I finally got all my ducks in a row, had them made, and they are now available on Etsy for your buying pleasure :)

here is a reminder of some of the rooms where I have used my Moroccan stencil:

A New Nursery

2011-09-27T02:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a nursery that I finished last week. I painted the walls in this popular lattice pattern, which I blogged about here. It is a really big room, so it took a lot of patience and work, but I think it's going to be such a serene, calm, pretty nursery for two little twin babies due in a few months!

Obviously, there are lots of items that are needed to complete the space, but after I left last week, it really was starting to feel like a nursery.

This is a handmade stencil, painted on top of Benjamin Moore's "Nimbus", which may be my new favorite grey. It's so pretty.

I'll tell you more about that bookshelf tomorrow!

Silvery Dresser

2011-09-26T02:52:00.000-07:00

Last week, I completed this dresser makeover. I don't have a "before" photo of it, but it was just solid white. We wanted to sort of imitate the look of this dresser, but a bit lighter and airier.

I think my client is going to purchase these pretty knobs from Anthropologie for it:

I did several coats of paint on it. First, I painted the whole piece gray. Then, I did a metallic pearl white and silver mixed glaze all over it. After that, I did a pewter glaze on it, then finished it off with a wax sealer. It was a lot of work, but I love the result.

I also did the walls, which I will tell you more about later on this week!

Overstock Rug

2011-09-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

I got a new rug!

Just when you thought my blog couldn't get any better, I hit you with exciting information like that.

Anyway, it's good news for us, as we lived without a bedroom floor rug for about a year and a half. For some reason, I just never bought one, so we had bare floors in our bedroom for a while. I decided to go with another jute rug, since I like the one downstairs so much. They're just neutral and pretty classic, so I figure it will last a while (even with my constantly changing tastes). I toyed with the idea of getting a graphic, colorful rug, (because I think this room could use something a little bold) but I knew that was not a smart decision for a girl like myself. I would probably get tired of it after 3 months.

Here she is:

it's an 8'x10', and I got it at Overstock.com. Here is the link to it. It's better quality than the one we have downstairs (which was from Lowe's). I'm actually considering buying another one to put downstairs, since that one is 5 by 7, and a little small for the space.

I tell you what was not fun, was unrolling this beast on to the floor. I had to take the entire room's contents out to get that done, which meant taking the mattress, box springs and bed into the tiny hallway (and yes, I did this by myself). Even still, it is about 2 inches too close to the right side of the room, and it drives me nuts that it's not centered. However, it doesn't drive me nuts enough to take everything off of it and move it again.

it makes our feet happy, and Mika enjoys resting himself on it :)

A Nook

2011-09-22T02:13:00.000-07:00

I feel like I really haven't been sharing many projects from my own home as of late - I sort of redecorated my living room in the spring, and I've been enjoying it ever since. Having said that, I am not a person that can leave things alone for too long, so of course I have been making little tweaks and changes along the way. Do you guys do that? I know some people can redecorate a space and leave it for ten years - I don't think I could ever do that. I can barely leave the same furniture in a room for more than one year. I'm not sure if it's the small space we have, or just my constantly changing tastes (blogs don't help that), but I am always craving change in my home!

Anyway, I just wanted to show you guys a little nook in my place that makes me happy. I love, love, LOVE color, so the combo of hot pink, black, navy, turquoise and green on this side table in my living room catch my eye every time I walk by. I think hot pink and navy have to be two of the best combo colors of all time.

just as a refresher, the table was a vintage (yardsale) find that I got for WAY cheap, and painted turquoise (I also wallpapered the insides with grasscloth). I added the gold ring pulls that I salvaged off of another piece of furniture, and spraypainted gold. The ceramic horse art was a thrift store find. I made that cat head silhouette a few months ago - it reminds me of the Carter Kustera portraits available at Jonathan Adler (except mine has a bowtie). I painted the background hot pink, and made the head and bowtie out of vintage paper I scored at Providence Antiques here in Atlanta, before it closed down.

If you zoooooom in, you'll notice the Readers Digest books I have on the table. I got 3 of them about a month ago at a Goodwill. I meant to blog about them, but I haven't yet. Anyway, they all are colorful vintage books with awesome patterns on the outsides! I love this green one, and I also have a yellow and orange version. I'll show you guys all three at some point. Sitting on top is a photo of me and my mom when I was a baby. Wanna see closer? It's funny:

me and mom are making some pretty awesome faces there, eh? HAH! I was a real chubbster as a baby. :) Sitting next to the photo is some rock thingamajig I got at TJMaxx or Marshall's.

The end! I hope my little end table made you happy, too.

oh! and since a lot of you guys are new readers, here is what the rest of the sofa looks like:

How I Paint With A Stencil

2011-09-21T03:06:00.000-07:00

I get lots of stencil requests around here (and stay tuned for my custom stencils for sale!), so I thought I'd show you guys a little bit about how I "stencil". I use the term stencil lightly, because I really don't use my stencils like a true stencil. I use them more as a template. I'm working on a stenciled nursery right now, and I snapped a few pictures yesterday to show you guys how I do it.

