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Color me pretty (and two true confessions)

Two true confessions

First confession: I’ve always been behind on trends String tie head bands(I remember when third-grade classmate, Stacy Rosenblum, came to school  with the cutest brightly colored  string-tie head band…I just LOVED it and really, really, really wanted one of my very own… but I didn’t get my first string-tie headband until seventh grade, by then, a bit geeky to wear.  So, so far behind.)

Second confession: I’ve always wanted to start a trend (unrealistic for someone that ain’t too trendy) but I may be onto something here!

This is how we found the door inside the houseIn the process of the restoration our 70 year old house, an old exterior door was discovered.  My then-21-year-old son said that he wanted to put frosted glass in it and use as his bedroom door.  He then left the country.  I was stuck with the door.  I stared at the door a long time.  A real long time.  Long enough that I can’t recall whether the stain glass was my idea or his.  But I digress.

It was decided (!) that stained-glass would be PERFECT for the door. The trip to the glass shop I googled stained glass, made a few phone calls and coerced my husband into loading the door into the SUV and headed to Armstrong Glass in Kennesaw, GA.  but we always migrate to the bargain bin!The place was amazing…all colors, textures, patterns, and sizes of glass…it was a true feast for the eyes.  Being who we are, we migrated to the bargain bin.  And since the plan was to mix and match a lot of different colors it was perfect!  Everyone was super helpful and friendly and made us feel like we belonged there. (I wanted to fill in a job application, but Tim dissuaded me.  No fun.)

The price was right for the glass, but not for the installation, and that is when Tim (said husband) piped up and proclaimed, “You can DO this!”  I shouldn’t have, but I rolled my eyes.  He always says that.  It makes me crazy. I'd never heard of glazing

We loaded up our  door and our 15 panes of freshly cut stained glass and headed to Lowe’s and to purchase a tub of DAPS WINDOW GLAZING. Glazing is stuff I had never heard of and, quite frankly, stuff I thought Tim was just making up.  He wasn’t.  He knew what it was, but acted like he didn’t know how to use it (we’ll never know the truth about that one). Anyhow, we decided to leave the door in is discovered form, putting a clear coat on the chipping paint, lest there be lead in it.

The dangerous partTim took the old glass out (the dangerous part. Note bare feet), while I watched  multiple youtube videos on the art of glazing until I reached level 5 of properly prepared.

I kneaded the stuff like silly-putty and then rolled it into a snake.  No, not that kind of snake.  I just wanted to make sure you are still with me. Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention

Anyhow, I slapped it into the corner where the pane and the opening thingy meet (you’ll have to youtube it to get the technical terms and details cause I simply didn’t retain all that.)  Then I grabbed  my putty knife, and, holding it at just the right angle, crammed it into the crevice, while scraping off  the excess glazing.

From inside room at night

From inside room at night

After HOOOOOOOOURS of doing that, I was finally done.  It took DAYS for the GLAZE to

Don't think, just do it!

Don’t think, just do it!

dry and then we (ok, Tim) hung it.  I then spent quite a bit of time playing with the light switches in room and the hall, just ooooohing and aaaaahing at how wonderful it looked.  It really is quite stunning during different day parts.

The stained-glass door is definitely an eye-catcher in our new/old home, and hopefully will start the TREND that I have SO LONGED TO BEGIN….only time will tell!  I secretly hope that Stacy doesn’t already have an interior stained glass door…

Click on any of the pictures below for a slide-show.  Woo hoo

 

 

ART ROOM: Easy come, easy go

In 2011, I sheepishly asked my oldest son, who was moving to Nashville,  if he minded me converting his longtime bedroom into my art room.  He readily agreed to relinquish it lock, stock, and barrel.  (What does lock, stock, and barrel mean, anyway?)  

So, I immediately went to work.  First, I enlisted the help of my third son, Hamilton, and his friend, Wiley, to help paint.  It didn’t take long for Hamilton to comment on my out-of-character and bland choice of WHITE PAINT for the walls. “Hamilton,” I declared as we edged and rolled, “this is creating a CANVAS!”

A little kilz followed by plain white latex paint

A little kilz followed
by plain white latex paint

We rolled only three of the walls, and left one alone since it was a nice sienna.  The sienna wall quickly gained a white tree.

I “drew” the tree on the wall using painter’s tape (after googling “tree silhouette”, finding the one I wanted to use as my muse). Of course I had to use KILZ first and then painted over that with plain white latex wall paint.

The other walls were nothing but fun.  Again, painter’s tape was my guide and then I free handed everything and created a colorful collage of all the many doodles that I have only done on the edges of paper over the years.  I chose PRIMARY colors for no other reason than: I like them!

I used painter's tape as a guide

I used painter’s tape as a guide

I used those same “doodles” as the design for the small shelves that I stored my supplies above my work table.  I am not a perfectionist so every mess up, and there were plenty, was easy adjusted.

I also found some display hooks from the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby and did the same doodle art on them.  I dug out all the many satchels, cloth bags, and free makeup bags from my closets and used them to hang my fabrics and ribbons on the wall.  (It was soooo convenient!)

The next tree was another “plagiarized and greatly-altered” tree from a google search. (An art professor once told our class that there was no such thing as original art, only “creative plagiarism.”)  I was especially fond of the birds.

Next came the window treatment.  We had been to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Nashville and found this “look” in a storefront window.  I remember just standing there staring at it thinking, “I could make this.”  So I did.

My hippy window treatment

My hippy window treatment

My son drug home the branch that I found in a neighbor’s trash pile.  It was PERFECT .

I then starting cutting and hand-tearing strips of cloth, my husband’s old ties, and scarves that I never wore.  I randomly tied them from end to end and then onto the branch, running back and forth to the window to check and adjust the length. I even went into our attic and retrieved the “yo-yo” pillow covers that I had made for my grandmother back in the early 1970’s!  A few snips of the thread made a great addition to the long strands.

A dear friend, Lena, and her daughter Rachael, made a string of beads from their old necklaces to add to my hippified piece, and WA-LA: a great window treatment/conversation piece!

I found the bedspread at IKEA (clearance item), the sewing machine base was my grandmothers, and the cow chair is from Office Depot.

I used the room a lot from 2011-2013.  I made and sold potholders, the profit which was used to take out teenage girls (who lived in a group home in downtown Montgomery) to eat and shopping.   www.thepotholderstore.etsy.com  It served it’s purpose well.

It then came time to sell our house.  We showed the house as is, but finally decided to paint the room the same color as our halls.  However, when the house sold (to someone who had looked at it WITH the trees in tack) they mentioned to our realtor that they were disappointed we had painted over them.

Oh well, easy come, easy go.

NOTE: Click on thumbnails to enlarge and go thru gallery of photos: