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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DIY Inexpensive Patchwork Runner or Rug

Patchwork Runner from Martha Stewart Living

Here’s an idea that I found on Martha Stewart Living, a patchwork rug. I can not get over how expensive rugs are. I keep saying that I’m going to invest in one that I love because they “transform” a room. After getting Frink the Frug, I refuse to spend $500+ on a rug. Pets are nice but they aren’t nice to rugs. I also can not afford to spend at least $3,000 on rugs for the entire house (our entire home is sans carpet) and have a dog puke on it. So, we’ve been shopping at Ross and I’ve purchased some “it’ll do” acrylic fiber rugs for now. Lowe’s also marks rugs down more than 50% off, watch the clearance sections. We bought a hilarious “Frankenstein” floor sample “runner” Oriental rug for $5. I love the patchwork quirkiness to it, so I started looking up patchwork rugs and found…

This DIY project featured on Martha Stewart Living. I love a patchwork look. It’s quirky, unexpected. Lately, I have really been obsessed with mixing prints. The rugs featured in the pic above are about $5 each. I could easily make a runner for the upstairs foyer for under $40. Plus, I’m starting to see rugs as disposable with all the foot and Frink traffic and I don’t want to spend much. Here is the tutorial on how to make a patchwork runner. I’m positive I can do this. Heck, I may keep going and make a large rug.

I think I’ll go out today and price check some small rugs like this. Didn’t I say I was going to paint a floor canvas for the dining nook this summer? Yes, I did. Need to order that. This renovation mess is finally starting to look like a home!

Today I’m attempting to bake a fresh plum frangipane tart for the first time. I hope it turns out nicely. I have to run out and buy a rolling-pin. For 5 years I’ve said I need a rolling-pin. Today, I am being proactive and buying one.

-Victoria

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2 Serene Powder Blue Farmhouse Style Guest Bedrooms

Powder blue, robin’s egg blue, whatever you choose to call it, is a beautiful color for any room. People love it. It’s light and airy. It fits so many different design styles. It is one of those colors that I have liked for decor my entire life. It seems to always change. It’s a classy color. It goes with mid-century modern walnut furniture to frou-frou Marie Antoinette styles. Here are 2 robin’s egg blue guest bedrooms that I swoon over.

Guest bedroom found at Design * Sponge

The first one is from Design Sponge. I came across this picture a long time ago. This is the direction I wanted my house to go. I still love it. It is very dreamy. There is nothing I would change about this room. That’s rare for me. They even made me want to go to Ikea and purchase that pendant lamp (again, had it in my 1st apartment)* But, I think this lamp is the real deal, I’d settle for the Ikea. I love all of the elements here from the modern lighting  to the farmhouse prints. It’s all looks amazing against those powder blue walls. The white trim pops, the dark frames pop, and the natural wood tone of the beds is delicious. The light blue paint changes the feel of this otherwise ho-hum country styled room. (Well, that and the lighting). I love the mixing going on in this room. This room makes me want to completely re-do our bedroom.

The other room I found on Martha Stewart’s website. It is another guest bedroom painted in a light as clouds light blue. This entire room is much “fluffier” than the other. I love the white accents. It’s all so dreamy. Of course the room appears light and airy because of the awesome natural lighting. The windows are stunning, especially when draped in barely there white curtains letting the light in. I would change the textiles to something younger and funkier. I don’t want it to look too traditional. Oh, and don’t you love those hydrangeas in that robin’s egg blue porcelain vase? I need to get one of those. I love hydrangeas.

We didn’t get much done around the house this long weekend (well, we did paint the bathroom and get the studio mostly in order, we did work). We are enamored by seasonal produce and spent most of the time at various markets.

