Showing posts with label Color. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Color. Show all posts

Guess the Photo - Italy or California



It is a rainy day somewhere in the world, now since you don’t really know for sure if I am in Umbria or California today we are NOT going to play a little game, NOR are we going to take a test.  I don’t like to do either of the above, in fact my friends and family think I should begin to like to play games.  I would rather read a book or go for a run, than play a game.

Charcoal-Grey Painted Dresser and a Bunya Cone






Here we go another week beginning.  At least it is starting to act a little Autumnal here in the Wine Country.  A few leaves have fallen.  The valley looks amazing with vivid green vineyards, ochre and yellow and golden light spotted with the shadows of the deep clouds above.

Credenza and Table





Today as promised I’m going to show you the last job I did in Italy.  The last job before I left.  There will still be other jobs in Italy in the future, “Salve Italia”.

I hope this will be inspiring.  As you know I love grey, this was a taupe-grey.  Here I did the credenza a shade lighter than the table.  Distressed both the pieces.  Then on the table I sanded the edges irregularly and added bronze.

A New Year 2015




I can hear the train whistling in the distance.
I’m drinking a Ruby Red Grapefruit Margarita
Why because I’m in Cali not Italy, it is still so shocking.
It was 68 degrees today- unprecedented!
The sky was deep blue, now it is black.
At night I look up in the sky and there are so many stars I know I’m home and this is my big sky.
I’m sorry I disappeared for a bit there I took an unannounced hiatus.
I did just move across the world.  There may be more hiatuses to come.
I’m back now and I want to wish you
Happy New Year.

Big News



Sette Design
The Simple Life (ha!)

Hello my darlings.

Do you like to be shocked and surprised?

I hope you answered YES.

The girls and I have moved from Italy to California.

After 12 years abroad we are now moving back home to start a new adventure.
IT IS SO EXCITING!

Sette Design

Cheers,
Natalie

Painting a Restaurant - Distressing Walls





Here are the finished shots of the restaurant I have been working on in the center of our city, Foligno, Italy.


Everyone was thrilled with the the final look, rustic, distressed, aged walls and two smooth plum colored back walls, which gave a nice accent.

The Magic of Spello



The Simple Life
Here in Umbria if you don’t like the weather wait 20 minutes.  That’s what they say I think in the Northeast of America too.  We do not say that in California, so it pisses me off.  I’m always getting fooled.

This week in Umbria Spring has sprung with glorious green fields and pink and white budding fruit trees, Mimosa galore puffy and brilliant, shocking yellow.  The birds are going crazy, chatting away, they have so much to sing about.  We all have so much to sing about!

A Simple Valentines Idea



Valentines is just around the corner.  I love to make valentines for the ones I love.  In America it can be a message of love for anyone who might be important to you.  In Italy Valentines is viewed as something you do just for the “one” you love, not your mother or child or best friend.


Letters of Love - Good Design




The simple life
 
a packet of words

I’m a bit of a romantic.  You may have figured that out by now.  When I went back home to California recently I decided that I wanted part of my heart to be in Cali (silly since a big chuck of it is always there). I brought back a bag of letters of love.  When I put them all together in a big heap, it struck me how beautiful they were, what good design. How maybe the art of writing letters is being lost.  Will my daughters find themselves at some point with a heap of letters of love? I hope so.


traveling with love


I say letters of love because these letters were letters that girl friends had written to me, my brother when he traveled the world for two years, my sister when she was away at University, my parents.  There were a few love letters from boys and men of my past.  In this travel bag there were also letters I had written.  These letters were brought back to me after a best friend committed suicide.  Her sister brought my letters back to me!  My own letters saved me and made me sure I had shown this friend I loved her.  My own words of love gave me the strength to carry on.  Isn’t that gorgeous how the past can come back and help us in our present journey.


I’m writing this now not to bring you all down, but to encourage you to write a letter, just one letter to someone you love, hand write it, stamp it and mail it with a kiss on top.
 
letters of love


It might just be the best present you give this year.

With affection,

Styling Empty Frames



candles, little bottles and pink flowers 




It is going to be a gorgeous day here in Umbria.  I’m silly about the weather and think about it way too much.  When I was young I wanted to be a meteorologist.  I’m really glad I changed my mind.   I have one friend who thinks what you wanted to be as a child does reflect who you become.  He says, "I should have known I would be gay when I was always rearranging my bedroom at 8 years old!"  He became a photographer.

I go crazy for the this pink and gold 


if only  I could have an armoire or dresser
 in the same chippy style
Today I want to do a post of showing how I love empty picture frames.  I have done this for years way before it was in style (hasn’t it always been in style?).  Well before people used to come into our home and say, “What’s going on?”  I would respond, “There you can see the future”.

old antique frame from from the 1700's
with little mirrors and chalk drawn on the wall

this is where we leave our keys

cool reflection


and reflecting the painting in front of it.


Plus I love the massiveness of empty walls and I believe in lots of good art and beautiful photographs. 

This gorgeous little gold frame I brought in Ecuador with the same friend who became a photographer.  He was such a jerk, when I said I didn't want to buy it because I would have to carry it all the way home.  He said, "You can enjoy it for the rest of your life, or regret it for the rest of your life".

gold frame and hand painted walls


painted olives bring peace



Sometimes I put this little photo I took of Elisa, she was so tiny then.

To me empty frames are just fun to play around with.

here's in my studio with a inner frame,
photo, plus wire, crystal and ripped velvet ball

that's me at 13.  I'm glad I didn't become a meteorologist
or a ballerina


Empty frames they may be temporary and on their way to becoming part of something more important.




Cheers,
Natalie

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Painting Baskets White





This is going to be a fun post because I’m “teaching” you to do something that has no technique and there is no talent involved.  It’s that just wonderful!  I love a quick change that makes a big impact. 

white baskets
So this week I got a new washing machine, oh man did we need one here for a long time, so I felt inspired to get things ship shape and I spent the weekend in my studio, and cooking and doing loads of laundry.  I still don’t have a dryer.  No one much has a dryer here (in Italy) and this pisses me off, but there are issues of energy costs, for me just costs, hook up connection, space bla bla bla.  When I die many, many years from now my sister who may out live me can write on my tombstone “she didn’t have a dryer”.  Anyway this new washing machine is such a dream that the clothes are almost dry when they are done.  It does sound a bit like an airplane is taking off.  The girls and I say, “take-off in 3 minutes”.

I want to say I’m just being silly and I realized that I have readers in for example Brazil and Tanzania and Serbia and you all might not have a dryer either, but you do have a computer and so here we all are together loving design and making things pretty.

before shot, I didn't ever like the shiny finish


I took my old big baskets and I painted them white (satin finish acylic) with a few drops of black universal tint mixed in to make it a tiny bit gray.  The basket that had a dark stain on it already, I left the darkness coming through a little, this gives it a nice Shabby Chic effect.  The basket that was natural I painted over completely white.








Here they are in our bathroom.



please note no dirty laundry an anomaly


How cool is our porthole window, with the glimpse of the arch of the bridge.



There you are, now go out and paint something that can make a big change fast.

Natalie

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