Messy Stripes: Freehand Painted Striped Walls

"Messy" stripes from Living Etc.

You guys know I really like painted or wallpaper striped walls. It’s a reoccurring them here on the Tudorks blog. I like stripes. They’re visually striking. I came across this gray and white room on Living Etc. I love the gray and white stripes, this is a nice neutral color combo. This office or studio is a bit masculine they way that it is decorated here, but you could pair this with a robin’s egg blue or pink to make it more feminine.

Yeah, gray and white = nice color combo. But, that isn’t what I really love about this little room. It’s the stripes. Love the messy, freehand stripes. This would be so easy to do. I can tell that the white was added over the battleship gray. Stripes don’t have to be perfect. And if you are a DIYer like us, then you probably won’t get perfect even if you tried. So this is “intentional” messiness. All you need to do is to get your spacing right, don’t worry about a crisp edge. I also like it in this Living Etc. room because it seems to be an office or a studio. We see art supplies and these stripes are creative, resembling an artist’s brush strokes.

So, what do you think? Do you think this would look silly and like a 5-year-old did it, if you saw it in person? Or do you think this adds a cute quirkiness to a room? I think it is a nice take on stripes. I won’t be doing it because stripes in general don’t fit with our home.

Today I’m fine cleaning the bathroom. My nostril hairs are singed from bleach. I’m hoping to finish this bathroom someday! And then we have a powder room to complete…I’ve also had a stupid day filled with spiders and smashing my thumb in a 1930’s solid wood door, the same door that broke my toes this time last  year.

-Victoria

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Paintbrush Storage

This is a “duh” idea that I found on marthastewart.com after I have finished most of the painting in the house. Finding a place for brushes to dry is always difficult for us. With these magnetic strips, the brushes can hang down so that the water doesn’t cause the metal to rust and loosen any adhesive. It’s simple and I will have to add one of these down in the basement. It should be very easy to do since magnetic strips are self-adhesive and cheap. It had me thinking of a few other things…such as doing this for cosmetic brush storage or even pencils. I don’t think I will do the last 2 mentioned but it is a thought.

-Victoria

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Tudorks Painting The Dining Nook

As usual, Frink is overseeing the renovation.

We finally removed every trace of the layers and layers and layers of retro-fabulous wallpaper from the dining nook! We may have resorted to an electric sander with a buffer pad and diluted Mrs. Meyers cleaning products, but we did it. Since then we’ve had the windows replaced being that the ones that were there had some homemade mess of glass that was caulked together. We painted the room a dove gray mistint that I love (less lilac than the picture). I am going for a swank early 60’s Hong Kong hotel, think the decor of the hotels featured in the series I Spy. I got my wish and it will be fantastic. I didn’t realize that most of the things we own fits in the “swank early 60’s Asian hotel” category.  I’ve started decorating this space. I’m not finished. Does one ever stop decorating their space? I’ll show those pics when I get there. I desperately need a sputnik!!!

I just wanted to share this little accomplishment. I can now eat dinner at a table. I haven’t had that in 7 months.

-Victoria

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2 Yellow Ochre Rooms That I Like

I love mustardy yellow ochre shades but I have never “played” with it when it comes to decorating. It really doesn’t work well with the colors that we have used in the interior. But, man I love it. I like any color that reminds me of decaying leaves on the forest floor.

Southern Accents Ochre Library

This first room is a library from Southern Accents (RIP). This is one detailed room. I really do wish that the trim and some of the millwork was painted in a contrasting color such as white or espresso to really make it pop. I have no idea why they are trying to understate its magnificence. We pedestrian people would about do anything for a room with this much architectural strength. But, anyways. This ochre works so well with the rich patina of all of the wood tones. It really creates a luxe color palette. I also love the pops of vermilion and teal. This keeps the ochre from being too “stuffy”. I also love these ornate built-ins and the touch of the chicken wire is nice. It’s a great room. It really has an old world charm that the ochre helps to bring out.