Martha Stewart Living powder blue guest bedroom

This took me to Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table where I didn’t see anything I needed. (I’m waiting for my food processor in the mail, so stoked!) We went to a  few antique shops and didn’t see anything worth buying. We had lots of great food, that’s why I love Seattle! I think all we needed was time off and a little sunshine. Hope everyone had a great weekend and a 4th of July! I’m now planning for Bastille Day…

-Victoria

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2 Quirky, Bold Hot Pink Rooms

I’ve craved quirky and bold color combos lately. I blame it on summer. Summer makes me go for crazy colors. That’s what got our home in the mess that is in 🙂 I chose the colors during the hottest month in the PNW. We ended up with overly energetic/obnoxious colors. I spent most of the winter months hating them/criticizing my design choices and now I love them. My house would be fluorescent/day-glo if I lived in a warmer and sunnier place.

Colorful room with pink floors

I have found these two rooms on-line. I love them. They are wild and unexpected but still classy. They don’t look “dormy”! This first room is bold. I can’t remember where it came from. I wish I knew because I would love to explore the entire house. You don’t get any bolder than paining your floors hot pink. And you definitely don’t get any bolder than painting your floors hot pink and your trim yellow and your walls with polka dots. I’m in love with this space. It’s so bold that even I don’t know if we have the guts to “go there”.  This is my dream interior for a New Orleans row-house or a Caribbean mansion. I love the insane-o colors mixed with the dark woods (mega-contrast). The “accessories” are so classy but unexpected with the colors. I mean wouldn’t that chair with the pink upholstery be bold in any room? In this space, it is looking very tame. And don’t you love those chintzy rose curtains? It adds a needed shabbiness.

This other room is a bedroom found at Marie Claire Maison. This is another fun, quirky space with lots of hot pink. It’s much less bold than the room featured above being that the floors aren’t Barbie pink and the walls are a neutral color. This Marie Claire room is all about the accessories. They transform the space. I think this an adorable room for little girls and big girls. My weakness is bold painted trim. It’s easier to do than what people think and it

Marie Claire Maison quirky pink bedroom

totally changes a space. I wish we did the trim crazy throughout our house. I did one room but I wish I did the entire house. I need pink trim throughout the house 🙂 This room has so many quirky accessories and textiles. This room is all about the “treasures”. These treasures add whimsy to the room. They are cute but they sure are creepy. That’s my favorite genre for home decor. I love this bedroom because it seems so livable. It isn’t a huge room. This seems like a room that regular-ole folk could get even though I know that some of those accessories are pretty darn pricey. *Note that creepy baby doll in the glass dome! But, I like this room because it can be transformed by switching textiles. You can also hide stuff under the bed and nobody would know. The shelf is a nice touch but I don’t think I can sleep like that. I’d be so paranoid that my $175 tray and all that glassware would come tumbling down on my face while I sleep. I do live in an earthquake zone, so that is a bad idea.

So, yeah, I hope that these rooms have inspired you just as much as they have me. I now know that there is no such thing as too bold. Just look at these 2 rooms!

-Victoria

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2 Dramatic Dark Living Rooms with a Pop of Fuschia

I used to think that dark rooms only existed because they photograph well. I thought that “real” people didn’t have dark rooms because they didn’t look good in “real” life. I’ve painted a few rooms in our home dark. They look just as good in my working home as they do in pictures. Dark colors have so much impact and drama. This is why I’m attracted to the two featured here.

Design Sponge living room

This first room was featured on Design Sponge. I love the slap in the face of hot pink. It is stunning. Not much more to say. This is about the color of our living room, or at least the color that it appears in pictures. We have a bust of Napoleon painted that shade of pink on the built-ins. Napoleon really adds something. I am all about contrast anyways. That’s why I like black and white floors, zebra prints, and wild trim colors.

Anyways, I love this room. The colors are amazing. It is sophisticated but still very “young” feeling without being too perky. It has a certain moodiness. Oh, and great lighting too. The thing about dark rooms is that you need many, many different light sources: overhead lighting, windows, floor lamps, table lamps, sconces, candles, anything that gives off light. Different light sources transform the room and makes so many different “moods”. This room also uses texture nicely. You have a glossy hot pink coffee table, painted floors with a sheen, fuzzy maize throw pillow, mysterious silky purple throw pillows, and matte walls. It all works so nicely together and adds so much interest.

