Lark & Lola

I like houses with character. Charming little bungalows and Painted Lady Victorians are my favorite! But if you have a newer home, like I do, you know how hard it can be to get some character into your house!

One thing I rely heavily on is paint, and not just ceiling to floor pretty colors, but painted "pretties" on the walls.

For example, here's a cherub peeking out from the garage door frame into my living room:

I can't take credit from the design, it actually appeared in a Domino Magazine feature of someone else's beautiful home. I liked it so much, that I photocopied the magazine and enlarged the image so that I could project it onto my wall with an art projector (found at Hobby Lobby for $20). Then I traced it on with pencil and painted it in with bright pink!

My bedroom was painfully boring, so when I painted it sky blue with hopes of recreating a beautiful color scheme I'd seen in a magazine (sky blue, black & white), I decided to do some chandelier silhouettes on each side of my bed. I love them. Again, I used a chandelier image along with a projector to make it happen. Now if I could only get some crown molding in there finally...


Here's my blah bedroom before:

And here is after:

Another issue I had with my newer house: the vaulted ceilings. Don't get me wrong, I love the extra room and light coming into my living room, but how the heck was I supposed to paint all the way up there???

Problem solved when I thought of this idea that became a super easy solution. Using a level, tape, and cutting out my own stencil with a blank found at a craft store, I created a scalloped - or waved - edge to my paint line. So I only went up so high. And yes, I painted my living room gray. Shocking, isn't it?




Get creative with your paint! Do you have a "painted pretty" already??? Show me!

Email: hkatee[at]yahoo.com