Everyday Art of Living

Painted Minis

2013-06-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

A mini blog about some of the small accessory items. Its not always big projects, some times its just a small item that's needed to pull the room together, a chair a foot stool or a little nick knack shelf. That little item you have around the house that just needs a little update, like the last patio chair a little paint in current colors and now we can move it in side to the desk. Same with the little foot stool that was hiding under the bed a scrape of burlap from another project some paint and now your feet want to rest again. The little shelf that grams gave you years ago, wipe off the dust - fresh coat of paint removed the scratched glass put in wire and know its ready to show off those little nick knacks in a fresh new way!

The Ugly Duckling of Garage Sale Finds

2013-05-31T13:11:00.001-07:00

-BEFORE-

The ugly duckling of garage sale finds: a 1970's armoire looked over by everyone. Went ahead picked it up and brought it home for the challenge of it. Due to the veneer couldn't be sanded, only thoroughly cleaned. So we will be using chalk paint! A fantastic paint for almost any surface. (chalk paint can be found online or in a variety at local stores.) It contains unsanded grout which help it adhere to a plethora of surfaces. On to the armoire, I chose a nice khaki beige to quiet the exterior design. love the color, chalk paint gives it a matted silky look. Now to give it the pop all pieces need: the interior vintage green! The hardware in a rust tone. And the ugly duckling becomes a swan, loved by all.

-AFTER-

Franken Dresser

2013-05-31T13:10:00.002-07:00

-BEFORE-

              Found on the side of the road barley hanging on, was the shell of a dresser and two of the five drawers. I picked it and brought it to my storage are of pieces and parts, its not an elaborate piece or even expensive just one of those simple pine boxes with simple pine drawers, The wood alone being worth picking it up and storing it.
                So that was a year ago or more, skip to now in walks a picker I work with, with 3 drawers in good shape just minus the simple pine dresser they would have been apart of. Yes I did pay him 3 dollars for the drawers so he wouldn't throw them away, took them to the storage area to find that they where a perfect match to the old dresser.
                Well that inspired me to the one day transformation, a quick sanding check for structural strength make sure all drawers are tight and glide well. I am choosing a vintage yellow chalk paint that I have on hand, the simple color will be a nice match to the simple design. let the two coats of paint dry for two to three hour and then come in with a small hand sander to give the piece back a little of its age. What once was left for trash on the side of the road is now a great dresser once again!

-AFTER-

Modern Tramp Art

2013-05-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

Tramp Art: Was art made in the united states from discarded materials, in the period following the civil war through the 1930's.
My updated version is my bottle cap mirrior. Bottle caps being an art form all their own.

-BEFORE-

I'm thinking mirror, I've had this wonderful oval mirror in the garage forever. Time to use it! Got a piece of birch plywood, painted it a nice nuetral background, and attached my mirror in the middle. Now it's time to lay out all the fantasticly desgined bottle caps I have. This is the time consuming, but interesting part of this art form. Once I've decided on my pattern (which in this case, took two days of laying out bottle caps) you start hand-nailing each one to the backing. Then, I trimed the outside of the wood with black paint to give it a nice outline detail. And now, my modern version of tramp art!

-AFTER-

Juliet's Writing Desk

2013-05-01T15:28:00.001-07:00

-BEFORE-

Whats the problem with most teens bedrooms? Storage and function. One of my granddaughters needs a desk and a chair a couple of dressers and her full size bed, all in an average size room. In order to leave her a little room I went looking for the perfect desk and dresser in one(they are out there), took about 6 weeks of looking but finally found it! Good size dresser drawers nice sturdy design great overall piece, know to update it for a young lady. I chose a light turquoise blue for the body of the dresser, antique white wash fore the bamboo looking legs. I removed all the hardware and trim on the desk gave it a light sanding and put three coats of paint on it, then did the same for the legs. The finally step for the legs was a wash of diluted brown paint over the legs approximately three times all a matter of personal taste.

Finally to finish the desk off i decoupaged old writing paper from my local scrape booking store on the top. Followed all the directions for decoupaged, after it had time to dry (about one full day) I put three coats of water based clear coat over the entire piece for a little extra protection. and wow the desk looks really Fantastic I am supper happy and more importantly so was Juliet.

-AFTER-

Turquoise Fun!

