Serious Fixer- Upper and Villa Dreaming

villa in Umbria

Here goes Nat again dreaming of a Fixer-Upper.  I don’t really want this house because if it were mine I would have to become a soccer Mom.  One of those Moms that has to drive the kids to all parts of the world.  I’m much better on my bike for the quick drop off.

But wait... there is so much potential in this house and it wants to be loved.   Dream along with me just for the moment … because it is SUMMER and summer is for dreaming.

potential like crazy

In the garden I would have a ladder garden with Morning Glories, and Sweet Peas, climbing all over seven ladders painted in shades of blue and purple.  Then in the winter it would just be the structures.  A simple stone maze laid out on the ground in a design of river stones and Lobelia.  In the center of the maze there would be a French set of curvy metal garden chairs and a table to have a cappuccino or 2.

Inside – oh my I always had the dream to have different rooms designated for different activities.  There would be a studio for me (certainly with southern access light) a music, art and study room for the girls.  We would have two guest rooms for the endless flow of guests and family.  There would be a movie room.  There would be a library room with wall to wall books and a cozy couch and big chair in velvet and linen slip covers for the summer and spring.  The kitchen would be intimate enough to hang out in and bake all the time.

pink, gray. red- what color is it?

Elisa would get a puppy.

I might even have a small room with lock and key with gorgeous painted walls in motif and some splendid photographs in black and white.  Then at times I would go in that room with a cup of something steamy hot or icy cold and I would sit in the a big chair and stare at the walls and photographs and then when I came back out I would be recharged and ready to kick it!!  The girls would say yah we have a new Mama and Alfredo might even at times beg me to go to the lock and key room.  He would say “dai solo dieci mininuti vai!”

or is this villa orange?

wine cellar or work shop or
retail shop filled with gorgeous furniture?

The walls I would do in hot colors, oranges, pinks, kiwi greens, shades of blue, Venetian stucco with motif, gold leaf, tinted waxes, pearl and bronze, rich brown.  Then there would also be a section of the house that was white and grey for a simple refreshing contrast.  I would go crazy painting and restoring the old doors.

for sitting under the rain

The terrace would be crawling with Bougainvilleas and Hydrangeas in vases.  I would have parties where we served cocktails or mulled wine or even just hot tea.

color inspiration red-orange with ochre and pink

here's a lesion for you shabby chic freakers study up!

Then I would have enough money so that once a week a little team of MEN would come and clean the whole house in two hours flat “in out no one gets hurt”.

hangin out on the steps..  wait are we in Brooklyn?

If you had a fixer-upper what strange dreamy space would you create?  I give you permission to think out of the box, because it is SUMMERTIME.

dreaming

With affection

Natalie

Italian Flower Festival

La Infiorata

Oh do I have something special for you today.  It is one of my favorite things about living in Umbria, Italy.  I get to go to the Flower Festival in Spello La Infiorata.  Every year I force my girls (although they love it) to wake up early about 5:30 a.m and we meet up with friends, get on our bikes and bike to Spello for the festival, this way we beat the heat and the crowds.  The people who do the actual laying down of the flowers stay up all night working with tents over the designs so they don’t blow away.  They party into the night, this in Italy means drinking lots of coffee maybe a glass of wine and hanging with friends.

These designs are laid down with templates, they have wooden boards that cross over like little bridges, to work in the middle and they have misters to wet down the designs.  The flowers are picked locally and some are dried and some are fresh and then separated into bins of color.  There are lots of teenagers involved and team spirit is paramount.

Spello Flower Festival

Isn’t it just amazing that all this is done with flowers, the perspective, design, thought, creativity and profuse color is expansive and mind-boggling.

I just love the simple designs best.  They bring me such a sense of peace and joy that is hard to convey here in words.

the simple life

tree of life

I think it is a great idea to take this flower festival idea and bring it to your home for a party.  Think what a splendid impact it could make at a cocktail party, flowers and colored drinks in the back yard.  Spread out in the driveway for a child’s birthday party, a wedding or graduation party.

simple they are so pretty you can't do it wrong

flower hearts

Doing the simple designs could be as easy as collecting shapes from around the house, then outline the objects in chalk and fill them in with fresh petals.  Think about using buckets, kitchen plates for circles, even little baby clothing outlined for a shower could be adorable, irregular hearts and stars.  Have the kids draw the forms and fill them in.  It would even be fun to have a summer party where everyone does it together.

Cheers and love around the world from Umbria.

a view from Spell, Umbria

Natalie

I'm linking with:
Between Naps on the Porch

French Country Cottage

Romantic Home

Chalk Painted Chest

chalk painted chest

Hello everyone!  I disappeared because my computer stopped working or letting me work.  Having a Macintosh computer in Italy is like… well it is like being a barefoot California girl in cut-off Levis, when everyone else is in 3-inch heels and has straightened hair.  The fight between Mac and PC, it’s going on over here too, isn’t that insane except no one has Mac unless it is a phone.

