Adventures in Art, Product Design, Home Decor, Cooking, and Gardening
Watercolors on Acquarello Artistico 100% cotton paper by Fabriano. This is my variation of a painting by Wendy Tait.
My daughter, Greta, joined in on the painting session and produced this lovely version of the same painting using watercolors and Pigma micron pens:
Want to try your hand at watercolors? Pick up a copy Watercolor Flowers by Wendy Tait.
Here are a few pictures of my spring porch makeover. I just completed it today. What a gorgeous day to be outside working on my front porch. My hands are absolutely covered with yellow paint even after several thorough washings. It looks like I’ll be sporting yellow hands at work tomorrow.
My inspiration for this project was the adorable tulip themed rug from Grandinroad.com; I couldn’t resist those bright colors. I purchased the pillows, chair cushions, and accessories at Pier1Imports. The white bistro table is from Target. It will make a fine place to sip a cup of coffee or work on the computer. I purchased the flowers for the wreath at Michael’s Craft Store; the orange polka-dotted flowers and ribbon were too fun to pass up.
It took me three days to complete this project–one day of shopping and two days of painting.
Dexter getting ready to take a nap with his bunny.
Piggy ready for bed.
Steve after a hard day of play.
I spent the day painting my porch furniture yellow, white, and tangerine but ran out of paint before I could complete the job. I really underestimated how much paint it takes to cover purple paint with yellow. I purchased two cans of paint for each piece of furniture. Normally that would be more than enough to achieve a nice, even finish. But not this time.
I ran out to buy a few more cans of paint but the hardware store was closed. So tonight my porch is sporting a strange mixture of purple, green, yellow, white, and tangerine furniture. This evening my mother and I will be working on a matching wreath for the front door; not only is she my muse, but she has mad wreath design skills.
Here are some pictures of my porch makeover in progress. Stop by tomorrow to see the completed design.
I also put together this colorful spring vignette today to showcase some flowers my sister gave me. This time I chose a fun red and white stripped pitcher. I love how this arrangement looks when placed on a bold blue bistro table. Thank you for the flowers, sissy. Photo styling by Greta Krafsig, Sr.
I put together this lovely little spring vignette today to showcase some beautiful flowers my mother gave me. I just love how they look when placed on a simple green bistro table. Thank you for the flowers, Mom. Photo styling by Greta Krafsig, Sr. (aka “my muse”).
What if I kept the high-contrast color scheme that I love so much but simply inverted the palette? What kind of results would I get? What if I changed the white furniture to black and replaced the highly saturated wall colors with less saturated hues?
Oh, yes, we’re going there next. And it’s going to be another colorful ride. Stop in next week to see the results. You know you want to look….
The last stop on the tour is my chocolate brown bedroom. To punch up the color scheme in this room I added aqua and white into the mix. It’s an unusual combination of colors, but I’m pleased with the results. The headboard, nightstands, quilt, and curtains are from Pottery Barn. The cute white and aqua lamp, grass bedskirt, and pillows are from Target. The paint color is Clinton Brown by Benjamin Moore Paints.
Up next on the tour is my hot pink and yellow guest room. It’s another fun beach-themed room that reminds me of summers spent at the beach. The wall color is Moonlight by Benjamin Moore paints. The ceiling color is Windmill Wings, also by Benjamin Moore paints. I used a straw beach mat as a headboard (I stapled it directly to the wall with a staple gun) and an outdoor umbrella as a canopy. To hold the canopy in place over the bed, I filled a sap bucket with sand that I brought back from the beach, sprinkled some seashells on top, added artificial tall grass that I bought at Michael’s Craft Store, and some colorful artificial flowers I bought at Pottery Barn. The school of fish is a set of plastic plates from Pier1 Imports that I hung on the wall with plate holders. The plates were $1.00 a piece, so this colorful little school of fish cost me just $5.00.
The beaded curtains, wicker chair, and wrought-iron mirror are from Pier1 Imports. The white wicker nightstand is from Lazy Boy furniture. The sheer curtains are from Target. The cute clip-on flowers on the beaded curtains are from Pottery Barn Kids. The bedspread and bedskirt are from Horchow. The pillows are from Target. The dresser is from Pottery Barn. This little room packs a lot of punch for a little money. I really love this room.
I painted the walls in this beach-themed guest room Tropical Cabana and chose Pink Cherub for the ceiling; both colors are by Benjamin Moore paints. The tropical bedspread, grass bedskirt, and pillows are from Target. The dressers are from Ikea. The mirror on the dresser is an old window I found at an antique shop and had fitted with mirrors. The beach-themed accessories are from Pier1 Imports. This room brings back lots of fond memories of summers spent at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with my family.
Next up on the tour is a hot pink and yellow guest room. It’s another colorful beach-inspired room that was a lot of fun to decorate.
