GORGEOUS SHINY THINGS: October 2011

Tripped out...

This is going to be the fastest post ever, I have to be at a Halloween party at my son's school in 17 minutes! I know I owe you an update on the living room. I did accomplish a bunch. I finished the walls, super psychodelic...

Good old Krylon Metallic Paint pen...

I fixed up this old frame by cheating and using my favorite other gold...

And I dyed my old beige silk drapes lavender, what a freaking mess that was...

I also sewed a few new pillows, but I have like 8 more to do...

(I don't know who makes the fabric on the center pillow- nothing printed on the salvage. Next time I get to the fabric store I will do some research).

OK, times up... more later.

Have a great and safe Halloween!

This weekend...

(Delusional Alert! : I am getting a massage this afternoon for my aching back

and I think it will give me super powers.)

I have big plans for your peepers this Monday. I am determined to have the living room part of project HOt MEss 80% done. So to get there I need to decide on some pillow fabrics and get stitching...

Possibly use some of these for a project and make my drapes kickass or just plain ass...

Make a big big painting for this wall...

and finish up my golden grafitti walls,

which by the way Miss Piggy approves of...

OINKERS!

Check back, I suck big secret reveals so I am sure I will be posting updates as I go.

Update, New stuff + Giveaway

Good Morning! I have an update and some answers for you on the gold squiggle wall, as well as some really exciting stuff to share.

I had a lot of questions about what type of paint I was using. Well, I have done three different samples on the wall. The previous post was done with a paint called Gold Leaf by the Sheffield Bronze Paint Company. It was oil based and stunk something terrible. (They do make water based, but my paint store didn't carry it). I had to try something else because I was getting a wicked headache.

Next up, my own concoction of acrylic polyurethane and Gold Leaf and Metallic Powders in #14 Fine Rich Gold (left side) mixed at a 6:1 ratio. On the right side is Krylon's Pale Gold Leafing Pen.

The homemade acrylic mixture definitely added shine and didn't smell at all...

The problem was I could see brush strokes. It really needed two coats to be opaque.

And although it looked cool, it felt too heavy for such a large space.

So the winner is Krylon's Gold Leaf Pen...

No brush strokes, great opacity and the smell is minimal. It also shines nicely and feels more delicate and subtle- although this definitely isn't a subtle wall treatment.

This is also a really fast thing to do. You basically are just doodling on your walls. (Bad, because my kids are watching and are going to get mixed messages now). I don't have a plan, I just drew a small amoeba and made a bunch of concentric lines. And if you hate it, just repaint, like I had to do with the other two samples...

And the best part? The walls glow in the dark. I went to get a glass of water last night and walked into this...

It was pitch dark, but was reflecting light coming from the outside street light. I thought it was cool.

And now for some cooler stuff. New patterns from O'verlays are slowly making there way onto the site. We now have Lolita, Ruby and Harper in MALM sizes. If you need RAST or MALM nightstands, or a custom size just email us. They are available, just in the process of photographing and all that fun stuff.

Pagodas and big Lola...

AND now for the fun part.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Amber is doing a little giveaway today that she is partly responsible for.

September 23rd was a strange day. I received multiple emails requesting a pattern similar to the popular RAST hack seen all over blog land. One from Miss Amber herself.

So when you guys ask, we listen and make- hint, hint.

Hop over to Amber Interiors and go enter to win yourself a RASTful of 6 "Dee Dees"...

and be sure to tell her she is the bomb while you are there.

Oh, its happening!

I really should be working. I have a massive stack of stuff to do, but gold paint has distracted me. I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I just decided to do a test wall. I'm sure a lot of folks aren't going to be loving this crazy wall like I do, but that is what design is all about. So here is the test wall. (PS- I haven't even finished with the second coat of the base color yet. I'm impatient. Just had to see.)

I now need to finish painting the room white at some point, and then I will get back to the gold squiggles. Its a big wall, but this little section went pretty quick.

Oh, and here is an update on the rest of Hotmess land. I finally switched out the Maskros to the dining room and stole the chandelier from my kitchen for this room. Saturday was a day of musical chandeliers. I like this one for the sitting area. My goal for this crazy mess is going to be an artsy-glam mix...

More later gators.

Sh*T that makes my day...

Today is my big old birthday. I am turning 36 again, since I somehow managed to think I was 37 all last year and totally miss being 36. Anyhow, I woke up to find these images of the new Furbish shop over at Honey & Fitz (be sure to hop over and check out more), and it totally made my day...

Jamie Meares is a M.F. goddess rockstar in my book!

totally just kicked me off the fence about my crazy gold squiggle wall in my living room

You know the kid fantasy about getting locked in a toy store overnight? Furbish would be mine.