The other living room was featured in Homes and Gardens. It has the same feel of the Design Sponge room. It’s dark with these shocking bold colors and diverse textures. I assume that this room is hand painted but it may be wallpaper.

Homes and Garden living room

I don’t recall. This room is all about the walls. Of of the colors are taken from the design on the walls. I love chocolate brown and chartreuse together. The fuchsia adds so much too. The textures are so luxurious but the colors are a bit unexpected. Somehow this room has crushed purple velvet chairs but it doesn’t look like a blaxploitation pimp decorated the room . (Actually the room would probably be much more fabulous if it was decorated by a pimp character actor). Anyways, I love this room because it takes so many “me-maw” elements such as throw pillows, “wallpaper”, glassware, “slipcover” upholstery, and this formal living room still looks “young”.

These dark rooms do have something else in common: they are both large with tall ceilings. I think this is another reason why these rooms don’t feel claustrophobic.

-Victoria

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Will Our Retro Kitchen Ever Be Finished?

Our unfinished kitchen

I think it is only appropriate to show such a “moody” picture of the kitchen. This is how this kitchen makes me feel. I feel we made many gains quickly and then it stayed in this shape for 4 months. If you need a refresher, I’ll give you one. All of our cabinets and drawers were covered with blue faux fur, think Cookie Monster here, underneath the custom van complex addition, there were layers and layers of paint. This included an adorable mint green with the cutest vintage rose decals ever, too bad that couldn’t be. I think David spent 3 months just removing layers and layers of paint off of the cabinets/drawers. Oh, and Trappy’s Pepper Sauce (rehab homes are not easy may I remind you). Months later and we are still waiting for the fresh coat of white paint to dry on two doors. It then took me a couple of months to find the perfect vintage hardware (not seen in this pic). I did find the perfect hardware and that is a post soon to come. David redid the floor with eco-friendly (I couldn’t resist) and vintage fabulous marmoleum, the white tiles have been salvaged. We ordered the black. The original floor was a wreck, once again, a post in waiting. We did keep the original fixtures. I adore my faucet and my light fixtures and my shallow, long sink. I worked with my pink with gold flake counter top. I do love that as well and would get it new if I could. The walls are painted a ’57 Chevy teal or a milkier Fender Strat in Taos Turquoise, of course not seen in my moody pic.

It’s not the best picture. But, this hasn’t been a picture perfect renovation. It is going to take some time to get there with us both working full-time. I just thought I would share some of the progress we’ve made and to also complain a little about how I live. At least we have a stove and fridge. We lived off of a George Foreman and a mini fridge for many, many months. I guess I shouldn’t complain that one can see my spice collection, tea library, and bare white dishes. There used to be a dead muppet on the doors in there and a wigs worth of crazy bachelor’s hair. Oh, and I forgot the shagadelic, mod felt faces wallpaper!!!

-Victoria

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2 Fun, Bold Azure Rooms

Bold blues aren’t colors that I am attracted to for my own living space. I prefer aquas, teals, cyan. I find bold blues hard to work with but I do appreciate them except when they include a black silhouette of a nude past girlfriend, oh, my house. Or what used to be of this house.

House Beautiful bedroom

Here are 2 azure rooms that I do appreciate.

The first is a fun bedroom found in House Beautiful. I love the quirkiness and youth in this room, two adjectives rarely used to describe my living space. This is one of those colorful, fun, “thrift sore finds” rooms. It has luxe textiles, shine from the lamps and bed finish, and lots of fun colors: magenta, fuchsia, chartreuse, violet, not to mention the azure room color. This is one bold but not obnoxious bedroom. I do like the deer but I’m creepy enough to choose a real one…Anyways, I like this room. It’s the kind of room that comes across as bold. If you get sick of that, just change the chair and pillows/textiles and you have a new room. And I love it that such bold colors were used in a small room in a cozy way.

