B-A-N-A-N-A-S

This weekend I finished caulking and painting the door to my girls' room. Last week I added some inexpensive moulding to the front of their hollow-core door. There were some gaps in the mitered corners and the edges of the moulding pieces that needed caulking.

Caulk guns feel cumbersome and awkward to me, so I almost always use the tubes:

I usually use my finger to smooth the caulk lines, but these little tools are much more accurate and save my pointer finger tip from getting destroyed.

It's an easy process. Just run a thin line of caulk along the space where the moulding meets the door and then immediately follow up with the edger tool for a super smooth finish.

Here's a mid-smoothing shot:

I caulked all the edges, top and bottom, and the mitered corners and followed up the smoothed out lines with a damp rag to remove any excess caulk smudges.

I let the caulk dry for a day and then brushed in the details around the moulding and finally rolled on the paint (Glidden's Spicy Banana Pepper in high gloss - which, strangely, reminded me of a cheerleading dance class I took when I was like six maybe? Other than the Paula Abdul dance routine, I can only really remember one of the cheers that had some cute/sassafras hand rolling action: "Go. Bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S!" Repeated a bunch of times. Sort of annoying actually, but that didn't keep me from teaching my kids the cheer while I painted) .

Filling the corners and edges with caulk is a super easy step and it helps give a sad, cheap door a pretty legit look. It almost passes for an old wooden door now on first glance.

The shots of pure, bright color in our living room are a fun contrast to the sea of white walls and our black kitchen. I'm loving the addition of the yellow door! And it feels appropriate for the entrance to the girls' room - almost a little Alice in Wonderland maybe?

Progress on the Yellow Door

I had an extra hour yesterday (which never seems to happen!), so I started work on the yellow door.

I really wanted to add some architectural detail to that cheapest of cheap hollow-core door. This image from Patrice Cowan Bevins was my inspiration.

I picked up three lengths of inexpensive shoe moulding from Home Depot,

and six of these shorter mouldings from Michaels (the same bin I got my studded trim from).

This little hand saw has been my best friend today.

I absolutely zipped through the cutting of the moulding using the saw and my miter box (both are about $5 at Home Depot).

The bigger outer square is 20.5" wide and the inner square is 16.5".

I used some Liquid Nails to glue the squares on the door (I very roughly marked out the lines on the door first as a guide), but I think tomorrow I'm going to nail some wire brads in too before I caulk the whole thing and give it a paint job. I'm excited about the yellow! I think it will be a really fun and unexpected.

Yellow Door

This photo is a few months old now. The pink and black shelves have been styled and restyled a few times (sometimes by me, but mostly by Evie) and the Gossip Girl sconces have been put up (post to come!). I also changed out the door knob. I'm hoping this week I'll get to adding moulding to the door and then painting it. I'm sort of leaning toward yellow, but the jury's still out.

I picked up a quart today of this pretty color by Glidden called Spicy Banana Pepper. It's a happy and bright yellow with a hint of green - not quite chartreuse.

Here are some inspiration photos. I like how the yellow pops in a room with lots of white, of which I have an abundance in my loft:

SF Girl by Bay


Hooked on Houses


Elle Decor






NieNie Dialogues


NYSD

Amy Butler's Chandelier

I just finished the coolest DIY project using the IKEA Maskros. I can't wait to share the photos and tutorial with you very soon (probably Monday)!

In the meantime, isn't Amy Butler's gold spray painted version so great? Apartment Therapy did a pretty amazing whole-house tour here.

Faux Tortoise Shell Mirror

I stopped in to Todd Romano's lovely store the other day to look at some Bob Collins fabric for a client. While I was there (after getting distracted by the table covered in juicy Christopher Spitzmiller lamps) I noticed this beautiful bamboo mirror in a blue faux finish and couldn't stop thinking about it all day. I started thinking about trying a faux finish on one of my mirrors.

I've had my heart set on trying a tortoise shell finish. And then I saw this amazing table in this month's House Beautiful and I love the idea even more. Miles Redd had it painted to look like green tortoise shell.

I did some googling and came up with this image for inspiration.

The next step is getting the technique down. Does anyone have any experience with tortoise shell faux finish? Or maybe a good book to recommend?

(PS This Ballard mirror (which is 20% off right now!) would be a good choice for a project like this. You'll want to go as simple as possible with the face of the moulding for a more realistic look.)

Faux Bois Floors

Marianne from Haven and Home posted this image from Coastal Living recently, and I'm obsessed with a number of elements including but not limited to:

1) The great color on the ceiling. That light fixture is pretty killer too.

2) The mahogany counters that are sealed in glossy shellac. NICE.

3) And most of all, the faux bois floors (obviously). You can get a similar look with this 5" wood grain painting rocker (or the rollers might work well, too). I would probably put this fun treatment in a kids bathroom, a mudroom or a laundry room. Note that the paint colors are black and white. Such a graphic touch!

Albert Hadley's Blue Wall

I'm working on my own version of the blue wall Albert Hadley has in his NYC apartment.

I think this is a genius way to incorporate a pretty color on the white walls of a rental. Just a quart of gorgeous paint, some inexpensive molding and a bottle of liquid gold leaf.

Ralph Lauren Paints

Did you hear that Martha Stewart paints will be sold at Home Depot beginning April 1? I'm really excited to see her new line (assuming it will be different from the Valspar/Lowes line).

I am bummed though that the Ralph Lauren paint line will be discontinued to make way for the Martha paints. I guess that Home Depot will keep all the RL formulas in their computers and they will also keep a fan deck of the old line behind their paint counter for color matching.

This morning I was at Home Depot picking up some supplies for a project at my mom's house, and I had a few minutes to spare so I stood in front of the Ralph Lauren paint chip display and took one of each chip. I would have felt silly, but I've done this before (with the Martha line for Valspar) and knew it wasn't that big of a deal. I have those MS chips hole-punched and stored on rings, but I think I want to figure out a better, more protective solution for my Ralph Lauren chips. I'm just so glad that I didn't miss that chance to get the paint chips before they are gone. Now when I want a RL color, I can just bring in my chip and Home Depot will color match for me in a Behr brand paint.

And speaking of the actual paints, the RL bases are all 50% off right now, so be sure to take advantage of the sale if you need any paints this month.

Now I'm off to work on some projects, but here are a few photos of rooms or projects featuring Ralph Lauren paints to inspire you:

Erika's daughter's crib, painted in 'Golden Candlesticks'

Thom Felicia used "Palais Royal" in this showhouse bedroom featured in House Beautiful.





In another showhouse bedroom featured in Southern Accents, RL's "Bitter Orange" covers all the ceilings and walls.

Thom Felicia painted these great chairs RL's Mango Gold for the showhouse featured in House Beautiful.

Eddie Ross used Ralph Lauren's "Brompton" for this pair of vintage chairs.

Domino featured this beautiful dining room painted in RL's "Purple Embassy." I love how rich this unexpected color is here.

I love "Galvenized", a really rich chocolate brown, and used it as a base for the silver leaf night stands,



and for the legs of my coffee-table-turned-ottoman.

We used "Abassador Sterling" from the Regent Metallics line on the backs of the shelves on my mom's dining hutch. And recently she painted her ceiling another great color from the same line.

Painted Piano

I'm thinking that in our new (bigger) house, a lovely painted piano is in order...

Design by Katie Fine, image via Desire to Inspire

A small and cheap piano from Craigslist (like this one or this one) should fit the bill nicely. Now, just to chose the color...

{and convince the husband}