This is what I do - hold my hand-made stencil up to the wall, and roughly trace the lines in with a thick-bristled brush.

Then, I go in and trace all the way around the pattern with fresh paint. The little spots where the tape are have to be filled in, too. This has to be done ASAP with metallic paint, because if you don't do it fast, the paint dries and you get overlap marks. Not pretty.

I use all 4 of these brushes to do the stencil with. It's intense!

After I get the pattern completely on the walls, I go back in for touchups. On a big room like this, touch ups can take all day. I use the wall color to smooth out the lines.

here is a photo of both sides of the pattern with wet paint on it.

Touching up a pattern like this is not easy!

but you get a pretty sweet result if you're patient ;)

Rustic Painting

2011-09-20T03:06:00.000-07:00

A client of mine wanted to do something whimsical for her son's room and I came up with this - a rustic painting of a cow on wooden panels. She wanted to do a cow because her son loves cows - I loved the idea of a classic, simple silhouette on the panels.

I found these old pieces of fence post to use as my panels, and hand-painted the white background and the cow. Here's how I did it:

first, I lined up all the fence posts to get the measurement I wanted (35" by 35"). I then nailed the posts into 3 more posts going in the opposite direction in the back. I must've used 200 nails! Not really - but I used a lot. I wanted it to be very sturdy.

Once I had my fence posts lined up at the height I wanted, I measured the distances and sawed off the ends.

I just used my trusty Skil saw.

here is what I came up with after lots of nailing and sawing:

I let this sit out in the sun and dry forEVER, then also sanded it down.

After that I painted it white:

I dry brushed it on, so that I got a rustic feel to begin with, but I also did a little distressing before I painted the cow.

I loved the knots and the corners with a little distressed action.

After all of that, I painted a cow silhouette. I just did this by Google-ing a "cow silhouette", found one I liked, then drew my cow in freehand. I then painted him, black, and voila!

I hope to get a better picture of the cow soon! Little Henry's (client's son) bedroom is super-cute, and I can't wait to share it with you guys!

A New Stencil!

2011-09-19T03:51:00.000-07:00

Hello, and happy Monday. I am back today with a new stencil pattern! I say "new", but really I borrowed the pattern from Sunny's Goodtime Paint - I just made my own stencil.

Here is the stencil I made (it's on two pieces of posterboard - that shows you how large it is!)

I just freehand drew half of the pattern on the left side of the posterboard, then cut it out with my razorblade (not a short process). Then, I flipped that pattern over to the right side and traced the pattern out onto the open posterboard so that the pattern would be the exact same. I then cut out that side with my razorblade. It took a while - I probably should've just bought the stencil from the website! :)

Anyway, here is how it came out:

I adore the pattern with the Greek key curtains!

Lil Cowboy.

2011-09-16T04:45:00.000-07:00

TGIF, my friends ("TGIF" will always remind me of Friday nights as a kid - watching all the favorite shows from 8-10pm every week...which one was your favorite? I was a big "Family Matters" fan. We weren't allowed to watch "Step by Step" or "Sabrina the Teenage Witch"... hah!).

Anyway, I digress. I have had a LONG, long week, full of busy work - which is a good thing, but has left me exhausted! During a particularly exhausted-feeling moment this week, I got this email from a client that made my whole day. I did two cowboy paintings for her son's nursery at the beginning of the year, and she wrote me this email to send pics and let me know she was so happy with them. I truly, truly always want my clients to be as happy as they can be with my work, so it always makes my day when they go out of their way to tell me they love something I did. Here's the email:

Hey Kristen,

It has been about 7 months since you painted these cowboy canvases for
me and I have meant to email you pictures all this time. Here they
finally are - better late than never. The pics really made his whole
nursery! I love them and get so many compliments on them. I just
wanted to say thank you again!

Thanks,

Shelby

The Hysteria!

2011-09-15T02:01:00.000-07:00

OK, so I'm interrupting my normal posts on the jobs I've been working on, or DIY posts from around my house to talk about the Missoni for Target line -- did you guys go out and pick anything up? I honestly didn't have my heart set on anything, and thought it was crazy how the masses went out in search of stuff when the line debuted earlier this week! Wow...

Anyway, I had to go to Target today for some posterboard, so I of course checked out what my Target had to offer - which was dwindling down to not much. I ended up getting 2 matching melamine plates, in what I consider to be a pretty classic Missoni zig-zag.

I propped it up on my bookshelf. I'm a lover of pattern, so the bright zig-zag pattern on my shelves was a welcome change!

(yes, this shot includes 2 book on my bookshelves that embarassingly display my vampire book obsession. And while we're on the topic of pop culture - do any of you guys watch True Blood? What about that season finale?!)