The other room I found on House to Home. I love me some wallpaper but since I spent most of hot August removing wallpaper with the help of a steamer, I doubt I’ll ever do it to my home. So…I like to admire from a distance. This living room is very bold. It has bold blue, prints, and a punch of cerise. I am not a fan of the blue shag rug. It reminds me too much of the blue furry stuff used to cover our kitchen cabinets. I will never ever be able to look at shag the same way again. This also means that I’ll never be able to see blue shag without cringing and puking in my mouth a little.

Actually, the house that we are renovating was all about the color blue. The cabinets were covered in blue faux fur,

House to Home living room

the 2 largest rooms were painted shades of blue, there was a blue faux fur waterbed, and there were plans to even have denim curtains. This is what happens to a space when testosterone only decorates. Trust me, it is not a beautiful site/sight. Homes are like anything else, they need balance or they just fall down.

-Victoria

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2 Pretty Pink Dining Rooms

I have learned recently that there is not a color out there that people hate more than pink. I personally love pink and I enjoy it in decorating. I have been shocked by other people’s reactions of pink. For example, I have painted my super tiny “boudoir” pink with a khaki trim. People look in and go “Did you mean to do that?” or “Wow, I assume that you haven’t gotten to this room yet.” That was one of the first spaces I worked on and yes, I meant to do that. I have witnessed people’s faces cringe at my choice of pink. I find their reaction entertaining and very odd. After thinking about this much too long, I have came to the conclusion that people are either A. very boring and narrow-minded. They can’t think of pink for anything other than a pretty-pretty princess little girl’s room. They aren’t willing to detach pink from prissy pig-tailed little girls and see it as an unexpected color to use and B. people hate women. They hate things that are associated with femininity. Men think being in a pink room shrinks their balls and women think that they are weak if they like pink. They think it means if they say they like it then all of female kind will go back to being a stay-at-home baby factory that was lucky to get a high school diploma. OK, so maybe both A and B are very harsh, but I do think that people have some very set stereotypes and “hang-ups” with pink.

I like pink. I feel I can embrace it. I can embrace it as a bright and unexpected color to use. So far, I have been very happy about my pink choices. I have found these two pink dining rooms. I like them. But, somebody should let them know that they will never resell the place if they keep the colors this way. If you are going into foreclosure or something like that or if you really don’t want your house to sell, then paint your rooms pink. People can’t get past it!

Betsey Johnson's dining room

This first dining room is nice. It’s Betsey Johnson’s dining room, so yeah, it’s pink. I’m sure that I feel in love with it because of the sputnik lamp. I think I like any room with one. This room is very pink. It has a formal and somewhat 60’s vibe. I like this room but I do feel the pink is overwhelming and it should of been balanced out with more chartreuse and maybe more “gold” metals. It’s a whimsy room. And I love it with the “dark” lines of the table and mirror. Ohh, I need a sputnik for our dining room.

I think this other room came from Cottage Living magazine (another RIP magazine). Once again it is a room with pink, acid green, and dark contrasts. It is fun and I think this home is in California. A place with lots of sunshine can pull off these colors easily. Pink really looks great with wood tones.

I don’t really think that either of these dining rooms are “timeless” but I do think they are fun. You could keep all the furniture, linens, and accessories and change the color of the walls and get an entire new room. That is the power of pink. It’s just one of “those” colors. It can change an entire space. That being said, taking it away can change an entire space as well. I’m with my pink right now.

Cottage Living dining room

I have to ground it with neutral colors, woods, and creepy objects for a grown-up look. My husband doesn’t mind all the pink either. That’s good. I did marry a guy that enjoys interior design and decorating, so I would actually be shocked if he didn’t like pink. Or perhaps he’s learned that marriage is more important than complaining about pink. I’m fine with either reason.

-Victoria

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