ORC Lucky No 7 - Week 5

I almost titled this post 

"Sheer Panic!”

What the heck - let’s go with it!!!

This has been slow going and there hasn’t been a lot to show up until this point but it was so awful to begin with that I feel like every little thing is great progress!
 Or that’s what I keep telling myself!

 I have painted everything white that needed to be fresh, glossy white including the swinging bed and now I’ve moved on to the gorgeous green floor.

We have had a green porch floor for years but a friend recently gifted me with Amanda Lindroth's book Island Hopping and I'm obsessed. Like, can't put it down. And it confirmed that this fabulous green was just the color we needed for our porch floor!

I have a thrifted, vintage bamboo mirror for the fireplace wall. 

And I’m covering a lampshade.

And that's about it.
Here's hoping I get a lot completed in one week!!

See more ORC participants here.

 

ORC Lucky No 7 - Week 4

As I stated last week, I've been in Charleston SC (lots of pretty porch inspiration!!)

 and the Virginia mountains 

for the last 8 days so nothing much has happened physically.

I used all my travel time to think, visualize, source and plan 

so I can hit the ground running this week.

Time is flying by!!

One thing that did actually happen was my handy husband worked on the "box" for the gas fireplace insert while I was away.

There is still a lot to be done but I'm excited to see progress. 

We salvaged that fireplace mantel from an old house in Marietta GA over 27 years ago that was scheduled for demolition.
Every time my husband mentioned getting rid of it because I hadn't done anything with it yet, I resisted. Then several years ago we added this section onto our screened porch and we "installed" the mantel as a focal point. Then we started looking for a gas insert and one finally showed up at Restore ages ago and now it's close to being a reality.

We certainly took our time on this one!

Things still look pretty rough but there is actually progress. 

I have the floor paint ready to go now that I'm back in town!

Gorgeous green!

I just need good weather so I can roll it on and show y'all some actual progress. 
Please check out everyone else's progress here and if I haven't bored you too much please come back next week and see if I might actually get something done!!

One Room Challenge - It's A Biggie! Week Two.

My tombstone will probably say: 

"She painted everything white. Everything!"

Luckily Mollie helped. 

We quit counting how many coats of primer and paint.

Sometimes it's better not to know :)

They don't call it a One Room "Challenge" for nothing!

Hopefully we can get all of that red and yellow covered

 with white fresh white paint and move on to the fun stuff.

Please come back and see.

It's going to get better. Promise.

Pagoda Pillow

I love a good Pagoda Pillow.

I found this one by Society Social when working on my last One Room Challenge.
It  is perfection.
I love it.

It is $96.00.
I'm sure it's fabulously worth it but not in my budget.


I found this pillow cover on Etsy for about half the price of the one from Society Social.
I love this fabric.

PopOColor on Etsy

TrendyNest on Etsy
 You know we are fans of Neo Toile around here.

And @wheatonwhaleydesigns has quite a few good pagoda pillow options.

I used this fabric (below) on a lampshade in my Black Library ORC!

But that first Pink Pagoda pillow had my heart.
So, I decided to try and make my own reasonable facsimile.
#morecreativitythancash

I had this pillow cover from IKEA.
And more of the Sherwin Williams Ruby Shade paint that I used for my IKEA curtains.
I explain the hand stamping method for the curtains here.

So, I just took a paintbrush and painted a pagoda on my pillow cover. 
And I stamped the same design as the curtains on the back. 
That makes it reversible!

It's not as refined and elegant as the Society Social version
 but I think it adds a lot to the pillow mix on the daybed.
I'm ready to paint a blue one now!
I just have to find a spot for it first.

It was quick and fun - try painting a pillow!

Spring 2017 ORC "Half The Time" Project ~ Week 4

All I can say is YIKES!!

(Probably why I've never written the great American novel!)

Yikes, I say, again.

Anyway.

I've been riding around with my trusty Sherwin Williams fan deck 

and my fabric swatch on the front seat. 

That way I can ponder paint choices during red lights. 

And in Atlanta I have plenty of time for pondering at lights!

Purchasing some paint on the way home and hopefully purchasing this shade this weekend and getting it up ASAP. 

I knew that this would be slow-going since I am out of pocket half of the time of this challenge but... Yikes!

So, other than saying Yikes, 

and that I am hopeful still that I will get a lot done in the next two weeks, 

 I sadly have little to report.

Go check out the more prolific ORC'ers here.

Spring 2017 ORC "Half The Time" Project ~ Week 3

Half the time of my "Half The Time" project is gone.

I've got to get it together because I cannot bring this room back again.
#thirdtimeisnotthecharm

I'm a list maker so here goes:

1. Paint chair white (almost finished) 

2. Make pillows from fab new fabric

3. Measure and buy bamboo shade

4. Hand block print curtains (Yep, she's crazy!)

5. The floor? Carpet is old/not going anywhere. Decide on rug. Seagrass or Jute? Or what?

6. Decide on additional pillows. 

7. Gather bamboo frames and art. Paint frames if needed. Frame prints.

8. Hang gallery wall

9. Cord covers on sconces - never did it last time around :(

10. Decide about bedside table?

11. Mirror over bed - change out or replace with artwork

12. Gather blue and white for dresser

13. Lamp?

14. And a new thought here, paint wood dresser?? (Definitely crazy!) Will it make the wood 
       armoire look bigger and darker and lonely in it's big darkness? (Yep, nutso!)

So it is PRIME TIME here in the ORC world 

and 

that's all I've done this week - prime things.

