Back to the Simple Life, no. 6

 I'm going to try to get back to the simple life.  It is always a cure for me.

I'm going to look for love everywhere and believe that love wins.

hope and blue sky

I'm going to find hope hanging down a wall bright pink against olive green.

my bedroom balcony at sunset

I'm going to let some doors stay open and open a few as I go along.

I'm going to enjoy the simple chores in my day.

I'm going to try to accept the big cracks and see some of the beauty in that acceptance.

I love this gray marble and waxed white dresser

"Doors don't slam open."
John M. Shanahan, 1939-

"Never mistake motion for action."
Ernest Hemingway 1899-1961

With affection,
Natalie

Holding on to Summer The Simple Life no. 5

eating outside

I don't want Summer to be over, not yet.

warm if not hot evenings

My girls are all excited for Fall, they want brown bread dunked in hot chocolate in the morning and minestra (broth with tiny pasta) for lunch, the teenager is dreaming of sweaters, the boyfriend big sweater look.

check out this patina

I’m holding on to Summer.  I’m not ready yet, it was just too long and rainy a Winter here.  I need more time.

sunflowers on our kitchen table

I love the droppings of yellow pollen

Autumn in Umbria, Italy is a vivid, splendid time of year.  It is when we get that famous golden light.  If you want to come to Italy this is the time of year to visit, it is sure to be beautiful.

overflowing flowers

 Plus I finally got my studio all organized and pretty I don’t want it to get cold and dark in there.  I’m thinking I might put up blue lead lights to make it cool and hip and cozy.  

In Summer the sea is warm.

Adriatic Sea

I can have a cappuccino outside before all the tables get dragged away.

With affection,

Natalie

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.

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.

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.

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.

oil color even over the key and hardware

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

I'm linking with:

Between Naps on the Porch

French Country Cottage

Miss Mustard Seed
The Shabby Creek Cottage

What Color To Paint Your House

just gorgeous terra-cotta orange
the top is sponged more evidently

There is still time to paint your house.  If you just can’t muster up the money or energy to paint your house, you could paint a room or how about a jewelry box!   I know, I'm intentionally encouraging you. Paint something- make a change you will feel better, summer is almost over, at least in Italy.  The antonyms for encourage are to discourage, dispirit, depress and dishearten.  Now will you paint a jewelry box? 

cool blue gray with darker blue gray
shutters and office white trim

closer view same house

Here are some great color combinations.  I like how the Italians pick soft neutral accent colors for the trim or they choose rich dark colors.

I like pink when it is dirtied up and made more manly
soft pink with chocolate brown shutters

I've shown you this photo before dark taupe and
 classic pink and vanilla trim Man! I love this combination

brighter pink with blue gray shutters, very seaside

here taupe and sea-foam green with creamy white trim
taupe absorbs color.  I love to use it in interiors with hot color close by

It is fun to imagine these colors over a little wooden clapboard house, or a painted brick or even shingle, Spanish style stucco, just splendid.

this orange-red with cream trim, dark gray-blue shutters
this looks amazing because the color is saturated and rich

pale mint green with dark green (almost black) shutters, sophisticated

white on white classic and feels like home

and here is the classic italian ochre, bright white trim,
the shutters are the dark green (almost black) color
I described above

another shot

apricot with natural brick, the balconies are gray concrete stucco

to end with a KICK
even richer more saturated orange-red,
here with green-blue shutters,
cool note: there is sheet music painted on the tower.

If you have no muster (it's hot out there) for the above then just dream and plan.

Have a good Weekend.

Natalie

French Country Cottage
The Shabby Creek Cottage

Silver Leaf Vs. Copper Leaf

silver leaf with copper leaf panels

Last Fall I was up in the hills of Umbria working on a house and I did this wonderful Silver Leaf Door HERE is the link to that post.  It came out great, yet the clients felt it could be better.  These clients are so cool and smart and like to talk about light and color and design (they work in film) so I was actually happy to work on it again, plus they would pay me, plus there would be many months before I attached the project again, fresh start... ahhh.

here is what it looked like before

silver leaf door

These clients it turns out had a love of copper leaf, not a favorite of mine, because I feel like it is just too pink and glary, picture copper tubing or the bottoms of kitchen pans to get the image of the color I mean.  But guess what, it turned out that the dark red brick floor reflected so much onto the pink-orange of the copper leaf that it toned down the pink and it became this color.  What the *** color is it?  Shall we call it burnt orange?  Not really!  Doesn’t it look great with the stairs and tile work?  I know it isn’t really a fair competition because these present photos are better then the Silver Leaf photos and there are more of them.

I got to say it looks glamorous

You know what I learned again that environment matters.  You can pick a design because you love it.  I think the Silver Leaf Door worked really well with the color of the grout in the flooring, it has a more uniform effect.  The Copper Leaf Door pops, it looks more designed and articulated.  On the latter I also darkened the color of the hardware and did the frame that surrounds the door in silver leaf also, this makes more contrast.

and yes there is a loft space and huge skylight above,
could you just cry with envy

hardware is looking pretty good huh?

I do believe that if the design makes you happy then it is a success.  Yet we must think about the environment around the project and even the other rooms in the house.  I believe there should be congruency.  What do you think?  Do you have a preference?

Happy Weekend

Natalie

I'm linking with:

Between Naps on the Porch

French Country Cottage

Romantic Home
DIY Vintage Chic
Oh My - Creative

A Puddle and Some Quotes

 I just want to say and I’ve said it before on a design level I love gray and color together.  These photos represent this fantastic combination.  For years I have been encouraging this combination in the spaces I have lived in from San Francisco to NYC, Napa Valley and Umbria Gray and Color work all over the world.  

Here in Umbria it rained way too much this winter and spring and now it is hot hot hot, we did have a rain storm a bit ago and here is it’s reflection.  As you read these quotes try to reflect on own your life and self and how you want to live.

Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.

Henry Brooks Adams, 1838-1918

A hurtful act is the transference to others of the degradation, which we bear in ourselves.

Simon Weil, 1909-1943

There are many things we would throw away if we were not afraid that others would pick them up.

Oscar Wild, 1854-1900

A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world’s torrent.

Charles James Fox 1749-1806

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

Eleanor Roosevelt

I’ve used this quote from Eleanor before and I hope to again.  I would have loved to have a cup of tea with Eleanor, that woman was so advanced.  I’m sorry there are not more quotes from woman.  This is how the world runs, it is hard to find an example of our voice and to be heard, little by little we will do it no?

The sharp eyed reader will have noticed that I put those flowers in the puddle to make it pretty, to add depth and light and color.  Now go out and color your puddles.

With affection,

Natalie