Alice in Wonderland

I finally was able to complete a most exciting project for a long time client of mine, in her daughters' secondary playroom. They were debating on either an Alice in Wonderland theme, or a Wizard of Oz theme. Oz is pretty dear to me, my parents decorated my room in the 70's with an Oz theme, so I had some great ideas for how to design a room with that theme, but Alice in Wonderland is so amazing too! And with Tim Burton's version of the movie coming out earlier this year, and seeing all of the amazing set designs and crazy artwork, there is a lot to work with there as well. They ended up choosing Alice, and here is what I did. I took photos in stages so you can see the process.

Now the only thing I need to know is when they are going to adopt me? Their upstairs playroom/loft is one of my favorites as well.

CHOC Home Tour Client

I have a long time client whose house was a stop on last friday's CHOC Home Tour. This client lost her home in the Yorba Linda fires in November of 2008, and rebuilt her home from the ashes, and did an absolutely amazing job. Her deadline to get it done by the time of the Home Tour was a tough one to meet, but she did it! Here is what I did to help get it pulled together:

This is the downstairs Powder Room which already had the beginnings of a Faux Finish done by a sub-contractor of a sub-contractor, and not to my clients liking. She was talked into using this other artist by the Color Theorist she hired to help choose paint colors for the entire house inside and out, and was very unhappy. The room was described by the florist doing the arrangements for the tour as looking like "the inside of a heart". The walls had ben painted a brick red color, then a metallic gold was applied to the surface, and gold "veins" were drawn on. I came and and gave the room texture and depth, by adding a coffee colored glaze to the entire surface to tone down the gold paint, and soften the veining. The desired effect was an Old World finish, and I was able to salvage what had been done to these walls with a nicely applied glazing to mask the imperfections and bring in some class.



In the Foyer, the client wanted her favorite Bible verse above the door, with her collection of crufixes, and in a small alcove she wanted to have a custom script painted with a few lines from a favorite song. The lettering above the door is an adaptation of "Parchment" - most people have it on their computer, and the lettering for the alcove is my own handwriting, which has actually been made into a font, and is currently used by Target, and has been used in magazines, yearbooks, a VW ad, OC Restaurant Week 2009, and probably more that I am unaware of. You can view/purchase my font here: Fontgarden

And in the Master Bedroom, I created a 4 color faux finish to give the room some Ooomph! With her dark, carved and gilded furniture, the walls needed to be able to hold their own. Using a combination of colors used elsewhere in the adjacent rooms and Master Bath, the faux finish brings in the color she wanted, creating a showcase for her custom bedding and ornate furniture.

Studio Renee

I painted 2 murals of NYC scenes for Studio Renee in Huntington Beach for owner and stylist Jenne Renee for her absolutely fabulous salon while she was getting all of her construction finished up and ready to open. The salon is amazing and I am so irritated that I don't have any pictures to post of the entire salon with the murals as a part of the whole, instead of these close-ups. I guess it's time for me to make an appointment for a haircut so I can take some photos!

Studio Renee is located at 4972 Warner Ave., Huntington Beach, CA 92649 and here is the Yelp page of reviews: Yelp

Whoooo is in the tree?

This room was designed from the bedding that was just purchased, and we just wanted a simple tree with an owl. I painted it with what I think of as an "embroidery" look, as far as the flowers and details go...little dots and "stitching" to adorn the elements of the painting, tying it into the style of the bedding.

Black and White and Hot Pink all over!!!

What's Black and White and Hot Pink all over? Exactly, not the newspaper. These adorable rooms! Quite sassy for the most descerning tastes in room decor, for nurseries to teen rooms. What girl doesn't like a little hot pink to brighten things up?

In this room we wanted to do a "paris" theme, that she can grow up with. Dresses and ballerina tutu's, purses and perfume bottles, and I adorned it with charms, bows, lace, pearls and "diamonds". The tulle coming off the painted dress form above the window acts as draperies, all for show as the window has shutters, but needed to be dressed up.

This teenager wanted her room done in a simpler fashion, with her name curved over her bed against the hot pink walls. Simple, straightforward, and packs a punch! The wall makes quite an impact now.

Here I am painting the Zebra striped border for my lifelong friends daughter's room. We updated her room from a light pink and sage green floral topiary tree theme (adorable and very hard to paint over for me! But she needed an update, and hey, it's just paint!). Jordyn's new room leaves room up above the Zebra border for her mom's immense Barbie collection (all in boxes and amazing!) to be hung above on the white wall. We painted the 10" hot pink stripes with a black 1" pinstripe, leaving an 8" white stripe at all. I also painted little crowns on the edges of her name above the bed, and on the dresser. Fabulous.

In this nursery we designed the monogram for Maycie above the crib and created a floral border copying flowers, leaves and scrolls from the fabric used in the custom bedding. The quote painted above the closet was chosen by mommy, and we added little details in the corners of the room as well to bring the floral design around the room.