Yesterday I was blessed to spend the afternoon in a house where I've done quite a bit of decorative painting. The original purpose of my visit was to discuss colors for our next project in the master bath. But of course when I enter this house I never want to leave, so I lingered and my client and I had a really nice visit. A continuing lesson for me is this: When you slow down and listen, and take time to engage, wow you can learn some stuff. I might not get as much done, but I think it's making me a better person.

In our most recent project, the client had the walls wallpapered, and I transformed the regular old sheetrock columns to complement the wallpaper (but not match exactly) using FE Metallic Bronze Setcoat & Brown Suede Lusterstone. The baseboards and windowsills were also painted with FE MetalGlow in New Penny Gold.

Decorative painting makes me a decent amount of money, but that pales in comparison to the friends and mentors the business has brought to me. That's the blessing part of it. I hope somewhere out there in all my jobs there will be a person that needs something I have so I can return the favor.

This Lusterstone powder room was one of the first jobs I took after recovering

from twin birth ... This is Lusterstone in Tequila Sunrise, Cantaloupe & Green Onyx.

When I first met the really smart woman of this house probably eight or nine years ago, I was told by the interior designer who hired me that the homeowner was "the sweetest woman you'll ever meet." Sweet? I don't know that I would use that word now that I have known her all these years. She is kind, and gentle and very, very wise. But I'm not into sugar these days and neither is she. She's much more than sweet.

My first job in this house was this kitchen remodel.

So anyway, I spent the afternoon doing what I once would have thought was frittering. Now I know it was time well-spent. What's really exciting is our next adventure, which will involve freeing my client from flowery wallpaper and transforming the walls in the master bath with a rich combination of Lusterstone in Bordeaux (a pinky red) and maybe Champagne Mist all mixed together. It's going to be fabulous. And I promise to show pictures just as soon as we're finished.

My Most Recent Favorite Thing

Abbey from Design-Block reminded me that I need to post more pictures of my work. Since that is relatively easy and I have a few pics already downloaded, here's a picture of one of the most favorite projects I completed all year.

I really can't take the credit for it. Jeff and Nancy of Jeff and Nancy Inc. actually came to me with the concept. The design is similar that of a delicious duvet they installed in a job somewhere outside the little old town of Seguin. You know, the town with the really big pecan on the courthouse square. Bryan Duckworth, formerly Robert Earl's fiddle player, has written a darling song about it called The Big Pecan.

Getting back to the dresser, I just made myself a stencil and then hand-painted it onto the dresser. I'm thinking it may have been easier with the image projected onto the dresser, but I was in a time crunch and couldn't quite figure out how to get the pattern from the duvet to a transparency sheet. The other small problem is I don't have an overhead projector. So if you know how I could have done this better and more efficiently, do share.

Jeff and Nancy are some of my most favorite designers because they aren't afraid of color and seem to have an above-average slew of lovely clients. When I met them I was super-sick of Sherwin Williams' neutrals like Macadamia, Practical Beige & Sands of Time and they've been wowing me with colorful selects ever since. Go to their website and you can see more examples of jobs we've done together. Not all of them involved me, of course.

The vibrant green I selected is Sherwin Williams Verdant 6713. I'm sure I've mentioned it before. It's my favorite new green, besides Antiquity 6402. If you go to http://sherlink.sherwin.com/swapp/color_visualizer/ you can look these beauties up and take a look for yourself. I still haven't figured out how to insert paint chips into my blog.

So there you go. Tune in tomorrow for info. from my week at faux college.