Picasso went through his monochromatic blue period ~ clearly, I am going through my own blue phase.  I went through my first blue period when I was first married over ten years ago, but it was more of a cobalt blue fixation back then.  Then I rejected blue altogether and banished it from my house.   Blue was forbidden for years!  But being a fickle and forgetful gal, I’ve returned to yet another blue and white phase, this time I’m drawn to soft gray blues, robin’s egg blue, soft turquoise, and intense hues like peacock blue.   

My home office?  My living room?  My master bathroom?  Yep, they’re mostly blue.  I make no apologies, I happen to find the shade is extremely calming, and compliments just about everything.  Think about it.  Soft blue works with chocolate brown, red, pink, orange, gray, green, white, everything !  So I prefer it over other colors, as long as it has plenty of gray in it. 

Now I’ve gone and saturated the family room with blue too, but more by force than by choice.  Allow me to explain.   

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I had every hope of finishing up all the final touches in my master bedroom over the weekend, but as fate would have it, nada was accomplished.  Instead, I took some leisure time, and I’m so glad we got out and enjoyed ourselves.   

Instead of finishing the space, we went out wine tasting in Sonoma and had the best time ever.  The weather was perfect, the kids were angels, the wine was cold, the cheese was stinky, and the evening ended so well, I crashed on the couch with the kids, all of us completely wiped.  It was heaven. 

But our bedroom remains a complete disaster zone, with laundry and ladders and paint cans and tarps everywhere.   I had a crazy idea to repaint the entire room last week in ‘Nantucket Gray’ by Benjamin Moore.  It’s the perfect shade of medium gray with a hint of olive.  My poor husband has been so patient with me while I try to give this room a facelift. 

One of the upgrades I was eyeballing were these lamps at Z Gallerie, they’re delicious. 

But then I found a pair of lamps for 1/3 the price at Marshalls ~ loved the shape, but of course I wanted them white ! 

I got this idea from Janell to spray paint some curvy lamps a glossy white, and I absolutely love the final result ! 

$40 lamp from Marshalls:

Love !

I spray painted with Rustoleum’s ‘Gloss White’ (heart!), and removed the brownish band from the shade.   Then I hand painted the champagne stripe at the base to make it pop off the dresser. 

So modern !  So purty ! 

Did you happen catch the sneaky peek at the hand painted wall treatment ?  If you follow my tweets, you’d have seen my inspiration link for it last week !  The bedroom should come together very soon, fingers crossed.

Today I’m off to Restoration Hardware ~ ordinarily I don’t shop there because they’re a little pricey, but I’m holding in my paint covered hands a gift card and their linens are on sale !  Aw, yeah.  Gotta love how my hub redeemed some miles from his business Am Ex to bring me a RH gift card.

He must have been listening when I kept saying how much I love their Belgian Washed Linen Quilt and Shams, and how I kept repeating after ten years, how much we really deserve something nice for our bedroom. 

Or maybe it was the page from the catalog that I taped to his side of the mirror.

I’m just subtle like that. 

I’m torn between Fog, White, and Orchid.  Decisions, decisions !  

What have you spray painted lately ? 

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So as I was touring the backyard the other day, I realized there’s definitely some sprucing that needs to happen, especially with guests coming on the Fourth. 

As I meandered up the hill behind the grapevines, I was reminded of the thrift store bistro set I found a couple of years ago that I had every intention of refinishing but I just never got around to it.   The set sits on a little gravel patio that has a great view of the vines, but it certainly been been neglected.  After leaving the bistro set out all winter (so dumb), the set was, how shall I say . . . . what’s the word ?  . . . oh yes.  

GROSS. 

I meant there was moss growing on top of the table, the paint was chipping everywhere, and it was covered in spiderwebs.  ICK. ICK. ICK. 

So I decided the time had come to give it a makeover.  I convinced myself I’d have a fresh new set in no time at all with just a little paint and fabric.   Well, that’s what I did, repainted and recovered the seats.  But in the middle of my revamp, something rather unexpected happened.  Something I hate to relive.  But you’ve just got to know. 

First, take a looky loo at this retro bistro set Before:

And After:

Purty, huh ? 

It’s just such a great set for sitting and watching the grapes grow. 

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Kids have a way of springing things on you – it just comes with motherhood territory.  Friday, my daughter announced to me that she was expected at the social event of the season.  Okay, it was just another invitation to yet another kid’s birthday party, but it happened to be taking place that very afternoon.  Need gift, need it wrapped, pronto !

In the past, whenever these kinds of social events had arisen, I always found myself scrambling for wrapping paper and ribbon.  It drove me crazy.  I had no place to store wrap in my office and I didn’t want to store it under the bed.  Then I thought, hey, I’ll use the space behind my laundry room door.  Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.  Genius, I tell ya.