I learned something fun recently from a very lovely stylish client of mine who owns one of my favorite café’s in town.  She taught me, you can just buy the metal bolts that go on to furniture in stripes.  This is what they look like.

distressed faux finish

Nailhead Trim

Then you just line up the stripe and hammer in a bolt every 5^th bolt and thus pinning the stripe down.  It makes me think there are so many other projects I could use these for, upholstering a chair, making numbers on a door inside or out, one big SEVEN for example could be way cool, because seven is hip.  Man, I think they would be fun to do on a wall also.  Does anyone out there know what these bolts are really called in English, it isn’t rivet is it? (the answer seems to be nailhead trim)

Here’s what the chest looked like before.  I made my own chalk paint by adding powdered stucco sifted into a small bucket of taupe colored flat paint. I used about two tablespoons of stucco and mixed it really well.  It thickened up very quickly so I am thinking that the Plaster of Paris homemade chalk paint recipe might work better.  I haven’t found Plaster of Paris over here in Italy yet.

the before shot

The good thing about Chalk Paint is it covers everything and it was easy to sponge off in areas to antique the chest and let the wood come through.  After it was painted I wiped over it with a hard dried out sponge to make the surfaces smooth.

The ball gown was one of my mother’s that she wore when she was 18.  It has a twelve ft. long satin shall that goes with it.  When I was young I used to put it on and stand over the kitchen heater that was on the floor and blew up warm air, the gown became huge like a hoop skirt.  I am slowly doing a photo essay of photographing all the girls in the family in this dress.  It is quite lovely.

chalk paint and satin gotta love it!

Cheers,

Natalie

I'm linking with:

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com

French Country Cottage

Romantic Home

Miss Mustard Seed

Between Naps on the Porch

Painted Shoe Boxes - 7th Day of Spring

gray painted shoe boxes

Happy 7^th Day of Spring

I was too crazy painting a retail store last week to post a celebration.  The 7^th Day of Spring because this is Sette Design, 7 because there are 7 colors in the rainbow and because 7 is way cool.  Later I’ll show you the store because it came out quite modern and rich.

Elisa's little hand full of spring

All of you who do not want to do any Spring cleaning, (that's me!).  Here is a fun idea.  Paint shoe boxes instead and organize something in your life.  It is that simple to feel that you are reaching a little closer to spring.

Here is the before photo.

all the different colors make the boxes look cluttered

To me it didn’t matter what size they were I just wanted the shoe boxes all the same color, so that they would look more like a group. I picked gray because I like it as a neutral, it makes color pop.  I painted a basket the same color too.

One had a gold lid that I liked so I let the gold show a bit.

uniformity makes good design

i let the brushstroke show

Color or pattern can look good peaking through, if you paint the boxes lightly or patchy in some areas. I use one coat in some spots, 2 in others.   A clear coat of polyurethane and they will last longer under use.

and happy Easter too!

Happy 7^th Day of Spring chile beans!

Natalie

I'm linking to these link parties:

French Country Cottage

Romantic Home
Creations By Kara
The Shabby Creek Cottage

Silver Leaf Doors

Italian school house doors

Note to Design Freakers: Anyone interested in a fabulous Online Painting Techniques Course for Interiors, Art and Furniture.  Check out the link/Image below.

I have this dream that I would one day have a loft and then put old Italian exteriors doors in the interior of the space.  I would silver or gold leaf them and they would be brilliant, and of course hip beyond belief.

here's a detail shot, you can see a little of the brown antiquing 

This summer while working painting a villa I got my doors, because the clients had to change the front door while putting in an alarm system.  They are just gorgeous I wish I could put my finger on the photos.  The  doors are huge, with panels carved in, heavy and wood and they even have the letter slot that says "lettere" on it.  They are now in storage.  The day I got them, I went to my favorite cafe where a girlfriend works and I told her my dream and I joked I don't have the loft but I have the doors.

I love what an improvement painting hardware can be

Then autumn rolled around and I started working on another villa, that was once a school house up in the hills of Assisi.  These clients were very cool, Italian - Canadians who work in film, and the school house already had a loft built into it, plus the exterior doors inside, man isn't life weird that way.  So instead of becoming very jealous I just decided that I would get them to do the Silver Leaf Doors.  We ended up doing the inner front doors, which is not the pretty set of doors that goes to the loft room, yet they are a focal point for the house and entrance.

the before shot

Here is a before shot.

I liked the animal scratches it gives it a past

For this process, first I painted it gray so if it wears off in time it will just look aged.  Then I silver leafed the door.  Then I put a dry brush of raw umber (dark brown) oil paint over the whole thing to tone it down and antique it.  I left all the imperfections and even animal scratching in the wood because I liked the texture.  I painted all the hardware with metal paint in an industrial silver.

What do you think?  I just love it.  The clients love it too, they actually in the spring want me to change the panels to copper leaf to go more with the brick floor.  Maybe I should even do the oil paint dry brush effect in a brick-red color over the copper.  I always have the main goal to make the clients happy, and sometimes I get to test some of my dreams in the meantime.

so pretty

Natalie

Check out these parties I'm linking to:

Between Naps On The Porch
Mod Vintage Life
French Country Cottage
Redoux Interiors
Savvy Southern Style