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 design ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design ideas. Show all posts
San Francisco Colored Houses
Recently I finished painting an
apartment in San Francisco. It is
a space I have worked on before, twice actually traveled from Italy to work on the interior. Every time I return to the
neighborhood of Pacific Heights, I find myself in dreamland, architectural
wonder, full on cloud nine o.k. ! It
is amazing. On the top of the hill with views of the Bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate
Bridge. Then I fall in love with
every single house. Watch and see if
you don’t do the same.
Inspirations in Grey
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.
An Ancient Wall
The Simple Life
I found a spot in the sun on a wall to sit and write and
think for a moment. A friend came
by and as usual he offered a bit of interesting information. He said did you know that wall,
pointing to the wall I was leaning against was build in the 1500’s.
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!
Joy- Gioia
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| Joy -Gioia in the new year 2014 |
Oh ragazzi
Happy New Year
Buon Anno!
Joy - Gioia
This is going to be a year of astonishing joy.
and 2014 =7
I hope you will keep coming back to this little Diario di Design because there will be lots of joy around here, because of you and because we bring it around the world.
Cheers,
With affection,
Natalie
I love Christmas in Italy
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| Il Vischio- Mistletoe |
I love Christmas in Italy.
Today is the day after the
Winter Solstice, from now on in our hemisphere the days are getting longer,
brighter.
I think this will be our tenth
Christmas in Italy and I must say I love it.
Alfredo my park ranger boyfriend
found Mistletoe (Il Vischio) in the forest and brought it home to me. If he had hung it in our short Medieval
doorways we would have to crawl under it. Now we have a chair for kissing under. Italians believe it brings good
fortune.
It rarely snows in our valley in
Umbria, as it does in the mountains around us. We always are hoping for snow.
Hope brings joy.
A foggy Christmas is lovely too.
It makes everything blurry and
the colors soft and bright.
Here is proof we really do live
the simple life. Just bliss
pushing the tree home on the bike with gloves on and sucking on candy
canes. Ellie my little one refused
to let them rope it up, as they like to do here in Italy.
Since our living room is my
paint studio this means the Christmas tree is in my bedroom. It’s pretty
fantastic to snuggle in bed with the Christmas tree a glow.
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| Christmas in Umbria |
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| I saved a baby sock from when Lucia was a baby |
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| some of our ornaments are from my childhood MANY years ago they are antique now! |
I recommend it.
This year we had a party with
Elisa and her-ten-year old girlfriends.
They made cookies with mashed up candy canes inside. The hammering part was fun!
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| mashed candy canes and dough from a chocolate chip cookie recipe -YUMMM |
Pink roses and a red candle.
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| crazy yellow ring on the candle |
The girls seem to check on an hourly basis to see if more presents are put under the tree.
Art in progress, books to read,
cyclamen and vintage Christmas balls.
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| art in progress |
I hope you are all happy and warm and savoring every moment.
Cheers,
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,
California Coast
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| long hallway with five tiny bedrooms on the sides |
This San Francisco girl living in Umbria has made it home with her girls and we are lavishing every moment here on the California coast.
Oh how I love the smell of the Pacific Ocean, the twinkling orange lights of San Francisco.
I have so much already that I want to share with you, but I am limping along with other's computers, as mine is having problems, it makes it hard to work and to write. So if I disappear for a while you will know that I am unable technically to handle much, but also we are enjoying the much needed time with friends and family.
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| this is not our house, I do love the faded hydrandea |
I hear that it is snowing in Umbria. Life on the California coast is supreme, people in the sand, in the shower, chatting on the deck, the hills settling into water, American coffee, something cooking, the holidays are brewing. I am excited and filled with gratitude just to be home and breathing in the air.
I am also so thankful for all of you, my friends and readers around the world. I want to inspire you all to slow down and savor the moments that bring you joy and peace. To keep your creativity going, and take time to relish in it.
To those in America Happy Thanksgiving and to everyone else I wish you tranquility and happiness.
Simple as that, embrace it.
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| how cool is this house, I couldn't find this in Umbria cheers! |
Natalie
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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How To Paint French Provincial Style
I love the French Provincial look because to me it is
timeless and easy to do. It is a
bit time consuming but this is the game with painting furniture. The key is to just bring it a long
slowly and do other work or have fun in between.
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| french provincial style painted furniture |
I like this French Provincial style mixed with modern bright
pieces, colorful upholstered furniture.
It also looks good with bare Swedish furniture and Shabby Chic American
type furniture. Mix it up, you
can’t go wrong.
I have also done this look with a very architectural armoire
with finials and arches, in gray with black dry brush and it looked gorgeous.
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| admit it this was just GROSS before |
Here I choose a really creamy vanilla color as the base
color.
I sanded the piece some.
I painted it with a base coat of white 1 or 2 times, only
because I didn’t have tons of the creamy color, you go straight to painting
without the base coat if you want.
Then I painted the creamy white color another 2 times.
This piece actually has a glass cabinet that I painted too
and left out of the photos because I like the piece better just a credenza.
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| here's what it looks like with just cream colored paint |
Once all the coats had dried I went over the piece with a
dry brush of raw umber oil color.
A tiny tube I bought at the art store. I mixed this dark color with turpentine and brushed it on a
separate piece of wood (or cardboard) anything to take off the excess of the oil
paint to make the paint sparse.
You can also add a drying medium to this mixture to make the oil paint
dry faster. Oil paint usually
takes about 4 days to dry.
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| oil color even over the key and hardware |
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| I paint with the dry brush only on the moldings and detailing and slightly over the top |
If you want you can add a clear coat of polyurethane over it all to protect it, but it does make
the look a little less antique. I would wait 4 or 5 days for the oil paint to dry.
If this was going to be mine and not going to a client I
would love to save it for my future loft.
I could cut two holes in the top and turn it into a double basined
bathroom sink. Put some curved
silver
faucets. It would be so
pretty with all the fluffy towels stacked on the shelves below.
I just love what a drastic change this look can accomplish.
Cheers,
Natalie
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