decorated alcoves

So while I am waiting for the dear old geezer to find a smaller radiator for the hall, I have been playing in the lounge. I wanted to do something in the two alcoves beside the fireplace and also to look at my home the way I would look at a client's house, and see if I could do some sort of paint effect.

Also - me dear old geezer has been asking me, to bring a little of what I do professionally, into our home. And he has been asking me for years (literally years).

This is the before, with my 'fish' photocopies, stuck on the old canvases, to see how they would look.

As you can see, there needs to be a bit of decorating here, even if it is just white. And sorry about the picture quality.

The first two stages are now finished, and I am super pleased !!!

I did a colourwashed background and stencilled a repeat pattern, then got some frames for the fish and extra mounts and put a little colour on them as well.

While I was doing this, I also painted 'the beast' - the big lack spidery wonky chandelier that I didn't used to like, looks alot better now (although I'm still going to give it more of a funky finish, like I posted here).

So, this is what I did. First, the colourwash - scumble glaze mixed with universal stainers to give a warm background to my stencilling.

The uneveness is due to the walls, that have had years of different wallpapers, patching up, re-painted, filled etc. It is all due to how porous the walls are. But this is exactly what I needed to create the effect I was after. I just dragged the glaze vertically, and didn't brush in any other direction. Normally I would work in all directions - see the pictures on the left side bar.

The next step was to draw up a stencil. I was inspired by all the coral I see everywhere in blogland, and thought it would go with the fish. I needed it to repeat easily, so I drew it in a diamond. Then spent an hour cutting it out from a sheet of acetate.

Then I mixed up a darker glaze and marked a central line with a level, under the light, and

started with the first 'piece of coral'.

 I used torn up pieces of a very cheap sponge to do the stencilling - so that I got a mottled effect, and used different pressure, to get a variety of tones.

I then used matt white emulsion and went over each 'piece of coral' again, leaving some of the darker areas to come through, especially around the edges. 

On each 'piece of coral' I added more white, (after I had removed the acetate stencil), to give more body and because the nature of stencilling is to have 'joints' which I wanted to hide.

I'm loving how the background comes through the pattern and sort of gives it a faded silk feel.

I got large cheap frames with a white mount and found another double mount, to crop the pictures neatly.

I painted the middle mount ( between the black inner mount and large white outer mount)

in the same colour as the first layer of the walls, and used a little technique I know.

I think I will do a post on this one day, as it's quite fun.

Just so you know - the walls cost me next to nothing. I had all the paint etc. I just needed a sheet of acetate, about 40p. The fish prints were 75p each. The biggest cost were the frames and mounts, which were £13.00 each, but I would have had a hard job finding a pair of matching frames at a charity shop.

Plus, I'm going for the eclectic look, and wanted some clean lines against the stencilling.

So, there it is for now - my ugly fish ain't so ugly any more, and I've named them (just between you and me folks ok). You need to read their names whilst chanelling Cap'n Jack Sparrow from The Pirates of the Carribean or Miss Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady !!!

We 'ave - Jim, 'Enry, Jack and Fred,

then - George, 'Arry and Geoff.

'N now you know their names, ya shouldn't be so scared of 'em.

Tomorrow the shelves, and later the radiator covers.

I know - you're thinking, TOO MUCH, but there definately ain't no minimalist here, and you know the saying 'less is more', well in my book, 'more is more' lol.

Bye for now xxx

 linking up with

Debbiedoos Newbie Party @ Debbiedoos

Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Tuesdays Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm

Show me what ya got @ Not Just a Housewife

Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Inspiration Friday @ At the Picket Fence
Fridays Unfolded @ Stuff and Nonsense

Five more rooms at the painted house

These paint effects are not for everyone. I spent years building up colour on walls with at least three different shades, to provide something luxurious and akin to wallpaper, but without the joints. My current clients love the uneveness of a simple one colour colourwash. In fact the more uneven the paint is on the walls, the more they like it. In the photos this seems to be emphasised even more.

The hall, stairs and landing. My client chose a high quality laminate for the whole of the ground floor, that tones perfectly with the carpet and I painted all the walls in the grey/blue shade of the stripy carpet. I absolutely love this colour - I think it is the nicest one I have ever mixed up. It doesn't feel cold atall but cool, fresh and light. (Bearing in mind this was a grey day in England !) At the bottom of the walls I painted the same glaze twice more up to 16" high to build up the colour and basically to give the walls more punch so that they weren't lost against the flooring.

The kitchen. I stone blocked the mantle around the cooker. If there was an upstand then a colourwash would have worked but as there isn't I felt it needed something more. I tried to tie together the colours of the granite worktop with the glass splashback which is a bit green for my liking. I do try and advise but at the end of the day I'm not an interior designer, just the decorator and when I've finished and walked away my clients need to feel comfortable in their own home.
Entering the kitchen there is an annex which now has a bureau and is used by all the family. I wanted to give this area definition and they took a chance on my idea of horizontal stripes. As you walk into the kitchen the stripes can only be seen on the right, so they don't compete with the stone blocking etc.
When you look back the other way you get a different feeling. Once again they were highly delighted and it definately gives the wow factor they like.

The tv also works well against the stripes, which won't compete with much else when they sit down against the opposite wall on the leather sofa they have ordered. Above the sofa are four paintings I did years ago and which originally hung in my cafe. They are on permenant loan - which means they can stay here for as long as they want unless I feel I want them back. We're all happy because I have no room for them at home.

I painted the spare room with a simple effect that I have done before. I just leave about a 6cm gap at the corner of each wall and around the ceiling, skirting and door frames, so that there is a white border, which I then emphasise with a tiny painted line on the edge of the colour. It works in really simple rooms and this is literally a box with one window and one door (and as, yet no proper furniture).

In the sons bedroom in the loft I didn't do too much. I wanted to keep it light and painting the sloping walls would have meant painting the ceiling, just because of the way the walls are. I did a simple border - grey ( the colour of the ensuite tiles) and then blue and then a putty colour to match the carpet.

So, the last of the five rooms - the dining room. My client bought the furniture years before, for a house that they lived in, that was partly built in 1789 !  The style went well there, but in the new house seemed too old fashioned and my client had actually gone off it. She told me she wanted to fall in love with it again. I wanted to do something richer than all the other rooms, but not dark and not too full of colour. I chose wall panels, and made a stencil from the patterns in the carpet. The colour has more yellow ochre in it but still ties with the other rooms and the furniture now doesn't feel out of place. My clients were once again happy people !

Before and after !

So, the house is nearly done, only the cloakroom and the lounge to show you. But in the last few weeks I have also painted the kitchen tables and chairs, the furniture in their daughter's room, an occasional table, a mirror, a candle sconce, a watering can and the walls of the summerhouse ! There is no other house where I have done so much, but I am indeed grateful and happy with the results.

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