 I'm using these in another project

 which has made me think about using them in my ORC gallery wall. 

(They are going to be awesome in my other project!!)

I'm waaaay behind on the gallery wall thing and this was not my original direction. 

I think I'm beginning to panic and grasp at straws.

We will just have to see if I make some progress before the Week 4 post

 or if I'll be writing a concession speech and throwing in the towel!
(We had big elections this week in GA. Can you tell?)

Be sure to check out the other, more prolific bloggers on Linda's blog!

Back To My Roots...

This is not about genealogy.

It's about fabric. 

And paint.

Pigment. Dye. Whatever the choice may be.

I have a Bachelor of Visual Arts in Surface Design.

What I do in my daily job has zero to do with design.

(This is a peek at my "knock-off" project)

So, given the fact that my parents spent a fortune on my design degree 
(Thanks Mom and Dad!)
 and I'm not using it to earn a living I decided to go back to my roots.

And hand paint some fabric to use on a project.

I call this my #secretproject on IG.
I'll be able to share more soon but for now we will talk about jazzing up plain sheets or yardage for about $1.27. Yep, $1.27.

I used my jazzed up sheets as curtains and you'll find out why soon. 
I also used this process to perk up some pillowcases.

First, here is an idea of my inspiration textiles.

via

 I am loving the hand painted/hand blocked  fabrics 
that are everywhere in decor these days.





 
via

Here's what I did.
This is definitely a "do as I say not as I do" tutorial. ;)

I started late at night because that's how I roll 
and it makes taking "good blogger" photos harder. But this is what we have!

I draped my kitchen table in plastic dropcloths because it was really cold the 3 days I had to work on this so the big table on the porch was not an option.

I gathered up supplies.

My recycled palette - Chic Fil A Catering Nugget Tray, foam roller, and Sherwin Williams Acrylic Latex in the perfect blue.

I know all about textile medium and extender but I have lots and lots and lots of clothes with latex house paint on them and it doesn't wash out. So I feel good about skipping the textile medium on this project. And if they faded slightly it would only add to the handblocked look.

And it's 11:30 at night, so there's that. 
I compromise with myself very easily late at night.

There's the $1.27 stamp. 

Roll a thin coat of paint on the stamp and start stamping.

Again, the sheets or yardage should have been pressed (or at least tumbled- yikes) but it did not matter for the "look" I was after so I lazily skipped that step.

I just eyed the repeat pattern and did not worry about the stamp image being "perfect" every time. I wanted a hand made, worn type of look. I wanted that Anthro vibe for these.

I just kept stamping, blow drying, shifting the sheet and stamping some more

 until all the sheets were finished.

And the next morning everything looked pretty good in the daylight!
Off they went to the #secretproject, ironed and crisp looking!
(There will be a full reveal!! Soon.)

 And then I pulled out my favorite Sherwin Williams green paint - Talipot Palm - and decided to go green on a couple of sheets and pillowcases
 for the #secretproject with another $1.27 foam stamp.

I love the green, too!
Grab a foam stamp and some leftover paint and give something solid a new look!
It's fun!

UPDATE: The latest issue of Country Living had this great feature on block printing!!
Check it out!



*I am not affiliated or compensated ( too bad!) by Country Living magazine. 
I just wanted to share.

UPDATE: Be sure to check out my most recent hand blockprinting project here.

Can't Stop. Won't Stop.

Painting Chinoiserie, that is. 

I'm in a painting groove and I can't stop.

I bought plain white Christmas ornaments in December of 2015.

 They sat for a year :(

Then I made these.

And then I painted these.

And now I'm painting Chinoiserie Monograms!

And loving it!

They are large wooden letters - 18 inches tall.

So perfect for a protected front door, inside bedroom door, baby gift, little girls bedroom, nestled in a boxwood wreath for Spring or in a gallery wall grouping. Anywhere! 

It's the best of two worlds - monograms and chinoiserie!

This one is traditional blue but any color goes!! 

The background doesn't have to be white either! 

Monkey see, monkey do!

Here it is start to finish!!

I'm going to be making it easy to order these on the 

made by mollie's mom Facebook page or madebymolliesmom Instagram feed .

And they will soon be available on the new Instagram feed for elizabethandpayne.

Elizabeth and Payne is a new little adventure that Mollie and I are going to give a whirl. 

We keep finding such great things when we are out and about and finding things to paint in Chinoiserie so we want to share!

We will be hosting Elizabeth and Payne IG sales and maybe a pop up shop or two!!

Be sure to "follow" us everywhere so you don't miss a thing!

Chinoiserie Valentines!

February is knocking on the door??

I just got used to writing 2017 on things and now I have to write a new month!

Wow, that was fast!

I had so much fum making the blue and white chinoiserie ornaments at Christmas 
that I wanted another fun project! 
Handpainted hearts of some sort would do the trick!
(PS. They are sitting on that amazing, crazy bamboo table find!)

Last year the Chinoiserie Heart was big - this year they are tiny!

So here they are! 

Since people wanted to buy the ornaments and there was no way I could pull off getting organized to ship them out, etc. at the last minute in December,

 I decided to offer these up on Instagram!

The first batch has shipped out! 

(Whew! I have figured out PayPal invoicing!)

 There are a couple more available.

Watch for them this week on Instagram and then be sure to watch for what is coming for Easter!!

It involves chinoiserie, Spring-y colors, monograms if that's your thing, bunnies and more!!

There will be sneak peeks on IG!