This mirror was a gift. Can you believe that someone just GAVE it to me?

It’s cute, right?

Today, I have a one quick trick to update a mirror instantly by using a bit of white paint. I’m a big fan of altering accessories to bring style into a space. Although, it was a cute gilded piece before… it didn’t match our bedroom and lacked continuity.

A few coats later of Heirloom White by Rustoleum did the trick! The walls of our room are more of a creamy white too. I didn’t want to lose the depth and details of the handcarved wood, so I added in some silver leafing and a green patina using MetalEffects (my fave).

I have another Before and After that I’ve been working on for weeks, and I can’t wait to reveal it to you.

I feel a productive Tuesday comin’ on!

I wanted to share with you a quick little redo that I have been saving in my studio until my show had wrapped up! Here it is before on the left. All white and totally retro…

and on the right, a whole new modern look! I just love the Corallo printed wallpaper by Cole and Son. The print kind of reminds me of trees. I used the gold and silver version, but here it is up close in red.

The Fornasetti Collection is something that has caught my interest for quite some time.
Happy Monday friends.

My friend Michelle, a painter and illustrator, shared with me this adorable handmade cake topper.

Michelle is engaged (so excited for her!), so I’m not sure if it’s for her wedding or a friend’s…

but either way it is freakin’ cute!

I love the green bow tie and the bride’s veil. Michelle was kind enough to share the steps for those of you inclined to give it a try.

For this project, you will need a polymer bake-able or Air-Dry clay.

1. Roll balls for heads and long cylinders for body. Make sure the body has a flat base so it can stand. Then, connect the head to the body.

2. Next, add hair by rolling long strips, laying out each one on head

3. Be creative. Add clothing. I added a bow tie for the groom and created simple clothing by rolling strips of color and laying it straight down across body. You can customize as you wish. If you have a certain color scheme for your wedding you can add that.

3. Add the veil, cut the edges with a a scalloped edge scissor and mold on head of bride.

If you are looking for more gorgeous wedding inspiration then you must visit Brooklyn Bride and Green Wedding Shoes. I went crazy over an a nature and travel inspired wedding over there earlier this week!

I hope you have an exciting weekend ahead! What are your plans?

I will be attending my friend, Edy’s art show this evening who you may remember from the giveaway. I will be clicking away.

I think a great thing to learn this Tuesday, is how to build a custom canvas frame. I took a crash course a few weekends ago…when I got desperate to frame an old oil painting for a show.

I have built frames once in the past, but had much more success in a recent attempt at a Shadowbox style frame.

The frame is fairly straight forward framing all four sides with a 1/4″ over hang that adds depth to the 3/4″ deep canvas painting.

You will need:

Several feet (based on the size of your painting) of 2″ x 1″ wood, I  chose Douglas fir without knots for this piece. I always buy extra to allow room for mistakes.

It was inexpensive, had a clean looking grain, so I chose it knowing that I had plans to stain the wood.

Water based stain (easy clean up! enough said:)

Wood glue

Canvas painting

Measuring tape and pencil

Miter box and corresponding saw, I found a kit for $14

Total supply cost:$32.92 (I reused stain and wood glue from previous projects)

Here I started with my Birds original oil painting. This one had been taken off the stretcher bars and re-stretched, so I new I wanted to take that extra step and frame it.

Next up, was to measure and make the mitered cuts. All cuts hould be at a 45 degree angle and since my painting is 24″ x 48″ I measured the shortest lengths 24″ then made the cuts using a handsaw. In my experience, I’ve found handsaws to be as accurate as electric ones, just a little extra work. You can see that I clamped down the wood strip to the miter box to be certain that it wouldn’t move while I was working.

I thought the idea of drilling the holes versus using nails was brilliant!…and while I’d love to claim it as my own, I stole it from this fantastic demo by Storyteller Media on YouTube, where these British guys hang out in a wood shop and make well executed frames.

The dowel slides right through the holes gently with some wood glue and dries using elastic bands which pull the corners together tautly.

Once the frame has dried all tape and elastics can be removed. Then, saw the ends of the dowel which snap off easily, then sand until smooth.  As a finishing touch the wood frame should be stained and waxed. I preferred an American Walnut stain and wax with Beeswax.

It was resting in the corner of the bedroom because it was on it’s way to the Brentwood Art show!

If it returns from the show. I have just the place for it.

Part of the reason, I’ve been so busy is the research on ancient Greek Architecture that I have been doing. Well, hold on to your hats! because later this week, we will go Greek with inspiration for an authentic Greek Interior and I think you will love it!

I stole this idea from the Living magazine that I “borrowed” from my Nana on a trip to Kentucky. She gave me a stack to read while on the plane. I guess we know where some of my crafty instincts come from- and I don’t mean Martha!

Aren’t the results exquisite? When I saw this there were so many things that I wanted to dip in dye that I didn’t know where to start!

Beach bags, totes and autumn scarves all rank up there pretty highly. Baskets in leftover house paint, RIT fabric dye on the ends of curtains...oooh…awww…the white and red paint looks as crisp as the autumn air.

I know I could score some affordable and fabulous baskets over at Cost Plus World Market. Man I love that place! Then, I did what they did over at Paint Me Plaid.