This other room is really trying to sell the McCoy lighting fixture from Rejuvenation. This is a tiny dining space/kitchen that I love. I love the lighting and if I had a space that would work with pendant lighting, I would have to use some of this antique industrial inspired lighting. (I am considering the boudoir but I am fearful that I would bump head). This ochre color room, with the perfect lighting, looks great with wood tones too.

kitchen featured in Rejuvenation

The room is a bit plain since it only exists to sell us the lighting fixture. The fixture is the only work of art allowed. But, throw a early modernism painting on that wall and this room is complete. I also love how both of the rooms play with warm tones metals. Ochre is just meant for those.

I know I say that I am not ready for yellow. But, I think I may be if it is ochre. It is growing on me. And like other “cheery” shades, it must be mixed with woods and warm metals to keep it from looking too gingham country cottage or shabby chic.

-Victoria

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Welcome Fall: 2 Harvest Orange Interior Spaces

I don’t really do “color”. Just look in my closet. It is a collection of black and gray; however, you will see some orange and coral peeping out of that abyss. I have a thing for orange. I would love to have an orange room but it isn’t really fitting with the scheme of things right now. But, I can admire it and plan for the future, right?

foyer from Martha Stewart

This first little space if from Martha Stewart’s website. I love the bold harvest orange with the crisp white millwork. This really pops. I love it against the deep wood tones. (That being said, I love anything against deep, rich wood tones). But, yes. This is a great space. I adore the curiosities displayed on the walls and love their bold, graphic, and simple frames. What is that black/espresso stuff lining each edge? I think the website said it was ribbon. That’s a bit odd and time consuming, I imagine. I’m sure it would look silly in real life but it takes a great picture. I would personally just painted it. This is a nice small foyer, about the same size and layout of the one that we have. Currently, it is housing a dark ladder back chair until I find that perfect something. I still do not what that something is.

The other room is a living room from Southern Accents (RIP). This room has that colonial feel but it is really fun and vivid with the walls that harvest orange shade. This is another example of how nice this color goes with white millwork (doesn’t everything). I like to see orange look this formal and not like an Ikea show floor. Orange has the potential to really look elegant without being too immature or “modern” a.k.a Target’s “dorm” collections. It works nicely with deep woods and some rustic pieces. I must mention that this chair in this room is very weak. I am not fond of “skirts” but the chair could of benefited from a print or even another bold color such as ochre or brick. However, that’s my opinion.I can never look at a room and think that is perfect and to my liking. I do the same to my own space. Perhaps that is one of the many reasons why this is taking so long.

Southern Accents harvest orange living room

-Victoria

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Today’s Renovation Job…

Today we are finishing removing every piece of carpet and every staple and tack strip from the stairs. Sand down the stairs, paint them black, paint all the doors in hallway/foyer and add trim around a hallway door. We are attempting to completely finish the foyer and stairway this Sunday. The exterior is being painted this upcoming week if the weather permits it. We’ve decide to really put on “the ritz” and finish up the foyer to make a nice 1st impression. The rest of our house may be total chaos but we are trying to trick. Plus, Halloween is coming up and I don’t want to actually look like a decrepit, dangerous, scary house or a local PNW heroin den.

I was wasting valuable time yesterday and was trying to find lobster mushroom recipes before we went out to forage. One thing led to another and I was looking at before and afters on Sunset magazine’s website. I found a beautiful Victorian home “transformation”. In my opinion, the home was a work of art to begin with. When you have a 155 year old Victorian in Napa Valley, don’t complain, please. It’s just rude. They painted the stairway black. This is what we plan on doing. I like the drama. The house needs that at the entryway. I was going to paint the steps black and the backs white but that is too much work. I think I’ll be happy with the solid black look. Our foyer is a neutral, boring taupe, the trim is white, there needs to be some drama there. I went with Behr floor paint in Stealth Jet (how warlike of me and yes I actually got a paint mixed, no mistint for me this time). I went with this because it appears to be a softer black, something that will distress well on a high traffic area. It will still be dark and dramatic but not “new”, not overly crisp and modern. I sure hope I like it. The ultimate plan is to get an Oriental runner in a deep red and add the brass rods down the stairway. Considering the budget and all the work to do, that is not a priority. I just work with what I have and usually that makes me happy.

