Archive for the ‘living’ Category

NATIONAL PAINTING WEEK

Thursday, April 18th, 2013

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Hey now. Look at that updated living room.

As mentioned earlier I’ve been working on a painting project with Sherwin-Williams for National Painting Week. Most of the time my taste and the house leans towards a pretty predictably neutral (aka browntown), so when it came time to add a bit of orange to the mix I wanted it to be BOLDLY orange and therefore decided on Sherwin Williams ‘Raucous Orange‘.

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DIY ART  |   MINIMALIST PAINTED FRAME

Art ain’t easy, but hey, at least this project is.

Materials

– Basic White Frame  >  these are from Target, but Ikea and many others have similar options.

– Paint  >  as mentioned this is Sherwin Williams ‘Raucous Orange‘

– Art  >  I used a couple black & white minimalism inspired pieces I printed out at home.

– Sponge Brush / Fine Paint Brush

– Painters Tape

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On the mantel is a larger framed piece painted symmetrically about 3/4 of the way around while the smaller framed piece leaned on the fauxdenza is painted asymmetrically for an unexpected hit of color.

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How To

– Decide where the painted detail begins and ends on the frame.

– Wrap a piece of painters tape straightly and evenly around the front and side of the frame.

– Use a sponge brush / fine paint brush to apply paint evenly on the front and side of the frame.

– Do a few coats for even coverage.

– Remove the tape and call it a day.

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brick house

Hey now. A bit of graphic color makes a difference.

I’ve been messing around with a bunch of DIY art type projects and it’s been difficult to get something going that doesn’t look too ‘DIY’ or actually adds to a space in a positive way. The addition of some unexpected color and an unusual composition painted onto the frame turned out to be a nice twist to an old idea and keeps things modern amongst all the vintage. Minimal and bold, easy and budget friendly art for anyone who – like me – is also stuck in browntown. Color it up!

Check out some more orange themed paint action over at Design Crush and look out for some red/pink projects tomorrow on  Vintage Revivals & Style By Emily Henderson. Paint it up!

*This post sponsored by Sherwin-Williams. All photos and words are my own, yo.

FILED UNDER: after, art, before, decorating, DIY, living, style, tutorial

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DIY ART & MANTLE-ING

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

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I’ve been trying to figure out a number of creative (aka ‘frugal’) art + framing solutions for a few design projects that have kept things busy busy around here. The whole art thing still remains an ongoing frustration at this house and tends to be a difficult finishing detail to get right at most all design projects. Problem is, poorly installed or wrongly scaled crappy art will ruin a great space almost immediately. Right? Like In the same way how good art can make a blah space seem incredible.

FACT. Art isn’t easy. Framing can be costly. Budgets like to be tight. Details are something something.

As an attempt to work around the art + framing is kind of hard + expensive issue, I’ve been experimenting with a number of DIY art ideas and affordable ways to create large scale pieces that must (and most importantly) avoid looking super DIY or like total crap.

So, an impossible goal pretty much.

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A recent project left me with a stack of scrap paper tests I’d printed out as well as some small frames that, like a hero, I have bravely reused and slapped together into something that is sort of like art. Now these two minimalists framed things are living large in the newly updated and simplified mantel vignette. Bold moves considering these are just some Target frames stuffed with scrap paper I pulled out of the garbage.

So, yes, this is some framed garbage displayed on my mantel. Stylishly.

I’m a fan maybe.

Well, at least this project was easy and cheap and pleases my eyes. Budget art success.

I mean, it’s not like I wouldn’t prefer to hang a bunch of Donald Judd works on paper instead of this DIY solution. I’d also prefer to have the big baller style art collector money required to make that happen. I don’t so that won’t happen. But for now? My kind of funds can make more DIY garbage art happen. Or I can go nuts and splurge and get working on something LARGE SCALE. Bigger is better.

Till then. I guess.

FILED UNDER: after, art, decorating, DIY, fireplace, living

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CHAIR’D

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

Picked up this pair of chairs off Craigslist about…looks…like two months ago? So you know, breaking goddamn news. Wow. That is pitiful. Both the house and blog seem to be caught up in some sort of stagnate stalemate of clutter, disinterest and neglect.

I’ve been distracted? Busy? Hot? Preoccupied? Stuff is happening.

These photos are like really sad time travel to when we lived with order and cleanliness. Now? Chaos all up in the place. The living room has been solidly filled with boxes and random bits from overlapping projects for months. Of course once that started, the clutter rapidly spread and overtook most of the house and then it spread out over most of the property.

Things are unmanageable. Out of control. Officially hitting bottom. Ruins. To sum up, the house has spiraled into disorder as my attentions have been elsewhere.

UNSOLVABLE catastrophe, no wait, this is an easy to SOLVE thing.

All I need is extra storage space and a few men with strong load-bearing backs – possibly some sort of formal intervention – to organize and regain the use of, oh I don’t know, the dining room. If only that didn’t sound so horribly dull and currently inconvenient.

If only.

I’d totally be all up in it and organizing shiz for real.

Anyway.

This pretty rusty pair is still buried somewhere deep in the living room jumble, but before that mess I thought they added a nice bit of color and change to the space. If memory serves. Maybe someday I will see them again.

So. Yup. I got nothing. Blog quagmire.

Hmmm.

Anybody want to play that hot new game called Identify That Chair?

Name the designer and manufacturer of this chair pair if you dare, you punks. Get it correct and you just might get a sassy tickle and pinch from me – but ONLY when you least expect it OR never at all. *Probably never

 

FILED UNDER: before, craigslist, furniture, living, vintage

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