Sky Blue Ceiling

I have started to come to the opinion that painting the ceiling a color is a good way to make a nothing room look really good and a beautiful room look spectacular.  

I have a friend from design school, he is one of those multi talented types.  I am often inspired by his opinion, yet we love to fight about design and color. Years ago he said, “If you paint the walls the same color as the ceiling it makes you feel like you are drowning." I had attached myself to that belief for too long.  Now I feel that color on the ceiling can make the right space feel intimate.

This week I painted a ceiling blue and the walls lavender.  The morning I started the work I dumped all the materials on the job site and then went for a quick cappuccino.  At the cafe when I told my friend and barista I was painting a ceiling sky blue.  She said,” Hai trovato il cielo?”  Have you found the sky?  She was making fun of me, of all of us, sky searchers, dreamers.  I lose sight of my sky on a daily basis, no hourly basis.  Then I get up and reach for that deep blue all over again.  

sky blue ceiling

                                             

love this armoire  

 

The key to painting the ceiling is make sure the ladder is tall enough to not have to paint from beneath the ceiling, instead paint it with your arms stretched out in front of you.  Cut the line and work in. If you can do it with a roller extension from the floor this is good too.  I paint a whole corner and the walls too, then I move the furniture into the corner if possible.  If you don't have the extension to your paintbrush, just tape a brush to the end of a broomstick to do the last touch ups of pinholes of white that pop through, instead of moving the ladder and furniture all over the place. 

late afternoon light makes it moody

sky blue and stars

This is a photo of a alleyway in Sperlunga when I was on vacation in southern Italy, so cool to come across on our evening stroll, made the dark space full of hope.  

notice the layers of blue and irregular stars

Have you found the sky? Are you even trying? Don’t lose sight of the sky. 

Bust it out!

Natalie

WINTER PEARS

Buongiorno

lavender and deep berry red - great color combination

Today I painted a room the color of this plate and the ceiling sky blue.  So far it looks great, it's not done yet.  My morning did not look like this photo.  It was a big rush to get out of the house and then I had all my paint supplies and brushes and everything in my bike basket and hanging off my bike.  It was raining big time, pouring rain.  Why you may ask did I go on my bike?  The piazza where the client has her house is all ripped up and under construction, there would be no way to get there in a car or park.  Our city Foligno is such a mess (the streets are being worked on) that it is really better to go on bike, plus it is more fun.  I can see friends when I am going out and about.

I want to make a simple suggestion today.  Paint a pear, you are sure to have success and to get in touch with the feminine, they are so sensual and beautiful.  If you don't paint, you could eat a pear.  I have a girl friend who makes a yummy dish of cooked pears with melted white chocolate poured on top.  You could also just look at this photo below for a quick moment and realize that we are all just like pears, strange and individual, growing in weird directions, yet the essence of beauty too!

green pears and sage

Keep it in mind, it might make your day easier.

Natalie

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!