PAINTING & GLAZING A DESK FOR ELLEN'S NEW HOME OFFICE

Ellen is turning one of her bedrooms into an office.  She's in real estate.
She found this desk and asked me to paint it for her new office and told me the finish she wanted.
I love the colors she chose.  She painted the walls a gray beige.  The room wasn't put together and decorated when I left.  I think I'll get to see it later and will share it with you.

I painted the desk, stained and wiped off and sealed it with two coats of sealer.  

Three coats of sealer on the desk top.

Ellen has been updating her older home and I love everything I saw.  

She installed this sliding door to her bathroom.  She had her capet pulled up and refinished the beautiful wood flooring that was covered with the carpet.

On her stairs, she installed wood and is going to paint the risers white like her woodwork.  She added the wrought iron and she stained the rail with a gel stain.  She did a very good job.

This is good ol' Blitz. 

 They got him around Christmas and they named him after one of Santa's reindeer.

She remodeled her bathroom and I think she told me this little hanger will go in there.  I wish I had taken pictures of her new tub and mirrors that she had a carpenter build.

"before"...the new color is really nice.

For many years, I have worked in this older neighborhood and I love how Ellen has made her home "new" again.

PAINTING BIRDS & A NEST ON KAREN'S FRONT DOOR & GARAGE DOOR TO CARRIAGE HOUSE DOORS

PAINTING BIRDS & A NEST ON KAREN'S FRONT DOOR & GARAGE DOOR TO CARRIAGE HOUSE DOORS

Karen asked me to paint her front door.

  It was dark brown and she wanted me to paint it a soft turquoise or aqua.  

We picked out the color.  

A few years ago, I painted her antique front doors at her other house.  I painted birds and nests and she wanted me to paint birds and a nest on this one, too.

Here is a link to those antique doors:

BIRDS & NESTS HAND PAINTED ON ANTIQUE DOORS

This door was fun to paint.  When we chose the color for the door, I told her I wanted to paint blue plumbago on it.  I knew the blue would look beautiful on the turquoise.  And, I painted the plumbago blue color on the tiny trim around the door insets and the side glass panels on either side of the door.

Here is Mr. Birdie taking a ribbon to his nest.

And, here is Mrs. Birdie working a ribbon into her nest.

Karen's garage door is one big door that goes up when it's opened.  She wanted me to paint it to look like carriage house doors that open in the middle.  She didn't want wood grain, she just wanted them to stay white.  So I drew a dark black, brown and gray line down the middle, drew the handles and the 4 hinges and painted the little windows with the front door color.  When you're driving by, it looks like it really might be two doors.

Here is a link to the other "carriage house" doors that I painted:

TROMPE L'OEIL GARAGE DOORS TO LOOK LIKE OLD BARN DOORS

There was an air vent above the garage door and one on the front of the house and she wanted me to draw and paint those to look like they might be shutters. 

 I drew and painted a shutter dog to hold the shutter in place.

I drew and painted the ivy and the butterflies. 

 A black swallowtail and a giant swallowtail butterfly on this side.

On the left side of the door, I painted the ivy and another black swallowtail butterfly.

Karen told me she wants me to come back and paint two more butterflies.  

One of them has to be a monarch.

Here are the shutter and two shutter dogs that I drew and painted on the front of the house.

After I painted all of this artwork, Karen had some major landscaping added with lots of pink, purple and blue flowers.  Also, my favorite blue plumbago.  Oh, and some pink knockout roses.  Above her front porch, she has an arbor with pink climbing roses.

Front door "before"

Getting ready to draw and paint the shutter over the garage.

~

Karen wanted her house to look like a french chateau.  

With all of her new artwork and beautiful colorful flowers it is truly beautiful.

Her home is right by the neighborhood mailbox and her neighbors keep coming by and telling her how beautiful everything is.

I know that makes her feel good.

PAINTING BLUE & WHITE STRIPES & MONOGRAM ON A LITTLE TABLE FOR PATTI

Patti brought this little table to me and asked me to paint blue and white stripes on it.  

She had a monogram that she wanted to paint on it for a little one in her family.

So, I painted the stripes and put one coat of sealer so it wouldn't get scratched.  Patti picked it up and took it home to paint the monogram and brought it back to me for two more coats of sealer.

It turned out so cute!!

She told me that she made this stencil from her stencil collection.  

Patti has such a good eye for what will be special and she was sooo right!

Wet Paint!

I painted the blue and then measured and painted the white stripes.

It started out with a stained wood finish.

FIREWORKS & ANIMALS DON'T MIX ~ BE SENSITIVE & KIND

I read that in June, animal shelters put down more dogs to make room for all of the runaways on July 4th.  Fireworks frighten them so badly.  They frighten other animals and birds, too.

PAINTING IRENE'S NEW MEDIA ROOM & STAIRWELL

PAINTING IRENE'S NEW MEDIA ROOM & STAIRWELL

Irene was redecorating her upstairs family room and turning it into a media room.
She got beautiful new hardwood flooring and asked me to paint her walls and ceiling a light sage green.
She had this desk and bookcases built for this niche and asked me to paint them, too.

I painted a blue undercoat and applied a stain over the blue.

I love to paint this finish.

Irene said she watched the newest Cinderella movie and this color was used on the cabinets or woodwork.  She said they used this color and green.  I absolutely love this aged blue with her green sage walls.

Her decorator wanted me to stain the desk top to match her new wood flooring.

I stained the shelves, too.  The carpenter used a different kind of wood and it took the stain very differently, so I had to really work with the stain to get the shelves to match the desk top.

