Sorry, I’ve been lazy about keeping up with my blog. I was gently reminded by several followers that I needed an update. I WILL get better about updating more often.
Here is some work I did at a friend’s house. Their oldest boy loves frogs. We started with a green khaki base coat. Then I added some little accents around the room.
In addition to painting the bedroom. I’ve painted an accent wall at the end of the hallway. 
First, let me apologize for my lack of posting these past few months. I have been enjoying my time with the kids being out of school. That being said, I haven’t made the time to be on the computer or work much for that matter. I’m trying to get back into the groove. Less than three weeks until school starts again.
These pictures are of a nail salon I had the pleasure of doing a couple years ago. The owner, Vicki is a great person. She is very involved in our community and a great inspiration to any businesswoman. I met her several years ago and we instantly hit it off. It amazes me the amount of things she can pack into each day.
After many years of being on Main Street, Wauconda her business was becoming too large for the space. Vicki built a new facility with lots more room. It’s got separate areas for the spa, facials, hair and nails.
This was my second time doing a commercial job. I ran into some problems with the other contractors, that did the prep work and base coating. The walls were to be primed and base coated prior to me starting. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that the walls weren’t actually primed before the base coat was applied. After taping off the stones and applying the texture, I allowed it to dry. When I started peeling the tape off, it was removing more than just the tape. The paint and everything all the way down to the drywall was coming off. It was a complete nightmare. After several discussions with the contractors, we got confirmation that the walls were never primed. This meant I had to patch the areas that were ruined and prime the walls again. Oh yeah, and redo all the taping and stone work. Once this was done the stones were colored to create the look of limestone.
The wall behind the chairs is bronze with a turquoise colorwash. I love this color combination.
It was a relief to finish this project given the problems I encountered along the way. It was quite a learning experience for sure. It goes to show why the prep work is one of the most important parts of the job.
Vickie’s is a place I visit frequently. It’s where my family goes for all our beauty needs. We recently had the pleasure of celebrating my daughters’ 7th birthday there. She invited five of her friends and I invited some of mine and together enjoyed some pampering.
Here is a project I did for some very good friends of mine. I’ve known them for about as long as I’ve known my husband. It’s my husbands’ best buddy from high school. I’ve painted every bedroom in their house and one of the bathrooms. Today, I’m going to just show you the bathroom and two of the bedrooms (the other three were just painted, no faux finishing).
This bathroom is one they HATED. It’s the bathroom off their master bedroom. As you can see in the before pictures, it had plain white walls, with grey tiles and a burgundy accent tile. Ideally, they would like to have gutted the entire thing. However, since that wasn’t going to happen, I suggested “let’s just paint it”. Our main goal was to make the burgundy tile work with the rest of the room. Well, what better way to do that than make the walls burgundy. I applied venetian plaster to the walls. As you can see, it totally transformed the room. I also painted the drywall around the tub a glossy black. I think that made a big difference too.
This is one of the most dramatic before and after examples I’ve got in my portfolio. It was a lot of work; three coats of troweled on venetian plaster and a protective topcoat. Absolutely worth it in the end.
This next room is the master bedroom. It is just off the above bathroom. We wanted to make sure the bathroom and bedroom colors complemented each other. For this one, I troweled on a base to give it some texture. Then, I painted a base coat over the texture. Finally, I did a colorwash to highlight the highs and lows of the textured walls. As you can see it really warms up the room. I just love the way these before and after shots look. It’s amazing how it transformed the space from cold to warm and cozy. And it was done with just a little faux finishing….. I love my job!
The most recent room I did for them was their daughter’s room. This was really fun, because I got to do a surprise makeover of her room. I was told she wanted orange walls and l think they said she liked purple and lime green too. So, I went to IKEA to find some inspiration.
I found a beautiful duvet cover and went from there. I painted the walls a light orange (I felt like it was a big band-aid before the finishing touches were added). I then painted the ceiling dark purple with a hand painted design in light green. On one of the walls, I also painted some panels. The panels were done the opposite of the ceiling, light green background with the design hand painted in purple.
The ceiling is definitely a one of a kind. My neck was killing me by time I finished it. If I ever do it again, I will used a stencil. Oh, who am I kidding. If someone asks, of course I’ll do it again. It’s just like childbirth, you forget how much it hurts after awhile. It looks really cool when you are laying on the bed looking up. It was a successful makeover, she loved it.
Thank you to The Mead’s for giving me the freedom to “play” with their rooms. I love you guys!
Here are some photos from a job I did a few years ago. This was to be a new home for a newly single man. I would describe his style as modern and contemporary. My first meeting for this project was to see the place, meet the Interior Designer and give some ideas for a bathroom. I ended up getting the original bathroom, in addition to painting the foyer, an accent wall master bedroom and master bathroom. The homeowner really liked my ideas.
The original bathroom had a grey tiled shower and white cabinets. We went with a plum brown strie over light grey. After completing the walls, I recommended doing grey storm clouds on the ceiling. It really added to the room.
The next project was the foyer. He really liked my sample of a striped Luster Stone. For some reason, this reminds me of a tuxedo. I’m not sure why, it just gives me the feel of manly elegance. What a great statement to make when you first enter his home.
On to the next wall. For his accent wall, which is actually the backside of his kitchen. He had stated that he really likes the look of slate. So, my response to that was “let’s go pick out a piece of slate to duplicate”. This turned into our first shopping trip of many to come. We selected a piece of slate, so off to my studio to replicate it. (Now, I’m really wishing I kept that piece of slate to show the comparison.) The sample turned out awesome. It was a four layer process with textures and blending colors on the wall. I think it turned out really nice and really compliments the colors throughout the house.
I can’t remember if the master bedroom or master bathroom came next. I think it was the master bedroom.
After working there awhile on the other rooms, I really felt like I was getting to know his taste and personality. He had just had is master bedroom painted, but I felt it was really missing something. I came up with the idea of colorblocking on the headboard wall. From there, he added his idea of incorporating “the perfect rectangle”. This is something he is very interested in, so he gave me the measurements for “the perfect rectangle”. To date, I think this wall has the most dramatic impact of any room I’ve done. It really draws you into the room (I guess that’s probably not a bad thing for as single guy).
The master bathroom ended up requiring a little trust on his part. As you may have notices there is a theme going of blues and greys. The master bathroom was no exception. We decided we were going to go with a textured finish with a color wash over it. The base was a light tan and he wanted a blue color wash on top. I had suggested adding both blue and brown for the color wash. He didn’t like the idea of the brown, so I did as he requested. Unfortunately, when I started, we decided it looked like a dead persons flesh… not a very pretty sight I know. Here is where the trust came into play. I suggested once again adding some brown and blue blending them as I go. (Of course, with the guarantee it would be redone if he didn’t like it.) Lucky for me, he really liked it and I was able to finish the room.
After all the work of painting and decorating was done, it was time for him to move in and have a party. As a housewarming gift, I decided to paint him yet one more thing. I created this piece of artwork to go in his master bathroom.
This project really was a learning experience for me. It was my first job that started as one room and turned into several rooms. I was also able to assist in a lot of the decorating and shopping. Not only did I have fun working on this project, I also gained a new friend.
Yet another reason I love my job.
