Kids Room - Image by clg2071

Do you have children?  Or grandchildren?  Or friends with children? Or maybe you know of a shelter that cares for children.  It can be hard to figure out what it is our kids really want.  The newest video game?  A bike?   Peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and honey?

One area that’s actually easier to figure out is their space.  They really want their own space.  A place that feels good.   A place that feels safe and secure.  When they walk in they glow with delight.  And even better?  You can create that space easily.

Sadly there are many kids that live in a troubled space… they may be going through a divorce or an issue with their friends.  School might not be going well or maybe they just are feeling out of sorts…maybe they’re feeling pressure from their peers.  Where do they go to be accepted and safe… is it at home?  Their space isn’t the entire home…it’s their own personal space.  Is it their bedroom or part of a room they might have to share?

We found a book (actually a couple) that we thought you might enjoy.  It’ll help you create safe places for your kids or your grandkids or maybe you want to volunteer to give it to kids at a shelter.  How great would that be?  Painting kids spaces is really our favorite. How about you?

Anyway…do you think parents can learn to accept the “decorating” habits of kids?  Can a parent embrace the creative nature of kids and let them have their very own “space”?  Will a parent share in the creative needs of kids and help to make the space “safe” and loving?  It’s sometimes not all that easy because what they want … and what you want…don’t always mesh up very well.  What you have to do is remember…this is THEIR space.  Their little sanctuary.

Kids' Sacred Places

The author of this book, Kids’ Sacred Places,  involves the reader in stories about kids healing through hands-on “decorating”.

Meet Henry… his parents are divorced, and he is reminded of his dad’s farm through the decor (some made by himself) in his room

Meet Jessica… her self-esteem was low.   Now she has a place of belonging in her own room.  Where others won’t make her feel inferior.

Meet Anna and Alexis.  Step-sisters overcoming their anger and becoming friends through the power of decorating and hands-on decorating.

The book is filled with stories and photographs showing readers how to take good childlike ideas – from the heart – and turn them into something with their hands.  Including them in the process gives them ownership, too.

Every project is accompanied by step-by-step instructions, questionnaires and fun exercises.

House of Belief: Creating Your Personal Style

The artist, Kelee Katillac, was featured on “Oprah” at one time with her book  House of Belief. A ‘reformed interior designer’, artist, creative therapist and author, Kelee’s first book, House of Belief: Creating Your Personal Style lead to writing this new book kids… Kids’ Sacred Places.

Remember…sometimes a good place to help your kid get ideas is from magazines, movies, their favorite books…even coloring books work!  But let them pull the ideas in.  You can “help” but don’t dominate. Don’t squash.  Let them choose as much as possible.

If they’re old enough, let them do the painting and drawing and – well – let them do it all.  Let them have their friends over to help.  If they aren’t old enough let them help as much as possible.

Remember…it’s only paint.  But it’s their sanctuary.

If you don’t do anything else…go read the first few pages of Kids’ Sacred Places. The stories just on those first few pages are really inspiring.

Image via Wikipedia

Is Gilding back?  It sure seems to be…and in a BIG way! Who knew?

Gilding has been used as a form of decoration for thousands of years.  What’s even more amazing is that it really hasn’t changed in it’s method all that much, either.  Some types of gilding take much more skill and practice but other types are fairly easy.

The term “gilding” doesn’t just mean “adding gold” but it means the application of any/all metal leaves and powders.  From silver and platinum to bronze, aluminum and gold.  Or even “faux gold”! 

The ancient process of gilding was probably one of the earliest faux finishes!  Well, that and murals (think cave painting)! 

So…do you want to gild your walls?  We’ve seen this in a couple of houses and it looks pretty amazing.  It isn’t HARD but you do need to take your time and be careful.  Plan it out…do a small test run first and, as always, the most important part is the PREP work!!

First you want to CLEAN the wall.  And this time I mean scrub it clean.  We prefer using TSP cleaner to do this.  And remember not to dump the TSP on plants when you are done.  That won’t do them any good at all. 