Remember that when you're staining new wood.  If you want it to all be the same color shade, it's best if  you use the same wood for everything.  The carpenter used cherry wood for the desk top and the shelves looked like they were plywood.  That would be fine if I were going to paint the shelves.  I stained the shelves with the same stain as the desk top and then had to add another really "red" stain and, thank goodness, it worked.

Irene was also changing her stairwell.  She was watching some old reruns of Two And A Half Men and noticed the tile on their stairwell and loved the idea of putting tile on her's.  Notice she had the tile guys install decorative tiles every other step.  It really turned out beautifully!

~

Many times my clients get decorating ideas from movies, magazines, Pinterest, etc.

It always helps me if I can see pictures of the finishes they want me to paint.

She had me paint the railing and posts.  She had the finials replaced with these decorative ones.  I painted them the rail color and accented them with metallic silver and metallic gold.  

Desk and bookcases "before".

Stairwell "before".

~

This is one of the most beautiful homes I've worked in through the years.  I've worked with Irene for many years painting her kitchen, dining room...well, I guess I've painted almost every room in her home.

I asked her if I could take a few pictures of my work in her home and she said "yes".  So, my next post I'll show you a few more pictures of Irene's beautiful home.  

My pictures can't show how elegant this home really is.  I'll share them, anyway.

DISTRESSING & AGING PICKLED-WHITE WASHED KITCHEN CABINETS FOR LORI'S HOME

DISTRESSING & AGING PICKLED-WHITE WASHED KITCHEN CABINETS FOR LORI'S HOME

Through the years, clients have asked if I could do something with their pickled/white washed cabinets without a  major re-do.  Once I made a sample and lightly sanded and stained and it was an unevenly stained job.  Even if you heavily sand, my experience is that the stain would still be uneven, unless you put several coats of stain and make it really dark.  

Darkly stained cabinets are really nice, too.

Lori's cabinets were not pinky like some of the pickled/white washed cabinets are.  I always liked her's in her kitchen because they were a beigy color and looked really nice to me.  Maybe it was the lighting in her kitchen.

But, Lori wanted them to be lightly distressed to go with the other cabinets that I've painted for her.  And, to go better with her kitchen island that I painted a couple of years ago.

Here is a link to

LORI'S KITCHEN ISLAND THAT I PAINTED TO LOOK OLD

I told her that I had tried, before, and it just doesn't work.  She asked me several times and kept talking about it. 

 She said this was my idea:  I said, maybe I could lightly sand edges and a tiny bit in the middle and put a stain on it, but I wasn't sure it would look good.

She kept pushing and finally I did a little sample area and we both loved the way it looked.  So, she had me do the whole kitchen.  I lightly sanded some edges, applied the stain and then wiped it off.

Here is a picture of the island I painted to look old and distressed.

Here you can see that I didn't put the stain everywhere, just did it a little bit here and there.  Just enough to look distressed and a little bit old.

On the drawers, I stained a little more heavily around the edges.

Here, the left door has stain and the one on the right doesn't, yet.

My flash and the light from the window make the right door look too light.  That's not the way it looks in her kitchen lighting, but I wanted to show you the the difference.

I love the way this turned out.

Lori does her own decorating.  She searches and studies to figure out what would look best and then I get to interpret that in her home.

Thank you, Lori!

PAINTING MORE BLACK DISTRESSED CABINETS FOR LORI'S HOME

PAINTING MORE BLACK DISTRESSED CABINETS FOR LORI'S HOME

A while back Lori asked me to paint the cabinets in her hallway, laundry and guest bath.
Earlier, I had painted her wet bar and she loved the way it turned out so,
she decided she wanted me to paint the same finish.
Here is a link to
PAINTING LORI'S WET BAR CABINETS

It was hard taking pictures of the black finish on the cabinets.  Either the pictures looked like a black hole or they just didn't show the finish.  I took LOTS of pictures and I think these were the best ones to share with you.

I painted the black on and rubbed the edges with a rag.  And, I rubbed a rag in the middle of some the doors to distress a bit.  It was nice to see a little contrast.

This medicine cabinet is in her guest bath.

Here are Panda Lu and Buffy. 

 Such sweet doggies!

Lori's daughter was home from college and brought her kitty cat, Suki.  

She was funny and very, very, very, very curious and friendly.

Loti completely redecorated her guest bath.  

The black cabinets, new flooring, new granite, tile and bronze faucet.

She does her own decorating and I think she does a great job.

Downstairs, she has black distressed cabinets in four places, now.  With her lighter wood flooring and light beige walls, the black is so fine looking.

This is her guest bath.  There's a linen cabinet over the commode.

The other painters will finish painting the walls.

These are the hallway cabinets.  See!  You can't even see the rubbed edges and distressing.  

It wasn't easy taking pictures of the black.

And, this is her large laundry room.  She got new flooring, new granite, sink, tile and faucet here, too.  Really, really looks nice.  I think she is going to have me do something to that oak free standing cabinet so it will blend better with her new decor.

Laundry "before".  

I was getting ready to paint and almost forgot to take pictures.

Hallway "before".

Here are links to the cabinets I painted upstairs.

DISTRESSED SHABBY GREIGE CABINET FINISH

AGED DISTRESSED GRAY BROWN SPECIAL FINISH

Lori is doing a great job with all of the changes and redecorating throughout the house.

Her home is so beautiful and I'm glad she chose me to help her.

Next post I'll show you her kitchen cabinets.