More beige removal

The Inspiration.

I used paint from SW's Jazz Age collection. I didn't like a lot of the color combinations so I just picked two I liked. Alexandrite and Silver Gray. I changed the hardware on both of these dressers. The short white one used to be my son's with a yellow and orange stain job. It also had depictions of little men at battle, so it was definitely time for a makeover.

I'm not quite sure about the shape, but it's what I envisioned for the room (it's somewhat smaller than I imagined). It's 5'x5' point to point. I used textured metallic spray paint on the shelves and outlet covers.

The small cabinet on the wall and the bookshelf are where the idea got started. Military housing usually has white walls, so I used the Art Deco book to paint more interesting furniture. When we moved, I found the 1920's paint chips and decided to coordinate.



I replaced the light cover from country kitsch to a pseudo deco looking cover.

The Before.

Baby

Sometimes it's really hard to come up with an idea for the topic. I thought about my favorite baby ages. I love infants in all their newness, and three-month-olds when they start to get chubby. I really have to say that the fetus with it's little wide set apart eyes and stubby little tadpole body is definitely the most adorable. I need to learn not to press so hard, it looks like crayola.

Moving on (for now)

I've decided to forgo work on the kitchen temporarily. I still have a few stubborn screws and I feel like getting the rest of the rooms in some kind of order. Here's the master bedroom and yes it is nearly impossible to take a picture without Yoyo. I used Green Sure paint from Sherman Williams in Moody Blue. So I guess I'm doing something to help the enviornment. We also had the carpet replaced throughout the house.

This is a painting I've been working on, it's 30"x 40" so I sort of bit off more than I could chew. It's one of my many works in progress.



These are Korean Wedding Ducks that my husband brought home from, well, Korea.

I replaced the cheap white mini blinds with jute shades. I'm realizing I'm not so good at taking pictures.

The bookshelf I found in my shed, I just painted it white. The picture on the wall is a piece of vinyl tablecloth with loteria cards printed on it. The chair and pillow were my mom's and my husband built the mahogany and black cabinet on the right. My design faux pas, the "floating rug" (flying carpet?). According to all the design shows rugs are supposed to be anchored by furniture, but it, "really ties the room together" to quote The Dude. It's from Iraq and features my new sandals that I didn't pick up.

I'm not much of a bedmaker. Here's the After.

The Before

A work in progress

This is the other half of our kitchen. We had more wallpaper removal in here, as well as faux wood laminate that went halfway up the damn wall. I tried my best to make the walls smooth enough for paint but it didn't work out. I ended up buying textured, paintable wallpaper. My favorite part about the kitchen is the glass tile on the countertops. The pictures don't do them justice, but the tiles actually look like Jolly Ranchers. They are mostly in primary and secondary colors, with traditional "tattoo" picture tiles as well. I got them at http://www.modwalls.com/ I based my design on the design that's posted on their website. I added more colors though. Hopefully by the end of the month the cabinets will be New Ebony, and the hardware will match the fake metal backsplash.

We liked the kinda sorta retro style of our stove top, so we kept it.

The backsplash behind the sink.

A little close-up of one of the picture tiles.

The plastic panel kept falling on us so we replaced the fluorescent light with recessed lighting.

The After (so far).

The before, with the our realtor Trish, and my husband Andy

A break from our regularly scheduled program...

Sometimes I have time for Illustration Friday, and sometimes I don't. I hate to leave my blog empty for long periods of time, so this is another thing I'm working on. We bought a house last summer, and I've been doing some remodeling. This is our dining room, or half of our eat-in kitchen. Getting the wallpaper down was a nightmare. My husband had to scrape it all off by hand, and then put up new drywall while I was taking care of my Mom in California. I've since bought a Wagner power steamer, which I highly recomend. We painted it together, and I did the tree on my own.

After. Complete.


After. Our Family Tree, without the photos.

This is the before with the fabulous Miss Yo-Yo

Wrinkles

I'm really terrible at ironing. I once made a dress, and while pressing the pieces I not only scorched it, but melted a hole in it as well. Lucky for me I had extra fabric.

Homage

"...Cambodians believe we just rent this body, it is just a house for the spirit, and if the house is full of termites it is time to leave." -Dith Pran



I lost my Mom to breast cancer this past October. It was a six year battle and this last one was especially arduous after the disease metastasized to her brain.
This is the fourth drawing I came up with. I got really obsessed with getting her likeness perfect. I finally decided to drop it, and just draw her the way I imagined. My mom used to spend so much time on her hair, crimping it (yes, crimping ) and trying to get it as big as possible. She would then drive to work with the window down giving her this crazy mane that everyone knew her for. She read the bible a lot and and loved images of Mary. I have her ascending above her home in my childhood neighborhood (which I must say, I referenced Google maps and that site is seriously creepy). She has wings, pink, which became her favorite color after she got sick. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this topic was really cathartic for me. It gave me a lot of peace just to draw this little doodle.