Secretary

2011-09-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I'm scheduled to paint a new, fun pattern on some dining room walls, but until then, I have another furniture makeover for you guys. This piece was a family heirloom that my client wanted to keep, but give a little new life and character to it. She was decorating her bedroom in soft browns, creams and blue-greens, so we decided to go with a cream on the outside, and a pretty blue on the inside. Check out the "before" shot of the secretary:

and, the most challenging part:

I say it's challenging because of all those little pockets! Not easy on the arm/back to paint. I couldn't remove the little shelf/drawer area on the desk, so I couldn't spray it. I painted that baby by hand! I have a knot in my back to prove it. :)

And, the "after" (I painted in the garage - this is not where the secretary is going to "live"):

Exterior is Benjamin Moore's "Manchester Tan" with a brown glaze on top, and the interior is "Palladian Blue". Palladian Blue is one of the prettiest colors Ben Moore sells, in my opinion. It's one of those colors that changes as the daylight gets brighter or darker, but always to a gorgeous shade. I used it on this furniture, too.

I did extra antiquing in the bevels and corners. I tried to make a video on my phone for you guys, to show you how I do this (lots of people seem to be interested, so I thought it would be helpful!), but apparently I can't figure out how to upload it. Geez! I can't get it off my phone. If I figure it out, I'll post it. Anyway, we loved how the antiquing highlights the pretty, feminine woodwork on this piece. It's so much girlier now!

See how the scrollwork and the cross sections on the doors stand out so much more now? Not to mention, how nice they look with the blue interior...

and while I'm talking about the blue interior, check this out:

I think it's such a fun surprise when you open the desk. I loved that she wanted to do the interior a different color.

I imagine a cute little desk stool, reupholstered in a pretty fabric sitting in front of this! And a cute little glass vase of peonies sitting on the desk, Domino-mag-style - don't you?

Soft Side Table

2011-09-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

Check out this little side table makeover I completed last week:

After:

I got this look by doing a white/gray wash on the table, along with a little brown glaze. I then topped it all off with a wax finish...very Restoration Hardware, no?

"washes" are obviously paint mixed into water, which you "wash" onto a piece, instead of brushing or rolling on. My trick to a great wash is to add glaze to the mixture, too, to keep the wash from being too watery, or from bubbling. If you use JUST water and paint, sometimes when you go back to the piece, you'll see little water spots, or funky areas where the water pushed away from the surface - and that's not good! The glaze helps it stick.

Dresser Refresher

2011-09-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Just wanted to share with you some photos of a dresser that I painted last week. It was in the same nursery as this piece:

So, I painted the dresser (another Craigslist find, on my client's part) the same grey-white (hand-mixed color, not store-bought), and distressed the edges. It kept unity in the two pieces, but the different finish kept them from being too "matchy-matchy":

detail shot:

the distressing was a bit of a challenge, because in between the wood layer, and the primer layer, the dresser was purple! So, I had to cover the purple up with paint...weird!

Initial.

2011-09-09T04:04:00.000-07:00

a little personalization goes a long way, no? I added an "A" to little Mr. Andrew's Ikea chair the other day, and I think his friend the sock monkey approves.

Restored Dresser

2011-09-08T03:39:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days, I've spent time working on this dresser makeover. My client was redecorating her son's room, and inspired by lots of Restoration Hardware pieces. This is what it looked like before:

it was yellow, and VERY chipped and damaged, but had great lines. She bought it on Craigslist.

Here is what I did with it:

I painted it a hand-mixed color (meaning it's not a store-bought one, so it doesn't have a name!) that I am calling "Bone White," because my client and I determined that it can look any number of colors, depending on the light and what is against it...white, gray, ivory, etc. I was really happy with the color outcome. I painted this piece and another piece (which I will show you soon) the same color, and did two different finishes on each one. I'm really happy with how the color reads against the wall. In real life, it is not the exact same as the wall, but does look complementary with it. As you guys probably know, paint colors can read as yellower/greener/grayer/bluer when they are actually ON a piece, versus in the paint store, so sometimes neutrals are hard to pick.

After I painted it my hand-mixed bone white, I did some glazing on it. I love the character it gives it - reminds the viewer that it is an old piece, with soul, versus a brand new piece of furniture.

detail shot of the glazing, which is probably the most accurate-to-life photo of the finish:

You may have noticed the bird on the dresser...the room has a bit of a loose animal theme, so I also painted a dusty-blue bird perched on the door:

Matching Job

2011-09-07T04:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I took on this faux-paint matching job. My clients bought this beautiful home, and the trim was painted in a way that didn't "read" very well. The trim all around the room, including the trim that was right above the kitchen cabinets, was painted brown. It really broke up the height of the beautiful cabinets, and interrupted the look.

My client had the trim above the cabinets primed, and I came in to match the previous homeowners' faux painting job (of the kitchen cabinets).

Here's what the cabinets looked like before I came in:

See the top, where the primer coat is? I came in and matched the faux painting job that is on the cabinets. It's a buttery yellow, with a brown antiquing.

ta da!

pretty matchy, right? I matched the yellow paint, then glazed it.

you can imagine where having that trim painted brown would really break up the look of the pretty ceiling-height cabinetry.

Another Fixer Upper

2011-09-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

Last week, I did a little work on 2 little trunks that had seen better days. The quality was nice, as was the shape, but wooden stain was dull, and there were lots of nicks and scratches. I came in and just fixed them up (there were 2, but I'm only showing one here).

here is what they looked like before:

see the edges?

Here is what they looked like when I was finished:

magic! ;)