So I am off to go paint my living room gold like this...

or this...

and make some of this happen...

HAppy Monday!!!

Caffienated poof ball...

I have moved the big old PS Maskros into my new dining room and finished its hack. It took about 3 hours to take off all the flowers, add a coffee filter behind and a mini cupcake liner infront and reattach.

My 6 year old helped me by making neat piles for an assembly line.

Its super fluffy...

So today I added a little extra to the centers...ping pong balls, kind of want to paint them gold or maybe even multicolored, but that is a huge undertaking...

What do you think?

I bought a 6 pack to test it out, now I just have to wait for the bulk pack of 144 to arrive to finish.

Total makeover $$$:

1 pack of 200 white coffee filters (on sale!) $1.00

2 packs white mini cupcake liners $3.48

150 ping pong balls $24.70

a sore thumb nail from taking the original flowers off

(they are on there pretty good!)

$29.80

I also painted my living room white. I am stuck on a pattern for the walls.

I will have a Project Hotmess update for you at the end of tomorrow!

Update:

I went with Rhinestones for the centers...

Back to the Hack

Morning Lovelies! My back is 80% better and that means time to get cracking! I woke up with a vengence and a crazy to do list. Originally I was going to be moving my PS Maskros today to my dining room (I still will be), but I got side tracked making coffee and remembering Nicole's amazing poofball coffee filter light. ADD kicked in and here we go...

It kind of rminds me of lily pads...

I am considering buying white filters instead, but the dining room is going to very earthy with pops of white so this might just tie it all together...

I have a surprise going in the centers.

Check back in a day for the finished light.

Have a fab weekend, go pick some apples or something!

Decision: Shiny Things

I had an "Aha!" moment today. Metalic gold. On my walls. I had planned on cutting a stencil and doing something oversized... not sure what, maybe hexagons or something a bit more organic. Originally I was just going to paint my walls white, but I have been dying to do something more.

Then it hit me. Gold. It would also glam up and add sparkle to this dark north facing room.

So here is my inspiration. I'm thinking a gold paint pen and something like this design...

Be back in about a month with the finale, in the mean time here some blinging walls...

I love this one from Miss Print...

and my all time fave goldie from O & L...

Thanks for all your well wishes. My back is still aching, but I can now get up out of bed by myself and walk around. And I am walking like a 75 year old as opposed to a 105 year old. Progress.

Also, I have to shout out to my girl Linds over at Everything LEB for making my day with her O'verlays makeover. Have ya seen it? I love her use of gold handles on the sides!

Go see the transformation here!

Still Love It, Replay

I thought I would have found the Holy Grail by now online, being laid up and all.

But I am distracted. Easily. Like a squirrel.

So instead I started cleaning off my Desktop which accidentally led to cleaning up my Photo files which led to revisiting this image and dreamy hearts...

Still in love with it and would be more than totally happy with my hot mess if it ever turned out close to this. And yes. If I ever hit Megabucks, I'm hiring Palmer Weiss.

Staring at the ceiling...

because I sprained my back this weekend. I had an awesome weekend, but I think I might have built a house of cards that got knocked down with a single cough.

The Hubs and I took the train into Boston Saturday afternoon, walked about 8 miles (my calves ached by 6pm) and barhopped til after midnight- then I ran my first 5k the next morning and sprained my back from coughing. (I was feeling cocky after last weekend's half marathon and had no idea how fast people ran in a 5K. My lungs have a new appreciation for y'all).

I am flat out for real now. I don't like being in pain either, I am really grouchy, mostly because I'm staring at shit and projects I physically can't do right now. And I'm gonna swear a lot because that is what I do when I'm in pain.

I'm also getting lots of ideas for my ceilings. Lets take a look, shall we?

1) Big Ass Pattern...

via

2)Bold Ass Color

3) Color and Texture

4) Circus Tent Inspiration, trapeze please.

5) Old School Inspiration

6) If I had any really good pain killers I might entertain this...

Be back soon with some Project Hot Mess.

Black and White Check It

I lived in a white apartment with beige rugs for a little over a year while our first house was renovated. I think that experience of not being allowed to paint or alter anything made me color and pattern crazy. In my attempt to go neutral (which is a major struggle for me), I can across this B&W oversized check. Normally I'd be all "thats so cuntry", but I actually like. Its neutral, but graphic.

via New England Home

I'm also liking it on the floor of this kitchen. It would have to be done in paint at my house, and right now the only room available for that treatment is my sunroom. I would LOVE to do this to the hardwood floors in my living room though.