BIRDS & NESTS HAND PAINTED ANTIQUE DOORS

                             These hand painted antique doors are my featured post for this week.

For close-up views of the artwork inside and outside of Karen's beautiful old doors,

visit this link to my post on June 1, 2012

BIRDS & NESTS HAND PAINTED ANTIQUE DOORS

(FINI) PAINTING A "FRENCH COUNTRY" FINISH ON NEW ORLEANS STYLE KITCHEN CABINETS

MAY 19, 2013  
  Here is a photo of the finished cabinets.  Now, I've moved on to the office and painting the cabinets a light gray with blue trim and a darker glaze.  My client loves blue and blue grays.

MAY 16, 2013
    This is a "before" photo of the kitchen I've been painting in the house under construction.  The other painters did all of the priming and that's why it's white.

The coolest thing about this kitchen is how tall the cabinets are and the brick wall behind them.  In the big open living space, it looks really dramatic and fine!!

This is the multi-layered finish I painted and, finally, finished today.  The decorator chose this finish and called it "french country".

 I have a little more work to do on the shelves for the open cabinets and will do that tomorrow.  

Also, I have an office desk cabinet that I will start on, tomorrow.  Then, I have a cabinet in the master bath and will be sharing all with you.  

Oh, and I'll be painting the feet of a beautiful clawfoot bathtub.

I love the style of this house.  It is New Orleans style and has some really neat features.

And, I love that I'm working close to home on this job!!! 

CUTTING A LIMB & SAVING A BIRD'S NEST

     I'm painting kitchen cabinets in a home that is under construction.  The supervisor is a kind of tough, cowboy type.  He just moved to a new house and he said the birds were pooping on his truck, so I suggested he cut the limb where the birds were sitting.  I said, before you cut the limb, please make sure there's no bird nest.  This morning, he told me that he had a ___of a time, cutting the limb.  There was a nest with three eggs in it and he said he nearly killed himself cutting the area where the nest was and attaching/wedging it into another area on the tree.  It was so funny when he was telling me about it, but was so sweet and I told him so!!

WRITING & PAINTING WORDS ON A WALL & TUTORIAL

      WRITING & PAINTING WORDS ON A WALL & TUTORIAL   

My client wanted me to paint this beautiful bible verse on her kitchen wall.

GALATIONS 5:22

She knew she could order vinyl lettering, but she wanted it HAND PAINTED.

The first thing I did was print out the font that my client gave me.  Then, I took it to a print shop, enlarged the words and printed out the large lettering in sections.

Next, I placed and taped the lettering on the wall.  I had to work with it a little bit to get it placed in just the right spot.  I used a yard stick and a level. 

Next, I traced the letters on the wall using graphite paper and a pencil. 

The last thing I did was paint the lettering red with a small artists' brush.

My client was very happy and it looked really nice on her kitchen wall.

It's a HAND PAINTED every day good reminder!

FROM CLOSET TO LOG CABIN ~ HAND PAINTING LOG CABIN ARTWORK FOR TRENTON'S ROOM

     FROM CLOSET TO LOG CABIN ~ HAND PAINTING LOG CABIN ARTWORK FOR TRENTON'S ROOM

Trenton is a teenager, now.  But, when he was three or four years old his mother wanted to make some changes to his bedroom.  The room had two closets and she decided she wanted one of them to be turned into a built-in bed surrounded by a log cabin. 

 Dad and his friend did the remodeling and mom asked me to paint the log cabin.

Dad and a friend opened up the closet and built the frame for the bed

 They attached corrugated metal roofing sheets to make it look like a real roof.

I painted the log cabin and just couldn't stop there! 

 I painted scenery all around the room.

I painted this farm and cows.  Painted trees and bushes all around the room.  If you look closely, you will see a bird nest that  I painted just under the tin roof of the cabin. 

 I painted the ceiling blue like a sky and painted white clouds.

This tree has a squirrel resting on a limb and that is sweet Simba (a real cat!) on the table.

At first Trenton didn't want to sleep in the new bed. 

 Mom and dad found that cute little buffalo head that talked and hung it above the fireplace.  

That was all Trenton needed to feel safe in his new bed!!

I LOVE MY PICKET FENCE WITH BIRD FINIALS!

I LOVE MY PICKET FENCE WITH BIRD FINIALS

Years ago when Tony built my picket fence he cut out the design on every single one of the picket boards.  When I found these beautiful iron birds, I asked him to cut off some of the finial tops and attach these birds to my fence.  I just HAD to have them on my fence.

I wanted them to be randomly placed, so I chose and asked him to attach the birds on six of those fence posts.  I turned them different directions so they would look more interesting and I

painted them my fence color, a grayish off white. Then, I painted a rust colored paint here and there to make them look like they were old and rusted.

One time in Victoria magazine I saw an old rake being used as a holder of garden tools.  Not long after that I found two rusty old rake heads at a garage sale. 

I knew exactly what I would do with them.

I LOVE MY PICKET FENCE!!

PAINTING YOUR GARAGE DOORS TO TROMPE L'OEIL BARN DOORS TUTORIAL

PAINTING YOUR GARAGE DOORS TO TROMPE L'OEIL BARN DOORS TUTORIAL  

 Yesterday a blogger emailed me and asked me some questions about the trompe l'oeil garage doors that I painted.  She said that she looked into the price of purchasing wooden garage doors and they were very expensive.  I made some suggestions about painting her garage doors and
 I want to share that with you.

     This blogger saw my doors featured on another website and gave me the link.  Selina at Creative Juices Decor posted about garage door makeovers and said some very, very nice things about my blog and my work.  Thank you so much, Selina!!

     And, here is a link to her blog about garage door makeovers:   CreativeJuicesDecor

These are the trompe l'oeil garage doors that I painted.  

They're the ones Selina mentioned in her blog.

~

And, here is a link to my post:

  TrompeL'oeilGarageDoors 

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So, this is what I told the blogger who emailed me:  

"I do understand about the price of the doors. I think that was the reason my client asked me to faux paint her's.

If you don't know how to do a "woodgrain" look, I think you could just paint your doors a medium or dark brown. To make the hinges and handles (and your windows) my client showed me a photo of how she wanted them to look. I drew them on a piece of paper then traced them on the doors and painted them. If you paint a black or dark line down the middle of your garage door that should make it look like two doors. If you use exterior paint your work should be very durable. The only problem could be if they have direct sunlight shining on them.  

So, if you paint your doors and add hinges and handles I think they would look like wood doors from the street."
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                           So to you, just in case you want faux wooden garage doors:

 TUTORIAL

I mentioned windows because she wanted windows at the top of her doors.  She could just draw them, trace them on the doors and paint them.
You can add anything you want to paint on your doors.

I have seen quite a few wooden garage doors in certain neighborhoods and they look dark and stained and have hinges on them. That's why I think you could paint the doors whatever color, add your painted on hardware, windows, etc. and that, to me, is trompe l'oeil.  At a glance from the street or from someone just passing by it might fool them into thinking they are wooden doors.

If you use exterior paint and it fades a bit that might be good and make them look older.  The good thing about just painting them is, if they get scratched you can touch them up with your saved can of paint. 

If you paint your doors, have fun!!  

Remember it's just paint and you can start over.

Would love to see photos if you paint your garage door.
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 This is how I painted mine at mi casa.

This is my garage door.  I painted my sweet ol' Mr. Smith and some pots of flowers. 

See the kitty door in the middle of one of the flower pots.

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