I guess I should wrap up my cup of coffee and get to work.

-Victoria

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Upstairs Bedroom Is Painted

Painted upstairs bedroom

OK, I apologize for all of the slacking. We’ve been working hard on the house and at our jobs so we can have money to spend on the house. I know we aren’t taking pictures as much as we want and I know we aren’t sharing them enough. This is the upstairs bedroom, the bedroom that we are using, painted up.

It’s a Ralph Lauren $5 mistint. I ended up using this color all over the place because Home Depot had 5 gallons of the same shade. I used it in this bedroom, the “media” room (bedroom downstairs), and on the trim in the boudoir. I still have 3 gallons left.

At first I did not love this color. It was too sage. It was too “contemporary”. It would look taupe during the daytime and green at night. Now I love this color. It is a great neutral. It is a taupe with a bit of olive drab green. Once I got my stuff into this room, I love it. I’m still “decorating”. We just got our light fixture in this week. When this room is finished it will be very nice. Have I mentioned that I love mistints?

Before bedroom

In case you have forgotten, here is the room before. And in case you have forgotten, this was a hoarder house, not our mess but this is what we had to work with. I like the “original” mint walls but you wouldn’t believe the filth on them! Just black mess, layers and layers. The trim was also painted the same shade as the wall. I wasn’t wild about that. It took 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of trim paint to make that trim not look minty fresh.

More to come…

-Victoria

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The Brown Gray That I Want

I apologize for the infrequent updates. Life is happening and we are keeping busy. We have completed so much and I hope to share that with you guys soon.

"Frame Collage" featured in Martha Stewart magazine.

The “great” room or that formal living room that I long for, is not finished. We’ve ignored it because we have had so much to prioritize and work on. I mean what is more important a kitchen or a stuffy room that only houses books? There are a few things we need to do to this room. We have removed the carpet, staples, and some crazy thing covering the original mantel. We now need to trim down the built-ins because they are a bit goofy, replace the mantel since it was removed and covered up with some ugly 70’s thing, and prime/paint the walls. I want this room to be formal, stuffy, and a bit menacing. I want a shade that reminds me of forest mushroom of the rocky coasts of Washington. I guess what I am looking for a is gray brown or maybe more of a brown gray.

While browsing on marthastewart.com, looking at Frenchies and admiring color combos, I came across these 2 rooms. I love both of these mushroomy, putty, seashore brown grays. This first one is a bit lighter. I can’t tell if it is from the lighting. I really didn’t expect this shade to pair nicely with a pale floor and it does. Despite the boring frame collage, I like what I can see of this room. This shade is a great neutral. It mixes well with crisp white, wood tones, and espresso. It’s a bit lighter than I want to go for the big room we have to work with, but I do like it. I would of loved to have this elsewhere in the house.

The second room is quite dreamy. This is the exact color that I want for the formal living room. It’s moody, dark, formal, and slightly rustic. I want to find this color. I’ve been mistint searching again and I haven’t found it yet.

Perfect brown gray shade.

I guess I am going to have to give in and actually get a shade mixed. I may just have to give up on my dreams of painting the entire house in mistints. Anyways, back to this perfect color. Look at how nicely it pairs with pewter, white, tea stained white, and black! This is the exact color I want. I haven’t’ decided if I’ll paint the built-ins putty or the too bright white trim paint that David chose. I guess I should get the room color first.