And don’t forget to fill in holes and sand down any lumps or bumps or ridges you find.  If you don’t they’ll show up under your “leaf”.  Some are good and add interest but others…  well, they can be bad or create an “eye sore” you don’t want.

You’ll want to prime/seal your walls before you start.  It gives your leaf a clean surface to attach to.  Tape off everything you don’t want gilded or painted and then prime the walls with two coats of a water-based primer sealer.  Just to be safe give each coat a breather in-between coats.  Say 3 or 4 hours to “cure” a bit.

Now for the gilding!!! Yay!!!  Time to apply gold leaf adhesive (water based) to your wall.  Use a short nap roller for this part not a brush and not a long nap roller.  Short nap.

You’re going to do this step by step.  Don’t roll the adhesive all over the wall.  Just make one vertical roll (start at the corner) down the wall and then press a long sheet of gold leaf into the adhesive.  I like it better when I use smaller “chips” or strips rather than a big long one.  But it’s a personal choice so you do what you want.  You may want to ? test this out on a foam core poster board and see how you like it before getting started on the wall. 

Okay…so one roll of the adhesive, press on the gold leaf and then repeat.  Roll, press, repeat.  Until you finish the wall.  Then go back to the beginning and peel off that top layer of paper that is covering the gold leaf.  Be careful and go slow when you peel it back and rub a brush (soft paint brush…like a mop brush or even a sponge brush but be gentle so you don’t tear the gold leaf).  Anyway…rub it gently to smooth out any wrinkles and to help really press the gold leaf in to the adhesive/wall.  When you’re done you want to let it alone to dry at least over night.

Some of your gold leaf sheets will hang over the baseboard or chair rail or turn the corner.  Just trim them up now with a straight edge razor like a box knife.  But do it carefully!  You don’t want to tear it or cut in to your wall or trim or window frames. It isn’t a race so just go slowly. 

Seal the deal! You know we love MinWax Polycrylic.  Remember not to SHAKE it up as that just adds bubbles you do NOT want in there.  Stir it up… gently.  Pour some in a paint pan and take a new/clean short nap roller and paint a thin coat over your gold leaf.  As you go along rolling it on take a small nylon trim brush…say a 2 or 3 inch brush.. and soften it up with some cross-hatching motions.

You can do this with silver leaf, too, but realize that silver leaf WILL TARNISH!  Just like a silver tea pot or silver serving utensils or silver candlesticks…it’ll tarnish and look “black” or dirty eventually.  Greyed.  So..just be aware of that.    You can seal the silver leaf, too, but if there is the slightest break in the “top coat”…say a scrape or rubbed off area then you’ll get the tarnishing in that area.

We saw silver leafed walls in a home (on a decorating tour once time) and while it was amazing to look at…it just bugged me that it was “dirty” looking.  It was cool…but…not my thing.

Try gilding a picture frame before you hit the wall.  It does take a little finessing so you don’t tear it.  Gold leaf isn’t cheap, so doing a whole wall can be a bit much but it’s very elegant.  Talk about making a statement!  Wowzer!!!  But…maybe you’ll decide just to gild a stripe on the wall and put molding up above and below it.  That would make a cool accent!

Originally uploaded by THAT Painter Lady.

Lots of people write in for ideas. They want ideas on what to paint their walls.  What color they should paint their cabinets.  What to paint in their dining room.  While we LOVE helping people it’s really hard to tell someone else what to paint on their walls for a number of reasons.

#1 – We aren’t THERE.  We can’t see your home and get a feel for your tastes and likes and how the light comes in the windows and what the accessories look like.  Those are all things you consider when you’re going to paint a room.  We often look for colors in the things in the room.  The bedspread, the couch, the paintings…

And #2 – If someone writes in and says, “Hey – I want to paint my son’s room. “  I can easily shoot back an answer.  Let’s say….PURPLE!   But what if the boy’s room is decorated with denim and southwestern style furniture.  ?!  Purple isn’t really gonna end up looking right.  And YOU won’t be real happy with us.  Lol!  We really dislike it when people aren’t real happy with us.  Really…dislike. 

So…where do you get inspired?  Friends houses?  Your mom?  Magazines?  Do you need inspiration?  Don’t hesitate to ask, but it would help if you include pictures.  So we can see what’s going on in the room…near the room…around the room.  But we aren’t you’re only source of inspiration.  Nope…there are lots of places WE go to for inspiration.  Yes, even we need to be inspired now and then. 

What do we do?  We almost ALWAYS go to book stores and look through the books on painting rooms.  Design books, kids rooms, faux finishing books, mural books, trompe l’oeil books.  They are all CHALK FULL of GREAT ideas!

Another place is in your kids books.  You love ‘em.  They love ‘em.  Why not look to them for inspiration?  Debra chose a kids room mural that she painted for the local woman’s shelter by looking through books and combining ideas.  It’s really such a great way to get inspired.  Don’t you think that giraffe is adorable?  She found it in a book!  Here’s part of her story:

“I stripped wallpaper for a few days before I could paint. They originally couldn’t get the wallpaper to stick on the walls at the shelter, so the gals used Super Glue to paste up the wallpaper. You might think that was a good idea until it needed to be stripped. The wallpaper came of in tiny little bits. What a mess!  Horrible horrible mess…”

Can you imagine?  Gads…

It was a cool job… click on Giraffe Mural to see all the pictures of this room that Debra painted at the shelter as one of her annual volunteer/donation jobs.  They’re fun and one of them you might recognize!

Where do you go for inspiration?

Image by jollyville via Flickr

Turquoise and Brown.  Pink.  Rose.   What could be next? Every year new designs and colors hit the fashion world.  And they hit the home design world as well.  Pink was the color for 2011.  Did you use it in your home?

It’s not always a good way to go.  Jumping on the “what’s hot” paint train. Problem there is if its fashionable NOW it may not be fashionable next month.  Color styles and fashions change often.  The best way to go is with your own personal taste.  What YOU like and what feels good in your own home.

Pick colors that will complement your home…your furnishing.  Colors that revel your per­sonality.  Another thing to consider is what the room used for?  Sleeping?  Studying?  Relaxing?  Working?  Colors can affect your mood, too, so you’ll want to consider that when picking colors for a room.  Here’s a link to an article we wrote about on that called “How to Choose Colors For Your Home”.

If you’re still interested in the “next best thing” you can check out the “Colormix 2012″ at Sherwin-Williams.   It’s an entire spectrum of colors that are neutralized and supposed to be “THE” colors for 2012.   They have the “neutrals” and the “reds” and the “blues” all wrapped up with the “greens”.

Now…I LOVE some of these colors.  And…since I have to repaint the entry area by my garage I may use something like their  Bosc Pear or Relic Bronze.  Both look like something that would work perfectly with my home and the space.

But…I wouldn’t use them…either one…if they didn’t fit well with my home and the space I need to paint.  If it doesn’t feel good in your home doesn’t matter how popular it is.  Avoid it like the plaque! 

Remember you want to “complement” or “complete” your home.  Not throw a monkey-wrench in the works. 

Want more on color?  Check out this book I found:

If you struggle with color schemes this book will come in REALLY handy.  If you’ve thought about changing things up in your home this could be just the inspiration you need.  Be brave and go bold!

Just remember to “go bold” with colors that “feel good” to you and actually complement – or complete – your home and furnishings.  Don’t “go bold” with some way out color that goes with absolutely nothing you own … or your personality.    You’ll be painting it out in less than a month if you do that.

Need something more?  How about the MEGA version: 

“The Color Scheme Bible: Inspirational Palettes for Designing Home Interiors” is the book you want if you want MORE than enough information and ideas for creating new color schemes for your rooms.  Its a wonderful book for anyone who may feel “color challenged”. 

