New Growth Green

I've been on a remodeling kick which started during the pandemic lockdown. Well, really it's an excuse to paint the rooms in my house happy, bright, cheerful, inspiring colors. Besides being stuck inside all winter or during a pandemic, I wanted to be surrounded by happiness. No dulls or pastels for me. I want vibrant visuals to keep my mood up and my disposition playful. Joy is in the little things.

For the kitchen I needed a bright color that was different from the turquoise living room and purple office. I decided green, the color of lettuce, celery, Granny Smith apples and spinach. FOOD! Oh, wait, I have a lime green staircase that ends in the kitchen so the color needed to be a different shade. 

Most paint samples in hardware stores are dull and gray-toned. I wanted bright. I created a color using acrylic paint. I think I bought no less than seven samples to get just the right tone. Initially I called it "Lettuce Green" before I realized lettuce is more yellow-green. I renamed it New Growth Green, the green that appears in early spring as the new shoots push through the ground giving new life to the world. Beginnings. I love it.

After painting the walls I decided the cupboards were too dark. Originally this room was a "Harbor Blue". Great color, but I was determined to go bright. I did not realize the work involved! These cupboards are as old as the house (1922) and I was stripping up to four layers of paint plus a shelf liner that was used for decoration and painted over! This was a nightmare. I did attempt to strip and paint one of the inside cupboards. That was way too much work! I admit I got tired and lazy. I decided to do white because if one day I sell, no one is going to want crazy colored cabinets and white might be a more neutral option. I also stripped and repainted the knobs white. I used a really smelly, toxic Urethan Alkyd Semi-Gloss Enamel paint for cabinetry by Behr. Glossy is easier to wash. It was all done out in the garage a little at a time and offgassed/cured for a month.

The first set of cupboards completed were really...WHITE. That's what I wanted, but I had no idea what a whole wall of white would look like. I questioned my decision. I kept working as the second set of cupboards would be around the sink and window so the white would break up. I got used to it and it definitely brightened the room.

I decided the kitchen table didn't match. I had painted it years ago and now it needed some green. I decided on a whimsical leaf pattern. I had no idea what I was about to do and just jumped in and went with it. I LOVED IT!

I looked around and decided I needed more of it although worried if I did all the cupboards, it would darken the room. I started with one mini-wall where I hang my towels. (See above photo with sink.) The last set of cupboards were screaming for some pattern and I obliged. I figured it would balance the white, give the room accents. Now I want to redo all the cupboards this pattern! Thankfully I was too exhausted. Maybe next year?

As I was stripping the floor I moved the refrigerator from the alcove. Drats. It was boring white so I patterned the alcove! The refrigerator is slid back into this space so it's hardly noticeable.

 

Then stripped and resealed the floor grout!  So gorgeous!

I started experimenting with pastel drawing and began a series of fruits and vegetables as a theme. I painted the frames bright colors. I admit I'm not that great at pastels, but it sure adds some color. I hope to fill the room with colorful frames and drawings.

Granted, paint is toxic. Even the low-VOC paint is. I've been using Behr Marque which is a high quality paint that supposedly takes only one coat so it's quick. I also wear a mask, gloves, glasses and jumpsuit and have lots of ventilation and fans pointing out the windows.

The Fantasy Garden of Happiness Room

Is anyone having lots of pandemic fun? Boy, I am! After painting so many of my interior rooms in bright, happy colors, I was exhausted and finished. Then I had some more extra free time and tackled the "mud room" or back door entrance. Door landings and entrances I believe are a free-for-all: they are "through" rooms. No one sits in the room and stares at the walls so as far as I'm concern, anything can happen! 

It was previously painted with a floral pattern, but the walls are wood paneling and unfortunately, many years ago I received very bad advice  on how to prep them and vibration from nearby semi-trucks caused the seams between the panels to crack over time. The walls needed to be redone. I found out the proper method is to use flexible caulking, prime it with exterior flat white, and then paint whatever you want. I already had the exterior paint for my house's trim and all the leftover paint from the other rooms. I decided to create a fantasy garden to match the floor at the front door landing. Zero cost, but very time consuming. I got a little crazy. It reminds me of a circus especially the ceiling. So cheerful!

Ceiling

I really want to paint this door RED!

I did! Love the RED!

Octopus Mosaic

Check out these tiny glass fish I found at the bead store! Love them!

This mosaic is the largest so far at 38" x 17". The challenge was finding orange glass scraps. In the end I started running out and opted to use red, another color equally difficult to find. The quest for color, besides each step of the process, takes an enormous amount of patience, but it was worth the wait. I love the oranges and reds against the blues. The brightness is pure happiness. Fun!

The Mosaic Show

Mosaics are fascinating, and new, and strange. Unlike most art forms, there are different "compositions" for each mosaic: 1) What one sees on the surface if place upon a white background. 2) What one sees when it hangs in the window with light reflecting through the glass.  3) For mosaics with black grout, what one sees when the mosaic is hanging in a dark window at night. For instance, the moon on the mosaic below is grouted with white and the remainder of the composition is grouted in black. This is the "surface" photo. The mosaic is laying on a white floor. You can see the white moon, the purple frame, and a little of the colored glass pieces.

The photograph below is the same mosaic in a window with light showing through. The white grout of the moon shows gray, but the glass pieces are vibrant with the black outlines reminiscent of stained glass windows. The frame virtually disappears to black in the brightness, however, most of my frames I painted to match the glass colors when light is showing through so the purple of the tree is the same color as the frame.

Here is the same mosaic hanging in a dark window although the flash of my camera did brighten it up a bit. As you can see, the purple frame is dominant and if it wasn't for the white-grouted, but clear moon, the composition practically disappears! So weird.

Everything I read says black grout is the way to go as it serves as outlines although some prefer gray and even other artists prefer colors like rust or dark purple. They say white grout tends to be too bright and stark, but given these various lighting examples, I prefer it. It shows dark gray with light reflecting from behind and maintains the composition at night. I'm not sure I like a window decoration to black out at night.

Black grout is also scary when one has white tile floors! Grouting is messy. It's like slinging mud all over and I'm doing it in my kitchen. In the middle of grouting the above mosaic which was my first black grout experiment, I realized if I dropped just one little piece of grout on the floor it might stain the floor! Eeeww...I'm growing more fond of white grout every day, although I am still experimenting with various colors.

My Very First Online Mosaic Show

All mosaics are photographed with a white background which allow one to see the frame color, grout color, and basic glass shapes and for some I included the view through light.

"Sunflower"

"Daffodils"

"The Fall"

"Mt. Rainier"

"America"

"Blue Rose Window"

"Medicine Wheel"

"Heart-Broken"

"Love Grows"

"Dandelions and Dragonfly"

"I'd Rather Be Dead than Decaffeinated, or
Caffeine-Induced Depression"
Because this is abstract and the frame
is unusually thick and wide,
I decided to decorate the sides:

...with coffee cups.

"Paradise" (or "My Garden")
If you are wondering why it has four hangers
I couldn't decide how I wanted to hang it, horizontal or
vertical. I couldn't put only two hangers so I just added
one to each side. (Think of them as vines or stems....)

"The Final Frontier"

I have one more to finish, but it's a big one, and many more ideas and plans! So fun.