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Lessons Learned From Painting Fabric

Friday, October 12th, 2012

You all know how I love painting anything and everything. So when I found out about fabric paint, my imagination started running wild!

We have a king sized headboard that I had custom made about eight years ago. It is still in great shape, but I am so tired of the chocolate brown color:

DSCN0159

I looked into reupholstering the headboard myself but when I heard about the fabric paint and navy was available, I was excited to get started!

So excited, I did not wait to even take the headboard off of the bed. I had to wait for my husband to help with that and he takes forever!

Since I had no real directions, I found the best way was to squirt the paint directly onto the brush for the smoothest application:

I was amazed that I only used four of the little 4 oz. bottles of paint to cover two coats for the entire headboard! Each bottle was only $3.79 at Michaels.

It only took me a day to finish, waiting two hours in between coats to dry. Here is the headboard after painting:

Lessons I learned from painting fabric:

* For best results, do not paint over dark fabric. It is extremely hard to cover the original color no matter how many coats you paint.

* If painting fabric with nap, (a fabric with nap is one what usually has a pile and will look different shades from different angles) such as velvet or velour, avoid painting large surfaces. Because of the nap, the brush strokes are very visible:

* Always to sure to paint in one direction so brush marks are minimized.

* The best fabric to paint for the best results is a light colored cotton or linen:

Look how nice it came out after only two coats of navy paint:

Would I have painted my headboard if I knew this information? Probably. I like to try things out myself. Plus, I can still re-cover if I decide.

I hope this has helped you decide if painting your fabric will work well for you. If you have any other questions about it, please let me know!

I am linking to Serenity Now this weekend! Please join us for lots of great ideas!

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Posted in Bedrooms, color, Decorating Hints & Tips, Interior Decorating | 7 Responses »
Tags: bedroom, fabric painting, headboards, painting headboard, update

Helping My Daughter Decorate Her New Home

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

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I am so excited that my daughter Meg has asked me to help her decorate her new home! I did not want to overstep my boundaries and give advice where advice was not wanted but now that she has asked for help…

Meg & Ian’s new home.

Meg and her soon to be married, (November 10, 2012!) fiancé Ian just bought their first home. I am so happy for them! You may remember my post Moving Into Your First Home, where I tried to explain that it takes time making a “house” into a “home”. So on top of buying a new home and getting married, they want to fix up their place a bit to make it theirs. And they have no money!

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I told her to start with one room so that she would not be overwhelmed. “OK”, she said, “Let’s start in the bedroom!”. Here are a couple pictures she sent:

I know this picture is blurry, but I wanted you to see the whole room:

Here is a picture of their new bedding which they already picked out:

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Meg does not like the light blue on the walls or the dark blue on the closets. The room looks smaller than it is and I think it is because of the choppiness of all the colors. So my first suggestion- 1. Paint the entire room white, such as Ben Moore Cloud White 967 including the trim and ceiling. A light gray would also work such as Ben Moore Wickham HC-171 or Ben Moore Stonington Gray HC-170. I also like the Coventry Gray HC-169. The beams on the ceiling would look nice painted also, but they might want to keep the original stain for character. Painting the room and trim all one color will make the room appear larger. I also chose a ‘clean’ white and gray to work with the white in the comforter. A beige or ‘dirty’ wall color would not work well with the bedding.

Next I would try the bed in front of the window (where the air conditioner is now). That would be the first thing you would see when you walk in the room- the focal point. Yes, you can put the bed in front of the window! And here are a few beautiful examples from Bungalow At Home:

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I suggest painting their headboard white until they can afford something they love. The pictures above illustrate perfectly how I would frame the two windows with window treatments with the rod hung close to the ceiling. The fabric should be light for this room. A couple for them to choose from:

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Crate&Barrel

Target

Love these below! Who cares that they are outdoor panels!:

Target

A rug to bring in color:

Rugs USA

Or:

Rugs USA

Then accessorize the room with that color of the rug you choose. For example lamps:

Lamps Plus

After moving the bed more in the middle of the room, I would move the dresser down the room under the TV where it would not be seen as soon as you walk in. Maybe I can convince her to use Annie Sloan Chalk paint to paint over her old dresser!:

source Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Provence

And every room needs a beautiful mirror:

Mirrored Frame 35 1/2" Wide Moonlight Wall Mirror

Lamps Plus

And a beautiful chandelier will be perfect over the bed:

Target

I think I have given her a lot of projects! One more thing I must mention: get rid of the old wooden knobs on the cupboards and replace with glass knobs or anything else! Sorry babe!:

I will let you know if she likes (of course she will!) and follows my advice. I tried to keep the prices reasonable since their budget is tight right now. I know painting will make such a big change in the room immediately and inexpensively. I hope you like it sweetheart! What do you think my decorating friends?

