Friday, February 27, 2009

Custom Aged Lockers




These lockers were originally pristine white lockers from The Bombay company...I dutifully banged, hammered, scuffed, repainted and rusted them to go into a sports fanatic boys room. I also replastered and painted the walls and ceiling...custom painted and rusted a fan and a trunk, trash can and magazine holders...and...crackle aged and repainted all the trimwork and doors. I will pull more pictures in another post.

Misty Hills Dining Room






I painted this dining room awhile back, but it is still a favorite of the rooms I have done. I hope to get some better pictures of it because it really is a gorgeous space with a touch of both elegance and organic rustic-ness. To me, it looks like misted over rolling hills with a bit of lavender and a soft diffused gold that barely catches the light.


Thursday, February 12, 2009

Jack Skellington V-day Jeans
















Love and skulls...how fitting. Katherine is totally Jack crazy, so these were made special for her to wear Valentines Day or any day she chooses.
Happy Early Valentines Day to all you lovers out there and all you non-lovers too! I have a soap-box I can get on about how everyday should be special in a relationship, but I'm all out of steam. I've decided I'm going to go buy myself a box of chocolates and eat the whole darn thing myself...so there;)

Treeeezzz











I love TREES!
I want them all around me.
I would paint them on everything.
Trees make me happy, happy, happy!

My bedroom and bathroom are on their way to becoming a sanctuary of trees.
I have plans to do an embedded tree beneath venetian plaster on this rounded wall in the bathroom, but until then I have these "etched" looking glass ones that I designed. They came out pretty close to the way I drew them.
At night they shine the image of the trees onto the walls, its pretty rad...I'll try to take pictures soon.
The people at Sunsational Solutions did a great job (Jonathon is your guy-www.sunsationalsolutions.com)...they also did a hardly noticeable tint on our west facing sun windows...it keeps the electric bill way down:)

More Christmas, More Snoopy, More Jeans!











Snoopy and Christmas, they go hand-in-hand I suppose. I custom made a total of 5 pairs (1 adult and 4 for the girls) The girls jeans are all slightly different, but with the same glittery snoopy lights around the bottom and up the legs....too bad I failed to photograph them all.
You'll get the idea.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!









More hand-painted jeans....

Fox canvas


I painted this canvas in rememberance of my client's godparents. Their last name is French for fox. Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for the design...it is from a children's book that is special to them. I can only take credit for my magnificent copying skills:

Petshop Jeans













Another pair for Tori...she tells me The Littlest Petshop "is the bommmbb!!!". She likes to decorate these tiny plastic choke-hazards with rhinestones and then drown them in a jar of pudding. She's a kooky little monster...I adore her all the more for that!

Tori's Mice Jeans











Tori, much like her mom, is obsessed with rats (mice). She got these for Christmas along with another pair I painted for her (Littlest Pet Shop). I am told she wears them like every other day...little girlfriend has more clothes than Paris Hilton, so I am flattered.
They have a light sheen of glitter all over that make them even more girly.

Limestone-like Walls in a Master Bath





















Lots-o-work on this masterbath:

1.) Strip gunky painted over wallpaper. (I loathe wallpaper. If you ever ask me to help you strip wallpaper, I will hate you forever...you've been warned)

2.) Hand-trowel and rustically pit plaster over all the walls INCLUDING the arch and ceiling (I have a love/hate relationship with ceilings...they are murder, but I can't stand for them to be left unaddressed.

3.)Prime, prime, prime...paint, paint, paint.

4.) Use various colors and stains in about 3 passes to make it look all limestoney;)

That's simplifying it.

I also hand-stained the entire travertine floor and travertine backplashes, shower, niche arch, etc. I used a wet-look sealant over the floor that turned out super cool. The tile guys had mismatched the grout...it looked wretched...I fixed it.

The Pink Floor Saga
















I don't want to go into all the details, but here's a condensed dialog:

"Can you paint my office floor pink?"
"Uhh, sure...are you sure?"
"Bright pink."
"Ok."
I did a few samples of pink. One was chosen and I painted the floor pink.
"I hate it. Can you put some brown into or something?"
"I can tone it down."
After aging it with some brown stain:
"I want it brighter...more fun...or something."
"Chocolate sprinkles?"
She liked that. I changed the color from light pink to a hot pink, stained over that a bit and splattered bright colors over the finish.
"I'd like it to go better with the walls...can you put some flowers on it."
"Sure."
"And bugs?"
"No problem!"
(Note: there was a cute brown and pink flowered rug that I had originally worked off of for the rest of the room)
"I LOVE IT!"
"Yay."
"I really want something representing all of the kids."
"I can have them do their hand-prints." (I proceeded to dip their digits, one at a time)
"I'm also going to take the rug out so I can see the floor better...can you paint some more bugs?"
"Of course, but I don't want it to get too busy."
3 weeks later:
"I want rats all over." (my client has pet rats...like 6 of them...they have a custom-made house, are allowed to roam the house freely and enjoy weekly spa visits.)
I don't judge-I have lizards.
I will post pictures of the rat version at a later date. I added like 20 just the other day.

Patina Bathroom




I adore metals...especially aged metals. Since I don't know how to weld (yet!), I fake it. I did this modern take on a copper patina finish in the upstairs bathroom. It is a really small space, but funky:)
My favorite thing about this bathroom is the tiny side-mounted sink I chose for it. I patted my own back for awhile on this because it made a huge difference.
The ceiling was done in a light turquoise lime paint...I haven't taken pictures if it yet apparently.

Aged Steel Venthood







I thought I'd take a break from the jeans and post some of my plaster and faux work.






This here venthood is something I am pretty darn proud of...mainly, because I stuck to my guns about what I thought would look best in the space. When I did a sample board, everyone looked at me like I was crazy...well, they're probably right, but that is beside the point. I got my way by promising to redo it for free if it looked horrid. (I was confident I wouldn't have to.)

I can only take credit for the finish though...the amazing Shawn Chapman of Chapman Woodworks (http://chapmanwoodworks.com/) built the venthood and everything else in the kitchen. I highly recommend him for anything woodwork related! He is quick, precise, professional and creative.