Day 3, Cool Colors & Cute Culprits!

As a decorative painter, I have chosen so many paint colors for clients, but when it came to my own personal color scheme, I was having a hard time! First Stop, Benjamin Moore store. I can't express enough the difference between Ben Moore paint and any other, It is the best....So I went to the closest Ben Moore represented store called Proffitt Lumber in South Hill VA. This guy looked a little frightened when I asked him if I could take his picture for my blog. We was working away, but stopped to pose for me. I really just wanted his hat, but I think he was flattered overall.

We thumbed through the paint deck and I had an idea of colors and a few other paint chips I had brought along. I knew I needed bright white for the ceilings and saved a little on the 5 gallon bucket. I knew I wanted white trim paint in semi-gloss. I knew I wanted a COOL color scheme, and I was thinking coastal cottage, with aquas and sea foam green. I really want to try a lavender, but it had to be the right color of lavender. M paint mixer did a great job mixing the colors I wanted.   
 
The first culprit was my dear friend Carlotta, who surprised me by showing up to help out with sanding and modeling paint colors and drawing lay out designs on her graph paper. She is very good at space planning and sharing ideas!

Yes, it is true, I will work for a new pair of shoes, but with the new house, I might want to reconsider that!

Here is the other culprit, who really didn't want to be there with all that work going on. She helped sand a little, but mostly licked up drywall dust.

Day 2, What Lies Beneath the Surface

You never know what you will find underneath things in an old house. There were big rugs on the floor covering the very nice hardwood, , but when we went to roll up the old rugs to clean, the padding was stuck to the floor. I think they were just old and had dry rotted and started to crumble and break down. My son Hudson was a trooper, on his hands and knees scraping it off. Look at his pile! This earned him a new XBOX game!

 Here is Jordan and Hudson both scraping and cleaning up the powdered mess.

 In another room, we started to pick at the painted wallpaper, OOPS! It was holding up some plaster! The holes got a little bigger, but no worries, a little drywall patch, a lot of mud, sanding, primer, and paint on it's way!                                           Yes, I am working in a dress, it happens!

 This was a first for me! Concrete patching on the inside of the house. It was sticking out in a lumpy fashion and I knocked it down and out so I can get some drywall mud on it!

My Tips: Scrape it off, dig it out, get the bad stuff off the walls, then you can repair it with drywall pieces cut out to match the holes, then mud. I will have to screw into the plaster slat boards to brace it. I will post pics of this process for you!

Day 1, Part 2, Paint Everything!

Look at this Gorgeous Knotty Pine Cabinetry in the kitchen and throughout the dining room! NOT! I can't wait to get it painted, but I totally admire the quality of this fine wood. I love the scallop edges on the cabinets and they will look so good in white! Bright White, I think so.

                                         

                                 Here is the Dining Room in wall to wall Knotty Pine. Can't wait to get                                           my  roller on that room! 

                                

      Here are the critters checking out the place, wonder what is up there? Look at that classic stair case!

 

 This is how I check out the under lying floor. In the kitchen behind the frig....I was hoping for hard wood but it looks pretty rough, so we will go with new flooring, maybe black & white checkered tiles?

 Most of the floors look like this, but we had to scrape up the old padding that was stuck to the floor.Wucky!

Day 1, Investigative Repurposing-The 4 R's

Our first few minutes in the new house and we came in swinging hammers. Most people might want to meet the neighbors, memorize the zip code, or decide which room Grandma will sleep in when she visits, but not me. I needed to investigate what was lying beneath the surface. What architectural treasures were there waiting to be discovered.

On my mind sense we first saw the house,  was the surround on the claw foot tub.Was the tub rusted, legless, un-salvageable?

Bring on the HAMMER!

Hudson was instructed to gently break away the old T & G board, because I had an idea to re-use it...hmmmmmm


Look at that! A perfectly preserved Claw Foot Tub with FEET! All she needs is a little paint and some Golden Feet!

By the next day I had already installed the new back to this Wardrobe with the boards from the Claw Foot!

Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle, Re-purpose!

Tip: I did pull out the rusty nails and clear coat the boards so no more chips would fall off or cause anything to get dirty.

A Mint Green Cottage Lake-y Kitchen

I can't stop thinking about the kitchen in the new house. I want it to be cottage style, old fashioned, charming and a little Lake-y. I don't want it to look drap or colorless. I love White cabinets, so I am sure the cabinets will get painted. I found some green fish glass knobs and I want the counter top to be light in color and interesting. I found some minty green tiles to use as accent and maybe blend them with pale tumble stone tiles.

I adore this kitchen:

spaces design

This was sent to me by my friend Carlotta, who totally "gets" what I am looking for!


Or how about this stove??

Why be boring when you can be imaginative and get the look you really want!

I love the saying that Antonio Ballatore uses as a slogan for his show The Antonio Treatment http://www.antonioballatore.com/the-antonio-treatment/ "Go Big or Go Home!"

New Lake Cottage & Decorating DIY blogging!

Hello to all! I have the best news ever! I am buying a house in lovely Clarksville VA on Kerr Lake. It is a fixer upper for sure, but an adorable Lake Cottage in the making. I will be embarking on a DIY mission of remodeling and decorating while working, getting ready for school to start and taking classes. It will be a challenge but I am very grateful to have a chance to own my own home again and make it a darling little Lake Cottage.



I moved in with my folks about 1 year ago on Lake Gaston NC and I have been searching for the right home for myself and my 8 year old son Hudson. There are many beautiful areas around the lake, but not much for kids to do. I felt a little lost at times not knowing where we should plant our feet. Last January my kitty cat Pocahontas who was 20 years old, became ill and it was time for her to part with us. I was recommended to a vet in Clarksville VA about 40 miles away. The minute I pulled into the town, I fell in love. It was on the water, had old Victorian houses and lots of charm. Everyone in the town was nice and pleasant. I knew that is where I wanted to be. It took a few contracts and a few months, but we found a great deal on a little white Victorian and plan to settle on August 15th.

In the mean time, I am scouring the design books, online blogs and thinking of my own colors and plans and can't wait to get started on our new adventure. My Mom will be my co-planner on this venture as she has a vested interest in the property. She and I are at far ends of the color wheel, so to speak, but we an compromise on practicality and whimsy and meet in the middle.

Here are the interior shots of the house for a start so you can see where we have to focus on the worst parts first.

Kitchen: Paint cabinets, new counter tops, new flooring, new knobs. Keeping old stove : )

New Bathroom: Tear out walls, new toilet, floor, paint, sink, tile. I can use that old sink for a bird bath like I saw on http://www.hgtv.com/outdoor-rooms/create-a-birdbath-from-a-salvaged-sink/index.html



Second Bath, try to salvage tiles and tub, clean, new floor, new toilet.


Here is some information about Clarksville: http://clarksvilleva.com/clarksville/history/

Please follow me on my journey of re-established BLISS!

New Ideas Blossom, and then Fade....

As creative people, we get so busy that we can think of a creation, make it oogle over it and forget it in a minute. I made these earrings from mulberry paper flowers, I had the idea to cut out the shape of a butterfly wing, paint it and use it as the card for the earrings. The wing could then be used as a decorative ornament. I took pictures of them, wore them, stared at them and admired my brilliant plan to start a jewelry line, but to no avail, after making about 30 or so of them, here they sit in a big pile of PRETTY, doing nothing. A month has gone by, maybe even 2 and I just noticed them today that they have not been promoted, listed, priced, or even given any attention from the moment they were created. Have they lost their luster, their newness without even been given a chance of fame? What to do with them now?
I am on a wing and a prayer...