Showing posts with label faux finishes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faux finishes. 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?

Exciting News!

www.settedesignshop.com
Hi everyone!


I have really exciting news.  I have been working on a secret for a long time.  I have wanted to tell you all and have held back waiting for the right moment.

Pretty Festive Photos




I’m feeling excited for the festivities and to be home in America for Thanksgiving, everyone is heading out to the beach house, the whole big family together.

I have been working so hard and just finished painting an apartment in San Francisco.  Soon I’m going to show you all the amazing houses in the neighborhood I was working in, each one looking like a jewel.  

Charcoal-Grey Painted Dresser and a Bunya Cone






Here we go another week beginning.  At least it is starting to act a little Autumnal here in the Wine Country.  A few leaves have fallen.  The valley looks amazing with vivid green vineyards, ochre and yellow and golden light spotted with the shadows of the deep clouds above.

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 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.

How To Grow Rosemary Topiaries




Hello EVERYONE

Yes I did tint the colors on the photo above, did I get your attention?

I have been working on this project for so long and I have been excited to show you.  Why, because it is easy and simple and so pretty. This is what we just love here at Sette Design.

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.

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.

Lavender in Umbria, Italy




The Simple Life

Just a few words today.
Lavender lavender lavender,
Umbria not Provence,
A whole heap of lavender.
The smell is so pungent it almost knocks you over when you walk in our door.

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.

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.

How to: Play with Glass Paint and Silver Leaf



I’m supposed to be working on my Painting E-Course and finishing up this gorgeous gray and silver table but instead I played hooky.  Hooky is what we call it in California you don’t go to school and instead go to the beach or to a café.   Of course, one can play hooky and not go to work also.  This Diario di Design is kind of like always playing hooky for me.

So I played hooky because I became inspired to do a vignette of tarnished silver and painted glass, then I thought it would be fun to just add silver leaf to encourage more reflection. 

7 Ideas To Make Your Home Pretty



    1.  Open your windows. 

      This is a very Italian action.  Italians love to air out their homes, even in the dead of winter, windows are always opened.  The extended light will make your home glow.

     2.  Cover your couch or a big chair with fresh white linens.


It is amazing how this will lighten up the room.  If you don’t have anything big enough you can use a curtain or sheets taped together in the back.

Shabby Chic Bed, Breakfast Crate



I’m going to keep it to few words today (do you believe me?), let the photos speak for themselves.

I do want to show you my Painting Techniques Course.  SOOOOO Fun.




I’ve been working hard and waking up early is painful and awesome I must say.  I am getting so much done, life feels blissful and full of hope.

Here is a bed I did in Shabby Chic distressed mode.  A good tutorial I did you can see just Click Here.  This tutorial of mine is crazy famous on Pinterest, it shows how obsessed people are with Shabby Chic. I used the same process only a different white.

Painting a Chair - Modern



I forgot to mention in my last post, not only am I giving a Painting Class in Umbria, Italy, but I am also creating an E-Course on Painting Techniques for Furniture, Walls and Art that can be sent to you where ever, you are in the world.  It will consist of little films, photographs and writing.  I think it is going to be pretty cool.  All I want to do is have fun and encourage others to have fun too.

I’m working hard on the E-Course, but it isn’t done yet, soon I hope.  In the mean while I am still have to work and be a Mama and right now, as I write to you in my peripheral view there is a couch full of clean laundry to fold.  The mound is getting bigger it might be a mountain soon and the volcanic type.  The Italians are freaker’s for ironed clothes.  I can’t get to folding let alone ironing.  They actually iron underwear.  Freakers I tell you.  To all my Italian readers, you look gorgeous, I know.

Paint Class in Umbria, Italy



Today I am complete thrilled and enthralled with two things. The first is last night we moved our clocks ahead one hour Daylight Savings Time has begun.  Yahhhhh!  You know what the means one hour more to paint in good light and one our more to sit in outdoor cafes.

The second thing is I have finally organized my Painting Class in Umbria (click here).  It is going to be such fun.  You can read all about it above this post, below the Sette Design sign there is a section titled Painting Class in Umbria click on it.