I searched around online for a quality organizer, and even considered buying one like this, but most of the consumer reviews said it was junk.  Then I had a light bulb moment.  Light bulb said, “Gurl, what the heck are you thinkin’ ?  Git yer beehind on down to Lowe’s and build yerself yer own, dagnabbit !”  So I did, lickety split.

This project took about two hours total from start to finish over the course of two days, but now I have this great little wrapping paper organizer and I’ve maximized storage in a place I wasn’t using before- behind the laundry room door !   Yeee haw !

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I started working on this idea a few weeks ago, and finally got around to finishing up this little experiment of mine just the other day.  I wanted to create some original candles with plain glass containers and soy wax for the holidays and to give as gifts. 

Here is the first of the four candles I created.  This version has a cranberry tinted soy wax inside a plain glass oval container – it is painted and embellished with a glittery seasonal message. 

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I heart strippers. 

No not those kind.  I knew your mind would go there. 

No, I like the kind of strippers that take layers of paint off an old piece of furniture.

Last week, I was working on a dresser and nightstand combo for my brother’s bachelor pad.  I found this set at the local thrift for $25 dollars for the pair.  They’re solid wood !  However, the chipped pistachio green paint job was not the shade we were going for. 

So with the help of a chemical stripper, I took them from this:

To this:

I picked these pieces because of their modern streamlined design and the pewter hardware.  Also because they were inexpensive and the perfect size for his small bedroom space.  He rents in San Francisco where large bedrooms are very rare.  I thought it a good idea to strip the paint off of the pieces to get right to the wood so we could start over with primer and paint.  A chemical stripper was the fastest answer. 

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Lately, I’ve been inspired by several bloggers to embellish some glass objects with frosting.  What finally motivated me were these etched glass wine bottles I swooned over at my favorite shop in St. Helena called ‘Vintage Home’.

Not only did I want to enhance some decor, I also had a practical purpose.  I needed to transform my glass bath cabinet doors from a clear to opaque surface.  So last week I grabbed some of Rustoleum’s ‘Frosted Glass’ spray paint to conduct some experiments.  In the end, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted with the results. 

I must say that this post was almost titled, “Somebody Stop Me”.  When I’m armed with a product that makes me giddy, I need someone to hold my arms tightly against my body, look deep into my eyes, and say to me:   “PUT DOWN THE CAN.  STEP AWAY FROM THE FROSTED GLASS SPRAY PAINT.”   I didn’t stop using the stuff until the can was empty.  And all of the other glass in my home is now breathing a sigh of relief. 

Here are the five glass objects I enhanced with (yet another) can of spray paint. 

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I had a little problem.  In my recent attempt to spruce up the guest bedroom space, I realized I had a small closet for my guests, but no dresser.  And the end table next to the bed was a bit small.  So when I spied a small three drawer chest at the local thrift for $13 dollars, my brain clicked into gear. 

Now most people would walk past this piece, and for good reason.  It had a spotty black paint job with gold trim and gold hardware.  It’s a Dorothy Draper knock off, but I’m just not a fan of this paint job.  Funny, because I typically adore classics.  I really loved the lines and the design, just not the traditional black and gold paint - this color combination was simply unsuitable for my blue and white space.

I’m all about freshening a classic piece with great lines in a new and modern way, and I am not alone. 

I loved the detail of this chest, just not the paint job, so I decided to make it my own.  As much as I long to paint everything white, I like to mix it up with dark wood tones or pieces painted something other than white.  

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One month ago, I bought a spindly old fashioned twin headboard at the local thrift store with every intention of turning it into a bench.  I’d seen the idea traveling around on some blogs, and loved it.  The headboard cost me a total of $12 dollars.

After some thought, I decided I had less use for a bench, and greater use for a coat rack in my guest space.  I had a bare wall, so why not fashion the headboard into a rack for scarves, sweaters, jackets, robes, or hats for my guests ?   You may recall, I’ve done this before, turning a footboard into a message center with some white and chalkboard paint.   

So I decided to do it again, but this time with a headboard.  I also used a different paint technique to give my coat rack an antiqued look.  Now, the twin headboard has been transformed into an architecturally decorative piece, providing both form and function. 

Follow along and I’ll show how I turned this:

into this: 

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Last week, I hinted at the table I transformed into a desk for my office/library in this post. 

For some time, I’ve been drawn to the idea of a writer’s desk in lieu of my traditional dark wood desk with its big and heavy drawers.  By definition, a writer’s desk is more like a table, with few or no drawers, open and airy, forcing the user to be clever with storage, and always organized.  And I’m the type that has to force myself to be organized. 

In my decision to move from dark to light, I found a table at a local outlet that was closing its doors, and decided that with a little paint, and a glass top, it could become my own version of a writer’s desk. 

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