Wednesday, September 23, 2009

That'll Need Two Coats!!

Before I get lost in another day, I promised myself that I was going to update this blog...today! Seems like I can only sit down and get this done about once a month!

The last time I posted was shortly after I moved into my new house.....

In my last post I talked a bit about some of the renovations that I had done on my house and promised to show a few projects. I think I will start with the office which was a kids bedroom in it's last life.

Before I get started with that, I want to explain my absence from the my Blog. On September 12, 2009, my only daughter Jacque got married up in Northwest Wisconsin. I was asked by Jacque if I could help her design and make all the invites, programs and put together a slide show for her and her new husband. She also did "Save The Date" magnets but those were ordered online off-the-shelf and didn't require any additional work on my part.

We finished all the invites a while back so that left me with 150 programs to get finished before the big day. I basically set-up a print shop in my office and expanded it to the kitchen table. I designed (with the guidance of my daughter of course), printed on custom paper, then assembled all of the programs. Not sure how much I saved by doing this but they turned out really well...








I can't let this post go without showing a few pictures from my daughter's wedding. It was a lovely warm day in mid September and the whole day went really well. I'm so proud of her and am happy to welcome my new son-in-law into the family....











OK, now back to the main reason for this post. I wanted to show one of the rooms that I updated just before moving into my new house. I have a full-time job but I have always done some freelance work on the side. I also travel around the country painting murals with a group called the Letterheads, so I need an office space to work in.

My new house had a small back bedroom that would serve the purpose but it needed to be updated! I do enjoy staying in touch with my inner-child but this was just too much!










Hideous right! So I stocked up on stain blocking primer because most of the rooms looked like they would need two coats of primer....which they did! I tried to pick out a pallet of colors for the rooms that looked more appropriate to the period that the home was built in. That being about 1960. I also tried to use colors which a greater percentage of people actually like.

I ended up painting my new office space a color called "Slender Reed". BTW, who names these colors and where can I get a job like that? The color is very rich and tranquil at the same time. And they all look like something that might have been originally used in the house when it was built. The closets were never really updated so I painted the closet walls the same color, trimmed it all in white, and re-painted the ceilings in white also. I also choose these lighter shades of color because under that goofy carpet there is solid oak flooring....another future project!




As soon as I get some shelves from IKEA and hang up all my "Wall of Fame" photos, I'll post a before and after series on this update.

Next up I am looking at setting up a space to do some oil paintings in. The only space really big enough and available is in my basement. Out of a need to get a painting done for Christmas, I temporarily set something up down there and started painting once again. Perhaps next time I can explore some of the ideas I have for that space and the challenges they present.....take care for now.