Sunday, February 28, 2010

Finally, a place to fold laundry! Oh, and sleep too.

We got a new bed last weekend! It feels like one of those things you buy once & pass along to your kids because it's so special.

Save for a few late night interruptions (our pup Phylo needing a midnight bathroom break the other night...) the sleeping has been great!

Jared built our last bed and we loved it for a long time. It was many things - a super tall loft bed in our first place (in the teeniest of bedrooms), then cut down a bit for our new house (but still a smidge "princess & the pea"), then cut down a bit more to normal height toward the end of my pregnancy with Bird. A few months ago our backs started aching and we realize the wood slats had warped over time. We were working on our office at that point and planned on building a bed for Phylo anyway...so we dismantled our bed and Jared reused the lumber for Phylo's chic little raised platform.

Unfortunately that left us with a mattress on the floor (no boxspring as we never needed one) for the past few months. It was fun for Bird I think. I kind of miss that for her since it's not so easy for little people to climb up on the new bed. She could throw herself on the mattress and bury into the pillows, hang out and read books. Now she needs a boost. But she'll grow :o)

We've been doing a lot of this lately...

I just love a beautifully turned piece of wood. And that's a FLOR carpet by the way. Excellent for people like us with kids & pets and the unfortunate accidents that come along with them...I just take a deep breath, pick up the carpet tile, take it to the sink, wash it off, let it dry, put it back. No problem.

Mwwwwhhhawww!!

I'll be back soon...

xo,

Monday, February 22, 2010

Floorcloth WIP


Floorcloth WIP, originally uploaded by devonindustry.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Be Mine :o)

Happy Valentine's Day!


xo,

Monday, February 8, 2010

Pinwheel Floorcloth

After a long fun morning in San Francisco we returned home to our still dirty house (no dust bunny fairies cleaned up while we were gone, darn). We were inspired to move a few things around our main living areas. The dining room rug went into the living room and the living room rug got rolled up. The dining room has been calling us back to eat there for awhile but I haven't had the nerve to let Bird eat over the wool rug (even though it's FLOR and easy to clean). So, I'm finally going to make a floorcloth! A wipeable, mop-able, easy care surface that I can design however I like - yes!

Above is my design...behind me is a huge piece of canvas which I'm about to cut into a 7' diameter circle. I'll gesso the entire canvas (I'll either tape the canvas to my studio floor or will partially pin it to my felt wall. The canvas is a little large to fit on the felt wall completely), then apply the paint - a warm off-white. Then I'll create the pieces of pie in delicious colors that pick up on the lovely fabric of the curtains hanging in the space (Anna Griffin, Sierra). After it's been painted it'll need several coats of varnish and I'll also have to contend with the back. I'm thinking more gesso and probably anti-skid backing. The edges will be turned and sealed with rug tape.

It may take me awhile to complete...hopefully within a few days, we'll see. Can't wait to share the finished project with you!

xo,

Friday, February 5, 2010

So much color & pattern I think it could POP

On Wednesday I snuck out of here (Ok, ok, I left Bird with her babysitter and then Jared took over after work. Like I could sneak anywhere these days, no way) and went to one of my very favorite client's house to paint her daughter's bed.

I painted the mural in her room maybe 3 years ago...it's still being enjoyed which made me tremendously happy. She and her brother are engaging, charming kids & I love chatting with them and having them hang out while I work. I kept having to remind that sweet girl to stop bouncing on the bed as she was talking though - the wiggly flower look wasn't what I was going for :o)

Happy songbirds and colorful blooms.

Star the cat kept me company most of the time, then Cocoa Puff would wander in and flick her fluffy tail over my (recycled baby food) jars of mixed colors. No cat hair in the mural this time though...

It was a fun cheery color palette to work with. I kept thinking this would make a great pattern for fabric.

This weekend we're headed to the SF Ocean Film Festival where Jared's sister is showing her film "Lost on a Reef". Can't wait!

Happy Friday to you!

xo,

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Songbirds & Dotted Blooms: A painted bed

I'm headed out later on today to paint a little girl's bed with all sorts of loveliness...


We decided on the birds, flowers, and polka dots above. Below are some of the other sketches I put together in my design process (which was really long & drawn out this time for some reason). Forgive the graininess of the images - they're iphone shots of prints of my sketches so that's like 3x removed from the original.

I love this kind of mural work and can't wait to get over there!





And the mural in the background was painted by me too :o) Well before I had Bird and was able to spend 2 or 3 days straight in there without a care in the world except getting the colors right and filling this sweet girl's room with winged fairies, striped rabbits, spotted mushrooms and strawberries.

xo,