5 Colours to Cheer Up Your Space This Spring

Spring is here and is currently in full effect.  Aside from all the cleaning and organizing a good way to make your space refreshed and renewed for a lively summer is to add a fresh coat of some cheerful hues to your walls.

Here’s a few shades that I’m buzzing over this Spring!

Orange:

This vibrant color is just bursting with energy and warmth.  Its a combination of both yellow and red so it holds elements of beauty and celebration!

WEST ELM

YELLOW:

This is the official color of the year 2009 as launched by Pantone.  Hindus in India wear Yellow to celebrate the festival of Spring and to holistic healers Yellow is the color of peace.  This energizing color is surely going to be livening up homes and spaces more this year than ever before.

Keith Scott Morton

countryliving.com

CORAL

This cozy color brings a big ol smile to my face every time I walk into a room filled with it.  Like Red this is the color of beauty.  I personally believe this is the joyous color, one that invokes a room full of giddy laughs and lullabies.

apartmenttherapy.com

cottageliving.com

Purple/Violet:

Purple is a royal color, fit for any season it suggests refinement along with grace, elegance, and something a little different and special from other colors.  I double dog dare you to paint one of your rooms purple and then enjoy the energy that bursts out of it.

http://www.gaitainteriors.com/blog/?cat=23

apartmenttherapy.com

and last but not least…

TURQUOISE:

Turquoise is a real crowd pleaser and mood enhancer…Its sweetly feminine with a lively sophistication that’s strong enough for men but delicate enough for women.  It stems from the colors of water…think beach…think swimming…think vacation.  Now deck your walls with rich colors that make you think  of these wonderful things every day.

http://peacockfeatherevents.blogspot.com/2008_09_28_archive.html

http://prettylittlethingsforhome.blogspot.com/2008/07/rooms-that-just-get-me.html

Now get to work!  Don’t just wait for summer to come and brighten up your world with sunshine and open airy windows.  Your home should be filled with love and joy.  It should be filled with all things that make you smile and inspire you or make you happy.  Enjoy yourself by enjoying your space with some lovable cheery colours!!

colorful hugs. lulu

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Wood Icing

Here is a beautiful Wood Icing Crackle finish by:

Artist, Kay Perret
Dancing Brush Painting
Puyallup, Wa 98371
253-921-2832
kayperret@dancingbrushpainting.com

I’ll be teaching a Wood Icing class at the Minneapolis Institute of Fine Finishes on May 7th and 8th.  Class costs $199.00 you can call Jean @ 612.374.0221 to register!

Hope to see you there!

lulu

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Paper Bag Deco-Finish

YES YOU CAN deck your walls out with paper bags if you so choose!!!  Here is one of the many paper bag finishes offer at  Patina Designs.  Terri created a leather look by crumpling up the paper, then treating it like wall paper to adhere to the walls.  Finally, Terri glazed and added some metallic stencils in a random pattern for more DRAMA!!!!

Yay for going Green!

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Wood Icing Recipe

Silhouette & Cork

Tools:

Wood Icing Textura Paste
tape
black paint
silhouette stencil
Stain and Seal Van Dyke Brown
chip brush
rag
plastic bag
a putty knife

1.) Paint door black and allow to dry

2.) Tape off the areas that you want the black to shine through and apply the silhouette insert where you want it.

3.) Spread the texura base over the entire area and then place plastic over the wet product and pull off to leave peaks and craters.  Make sure to remove the tape immediately.   Pull out your silhouette stencil.

4.) Allow to dry over night and then sand down so the product has smooth edges.  Remove Dust.

5.) Apply stain using a chip brush and then wipe off remaining stain with the rag.

6.) Seal the door after it has dried with c500

All of these products are available at the Plaster Center!!!

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Coffee Grounds Plaster Recipe

This Terri’s famous Coffee Grounds Plaster Recipe.  I think you’ll find it quite easy,  and hopefully enjoy yourself when your resorting back to your inner child.  This recipe gives you permission to play with your food once  again…

Here is what you will need:

A trowel
Veniciano Lime Based Plaster
coffee beans
stir stick
coffee bean grinder or blender
coffee maker
sugar and cream to taste

1.) Grind up your coffee beans for your morning pot of coffee.  After brewing remove the coffee grinds and and grind them a second time in the blender or coffee grinder

2.) Pour yourself a cup of coffee, mix cream and sugar and enjoy

3.) Run the grinds through the coffee maker again..Remember to empty the pot so as not to overfill.

4.) Grind for a third time, and re-run through the coffee maker again.  You are breaking up the beans with heat and moisture.  The more you grind and boil them, the more of that natural coffee colorant is going to seep out to help color the plaster.  The beans should be soft and paste-like.

5.) Mix the grounds into your plaster and stir till completely mixed in.

6.) Use your stir stick to load your trowel and and put your trowel on your first coat onto the walls.  This is your base coat so do not worry about making it perfect.

7.) After plaster dries, trowel on second coat with desired technique.  Remember to push hard on the beans to break up even more pigment to get a nice rich color.

enjoy the aroma while it lasts…it goes away once the plaster dries!!!

