Showing posts with label painting techniques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label painting techniques. Show all posts

Distressed Country Table





I’m very excited to show you this Distressed Country Table, my design for our kitchen table.  The boards were originally being created for a long table to be put on trestles (saw horses) that I want to wholesale to stores in my area and have my clients be able to order it in any size they want. When I put the stucco on the boards it flaked off after about a month.  Big disappointment, now I’m working with kiln dried wood and we will see if that works better.

Painted Stucco Box -DIY




 Distressing a Box with Stucco Paint and Wax –DIY.

Today I want to try to explain this Do It Yourself project as simple as possible..  This process is not simple, but if you take it in parts, it isn’t hard to complete.  It is a process I invented (although I understand nothing is new) Elvis Costello sings “there is not such thing as an original sin.”  You get my point?

DIY - Subtle Blue Sky Wall



Before I get into the post I wanted to tell EVERYONE that my Painting Techniques for Wall, Art and Furniture is now available for anyone truly inspired to up their game and skill level for painting.



I've been painting a brick and beam ceiling white, the work is grueling but the effect is uplifting.

For years here in Umbria I have wanted to paint these Umbrian ceilings white.  I find some of the rooms dark and heavy.  Other clients in the past have wanted me to do it too, but the project is messy, costly (pure labor and lots of paint) and time consuming.  It is hard to live in the space when the ceiling is being painted.  This is the practical part of the work.  If in fact you have a new space to paint I would suggest renting a spraying machine and spraying all the wood and brick, then you could paint the walls with roller or brush. The whitening finished effect is just stunning, to me it looks so much more Northern European.

Living in Umbria, Italy/Mixed Styled Chairs





I’m excited to show you the house of my friends and clients Jessica and Filippo here in Umbria, Italy.  I love their home because they integrate all the important elements to make a home alive and full of love, amazing food (lots of parties) books galore, art all over the walls, music hard rock, rap, jazz and classical and Filippo and their twin daughters all play musical instruments.   

The Perfect Blue Door


First off I would like to preemptively apologize for not showing you the inside of this barn.  Believe me I would like to see the interior.  I'm just "stalking" this art studio.  I don't know the people who own it, use it (rarely) or live here.  I visit it often and dream of how amazing it would be to have it as a place to paint furniture and do all my projects.  I love this space because the blue door is perfection.  Perfection as a design choice is rare to find, simple and decisive, this point just thrills me.


Here are my other points of inspiration.

A Still Life of Flowers




The Simple Life
Decorating

I’m quite infatuated with the trend of massive amounts of flowers displayed in a still life with many framed paintings of flowers shown behind.  To me, it evokes a past era when people studied and painted flowers.

“If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.”

-Edward Hopper

Painting on Leaves - Inspiration for the Table



Happy Easter Weekend!

I have seen someone paint on dried leaves in Italy very intricately and just gorgeous.  Today I thought it would be inspirational to show how I painted on these fresh citrus leaves very simply, to use as a little touch of creativity for your table setting or just as a vase of leaves and bloosoms.

Small Spaces





The Simple Life

Now since we live in our little California cottage I need to force myself to think small and organized.  The days of rambling around our huge Gothic Italian apartment are gone. Guests used to actually get lost and not find the way out.  There were a lot of doors!

I like to play with scale and so I set up this pretty scene just for YOU.

A little chest of drawers, a silly tiny ice cream swirl chair and a bunch of flowers.

A big rosemary topiary.

Painting Furniture




Happy Weekend Everyone

For Inspiration

Today I’ll show you some of the furniture I have been painting.

I always want to keep all the pieces for myself.  This is silly because it is supposed to be my job not a hobby, but it is like they are my babies.  This little five drawer dresser I really could have put anywhere in our cottage here in the wine country.  It would have even fit up on my loft bed right below the eves.

Bohemian Loft




Here is the loft I finished painting a while back.  Everyone who walked into this space wanted to move in.  I called this loft the House of Doors.  There are five doors exiting the bottom of the loft and no inner doors at all, except one going to the bathroom.  All the doors lead to the huge garden and courtyard area.  To me this is a Bohemian Loft because of the mix of elements in the design and also because I know the people who own it will fill it with books, art, wine and unmade beds.  The Bohemian life we all want.

Credenza and Table





Today as promised I’m going to show you the last job I did in Italy.  The last job before I left.  There will still be other jobs in Italy in the future, “Salve Italia”.

I hope this will be inspiring.  As you know I love grey, this was a taupe-grey.  Here I did the credenza a shade lighter than the table.  Distressed both the pieces.  Then on the table I sanded the edges irregularly and added bronze.

Painted Ceiling in Perugia





Here is the café at the train station in Perugia, Italy.

The ceiling is fantastic!

I also love the crumbling effect on the walls painted over in deep rich red.  I can see having a loft space with the walls aged in this manner.

A Little Shabby Chic and French Provincial



Happy Friday it is almost the weekend.

Today I’m just showing an after and before photo. 

I fell in love with this piece the moment I saw it.  I like the curved legs and curved door, plus a corner piece is always lovely.

Antiquing and Distressing Furniture




For a long time I have wanted to paint a piece that was painted brown underneath and then creamy white on top.

A while back I found a beautiful antique dresser that was already painted a good chocolate brown.

Wall of Furniture




I love the idea of furniture or living in design being alternative, day dreamy or fantastical.  I believe that if our eyes are intrigued, our minds expand.

I took a class in University called Architecture Futures.  I was so in awe of the professor that I hard time speaking to him (I think my eyes watered or my face became blotchy, some bad action) he was splendidly smart and interesting to listen to, he believed that in the future our rooms and interiors would be made out of water in an organic way. 

Inspirations in Grey




I'm sorry my readers I disappeared for about 10 days there.  Life gets complicated sometimes...no?

Today I want to post up some inspiration in Grey.  I love grey as a neutral color.  Here in my home I have grey and taupe checker board painted floor and a grey and white kitchen and a dark taupe colored floor in my bedroom.  I love how grey looks with color and how it absorbs color.

So I’m going to show you some inspirational photos with uses of grey.

Chalk Paint Recipe





I promised I would post up the recipe I did for painting this little shelf cornflower blue. 

I do love chalk paint because it so easily adheres to old furniture.

Red White and Blue Interior Scenes

Happy Fourth of July




In America it is our independence day.  It is also my mother and Louis Armstrong's birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom!  My mom is as cool as Loui.  I know that is hard to be, she is creative and artistic and very funny.  She does not sing anything like Loui.

I came up with the great idea to post up some photos for The Fourth of some scenes I took of Red White and Blue.

Aged Mocha-Black Armoire




Before we begin with the how to paint an Aged Mocha-Black Armoire, anyone interesting in my online painting class can click the ad below.  Come join us in this intensive, uplifting, inspiring painting techniques course.




Hello my darlings!

I must confess that it torments me to post badly lit photos and not styled.  But I really wanted to show you this armoire because in real life it came out just gorgeous.


It was simple to paint.