Pins of the Week - Turquoise and Gray Color Schemes

What color schemes inspire you these days? As you know, I'm a big fan of turquoise. Not particularly fond of gray, although I hear it's the new beige. I find turquoise and gray paired together are really very soothing.

Source: bassettfurniture.com via Sandy on Pinterest

Source: simplysadiejane.com via Sandy on Pinterest

I particularly love these colors when a pop of coral or rust is added.

Source: design-seeds.com via Sandy on Pinterest

Coral, tangerine and orange painted furniture seems to be a new trend. I have a vintage piece that I need to paint. I think I may just try that. What is your opinion? Would love to hear from you!

Hand Painted Console, Chest of Drawers and Upcycled Drawer Faces

This summer has been great for finding awesome furniture pieces to transform into beautiful, unique treasures. I've had some fun wall and ceiling projects (wait til you see my blog next week!), but am really enjoying rejuvinating old furniture. I've had some custom orders as well. It's so exciting when someone wants you to find a special piece for them and put your painted spin on it!
I won't rehash, sanding, priming, painting, glazing and polyurethaning furniture but here are some fun pieces I've recently completed. This chest of drawers is SOLID! Very heavy and sturdy, although to see it now it looks elegant. This finish has the look of raw silk. A hint of shimmer and texture.

This was the chest before I did anything to it. It was a dark cherry finish and on the inside too. I used the slightly red copper tone for the stencil to give a flow when you open the drawers. Here's the piece before.

I also found a more modern, mid century looking piece. It looked like the perfect piece for a huge, flat screen tv. And someone had already cut out two of the interior drawer faces for audio video equipment! Score! Here's this piece before.

I decided since it had a modern flavor, that I would keep a clean finish to it. I almost did it laquer white. Then I decided a nice neutral beige (who am I? I NEVER do nice and neutral). I did add a little pop of soft aqua on the inside (I just had to add some color)! I think it has a coastal feel to it, but also work very nicely in any decor. The hardware I painted gloss black. Would love to hear what you think!

I also had an awesome client give me all of her doors and drawer faces since she was refacing her kitchen cabinets. All solid wood and in good shape. Here's what I did to upcycle a few of the drawer faces.

Found these cool iron hooks and painted the drawers and hooks the same. Added a few hangers to the backs, and now they're beautiful coat or towel hooks! You can find these in my online shop. Thanks for looking!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/savardstudios?section_id=11262369

Pins of the Week: Horizontal Stripes - Dare to be Different!

I have always loved bold, horizontal stripes. I think they make a room look larger and current in their design. This week, I found several examples on Pinterest and had to share. This small bath uses white and grey. Very striking and clean.

Source: blog.baerhomedesign.com via Sandy on Pinterest

This powder room uses wood to create a horizontal stripe effect. It's rustic, yet modern. This photo comes from another website called Houzz.com. It's a great resource to find and store all of your design ideas in one place. I am in the process of uploading my entire portfolio to this site. If I have done a fabulous job for you on a job in the past, please go there and leave feedback, testimonials, etc. Here's the link http://www.houzz.com/pro/paintingthetownus/painting-the-town-inc. Thanks in advance!

Source: houzz.com via Sandy on Pinterest

This foyer makes a bold statement with smaller black, white and grey stripes. Love the pop of yellow in the flowers and candle!

Source: decorpad.com via Sandy on Pinterest

This foyer uses grassclothe to create a subtle horizontal flow.

Source: bellemaison23.com via Sandy on Pinterest

I hope I have given you new inspiration for your next project! And you didn't have to spend all day on Pinterest :) !

Pins of the Week on Pinterest - Coastal Turquoise

So I've been following Pintrest for awhile. If you haven't discovered it yet, it is the BEST THING EVER!! It's basically a virtual pin board for amazing ideas and everything cool. Decor, travel, fashion, recipes, gardening, weddings, fitness, anything you would have interest in referring back to at a later date. You create boards and file (pin) what you like.

I decided I would start showing some of my favorite pins. I'll try to stick to interior design and painting ideas, but I'm sure I'll have to share other fabulous finds as well.

It's the time of the year that we all think about the coast. I've found several coastal themes that I just love. This photo is from a website that sells home furnishing and accessories, with lots of coastal ideas. Such a soothing color palette, don't you think? The soft shimmer of the putty colored velvet, paired with the turquoise blue is breathtaking!

Source: zgallerie.com via Z on Pinterest

Another inspiring find was this beautiful tile work! How awesome would this be in a pool bath or a bath in your coastal home! Turquoise is my current color obsession. It looks great with so many color schemes! This turquoise glass tile has beautiful irridescent qualities. I would love to see photos of your current coastal theme projects! Any takers?

