HGTV August 19, 2009 11pm

This is when the show, My Big Amazing Renovation,  will air.

I was privileged to be selected as one of the artists chosen to take part in the renovation. My contributions included a medallion / border ceiling design in the homeowner's sitting room and transforming ugly, gray cinder blocks into a continuation of the existing brick wall. 

Before:

 

After:



Here is the ceiling:



I hope you catch the show as there are so many fabulous finishes and green solutions in the home. Inspiring artists...

Pink, orange and crimson

are quite the popular combo at the moment. Especially during the summer months, I see this color composition everywhere.  Flowers look great combined in these colors. In a home, this mixture can be a tad overwhelming, but accessories can be used to incorporate the colors with little investment.

Case in point- check out this gorgeous wedding bouquet:

No one creates a better bouquet then Pieter Bouterse!

May I digress again?

We have a new puppy!

Our 9 week old little girl puppy is named Bella Bouterse. She is a Standard Schnauzer, ultimately growing to about 35 to 40 pounds. Not exactly a lap dog, so I am enjoying her small-ness for now.

Here she is, looking "innocent":

And here she is, about to make a quick dash away into the forbidden areas of the yard:

Talk about cute and intelligent.... She'll be keeping us on our toes.

My daughter's wedding photos!

Finally!

I have organized Beth and Alan Cafferkey's wedding photos. My pretty daughter married her sweetheart on July 17, 2009.

 

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Amethyst and the color purple

I just opened the September '09 issue of  House Beautiful and discovered the color amethyst  in their Everywhere We Look column. 

I just finished my living room with this amethyst metallic silk texture with a damask stencil done in a tone-on-tone. The walls were first painted cream. I then added the amethyst texture panels and made them into "framed" pieces with small moldings.

TaaDaa! I now have artwork. Some I will leave as is, some will receive our collected art pieces. 

 Before the molding:

The finished walls:

Turns out that the folks in Pompei in the first century also liked the color amethyst. This photo is of a wall from Pompei (now in the Met):

 

Also in the same issue, there was an interesting article called "Confessions of a House Painter" on page 56.  His answers were spot on!