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Wood Distressing Class at MIFF

My first class with Drew over at the Minneapolis Institute of Fine Finishes was a great success.  We spent three days painting, and distressing 5 wooden doors.  We did a lovely cedar finish with a walnut over lay, a tissue paper crackle cabinet door, a wood icing stained stencil door, a distressed crackle creamy yellow and a beat up looking brown door.

(Here is a photo of the students working on the doors in the studio)

The students were all wonderful and really brought a lot of insight and innovative ideas to the finishes.  The greatest part of it for me was seeing how beautifully each door came out and how each finisher brings something new to the table.  We had people in the class ranging from a district manager at Hirshfields, to fine finishers and a DIY homeowner wanting to refinish her cabinets at home with out spending a lot of time.

(this is one of the students crackle tissue paper doors)

I taught wood icing which was a huge hit.  People were very impressed with how the product really does stain just like wood.  We even did a test, taping off one half of a door and just skim coating it with wood icing, letting it dry over night and then staining.  The match was dead on, and it filled in all the nasty wood grain on the door we were doing charging the whole feel of the piece.  I’m busy now working on putting together a Full Wood Icing class for the studio.

(this is the wood icing finish we did, developed by he wonderful Rose Wilde)

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in class.  You all were such a joy to work with and I look forward to seeing pictures of your beautiful works of art and will hope to see you in the studio again soon!

love, LULU

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Disney World Half Marathon 2010

Its official…as of just minutes ago my sister Sierra and I have officially registered for the Disney World Half Marathon.  Its going to be a first for both of us and I could not be any more excited!  I wont be beggining my training until Spring time but I know Sierra is already hard at work now.  Hurray!  Its going to be quite the challange for both of us.  Especially since we will be doing al

Here is the event info:

Event Name: 2010 Walt Disney World® Half Marathon
Date & Time: January 09, 2010 05:50 AM
Location: Walt Disney World® Resort (map)

Registration should be available for the next couple of weeks so I would love to encourage any of you to join us on our wild adventure and register as well.  It would be great to have someone to train with in Minneapolis this year!

Disney World HERE WE COME!!!!!

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Free Faux Finishing Workshops @ Sherwin Williams

I’ll be teaching a few different workshops throughout the year with my fellow painters Peg Malanaphy, and Terri Roberts.  The first one coming up in February is our You Got Glazed Workshop and it will be at the Sherwin Williams Store located in Stillwater.  We will be using  the 2009 color collection from SW in our class for all of the finishes.  We will also  provide you with information about there product Glaze “Illusions”.  I’ll attach the flier in case you didn’t get one in the mail, because there is a nifty 25% off coupon attached to it.  If you are not gonna use the coupon yourself, hand it over to your favorite painter.  They can always put coupons at the paint store to good use.  I’ll hope to see you there!

and… NO that is not me in the photo!  tee hee

hearts.

LULU

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Obama. Paints. Too

There are days when I think to myself, “What am I doing?, this job is too demanding for a little thing like me, that ladder is too high, my tendinitis is flaring up…blah blah blah…”  Regardless of the hard times that come into play in my profession as a house painter, I LOVE MY JOB!  I love my clients! I love all of the beautiful colors that I get to paint everyday and making peoples homes help them feel happier about there nest.  I love watching a space transform with the most inexpensive of changes that has the biggest impact…PAINT!

I may not be out there changing the world like our new president, but I am out there making homes better, more beautiful and inviting places to be.  And that in itself makes me love my job even more.  Shout outs to Mister Obama up there… he does not know this but the very day that picture up above was taken was  my 26th birthday.   I turned 26 on July 21st 2006, (see lower right side of upper picture) and on my birthday two years ago our new President was painting a house for the Habitat for Humanity Program in New Orleans.  Our President was volunteering his time doing what I do best, and this makes me feel even more connected with what I hope will be even greater changes for all of us and our country in the four years to come.

This  little coincidence or piece in time reminds me of just how small the world really is.  Painting is something that President Obama did with his spare time to make a difference in peoples lives.  How very lucky I am to get to do this every day!

If you would like to volunteer your time painting like Obama you can visit: http://www.habitat.org/

Congratulations to Obama from little ol me, with paint brush in hand!

LULU

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Darling Custom Handbags… Make yours @ LILL STUDIO

The other day I met two lovely ladies carrying the most darling little handbags.  I of coarse felt inclined to let them know that there bags were super attractive.  They mentioned that they designed the bags themselves and then I was sold.  Its so easy!!!  You go on-line and pick the bag model that meets your fancy then, search through a wide array of lively and elegant fabrics to create your very own personalized purse or pillow!

You can watch a little diddy about LILL Studios below!

If you rinterested in making your own you should go to there website @ http://1154lill.com/aboutlill/behindtheseams.asp

or You can view there BLOG @ http://1154lillstudio.blogspot.com/

I’m just in love with all there cute clutches and pillows.  My step sister Sierra will be thrilled that they have a Boston location, The closest location that I know of for us Twin Cities folks is in Chicago.  Thanks heavens for the Internet.

MUAH.LULU

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