If you need help decorating your home, contact me today.

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Posted in Bedrooms, ben moore, color, Decorating Hints & Tips, Interior Decorating, Paint Color Selection Help | 13 Responses »
Tags: bedroom, ben moore, black and white bedroom, black and white room, blue, color, decorating, Decorating ideas, furniture arranging, headboards, mirrors, North Smithfield, paint selection, RI, update, update your bedroom, window treatments

Bedroom Online Color Consult

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

Traditional Home

I recently was asked to help with an online bedroom color consultation. I have helped this particular client in the past with a color consult online for her dining room which she ended up loving the final results! Her latest project is that she needs help with was her master bedroom:

She wrote that she wanted to update her bedroom and did not know where to start. The carpet is chocolate brown and has to stay for now. The bed is actually a platform bed (her husband bought it she was quick to tell me) and also needs to stay for the time-being. She needs help choosing a wall color because she is tired of her green walls.

My first thought was how beautiful her artwork was. I just love her flower print:

The home owner loves it too so I decided to choose my colors from the picture. I had her try a couple different samples and the color she loved best was Alexandria Beige HC- 77. This beige is a color in the print and is a perfect background to the artwork. After painting she wrote to me:

Hi Kelly,
How are you? Thanks for getting back to me last night. I did paint my bedroom and you were right again. Alexandria beige is a beautiful color.
I love it! It is a bit dark though, only because my bedroom only has one window so it doesn’t get very much light.
I’ll send you some pics.
Thanks, Rosie

I think the color looks great! Are you going to put picture over bed? That would look great. I would get white bedding with just a little color in and accessorize the room with orange accents! Will look great! Best, Kelly

Kelly, I think the color is beautiful also! I probably need to get use to it being darker but i think that is one of the most beautiful colors I’ve ever seen.
I love your idea of the bedding. I was thinking of blues and silvers but do you think oranges and whites would be prettier? I like the idea of the rug too.
You really are good at this. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Rosie

I love the picture over the bed! It is really beautiful. The comforter works perfect!

The only other bit of advice I might suggest is if the bed was brought off the floor as well as the lamps next to your bed higher, your room will have better lighting and will work better with your windows. The lamps will help bring light to the middle plane of the room instead of down low. I think it will help make your room much brighter. Also, the two black screens you had hanging on each side of the floral picture before you painted would look great on the long wall working with your three prints.

Thanks Rosie for allowing me to share! Always a pleasure working with you.

Comments? Do you think Alexandria Beige was a good color choice?

If you need help choosing colors for your home, contact me today.

Wrong Bedroom Color Choice

Saturday, September 10th, 2011

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Above is a photo of a bedroom that I painted and decorated a few years ago. I thought it looked pretty good, but I always felt that something was “off” and I just could not figure it out. Can you see it? :

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Does this picture below help?: Hint: The headboard is not the key item you should be focusing on in your bedroom when choosing wall colors.

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The most significant item in your bedroom you should be working with in choosing a wall color (and its undertones) is your bedding. Your comforter is the largest, most considerable sized item in the room. right? So now can you tell what is not working in this bedroom?:

Answer: The yellow bedding is clashing with the pinky beige of the wall and headboard. When you are trying to pull your entire room color scheme together, there must be a relationship between your wall color paint and the colors of your fabric, flooring, woodwork and accents. I had chosen a red undertone wall paint to go with the chocolate brown headboard. Very bad- but in my defense, this room was painted a few years ago before I had taken Maria’s color course!

Did you also notice that the walls and bedding are a clean/dirty combination? The beige wall color looks dirty and muddy next to the clean and bright comforter: