This mural was one of those projects that really transformed a space, and brought it to where it “should” be. Here is the “before” shot. My client is a yoga instructor, living in the city (downtown Atlanta). She lives in a loft space, but also wanted a more earthy, organic feel to the space. (Especially for when she’s teaching yoga classes in this very room!)

We decided a mural of a cherry tree (symbolic in many ways) would be the perfect addition. I suggested doing the mural in a color very similar to her wall color, that way it remains serene in the space, and not too childlike. We went with MyColor™ inspired by Pantone Paint’s “Tea.”

Here are some in-progress shots. This mural was one of the ones where I mostly go off of instinct, and paint what I feel. I sketched it out before hand, but with the more organic subjects I’m painting (trees, flowers, animals), you usually have to go off of your intuition quite a bit! But, don’t worry – if you feel like you can’t take that on, you can always use an electric overhead projector for a project like this!

I did all the main mural in the “Tea” color, then went back with my client’s wall color for the highlights. This is when the mural really came to life!

Here are some final after shots:

A client had this great Provencial style dresser that needed a little love. She had an inspiration photo of what she’d like it to look like, and we went from there.

It was perfectly nice before, with great lines and made of good quality wood, but my client had owned the piece for years, and was growing tired of the wood.

I came in with a little  MyColor™ inspired by Pantone Paint’s “Celestial Blue” and “Gardenia,” and painted the main body of the piece Celestial Blue.

“Gardenia” was used on the exterior of the drawers and the highlight areas to give a little definition – I love the impact that it made!

I also used a heavy grayish brown glaze on top of everything to give it that old, time-worn look. As you can see, I did several coats of glaze, which, I think, gave a high-impact!

I also made over a small nightstand with a similar color scheme and look, but opposite on the colors. I used “Gardenia” for the body, then I painted the hardware with “Celestial Blue”. Here it is before I painted it:

I also did a little distressing on this one, with my sander.

I thought it turned out so cute! Two different looks on two piece of furniture that were from the same 1970′s set!

What do you think?

Hi!

I wanted to share with you guys some great ideas for a budget nursery. I get lots of requests for nursery painting and ideas, and this was one of my favorite transformations that I did practically for free! It’s amazing what paint can do.

First, we painted three surrounding walls MyColor™ inspired by Pantone Paint’s”Lunar Rock” , and the one accent remaining wall “Gardenia”. From there,

After I had a blank canvas, I came in with my “Phantom” and did vertical stripes on this wall. Such an easy thing to do, and what an impact! To do the stripes, I simply used a watercolor pencil and a level to trace the stripes on, then taped them with painter’s tape to get crisp lines. Hint for even crisper lines: after you tape your tape onto the pencil line, use the BASE color to go over the edge of the tape. After it dries, then do your stripe color. This creates the leaks in the color that won’t matter, and then crispness comes with the paint on top of it!

I love the lines of the wall, with the lines of the crib. The crib was already black, but in the case that your’s isn’t the color you want, don’t be afraid to paint it! We had a simple crib bumper made with a fun, boyish plaid, and I did the artwork over the crib. Another easy project made using some cheap frames and paint!

We transformed this beat-up old mini rocking chair with some Tangerine Tango paint. What an impact against the black and white wall!

I made the fun zebra mounting myself! Go here for directions on how to make it.

The dresser was also painted “Phantom”, and the lampshade was “Bright White”– an entire makeover done in paint!

Hi everyone!

This week, I wanted to share with you a desk makeover that I completed, using MyColor™ inspired by Pantone Paint’s “Tea.” It’s a wonderful brown-green-puttyish color that I just love.

This dresser was vintage (clearly!) and had seen better days. The French Provential style was too cute to pass up, though! The shapes and curves were perfect for my client’s daughter’s room.

First, I brought it in, and sanded it down. When you are making over an older piece like this, you want to sand down all of the old paint job (in this case, the actual paint was clearly sprayed on, but those flowers had to really be sanded off, so that they wouldn’t be visible under my new paint job. I also had to use wood putty to fill in some chipped spots. When using wood putty, I like to fill it in using WAY more than needed, then let it dry for at least 24 hours, THEN go back in with my electric sander and sand away until it’s smooth. Then, I go back with a little piece of sandpaper, or a little foam block sander and make it perfect. Sometimes, you’ll need to do another skim coat of putty, but usually it’s fine after this. If you don’t wait 24 hours to sand, usually you’ll get air pockets or holes in your puttied area, and that is no good!

As far as painting, I use a 6″ foam roller to roll on the paint, (they are in the roller sections at hardware stores, and they come in packs of 2′s or 6′s) and a high-quality brush to brush in the cut-in’s. Sometimes I’ll brush in the paint, then roll back over it with my roller to make it completely smooth, for that sprayed-on look! It works every time, and my clients are always impressed with my smooth paint jobs on furniture and cabinetry. Let me know if you have questions about this, and I’ll be happy to answer it in the comments!

Anyway, here is how she turned out – don’t you love it?!

New hardware really set it off! I love the brassy color with the tea-green paint. And that owl lamp really makes the whole picture

What do you think?

Hi, everyone!

We partnered with our friends over at Young House Love for a MyColor™ inspired by Pantone Paint giveaway! Head over to their blog to see John and Sherry give out the details.