2013-05-01T15:24:00.003-07:00

-BEFORE-

Dumpster diving can be so much fun. Found a great retro dresser, knobs included (very rare to find knobs!) First a little cleaning to get rid of grit and grime, next a little sanding to smooth out wear and tear from it's former life, now for a splash of color! I am choosing turquoise, as it is my current go-to color for everything. Two good coats, light sanding then a third coat. Now it's time for the fun accent pieces: what color to paint the knobs? Tried several, decided on bright pink. Love the knobs, but it needed a little something extra to make it pop. Mod Podge'd great black and white print paper around the trim to finish it off. Couple coats of varnish for durability. And wow! The dresser of your dreams is complete!

-AFTER-

2012-10-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Well Thing at the store are better than expected turns out there are a lot of people who also like Trash to Treasure or Flea Market Finds or just the simple art of re purposing the things that are already around us. Still located at Willowstone Antique Marketplace 1710 Dublin Blvd. Colorado springs, but have expanded to space 165. More space means more projects cant wait for the challenge.As I have gotten back to my forgotten passion the ideas and inspiration seam to be coming faster than I can produce them. The best part though is finding inspiration all around me that's been there the whole time, just blocked by the static of everyday life. Lets all slow down a bit and appreciate the simple little things around us that help make us who we are.

Re purpose as a job

2012-06-20T12:03:00.001-07:00

Well in theme of Art of Living, I am taking the big plunge and doing what I love! I am going to refurbish, re purpose, redo, and redesign furniture and home decor items. I am open for business at the Willowstone marketplace 1710 Dublin boulevard space 157, open 7 days a week 10am to 6pm. I am very excited about this new adventure in my life and looking forward to sharing what i love to do with everyone out there.
Opening with some items that i have made or found over the years, white door coffee table, book shelves made from industrial vent filters, painted furniture and antiques. The book case being one of my favorite items found the vent filters at a flea market and knew they needed to be the sides of a shelving unit, found the shelves and some little legs from the hardware store and wow a fantastic piece( industrial cottage)fit for almost any decor or purpose.

Thinking doors and windows for next blog, so many thing you can do with them, time to start my next project, good luck with yours.

2011-11-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

So I have been working on my store Zazzle.com/paccaktoddprints keeping it up to date with my blog and my life. As the cold weather moves in I find myself looking back on the warmer places I have been, so I chose photos from one of my favorite places to go and relax Taos N.M.. There is so much to see there and it always seams peaceful weather its the pueblos or the landscape, or walking down the street looking for a place to eat. So I have created 4 color posters and 4 black and white posters at zazzle.com/paccaktoddprints so others could also feel the peace and warmth that I feel when I am in taos. Prints and poster are a great way to change up your decor with out spending a lot of money. Need to add warmth to a room add a set or grouping of color prints, or if you want to go a little more classic add some black and white prints or posters with a simple jet black frame.

Hope these prints inspire you to change up your surroundings just a bit with photos from your favorite artist or maybe photos of your own travels enlarged and framed. As it gets colder we all need a little change in our surroundings to warm us up and get us going for the holidays, so create art in your life.

2011-11-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

PARTY PLANNING! Time for the annual pumpkin party, this years theme Enchanted Forrest. While every year has its challenges, this years it was the giant mushrooms because what says enchanted Forrest better than giant mushrooms. Cardboard concrete tubes and snow sleds where my picks for the larger of the mushrooms, economical and easy to use, sprayed tubes with adhesive and wrapped with wrapping paper, on the sleds I used adhesive shelf paper I cut into circles placed on bottom of sleds then a little spray paint in your choice of color, peal of circles and BOOM you have the top of a mushroom, put the two together and you have a mushroom. Smaller mushrooms I used cardboard tubes and cheap plastic bowls and then followed same instructions as on larger ones.

Finishing off the party area added a stream made of plastic, a bridge constructed out of an old coffee table and scrap wood laying around. Giant cattails made from tiki torches, large dragon flies made from scrap wood and plastic, give them a paint job and BOOM dragon flies. Spread pumpkins (one for every child) all through the design add 20 or so children a sack race, cakewalk and other fun games, BOOM you have your self a pumpkin party! Don't want to leave out food and beverages for your guests, this year we made homemade mac-n-cheese and pulled pork sandwiches. Thanks to all our friends and family to help make another successful year.