-Victoria

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A Moody Black Bathroom:

Marie Claire Maison moody black bathroom

I love black and really dark rooms: squid ink, aubergine, merlot, soot; however, I think these rooms are only photogenic. I don’t know how they would feel in real life. Every time I see one in a magazine or decorating blog, I fall for them. They are dramatic, rich, deep, moody. In middle school I had a friend who’s parents let her paint her bathroom a deep steel shade. It looked like crap. They didn’t use primer and it just looked uneven and felt very claustrophobic. I imagine that dark shades do take much work to appear even and true to color. You can’t be lazy while applying these pigments. Since I am in renovation mode and totally overwhelmed, I have decided to admire dark rooms from a distance.

I can’t deny that I love this Marie Claire Maison black bathroom. It is so dramatic, moody, and elegant. It has a slight purple tinge. Black bathrooms are scandalous. We are so used to seeing them stark white or light and airy sky blue. There is something very rebellious about a black/dark bathroom. So, I love it. I love to look through books of the homes of Old Hollywood stars. Many had these luxe OTT black marble bathrooms. I will never forget the elegance and drama of Valentino’s black marble bathroom. Of course the pictures were black and white, extra dramatic. But we all know that black marble looks good pretty much all the time. However, the more I look at this bathroom with its pop of harvest gold, milk chocolate clawfoot, and jade green floors, I get more of a 70’s drug lord vibe.

It's very Scarface in design.

Umm, I’m thinking Scarface in his office surrounded by blow. Don’t get me wrong. I love Hollywood’s perspective of drug lords, especially their girlfriends with their Halston dresses and head scarves, I love the style that Hollywood gives the “gangster”. It’s a bit Studio 54 and  a dash of Dictator Style. When I watched Pacino in Scarface I was more smitten by the fashions and tasteless but expensive Rococo like decor than the story or message. I wanted a bit of Scarface design in my home. There is nothing wrong with self-absorbed, self-obsessed, and tasteless design in the home. Maybe I do want a black room after all? Actually, there has been a change of plans and the bathroom is going all out moody, dark deco, but I’ll share that a different day.

-Victoria

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Vintage Inspired Teal Kitchens

Country Living kitchen

I plan on painting our kitchen a mint. It’s going to be kitschy and retro. This is today’s project: paint the kitchen. The groovy wallpaper has been removed, the faux fur has been pulled off the cabinets, everything has been scrubbed. We are ready to start painting.

While poking around online (when I had the time to do that) I found this kitschy turquoise/teal kitchen in Country Living magazine. It’s a bit prop-ish for a kitchen but it is adorable. I love the pairing of teal and red. It’s a sunny and a happy hausfrau kitchen. It means business with a touch of love. It’s a nice eat-in kitchen. I love the repro appliances. Those are drool worthy. And the repro linens used as curtains is cute. I think I saw these exact same ones at Anthropologie one time. I am always looking for a function for vintage linens. Anyways, this is a cute kitchen and pretty versatile really. It is made 50’s by the use of accessories. Take those out and you’ll have a very different looking kitchen.

This other kitchen is a real kitchen from www.trickmybrick.blogspot.com. This is an awesome blog about  the renovation of an otherwise plain mid-century home. (David and I always thought we would be fixing up a ranch home, but we’re in the Pacific Northwest now and there are many more bungalows.) Anyways, I adore this blog. I love their clean, modern style. Oh, and I am a sucker for “before and after” shots. (Heck, I was a makeup artist). This is the “after” of their kitchen. It is such a pretty shade of teal. I have always said it and this just proves it, a sputnik chandelier will always make a room look like a million bucks. This kitchen is the perfect example. It totally jazzes up the place. (Like I needed another reason to lust for one). Also, I love the cabinet hardware. It’s simple and fitting. This is what we are looking for. Visit their blog for many more pics. You’ll love it.

Trick My Brick kitchen, after.

These are two very cute “retro” kitchens. Teal is a great color because it is vintage but very clean, airy, welcoming. It’s the perfect color for a “working” home. Plus, it looks amazing with white. I see a teal room and just think “happy family”. So, I hope I like the results of the hardwork that we will be doing today.

-Victoria

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