Source: imgfave.com via Sandy on Pinterest

Painted Kitchen Cabinet Makeover

Have you priced a kitchen renovation lately? It's very expensive and extremely disruptive to your day to day life. With the economy and housing market like it is, many clients are staying in their homes longer. With that comes the desire to modify and make a space more enjoyable until the market turns around.
That being said, the easiest way to update your kitchen is to paint your kitchen cabinets. It's not the same as painting your walls, but with proper preparation and products, painted cabinets will hold up as well as stained cabinets.
My process takes about 3 weeks, but only 3 or 4 days are onsite. I take your doors and drawer faces with me, to my studio. There, I can sand, wipe down, prime, paint, glaze and polyurethane the fronts and backs and allow adequate dry/cure time between layers. During this time we also work on your kitchen onsite. You can still use your kitchen during this time, although many wives tell their husbands they must go out for dinner! I'll back you up on that if needed. :) Once complete, we return with your doors and drawers and reinstall everything. It's like a brand new kitchen! Most of the projects I do are between $2000-$4000. There have been a few for less and a few for more, but that's the average range. Even refacing is much more than that!

Here are some photos of a recent kitchen makeover. They left the back splash, but did change the counter tops and modify some of the cabinets.

After painting and glazing

After painting and glazing

Before Paint

Before paint

A simple paint and glaze technique, but such a dramatic change! Of course, you can achieve any color or finish you desire. And yes, we can paint over the white melamine/laminate cabinets. I have done many, with great success. If you'd like to see more examples of painted cabinets check out my website http://www.paintingthetown.us/cabinets_furniture.shtml. Here's another site with lots of great before and after cabinet shots. http://www.r2rfaux.com/faux%20wood.htm

Sanctuary of Fresh, White Summer Blooms

I hope you don't mind that I occasionally take a break from writing about painting. I love to paint, but I also love to garden, vegetable and flower, although not so good at the vegetable part. I also like girl's weekends and drinking wine. ( I might start writing about that soon, as well.) Walking around my yard, with these fabulous days we've been having in the Carolina's, I decided to photo the various white flowers in bloom. The gardenia's are my favorite. Their scent is intoxicating! Sitting near a gardenia in bloom, with a glass of Chardonnay as the sun sets, takes you to another world where teens and work stress doesn't exist. :) If you have teens home for the summer you know exactly what I'm talking about! So my husband and I seek out the sanctuary of our back yard that we've spent many hours developing. So today, I'm sharing some of my back yard. I hope you enjoy!

Gardenia

Gladiola

Shasta Daisy

Portulaca

Diamond Frost

Red and Cream Clockface Table How To

In my last posting, I gave you a sneak preview for this post. This is my favorite clockface table so far.  I actually had someone from New Zealand contact me about shipping it to New Zealand! Very exciting for me to have someone on the other side of the world want my little ole table!

So anyone with a round table can paint it with a clockface. This is what my table looked like before.

Before

The top was pretty worn so it was a perfect candidate for painting. As always, I sanded it just to scuff the surface. Next, I rolled on a good quality latex primer, a slightly creamy tint since I was using antique white for my base coat.

I let that dry overnight and then applied 2 coats of a antique white satin latex. Once that dried, I located the center of the table and stuck in a push pin. I cut a string long enough to reach the inner diameter of the red border. With a pencil secured to the string, I lightly sketched a circle. This was the line that I hand painted the red border to. Hand painting is never perfect, but in the end it's fabulous! I blended two shades of red and applied 2 coats to create my red border. You can also see the picture of the actual clock face that was my inspiration for this table.

After several days of dry time, I printed out my lettering on the computer. I used tracing paper to transfer the letters to the table. I used my hand cut stencil for the roman numerals.
These were also hand painted once the letters were transferred. To add a little something extra and to clean up the painted edge where the cream and red met, I used a gold paint pen and my string to create a thin gold circle. Once everything was dry, I used a hard rubber sanding block with sandpaper to create some random distressing.

I loved this effect on a previous table, but after the fact felt like this table was busy enough that it didn't really need the distressing. Oh well, too late to change it back...still learning after all these years!
I used a raw umber glaze to age all the colors and give it some depth.

The top was finished with an acrylic varnish. I blended equal parts of flat and satin so that it wasn't too flat and not too shiny.
The iron base was previously black but needed some touch up. I sand and scraped and loose paint and spot primed. I spray painted the entire base red and let that dry. Next, with a mineral spirits ladened sponge, I began to spray the base black, wiping edges with the sponge to reveal flashes of red. This was the final effect.

Check out the final piece in my Etsy store. https://www.etsy.com/listing/99902582/breakfast-table-clock-face-hand-painted.  It's also available locally at the Dilworth Blacklion in Booth 409, Eeeklectic Town.
Does anyone have any furniture pieces you are tackling this summer? I'd love to see what you're doing or give you some input if you have a project in mind!