(Great job~ by the way!) I found something to upcycle …and VOILA!

It was a complete coincidence that the colors in the 2 pics are similar. I started with a darker turquoise then quickly realized I needed a whole LOT more paint. So, I dumped a quart of leftover white into a larger bucket and swished it around. Although the basket in the before pic looks decent the bottom was actually pretty soiled…so I thought a dunk in a fresh color would make it new again! Would you agree?

What do you have lying around the house to dye?

I’m still itching to try out something in Hunter Green. May need to scratch that one pretty soon.

My work has become sculptural lately.

You may remember the camping trip to a State Beach north of Santa Barbara. Well here is a picture of all the driftwood that I collected there. I used driftwood of various sizes to create this rustic frame around the mirror.

I used a 30″ x 30″ mirror with frame

Driftwood all sizes and shapes

Amazing GOOP

White water based stain

I began by thoroghly cleaning all the driftwood. I soaked it in our bathtub then rinsed the sande off. I even used a little bleach to be sure there was no fungus growing on any of the pieces. I let them dry in the sun for a day which naturally lightened them up. Once dry, I sanded out pieces that were ready to fall off or remnants of bark that had yet to fall away.

Next, I lied out a general design and began by gluing down the larger pieces first. The small pieces and the twisty ones then became easiest to use to fill in the gaps. For me, it was very satisfying, a sculptural process even! Lastly, I washed the entire piece in a white water based stain. I had prestained the mirror’s frame so that I wouldnot have to worry about getting in the crevices with my brush.

What do you think? I saw one like this at Neiman Marcus!!!

Now it is sitting in my shop! I think the white wood works best against a colored wall.

I am enjoying my days in studio more than ever.

This is the other rustic treat that I made yesterday! and it is a treat because it is ny no means “health food”, although I do have a recipe for a nut crust without butter that makes it pretty healthful!

Sometimes when I roll a ball out of the dough, then flatten it, I pretend I am making a sculpture. We had a ton of peaches to use up, so I made two galettes, one for a party last night and the other for breakfast this week.

This time I used the recipe from Tracy Porter and took some creative license. In the past, I have used Deborah Madison’s galette dough recipe and it is virtually identical.

The simple ingredients are as follows.

DOUGH RECIPE
1-1/4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 C. ice water

PEACH FILLING
1-1/2 C. sliced peeled peaches
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

For step by step directions visit Tracy’s site, her trick to remove the peach peels really works! I added on last twist to the peach filling, Heath bits! (I told you it wasn’t healthy) Now, don’t go too crazy with them just 2 tablespoons. Blueberries are also a tasty variation in the filling.

Now, it’s time for my jog!

It feels so good to be back after a relaxing and fun Labor Day weekend, (yes, I did rock the dress:)

She’s all painted up and ready to go. Remember when I debated using Hunter green? Well, I will probably still do a piece that color in the near future, but you all voted for Violet. So, Violet she is!

I will be offering this piece in store and in my shop. The knobs are beautiful textured white porcelain with gold accents. All drawer pulls and trim has been completely rebuffed in Antique gold.

Look forward to my newest crush/designer I just discovered later this week.

So, I bet you would’ve never guessed that I’ve been hiding out in my studio all week, since I’ve been back, working on this vintage, soon to be antique, Secretary’s Desk. When I got it, it was a sight for sore eyes! My neighbor thought that I would enjoy restoring it and fixing it up more than he would, so…I got to work!

I loved the shape of this piece especially. I thought of a dark wood Jacobean desk with shiny gold knobs, I had seen a while back.

Inside there is plenty of built-in storage, aplace to hold papers, letters, books, a envelopes. For a stationery lover or a writer, this would be a dream!

I almost put shiny gold knobs here, but when I came across these brass pulls, I changed my mind. I had to include this photo because of the blue light in the background. I buffed and shined the surface of the wood with Howards Feed in Wax. It is a natural way of sealing wood and does not emit any harsh fumes. The wax simply penetrates the grain of the wood and hardens. Then, the surface can be polished to a high shine! I prefer this method of finishing wood these days.

Overall, the color of the desk is dark, rich, and stately; but in direct sunlight the stain becomes warm allowing the wood grain to stand out.

Why don’t they make more beautiful carved wooden furniture these days?

I would buy it;)

It is rare that I find the time to promote my PinkPianos shop on Etsy. Perhaps, now that I am on vacation in Kentucky, I can really get to work!

It has taken me some time to launch, but keeping the doors open I have had lots of lovely visitors trickle on in which makes me happy.

My shop is a bridge to all the furniture and design work that I do. Here I offer home accessories, vintage finds, hand painted knobs, along with original artworks. As always, custom pieces are available simply email me at hilary.hahn@pinkpianos.com to talk about what you envision.

Just look at what the creative people on  The Wedding Channel did with peacock feathers.

Isn’t that sweet?! Then, there’s also hair clips, bookmarks, and I’d love to see a peacock feather garland!

Well, I’m going back to relaxing and catching up on all the blogs that I love to read. I promise to share inspiration from my visit to Kentucky before I leave and to post the final pics of the Girls’ Room Metamorphosis for those of you that have been following.

What could you make with feathers?