A Simple Pearl Finish







pink and taupe


In the previous post I said I didn't like yellow and thus I have already offended one good friend who has a yellow in her apartment.  Now I'm going to cram my foot in my mouth and say, "If you are blond you really should not have a yellow apartment."  It's redundant.  If you haven't painted your home in 1200 years it is time to think about a change.  Shake it up!  Then watch how much better your life gets and how good you feel.  I have another client and friend here in Italy who has an all white house, shades of cream, gray-white wood floors, painted metallic gray banister.  She has long black hair and dark eyes and it looks great for her style.  If I had an all white house, you might not be able to find me.  I would blend into the walls.  Just imagine what I would look like in the morning before my cup of coffee.  Ah! vanity, Italian woman believe that a healthy dose of vanity reflects confidence, it is a necessary part of presenting ourselves to society.

I now will back pedal a tiny bit and say.  I like vanilla or butter as a color on walls.  I did a Venetian stucco wall in a loft in NYC and it was so warm and soft, the other walls were exposed brick.  Ochre is completely "della MOda" in style for this season.



Pearl Finish


sand colored door with shadow and pearl accent


Just to keep you yellow freakers happy I'll show you this pretty sand colored door.  This was such a fun project to do because the door was nothing special, yet I think it came out pretty.  I painted it this pale sand color, then I put some of the sand colored paint in a separate container and I mixed in a tiny bit of black tint (any black paint will do if you don't have tint), just do a small amount, because you can always add more.  I got a gradation of gray that seemed just like a shadow.  I marked off the door with a ruler and pencil for the shadow.  Then I hand painted over it.  If the line comes out imperfect, all the better.  Then I added the pearl on the tiny detail of the frame.  If it had been my door I would have painted the door handle pearl too! I get my pearl paint in a tube or jar of acrylic from the art store usually it is called platinum white.



garden chair with a pearl finish



I found this chair at our outdoor market, it was so ugly and rusted to a brown-white color.  I loved it right away because I felt like all my life I had been drawing versions of this curvy garden chair.  Plus with the legs bent out of place it looked like it was ready to start walking (she had places to go!). The first thing I did was go to the hardware store and I got new rubber feet that fit over the legs.  Then I mixed some pale blue metal paint with a little bit of red till I came up with this lovely cornflower blue.  Once it dried for a couple of days I put a touch of pearl acrylic paint over it irregularly to high light the curves.



detail of pearl finish



Isn't she pretty?


Have a great weekend everyone!

Natalie

I'm linking to:

Miss Mustard Seed
Romantic Home









Some good Italian colors






I am now going to jump right into some fun color combinations, just to spice it up and show how I love color.

Think about these colors for interiors or for furniture since we don’t all live in Italy where it is acceptable to go crazy with color (at least on exteriors).  Right now in design the colors for interiors are tranquil, grays, whites, whipped cream, and taupe.



Here is one of my favorite buildings.  When I first moved here almost 10 year ago they had just painted this building these colors.  I was happy to walk past this palazzo, it would make my heart sing.  I think it still looks good all these years later.  I am not a person that loves yellow, but shown here as columns and with the grey window frames I think it works well.



Any shade of blue is always gorgeous.  Don’t you agree?




Taupe and celadon just looks so hip to me.





This color I don’t even know what to call it.  It is a rich sand color, sand as seen with tinted sunglasses.  I won’t call it yellow,  just to be stubborn.  The grey shutters and off white window frames look fantastic as accents.

What colors inspire you? I sometimes feel like I have been gravitating toward greens and blues for 20 years.  Recently I am enthralled with fuchsia or rich pink. It looks so good with dark taupe or chocolate brown.

 Natalie

White


Sette Design 



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   





I was rushing to school on bikes with my younger daughter this morning, over pavement and cobblestones, through traffic and yelling teenagers, commotion in abundance.  Then I looked up and through a narrow space of tall buildings I caught a shocking sight of snow on the mountains!  It looked like a dusting of powdered sugar, over dark blue land.  Our first snowfall of the season, my heart pounded.  "It snowed!" 

Later riding over the same streets in return from the school drop off I thought, it is time to get the courage up to start your blog.  So here I am a California girl living in a Gothic palazzo in Umbria with my two daughters and painting furniture and interiors.  I am obsessed with color, yet I want to begin this journal with the inspiration of snow and the color white.  White is a beginning, a necessary start.  It is pure and fresh and neutral.  As a background it makes all colors true, put inside of color it pops.  White is forever moving and changing, taking the reflection of other colors, absorbing the light of the day.




Some find white peaceful, others feel too much of it might drive them crazy.  What do you feel about white and white rooms?  Does it feel like a beginning? Or perfection attained.

Now lastly, I will leave you with some white doors, opening to who knows where…  Yet certainly these doors are opening to something splendid.




I hope you will follow along because we are going to have fun!