A Little Coat of Paint

We went a little spray paint happy last weekend. Here are a few of our new updates.

The kitchen organizer. What was once a dark red now greets you with a cheery smile every time I walk into the kitchen. In my dream house my kitchen will be bright and airy with pops of happy yellow appliances and dishtowels. This is our first step. Well, technically our third or fourth after my Kitchenaid (Thanks, SallyMom) and my cutting boards (Thanks, Mr. E).

I find I want to be in the kitchen more often (MORE often?) just to look at this thing. I love it.

Before...in a messy and Valentine-ed-Up office

Then we spray painted our cork boards. This poor room is so neglected. Only a few months before we have to leave and I've finally hit my stride with it. We cleaned, organized and de-cluttered our little hearts out and have finally found a balance to the desk-top, the chair arrangement and the creative corners. While I had initially planned on spray painting both corkboards black (or white), I never got around to it and I'm so glad I waited. The pop of blue was the perfect touch to tie in the other blue tones from around the room. They look so much more cohesive.

After...cleaned up and blue!

A spray-painting party just don't stop, and even Mr. E had to get in on the action. Here's a little sneak peek into our Halloween costume. Yeah, we're starting that early. Let's be honest, though, Mr. E will find any excuse to use this bad boy. When not being flaunted or carried around lovingly (my husband is a giant 3 year old), the shield decorates the office too! Look at those matching blues...

 Lastly, as a little side project, I found this tray in our garage, courtesy of our landlady. While some people would appreciate the original art (hand painted), I was drooling over the shape. 

The hand-joined corners were calling my name and with a little elbow grease and some sandpaper, I was able to sand down the brush strokes and spray painted this a metallic silver. You can still see some of the original flowers, but now it looks like etched metal without all the hassle of cleaning silver.

I can't leave well-enough alone, so I painted a giant spring green stripe down the middle too as sort of an homage to our new duvet cover. I would like to paint something a little more personal on top of that, but I can't decide:

1) Words? A poem, our wedding vows, a song?
2) Symbols? a spoon, a monogram, a fluer de lis? 
3) Something geeky? The chemical structure of dopamine? Seratonin? A soundwave of Mr. E's voice?


Decisions, decisions. 

Ultimately, my goal is to re-paint the nightstands too. Any suggestions?

My Stars!

I made this fix a few weeks ago because I couldn't stand looking at the plain-jane colors against our wall anymore. Story of my life.

You'll recall I had big plans for these free frames. I loved the idea of a favorite quote spelled in stickers over a bright colored painting, but the end was just too small, too plain and too gray. It wasn't quite the pop I wanted and I wasn't crazy about the colors underneath anyways. The great thing about painting is how versatile it is. Thank goodness, too.

I decided to reverse the effect- I loved the gray, but for the spot I wanted it, the painting was already above a mostly gray photo mat, so it wasn't visual enough. I was idly searching through color schemes for our bedroom to coordinate with my new duvet cover (I am still impressed by myself with this!) when I came across some beautiful shots of space. You know the ones I'm talking about- the swirling colors, the winking stars, the breathless feeling you get when you realize how infinitesimal we really are.

design-seeds.com

Frankly, a lot of the beauty to these pictures is how imperfect the miasma is (space clouds? galaxies?). There's a lot of color and a lot swirls and nothing is symmetrical or repeatable. Kind of like a little reminder for my life. At least, that's what helps me sleep at night.

So I got a little creative with my available colors and swirled my little heart out. The back is sort of a navy/black/teal combo and I alternated stars in white, yellow and bright pink. I love the result so much, I almost didn't want to paint over it!

But paint I did. I was still partial to the original quote, but those little stickers weren't cutting it. If there's one thing I do well, it's copy. I can free-hand art and fonts with a passion. Plus, the font I wanted to use was $45. And I still can't figure out how to download a font onto my computer. So I quickly sketched out the quote and arranged it in a few ways for Mr. E to approve. I actually liked the four lined version myself, but he chose the two liner. We're so democratic. 

  VS.

The gray is actually silver fabric paint- it has a little bit of a sheen to it without being glittery. No problem with a different medium, either. Overall, I LOVE the result. This is exactly the sort of visual impact I wanted and the bright pops of pink and green are exactly the modern colors I wanted in our gray/blue bedroom. Mr. E approved.