Fall Warmth

2011-10-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well I have been gone alot longer than I wanted but tones of new stuff will be coming out of my absence. First on the list is warming up the house for the upcoming holiday season, and what is the easiest way to do this? Paint of course, nothing better! In my previous blog we painted the dinning room bright apple green so in the living room we chose more of a cinnamon terracotta color to coordinate with the green. Just painted one accent wall with the color so as not to over power the room looks great if I say so myself. Using this bold tone actually has made our room look larger than before as well as warming it up. You just cant go wrong with paint it is by far the most affordable change you can do in your home, only needed one gallon for each project so approximately 20.00 dollars each gallon and at this price if the color really does turn out bad you have lots of options, including choosing a new color. So grab a brush and add a little color to your world.

Dinning in

2011-08-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well took a longer break than I really wanted to but its summer vacation and home reno time so thing are pretty busy. My wife has decided that we need to freshen up the our home, and we will start in the dinning and go from there. Now that our kids are starting families of their own we have more people at holidays and family gatherings, so we started with a big ol farm table we found. Then a fresh new green apple color on the top half of the walls and crisp white on the bottom to give it a updated clean look. The seating will be a mix of bench's and farm style chairs with an updated black paint job to contrast against the white Art work from another room (poppy painting) that compliments the room perfectly. To finish the room we will start the kitchen giving it the same updated paint job new cabinet hardware, added splashes of color with accessories in both rooms and hopefully the future pics will be of a functional well put together space.

Art in the Garden

2011-07-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

This week I have been working on my backyard which I believe to be another form of art. The garden has been a work in progress over many years, our needs seam to develop and change each year and so does the garden to meet those needs but most importantly it is a pleasant retreat to clear the mind and relax. This year I seam to be struggling with my climbing plants which normally do well with very little assistance from me, but there is balance to every garden other plants have stepped up to be the stars of the yard this season. Bee balm and Lilly's are doing just fantastic this year, so in response I have arranged the patio furniture to have the best possible view of them while outside relaxing. My biggest goal with the yard each year is to make it a calm and peaceful place for the wife and I, fun place on the weekends for the grand kids and a great place for the dogs to wrestle.

"Finishing things up"

2011-06-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

So this weeks creative endeavors where spent in the back yard in the garden, and finishing up a few painting projects. I find it amazing just how much work related stress you can relieve your self of with a hobby or a little gardening, or in my case both this week. In my constant quest for a peaceful and pleasant surroundings I enjoy going out and doing a little gardening, I would never claim to have a perfectly landscaped yard but I do have a very pleasant space that really works for my family and the things we plane, which during the summer is a far amount.
I also completed two paintings this week blue poppies and sunflowers three and got them loaded onto my zazzle site (www.zazzle.com/paccaktoddprints) where you can view them or purchase posters of them. Now I guess it is time to start contemplating on the design of my blog, maybe next weeks blog should be about the fun and trials of creating this blog - definitely a labor of love. Remember there is art happiness and joy in everything we just gotta find it.

Research and Development

2011-06-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

This week I seem to be focused on research and development of both my blog and current running projects. Larry's Fishing chair was my main project this week,took my second hand store chair that was in over all great shape removed the seat gave a nice lite sanding to remove old varnish and dirt. Chose colors of paint to go with my over all theme in this case fishing lake outdoor's, ect.. Base coat whole chair in a lite blue green color and then started adding top color and designs as I went along, one leg represents drift wood the other a fish, found a piece of outdoor themed fabric for the seat chair was looking good. Felt like it just needed something else, small wooden fish hanging from the back ("catch of the day").Think it is done and looks great and more inportant larry thinks it looks great.
Boring space or just not sure what to do with your space. Try a chair either a wild funky chair or and old chair you paint in a bold color and set in the corner, it's amazing how far one great chair can take a room.

2011-06-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

So its thursday lot's of plans but not a lot of productivity as some weeks go.Finishing up on our backyard getaway, hard to belive but realy have not spent much money at all on what is now my favorite spot. Chair's were a free cast off from a restaurant, so picked up two(thought about more)ditched the nasty upholstered seats some light sanding left over paint in the garage, cut some new seats(bought plywood)scrap fabric from other projects and like magic nice chairs for patio. Off to the workroom to concentrate on new projects in the constant quest to improve my surrondings.

Life is better with a little ART!

2011-06-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Two "rescued" chairs, some left over paint, and fabric, were used to create a back yard retreat.