Well, I am here to admit that in my neighborhood, I own “that house.” So this weekend we decided to do something about it. I walked into my husband’s office at about 11:30 and said, “What would you say if I said I wanted to paint the door blue?” His answer? “Which door, like, the front door?” I’m pretty sure my grin said it all.

Here’s my door on Saturday morning, with the paint chipping off the trim. Pretty boring too.

Going from that to blue would be a real shock, so you can see why Brad questioned painting the front door blue. But it’s not really a bright blue, it’s this blue-ish gray that I picked up a few months ago off the Home Depot “oops” shelf for 50¢. That’s right, 50¢. OK, I did need two, so my total project was $1.00.

Brad decided to help me scrapbook, so he grabbed the camera and took a working shot or seven.

Here are a few tips I have.

#1. Prime first. I really was excited to just paint paint paint. But, I did it right and I’m pretty sure I will be happy I did. First I washed the door and trim, scrubbing off any extra paint chips from the trim, and getting the goopies off the door. Then I primed with primer we had leftover from when they painted our house before we moved in. We’re still using it.. there was enough to do our whole basement and we still have a 5 gallon bucket left. (Anyone in the neighborhood have a need for primer?)

#2. Take your time. Paint all in one direction, or else you will have crazy crosshatch streaks going on. Now, I did go around the grooves in my door first to fill them in, but after that, it was all up and down, no side to side. It would have been easier and faster to just slap it all over, but it looks so much better with any streaks going in the same direction.

#3. Use an itty bitty brush for the details. I didn’t tape anything off. I left my doorknob and peeper hole exposed. (sorry, I know that sounds dirty, but I just can’t take it out because I’m giggling too hard.) But I grabbed a little paint brush from my art supplies to go around them well. I think it was so much faster than using tape on those round and little things.

#4. Use the right kind of paint. I didn’t. I used basic Martha Stewart Interior paint. But I sprayed it with a sealer after I had done two coats. I just used the same Krylon sealant I use when I hang painted decorations outside. Sure, it won’t last forever, but I’m pretty sure that next year I’ll want to paint my door another color anyway. And honestly, it only took me a few hours total (with drying time in between coats and to little munchkins trying to “help”) to do, and I can handle that again next year.

And now the after:

I love it. The trim is a shade lighter than the door (remember, I had two “oops” jars to deal with). They weren’t actually oops jars, they were just samples that someone requested and didn’t pick up. So, I did. For a lot less than I would have paid for any other color. And I marked off the colors from the paint sample card I picked up to choose a color for the piano.

Oh, and while I was painting, Brad was pulling the weeds. The tree is still there, but we will pull it out and replace it this fall. And now, I can officially say we are no longer “that house.”

And, if you’re wondering, the piano colors have been narrowed down to these two

Claret looks purple on my monitor, but in real life it’s a red that is so deep it is almost black – depending on the light (and yes, even though it’s red, the mother-in-law approves). And pencil is exactly that… think back to every bubble test you ever took in school – it’s the outside color of those standard #2 pencils.

Any guesses on which one the hubby prefers?

Here’s a look at the classes I took and what I learned (Warning – this is long… but has pretty pictures!):

Paint & Pencil Giraffe with Erika Joanne Frei

This was my first time working with colored pencils. We painted the base, then did all of the shading with prismacolor pencils. It was different, but once I got the hang of it, I was hooked! I’m not great at floating colors for shading. This gives me an awesome alternative. I will definitely be trying it with other projects I do. Erika was a great teacher. Just the right amount of chatter while we worked to give us more information, but not uselessly ramble on (like I tend to do…) and get annoying. She walked around to us to make sure we all caught on to what was happening, and assuage our fears that it would never work. The first few layers took a lot of faith to think it would ever turn out well.

Spicebush Swallowtail with Karen Hubbard

Here’s an example of floating. All of the flowers and leaves on the lilac bush are with a floating technique. Karen’s technique, which is quite popular, is not the way I learned. And I’ve discovered I’m no better at it than the way I learned! I do like the way this turned out for the most part. I think I may go back and work a little colored pencil into the lilacs and get them the way I really want. But I love the butterflies.

October Pickins with Mary Owens

This and the giraffe are my favorites. Mary’s class was also a totally new technique for me. This is done with oil roughing. It was my first time working with oils, and I was expecting a smelly, globby mess. Not at all! Mary uses a projector to put the pattern on the surface. It’s the same one cake decorators use. We used a technical pen to put the outline on, then used the same ink from the pen and a fan brush to do the ferns. Spray that to dry it, and you’re ready to start with the oils. We used really only a little oil paint, and only four colors total! It was fun to mix my own colors and see how mixing the same four colors can give you such a variety. No two paintings were really even close. We started with a liner brush and then used blender brushes to move the paint on our surface and give us the shading we wanted.

I asked my mom, who has a projector and has taken Mary’s classes before, why on earth she hadn’t told me about this sooner. I loved it! I bought the brushes I need (my mom has the oil set) so we can do more. We bought a super cute snowman pattern to put on the back of this (the board in the frame is reversible!) for winter. I would take classes over and over from Mary.

Santa Ornaments with Maxine Thomas

This was my Friday night class. I liked Maxine as a teacher. This wasn’t really a new technique for me, but it is the way I paint most and I couldn’t resist Santa on these little tin ornaments. This class was hard only because I missed part of it having an asthma attack in the hallway. I surprised everyone (mostly myself) by coming back in and actually finishing my pieces. Maxine showed us some of the techniques she uses on all of her Santas. I really liked that – we finished these, but we can use the techniques learned to make different Santa images. And I do love me some Santa decoration around Christmas time!

Wasp Passage with JoAnn Karpf

This one was also a completely new way of painting for me. We used these Artist Colors to paint. I’ve never done the whole “now grab some of this color, and some of this color, and then leave your brush dirty and grab some of this color, and really just slap it around your canvas until you’re happy” painting. Until about halfway through the class I was not really liking it. Then suddenly something clicked and I started really having fun with it. I was convinced I was going to go home and throw this one away, but I actually like the way it turned out. Not sure it’s really the style I would paint in a lot, but I would definitely do it again. I was also a little unsure of JoAnn as a teacher at first – but that’s probably my fault. My mom and I walked into class right as it was starting, so we were kind of rushing to get set up and not fall behind. Once I calmed down and settled in, I discovered I really enjoyed her teaching style. She gave us all some general direction, and then really spent the rest of the time walking around to us individually giving us pointers and really working on improving our technique.

Lots of good times. I have one more project to do from the class I missed Saturday morning. But let’s be honest, I will probably not get to it until after the holidays. I’m looking forward to seeing what classes will be offered next year in Oregon. We’ll just see how long I can make it work going to a painting convention that is held over my daughter’s birthday every year…

Stay tuned this weekend for some big exciting news!

My mom has always been a decorative painter. It’s something I’m learning from her. (Because I really need yet another hobby, right?) Two years ago before Christmas we started these trees. We finally finished a few weeks ago. My mom was painting her 2nd tree – my aunt liked mom’s so much that mom decided to paint one for her.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with displaying a Christmas tree in your house in the middle of May, right? Okay, I really only left it up for a few days, and now it’s in the garage just waiting for December to come.

Here’s the detail of the bottom layer. I’m actually surprised at what parts were the most difficult. Looking at it, I dreaded the birds. They were actually quite easy to paint. The hardest parts? The flowers and the sky.

We started with the top layer and worked our way down to the bottom. If you were to look really closely you would see how much I improved between the top and the bottom. If you were to ask my why I showed detail of the bottom but not the other two I would adamantly declare it’s because it’s the most detailed. Secretly I would tell you it’s because it looks 20 times better than the top level!

This year I joined the Society of Decorative Painters. I’m going to my first painting convention in September. So many cool projects to do in just a few days! I’m really hoping to get it all done while I’m there. I think I stand a much better chance of completing my projects at the Convention than I did of actually finishing this tree, since I won’t be painting with my two darling girls under my feet.