Here’s an excerpt from one of the reviews:  “Design expert Starmer claims to have sifted through 16 million color possibilities to produce 200 combinations fit for a king and queen and their royal family.”

This book separates the palette choices into nine hues. Then each of those palettes features more hues: one main hue with three variations.

After that are the room applications (like your bedroom, living room, kitchen, etc.) and some great ideas for accents.  “The only issue? Too many selections!!”

So…have fun with your color schemes…and get out there and splash some paint around!

Image by rssmith via Flickr

While the “powder room” is one of the most used rooms in the house, it’s often overlooked when it comes to “freshening”.  Our first thought is usually our bedrooms (and the kids’ rooms cuz their fun!), then living spaces like the family or living room.  After that it’s the kitchen because we spend a LOT of time in there, too.

But the lowly bathroom that everyone uses…guests & family…often gets overlooked or put off.  It’s fine like it is, right?  It’s tiny and no one spends a lot of time there anyway, right?  Just get some new hand-towels or fancy soap things and it’s good to go.  C’mon!!!  Time to go BIG!!!

We had a client with powder room right off her “family/play room”.  They would be entertaining a LOT here and the bathroom was bound to get plenty of use.  It was a cool house with a pool table, built in bar, poker table and big screen TV all sharing space with a great kitchen with plenty of counter space for setting out oodles of food.

The owner wanted the bathroom to be different.  Instead of hanging wallpaper or just rolling some paint on and stenciling some border we had to think OUTSIDE the box.  She wanted something floral but with the room right outside little flowers just didn’t seem right.  Felt way tooooo feminine for the area.  But she reallly wanted flowers.  So..we went BIG.

First step was doing a color wash faux finish on the walls in a nice brown.  Suited the rest of the house.  We used a color very similar to the center of a 3 Musketeers bar.  Then it was time to GO BIG.  We drew GIANT flowers on the walls — we used watercolor pencils.  That way if we changed our mind on a sketch we could just wash it off and we didn’t have any pencil marks left on the walls.

Back to the flowers…not a bunch…we didn’t want them to be overwhelming but enough to give her a floral look she really wanted but without being too feminine.  Not everyone using this bathroom would be female, after all!

So we drew some big ol’ carnation like dahlia type flowers with some little babys breath (about the size of our fist) peeking out, some daisy type flowers, some vinca like flowers and a couple of BIG ol’ tulips.

We used colors from nature but also ones that would tie in with the room just outside the powder room.  Colors in the couch and bar stools.  That way things fit well together.  It creates a sense of symmetry and keeps things flowing.  We didn’t want it all matchy-matchy but we did want them to feel good next to each other.

In the end the flowers turned out WONDERFUL! The homeowner LOVED them and even better than that…so did her husband!  He was happy his wife got the “floral” design she wanted but it wasn’t all toooo “girlie”.  After all this was a “common” bathroom that would be used by friends and family.  No one wanted it toooo overwhelmingly feminine.  And it wasn’t.

Going big goes well with lots of things.  Vines, leaves, clocks, shoes, sports equipment…really…it goes on an on!   In a family/play room you could paint big giant billiard balls.  Use your imagination and just go for it!

Get out there and splash some paint around!

P.S.  Found this book I thought you might like, too!

It’s a great book to have on hand if you decide you want to paint some GIANT flowers, too!    Think Georgia O’Keefe!  This book has It has 50 step by step examples of painting different types of flowers. And while it’s taught using oils you can easily adapt the steps to using acrylics (or other mediums) from the examples in this book.

Or this one is a great guide to faux finishes –>

You can brush up on all the basics with this book. There are 225 how-to photos illustrate the most sought after techniques, from exotic-sounding faux bois and shar-pei to extremely subtle but dramatic effects. The best part is they show you how without any fancy equipment, either.  Alternative applicators include cheesecloth, crumpled bags, sponges, and easily modified brushes. Special attention is devoted to large wall spaces to create a finish that’s magically ‘seamless’ even when painted in sections. A great beginner’s guide for masterpiece-quality results.