Shades Of Lime

Remember this?  This is my hand painted "Tibetan/Chinese" cabinet.  When I say hand painted, I mean painted by my hand, lovingly and painstakingly.

Now, remember that I've been wanting to modify the cabinet to go more with my newer decor.  The cabinet is in a darker space and backed by a darker purple wall.

Forget that red desk armoire and picture that wall mostly white with built-ins (see my post I Got The Whole World In My Hands to see what it will one day look like).  But check out the painted cabinet against the Benjamin Moore Gentle Violet.  Just doesn't work with the Ralph Lauren Kilim Red on the cabinet.  I've used lime green for the accents thoughout my living space.  You can see that in the desk chair, the lamps on either side of my couch and the large canvas above my couch.  It goes well with the paint on the walls; the Benjamin Moore Gentle Violet and Electric Blue.  I thought that this side of the room needs a little more lime green and this side of the room (my study) gets the least amount of natural light so it needs to be brightened up.  I narrowed down the greens to two choices and finally got samples over the weekend. 

If you have read my blog at all, you will know my chief complaint of having such a hard time capturing the color of an object and conveying it online.  Well, this post will be the perfect backup for that complaint.  I hope you will be able to extrapolate from the following pictures the difference between these two paint colors.  The flash from the camera just throws everything off.  So here goes.

It's not as bright as it looks.  The next picture shows the difference between them a little better.  I was going to ask for votes on which one to go with but honestly, I have made my decision already.  Want to guess which one?  Lime Green is on the left and the bottom and Bright lime is on the right and top.  Which one would you choose?  Let me know by leaving your comment below. I'll post my choice at the end of the week.  I'm curious to see which one you would pick.

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!

I Got The Whole World In My Hands

A proper study needs a proper globe, don't you think?  How about a globe with a modern twist?  In order to visualize the "study", I must remind you of what it will look like eventually.  For more detail you can read my previous post "I Have A Dream".

Note the purple wall, the desk is in the middle under the two pendant lights in the sketch.  On the right wall I have placed my painted cabinet which I am going to modify to reduce some of the red. I previously posted about the hand painted cabinet.

In between the painted cabinet and the back wall where the built-ins will be, I have stationed the study globe. 

As with the shadow box that I used for my fabulous red chandelier wall art, the globe came from one of my former colleague's old office.  Apparently, people moving offices is a great way to get really cool finds. The globe was very traditional looking because it had a dark mahogany wood stand.  I gave the stand a fresh coat of Benjamin Moore's Super White and to the metal arches attached to the globe, a silver acrylic paint-over (though this picture doesn't show the silver over the goldish metal arch around the top of the globe) and now I have a modern looking globe for my "Study"! 

All I have to do is spin the globe for full effect!

I have it on the U.S. because I'm egocentric, I guess.

Doesn't it look great against Benjamin Moore's Gentle Violet?  If I had left it dark wood, it wouldn't have worked in the space because the walls are dark enough for the both of them.  Besides, I am going with the theme of white/light furniture against the vibrant colors.  And I love the fact that it was a reclaimed item. Instead of going into the garbage, it has now been recycled and reused.  I get some personal satisfaction of being able to do that.

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!



If You Can't Afford It, Make It Yourself

Once upon a time, I was in the furniture section of ABC Carpets in Manhattan and I fell in love with the Tibetan or Chinese painted cabinets.  They were very expensive.  Even on ebay.  What does one look like?  Here are a few examples.  You should really search google images to see how varied and colorful they are.

Aren't they pretty and old looking?  I had to make one of my own.  Of course, it wouldn't be old for a long time, but that's okay.  Those were once vibrant and fresh.  I had a spot in mind in my old apartment in NYC and that meant in the hallway across from the bathroom.  I needed a bookcase anyway.  The cabinet had to be shallow because it was in a tight spot.  I ended up getting a pine bookcase with doors made to my specifications at Gotham Cabinet Crafts.  I decided to paint the cabinet a base color of a darker red.  I used Ralph Lauren's Kilim Red.  I also used a clear gloss on all of the inside shelves to cut down on scuffing and marks.

The picture is old.  Sorry.  I then had to lay out very carefully how I wanted the cabinet to look.  I decided to use the Chinese mythology as inspiration.  I knew before everything else that I wanted a dragon and a phoenix on it.  It is hard to explain it all but I used: the four elements- water, fire, air, earth. The four seasons- winter, spring, summer, fall.  The four directions- north, south, east, west and the symbols for the four creatures that would center each pane- dragon, phoenix, tiger, snake.  I found inspiration for what all would look like online and got started making templates on tracing paper.  I then painted a light background on each of the panes.  I taped the stencil on to the pane and with a pencil, I traced very hard the outline of the drawing so that a clear indentation was seen on the light background.  Then I carefully outlined the indentations in black paint.  This was a painstaking process and took a long time but I felt it was necessary to get everything right.  I didn't want to free hand paint it and make mistakes.  Here is what the process looked like.  First the drawings on tracing paper.

Two of the panes, traced and outlined in black.

After all the outlining was completed which included the chinese characters mentioned above in all four corners of each pane, it was time to start adding more detail and then to start painting.  It took a long time to paint and I took my time to get it right.  When I finished the panes, I made stencils using a heated stencil knife for the wood around the panes and then for the outside border as well.  Several stencils were made. Here are a bunch of detailed pictures.

One with flash so you can see more of the colors and details.

Now for some close ups!

For the dragon, I made the scales have texture so you can feel them when you run your fingers over them.  For the snake, I wanted the water to look more realistic and I used shading throughout to give the paintings more depth.  I hope you enjoy.

Now that I am in my new apartment, I find there is too much red and so I am going to modify the borders to fit the purple wall color behind the cabinet.

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!