I Do Windows!

Painting windows that is. Well, I have been known to wash a few windows in my time too. But painting is lots more fun, then washing windows. Recently I found a great large vintage window at one of my favorite antique malls. This old window was exactly what I have been searching for to complete my backyard area beside the potting bench. The bench needed something to balance out my little corner for gardening. After much thought and brainstorming, an old window with a flower box was the answer.


First I cleaned it well.

Washing the glass really good.

Then I painted the frame and inside wood the pretty green used on the potting bench.


Next the real fun begins. How do you like how it turned out? I painted the background a soft sky with light clouds, added a vine of pink roses with a sweet bluebird perched on a branch to keep me company when I garden.


Then is was my dear hubby's turn to make a flower box for under the window. I added purslane in 6 pots which fit the box nicely. I want to be able to change the flowers with the seasons. I used a plate to scallop the edge before he cut out the wood front. Again, painted it the same soft green. To the front, we found an iron garden sign at Hobby Lobby for $1.20 at the end of the season sale. This addition seemed to finish it off nicely coordinating with the rose arch in the same iron color.

Now you know one thing leads to another, right? So over the bench I needed a sign. Hubby measured and scalloped a nice sign board that I then stenciled GAREN CHIC over the pretty soft green. Now I think it's done.
To do the stenciling, I make a pattern first for placement. Mark where the letters will go and then use my stencil to follow and paint the letters.


The finished project hung on the brick. Turned out to be a cozy garden spot.





Lastly, I worked on an old chair for my studio. I purchased this great find for 15 dollars (SCORE) at the same antique market. The seat can be changed when I tire of the fabric as I sometimes do, but for now this works nicely.
Before and After~~~~



Okay, look at that chair back. Looks like a nice surface to paint and decorate. Should I leave it or paint it? AHH~~ what do you think I will do? LOL!!!

Of course, paint it!!! Added some roses and a stencil in the center. Now that's better.


Now it's on to more redos and redesigns for my etsy boutique. Thank you for stopping by. See you next time. Blessings, Bluebirds and Blue Skies be yours, Celestina Marie

VINTAGE VILLA CHIC REDESIGN!

For those that stopped by on the 18th, when this post first published, I thank you, but you probably noticed the page was distorted and off the background with no side bar. I think blogspot was glitching, so I had to delete everything and start over today. Oh~~ that is so aggravating, but had to be done. I am sorry that I could not publish the comments last night. So I tried again to post and thanks so much if you are stopping back by. The writing, I was lucky enough to copy from the draft. Now to replace the pictures. The following is my original post. Let's try this again. LOL!



I know, I have been MIA for a few weeks working on 2 rooms and a bathroom for redesign. Finally, I can share what I have been doing. It seems each year after Christmas, I catch the bug to redo some area of my home before I start back to painting in the studio. So usually the first few weeks in January I take the time to do just that. It also seems, I can never really get done. LOL!!

As a Decorative Painter/Designer, I always have something I want to change or refresh. This year I changed 2 guest rooms and a bathroom. You may remember a blue room with coordinating bathroom from past pictures, well, this is one room that I changed to reflect a vintage villa style retreat and the bathroom that goes with this room. This room is located on the first floor of our two story home and right off the entry. Making this change keeps the rooms flowing throughout the first level with color and style.
I also did another bedroom on the second floor in a pink rose shabby cottage tea room and I know that one will probably be more interesting to most, so I saved it for later this week. I hope you will stop back to view that room especially if you love pink and pink roses and all things old, vintage and collectible.

So before that post, I will share the following pictures of the Vintage Villa Chic Bedroom and Bath.


The wall color was transformed from a coastal blue to a Mediterranean Caramel painted by my DH, with rustic roses, shades of sage, terra cotta, warm ivory, aged copper, and an anchor of black in the fabrics and accents around the room.
The sconces on the wall above the bed where white in their old life. They light up with a soft glow and dim from a light switch on the wall, that DH installed. I painted the sconces an aged copper to look old and I used that same paint on the headboard which was a great find for $19.99 at the thrift shop in my area. This headboard was white and brass in it's original form. The furniture is hand painted a warm ivory and I added aged copper drawer pulls. The spread is a vintage style chenille in a soft warm rusty tone with lots of details all monochromatic. It is so yummy. I had this for years.






The window is a double large floor to ceiling style and requires 95" long for the panels. There is a narrow wall between the two windows which I covered over to give a feeling of one window.














Lastly I painted and decorated the closets making them stocked and ready for our guests.
By the door, I painted a rock from my garden for a door stop. Inside the long closet is a guest greeting on the wall painted by Gail Brown and written by Ken Brown.





Now on to the bathroom, which is part of this guest room. I also used the same wall color in here and brought the accents to reflect an aged style. All the hardware and accessories were white which I also used the same paint in aged copper. They look like old metal now and saved a ton of money in replacements. The sink faucet was installed by DH in an old world antique finish. He also installed the decorative molding near the ceiling in white to coordinate with the finish on the sink and cupboards. The door and drawer pulls are the same aged copper like the furniture in the bedroom. I used a shower curtain to soften the shower doors, that had to stay. Not fond of those, so the curtain did the trick to conceal and soften the hard edges of the doors. I raised the cutain rod for the window to give height to the room and bring in lots of light. Just as the bedroom furniture, the mirror cabinet over the sink and toliet area are old pieces that I had for years.
















These re-decorated rooms were so much fun. I am so happy to be finished with everything and get on to new projects in the studio. I hope you can visit again when I share the shabby rose room. I hope it will be worth your time to view, as this one was the most work and took the longest to complete. I have so missed visiting everyone and please forgive my absence the last few weeks. I look forward to getting around blogland this week and seeing what everyone has been up to as well. As always, thank you for stopping by and see you again soon with 88 steps to shabby cottage rose tea and retreat. Till then blessings and blue skies be yours. Celestina Marie