Happy National Painting Week, friends. Last year I was all young and ambitious and painted Brian’s office for National Painting Week, by Sherwin Williams. This year I decided to tackle something a little more doable, something that only took a couple of hours, and was wildly satisfying.
See? Boring vintage Ikea demilune table (from 1996, I believe) that just screams, nay, whispers, “Hey guys, I’m very boring.” It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but it could use some spunk, pizazz, jazz, zam, pow … you get it.
It was as boring as the two hour season premiere of Mad Men — there is something to it, sure, but really it just put me to sleep. (I mean, am I right, people?)
So we (by we, I mean Alexis) painted the table a bright red (Sherwin Williams “Positive Red”) because, well, I couldn’t handle blue again, and I figured why the hell not go for red because it’s a totally under used color.
I would go into how to paint a table, but you probably get it. Grab a brush. Dip said brush in paint. Move that brush around on the table. Blow on it til it’s dry.
But we were still kinda bored with just the red, and it’s such a simple table that is inexpensive so it’s kinda begging to be experimented on. So I told Alexis to do whatever she wanted — a pattern, go wild. She taped off this pattern inspired by all the tribal (and triangular) things trending right now and we went for it. Since our color for the day was red/pink, we decided to use two different pinks to make it happy and girly, but still a little tonal.
She added the colors “Hopeful” (light pink) and “Begonia” (coral), which I have to say are just very lovely names of colors.
I love it when a piece looks like a total disaster before you remove the tape, like above. But after we removed them, it was oh-so-fresh and fun.
Instead of just showing the finished table in a styled space, I decided to style it twice and let you decide which you like more. I think I just love how you can change the look of piece just by changing its context.
Style #1: Happy playroom:
I styled it as a kids space because it was so playful and I have kid on the brain. Plus, I had just got that yellow lamp and that adorable rocking chair (both vintage) and wanted an excuse to show them off to you. That art is from a client of mine — he’s five and adorable, so I borrowed it for the day. I kept it graphic and simple.
All the books and those blocks are Ruby’s (Oh Joy’s daughter). Thanks, Rubes, for the use of your adorable props. I’m sorry that I snuck into your room while you were sleeping and stole your toys. Hopefully that doesn’t scar you for life.
Style #2: Hip Dorm Room:
Oh very Urban Outfitters. Oh you know, she just finished her Intro to Human Sexuality final and she’s leaving tomorrow to backpack around Europe so she’s just been reading these travel books voraciously. She can’t put them down. Although when she does, she puts them down in cute little piles next to her Victorian wicker chair …
But that felt forced to me, so I took them away:
Better, right? I think, so. I don’t know, it’s so hard to be objective about your own stuff …
Most of the props were borrowed from Scott Horne (who has a Tastemaker sale on One Kings Lane TODAY!!) so thanks, Scott for lending them out. I want that blue and white box real bad.
That tassel is stupid. And by stupid, I mean, remarkable. Like I want to remark about it so hard … with my mouth.
I like how the table turned out. It’s a bit trendier than I normally go, but it’s just paint so next year when painting cats on everything is the new huge pattern trend, I can repaint it in a couple hours. Meanwhile these triangles were totally playful, fun, and I loved how random they were. Happy National Painting Week, friends.
* This post is in collaboration with Sherwin Williams but they all the words, photos, and opinions are mine, mine, mine.
Before photos by Monica Wang, After photos by Tessa Neaustadt, Painting of table done by Alexis Finc. Produced and styled by Me. Thanks so much for your help, ladies.
And be sure to check out other National Painting Week makeovers over at Vintage Revivals today, and tomorrow you get Ashley’s project on Decortista and The Anne Sage on The City Sage. On Sunday, check out Curbly’s and Simply Grove. Meanwhile a lot of my favorite interior design blogs did projects already for National Painting Week, check them all out: Little Green Notebook, Coco Kelley, House of Earnest, Remodelaholic, Recycle Consign and Design The Brick House and Decor Chick.
So, what do you think? Which styling do you like better? Style #1: Happy Playroom or Style #2 Hip Dorm Room?