It is a rainy day somewhere in
the world, now since you don’t really know for sure if I am in Umbria or
California today we are NOT going to play a little game, NOR are we going to
take a test. I don’t like to do
either of the above, in fact my friends and family think I should begin to like
to play games. I would rather read
a book or go for a run, than play a game.
Design Diary- Painting Techniques- The Simple Life in California and Umbria, Italy
Showing posts with label Color. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Color. Show all posts
Charcoal-Grey Painted Dresser and a Bunya Cone
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.
A New Year 2015
I can hear the train whistling
in the distance.
I’m drinking a Ruby Red Grapefruit Margarita
Why because I’m in Cali not
Italy, it is still so shocking.
It was 68 degrees today- unprecedented!
The sky was deep blue, now it is
black.
At night I look up in the sky
and there are so many stars I know I’m home and this is my big sky.
I’m sorry I disappeared for a
bit there I took an unannounced hiatus.
I did just move across the world. There may be more hiatuses to come.
I’m back now and I want to wish
you
Happy New Year.
Big News
Painting a Restaurant - Distressing Walls
Here are the finished shots of the restaurant I have been working on in the center of our city, Foligno, Italy.
Everyone was thrilled with the the final look, rustic, distressed, aged walls and two smooth plum colored back walls, which gave a nice accent.
The Magic of Spello
The Simple Life
Here in Umbria if you don’t like
the weather wait 20 minutes.
That’s what they say I think in the Northeast of America too. We do not say that in California, so it
pisses me off. I’m always getting
fooled.
This week in Umbria Spring has
sprung with glorious green fields and pink and white budding fruit trees,
Mimosa galore puffy and brilliant, shocking yellow. The birds are going crazy, chatting away, they have so much
to sing about. We all have so much
to sing about!
A Simple Valentines Idea
Valentines is just around the
corner. I love to make valentines
for the ones I love. In America it can be a message of love for anyone who might be important to you. In Italy Valentines is viewed as something
you do just for the “one” you love, not your mother or child or best friend.
Letters of Love - Good Design
The simple life
I’m a bit of a romantic. You may have figured that out by
now. When I went back home to
California recently I decided that I wanted part of my heart to be in Cali (silly
since a big chuck of it is always there). I brought back a bag of letters
of love. When I put them all together
in a big heap, it struck me how beautiful they were, what good design. How
maybe the art of writing letters is being lost. Will my daughters find themselves at some point with a heap
of letters of love? I hope so.
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| traveling with love |
I say letters of love because
these letters were letters that girl friends had written to me, my brother when
he traveled the world for two years, my sister when she was away at University,
my parents. There were a few love
letters from boys and men of my past.
In this travel bag there were also letters I had written. These letters were brought back to me
after a best friend committed suicide. Her sister brought my letters back to me! My own letters saved me and made me
sure I had shown this friend I loved her.
My own words of love gave me the strength to carry on. Isn’t that gorgeous how the past can
come back and help us in our present journey.
I’m writing this now not to
bring you all down, but to encourage you to write a letter, just one letter to
someone you love, hand write it, stamp it and mail it with a kiss on top.
It might just be the best
present you give this year.
With affection,
Styling Empty Frames
It is going to be a gorgeous day
here in Umbria. I’m silly about
the weather and think about it way too much. When I was young I wanted to be a meteorologist. I’m really glad I changed my mind. I have one friend who thinks what
you wanted to be as a child does reflect who you become. He says, "I should have known I would be
gay when I was always rearranging my bedroom at 8 years old!" He became a photographer.
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| I go crazy for the this pink and gold |
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| if only I could have an armoire or dresser in the same chippy style |
Today I want to do a post
of showing how I love empty picture frames. I have done this for years way before it was in style (hasn’t
it always been in style?). Well
before people used to come into our home and say, “What’s going on?” I would respond, “There you can see the
future”.
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| old antique frame from from the 1700's with little mirrors and chalk drawn on the wall |
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| this is where we leave our keys |
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| cool reflection |
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| and reflecting the painting in front of it. |
Plus I love the massiveness of
empty walls and I believe in lots of good art and beautiful photographs.
This gorgeous little gold frame I brought in Ecuador with the same friend who became a photographer. He was such a jerk, when I said I didn't want to buy it because I would have to carry it all the way home. He said, "You can enjoy it for the rest of your life, or regret it for the rest of your life".
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| gold frame and hand painted walls |
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| painted olives bring peace |
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Sometimes I put this little photo I took of Elisa, she was so tiny then.
To me empty frames are just fun
to play around with.
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| here's in my studio with a inner frame, photo, plus wire, crystal and ripped velvet ball |
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| that's me at 13. I'm glad I didn't become a meteorologist or a ballerina |
Empty frames they may be temporary and on
their way to becoming part of something more important.
Cheers,
Natalie
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Painting Baskets White
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| white baskets |
So this week I got a new washing
machine, oh man did we need one here for a long time, so I felt inspired to get
things ship shape and I spent the weekend in my studio, and cooking and doing
loads of laundry. I still don’t
have a dryer. No one much has a
dryer here (in Italy) and this pisses me off, but there are issues of energy
costs, for me just costs, hook up connection, space bla bla bla. When I die many, many years from now my
sister who may out live me can write on my tombstone “she didn’t have a
dryer”. Anyway this new washing
machine is such a dream that the clothes are almost dry when they are
done. It does sound a bit like an
airplane is taking off. The girls
and I say, “take-off in 3 minutes”.
I want to say I’m just being
silly and I realized that I have readers in for example Brazil and Tanzania and Serbia and
you all might not have a dryer either, but you do have a computer and so here
we all are together loving design and making things pretty.
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| before shot, I didn't ever like the shiny finish |
I took my old big baskets and I
painted them white (satin finish acylic) with a few drops of black universal
tint mixed in to make it a tiny bit gray.
The basket that had a dark stain on it already, I left the darkness
coming through a little, this gives it a nice Shabby Chic effect. The basket that was natural I painted
over completely white.
Here they are in our bathroom.
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| please note no dirty laundry an anomaly |
How cool is our porthole window, with the glimpse of the arch of the bridge.
There you are, now go out and
paint something that can make a big change fast.
Natalie
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