Repainting Paint by Numbers (frames)

Before I get to showing the next part of my Florida study, 

I want to take a little side trip.....

Now let me just start by reminding you guys just how fabulous I am....

I am a BIG NAME decorator!!!!!

I have been in too many magazines to count!!!!!

(yes, I can too count higher than three)

I've been on 6 magazine covers, that's right ladies and gents...6!

countless newspaper stories....

TV.......

and I have written two books.....(feel free to buy one or two or more)

Soooooooo.......

I am very smug when it comes to my decorating abilities.

The other day I was shopping at Crate and Barrel with my buddy Lissette.....

We were looking at the drapery panels that I have been hounding her to get for 2 years.

I don't go into retail stores too much anymore, as I have more stuff than I'll ever need.....

BUT EVERYTHING WAS SO PRETTY AND SHINY AND NEW!!!!

And my plastic glasses were all cracked and cloudy.....

And theirs were sooooooo nice.

So, I bought 9 of the smaller ones.

I wasn't sure I had the cabinet space, but Lissette assured me that I had room for 9.

When I got home, sure enough.....

I only had room for 6, so I was going to return the 3 extra ones, and would just make sure never to have more than 5 friends at a time.

If I found myself being nice to a 6th person, I would just nip that @#$ in the bud, 'cuz I would only have 6 glasses, and one was for MOI.

Now, you're probably thinking.....

Just 'cuz you have more than 5 friends, doesn't mean you have to invite them all over at the same time.....

But I don't like to leave anyone out!!!!!

It's just easier not to have a lot of friends.

wait.....where was I????? 9 glasses, only room for 6.....

This morning when I was thinking about returning them.....

(this is when it pays to be a big time decorator, even if I am retired!)

I REALIZED THAT THEY STACK, 

'CUZ THEY BE PLASTIC!!!!

You know, it's not every menopausal babe who would admit

 to being this clueless!!!!! 

OK!!!

BACK TO DECORATING!!!

I had figured that it would take me a while to get around to painting the white frames of my newly arranged tropical paint by numbers gallery wall.

Remember?????

It was this.....

But I decided to get off my @$$ and head to my garage workshop and paint them, so I could write about them and astound you guys with my energy and ambition!!!!!

The white was too much of a contrast with everything else, it needed to be softened. 

I mixed up my acrylic paints to match the color of the frames of the red parrots...

Here is a glamour shot of my work-space!!!!

So, after some trial and error, I mixed a color pretty close to the other frames, and then hung these babies back up.

 white frames                                 beige frames

Little changes that create a more harmonious arrangement.... 
And no.....
I didn't photo shop them, I really painted them!!!!!
I was going to write more, but I'm tired.
I HAD MY HAIR CUT TODAY,
I HATE GETTING MY HAIR CUT.
(and colored)
It's boring and tiring and smelly and annoying.


OY!!!!
I'll finish this on Saturday.
Later Gator

Tropical Paint-By-Numbers

Welcome to my study.....

.....a room of high art and refinement!!!!!

I am in the process of adding more stuff to my walls.

YES!!!!

THERE IS ROOM FOR MORE!!!

Come with me to explore the frontiers of my walls.

(sounds like a song.....)

(the windmills of my mind.....)

(the frontiers of my walls....)

It all started here, when I first viewed the house with the real estate agent.....

The previous owners had added a molding around 10" down from the crown, and painted the blue stripe for an accent. 

WHAT THIS DID WAS: MAKE THE CEILING FEEL LOWER!!!!!

Here is this house with wonderful 10' high ceilings, so, I KNOW!!

LETS MAKE THEM FEEL LOWER!!!

OY VEY!!!

So I had to go to the expense of tearing out another upgrade that had been added into my purchase price.

And while I'm complaining.....

I HATED THE CEILING FAN!!!!!

I changed that too.

Put this in my garage workshop!!!!!

If you work in your garage, it's great to have ceiling fans, along with a lot of light. There were two of these babies in the house, and both are now in my workshop.

I wanted to find a wonderful desk......

I wanted to find a wonderful desk.....

I wanted to find a wonderful desk.....

AND I DID!!!!!

Here it is right after I moved into the house.

White walls, white rug.....

isn't it pretty?????

It's green Chinoiserie. 

If I had envisioned a desk for my new tropical retreat, 

THIS IS WHAT I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF!!!

(if I had been that clever.....which I'm not.)

I found it in an antique store in Essex Massachusetts, and had to beg the dealer to sell it to me, since he was using it as his own desk.

I was very insistent.....

So, just like the rest of the house, I had wood floors put down and the walls covered in Kneedler Fauchere bamboo wallpaper.

Isn't it amazing what wood floors can do to a space?

These are hickory.

I saw this floor in my neighbor Joanie's house, and she told me where to get it!!!

Unfortunately, they don't make this floor anymore. Now all the floors seem to come with a chamfered edge, so they don't look like a real unfinished old wood floor. It's probably easier for the manufacturers to get a tight joint between the boards, with an angled edge. 

OY.

I started assembling the furniture in its new home.....

I found a great looking double chair that looks like a little loveseat that fit in the small wall space.

And of course!!!!! more split reed!!!!!

Only, this chair ended up in the guest room and I found another for this corner.

It formed a cozy little sitting area in my study. I actually sit here sometimes!!!!

Then I started collecting artwork.

I HAD AN ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT IDEA!!!!

BRILLIANT I TELL YA,

BRILLIANT!!!!!

 I would do a collection of tropical bird paint-by-number paintings from the  1950's!!!

And I would reframe them in nice expensive faux bamboo frames, so they were all in the same frame!!!!!

I started collecting them, and took them to the framer, and then hung them on the wall before the wallpaper went up, so I could see how they looked!!!

The room started coming together.....

Then the wallpaper went up.....

Now I had to rehang all this @#$!!

So, I got this far in my decorating, having spent money on re-framing the paintings, and not saving the old frames. 

After I hung them on the bamboo wallpaper, and stood back.....

I was underwhelmed.....

The wall looked flat and not funky enough to me.

I WANTED FUNK!!!!

I had unfunked the wall by re-framing the art.

AND IT COST ME MONEY!!!!!

So, I did what I always do, and lived with it for several years.

This year I finally did something about it.

I bit the bullet, and re-framed the paintings in old frames

 from other paint-by-numbers.

I had to buy cheap ebay paintings in the same size, and switch the frames.

THEN!!!!!

I bought more paintings, and left them in their funky old original frames.

Then I reworked the wall!!!!!

I need to repaint the white frames. I think a yellowy creamy color, like the two red parrot paintings. 

Now I need to goose up the other wall.....

I have ideas.....

lots of Florida souvenir plates and parrot wall pockets.....

But I need to ruminate for a bit.

Hope it isn't another 8 years..... 

I still have a lot of things to write about in this room.

So I will continue on Tuesday.....

till then.....

Later, Gator

partying with: