Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Pink, pink and Zebra = Girly Room!




Generally speaking, my clients don't employ the services of a decorator. One of my favorite things about what I do is the brainstorming process. If the client has already selected bedding for the space, it's usually smooth sailing. It wasn't exactly a giant leap to figure out how this room would be painted. The previous owners of this house had already installed the border trim, so after a coat of primer to cover the dark blue and dark green paint on the walls, we simply color matched the two pinks from the comforter.

I spray painted the iron bed black. The side table is from IKEA. To make the zebra print on the top, I covered it with clear contact paper, drew the zebra stripes with a sharpie, cut out every other stripe with an exacto knife, then spray painted it white. When I removed the remaining contact paper -- presto! Zebra top table!



I did not want to paint the furniture. It was beautiful, high quality oak furniture in perfect condition. But in the end, the girl needed furniture, the client was downsizing to a smaller house, and it actually turned out much better than I expected. Since this was one of several projects I was working on for this particular client, and she wanted it all finished before she moved in, I subcontracted out the painting of the furniture to a friend. He was more appauled at the thought of painting it black than I was, but he did it. He was a life saver! The drawer pulls were originally brass, but I've found this amazing little product called "Rub-n-Buff" that I used for the new patina.





The last little project to finish with this room were some zebra stripes painted on some white, Pottery Barn letters:

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8 comments:

Wendy said...

Okay, what exactly is Rub-n-Buff? Where do you find it? And what kind of staying power does it have on hardware?

katdish said...

I order mine from Misterart.com. You can get it at Michael's or Hobby Lobby, but the color selection is very limited.

It's a paste. A little goes a long way. Staying power is very good, but it is toxic, you need to wear gloves when using it. The more you buff it, the better it stays on. (that's what she said)

jaki said...

ok so i just did my room in zebra and hot pink and now am looking for a matching piece to put over my bed i was hoping for a mirror but am having problems finding anything. any ideas
thanks

Lynn said...

could you tell me how you did the wall border? I have the same chair rail in my daughters room with a pink under it. ordered a stencil and it does not look as clean as yours was it hand painted? any ideas would be great. Thanks:)

katdish said...

Lynn - It is hand painted. If you're not comfortable doing it free hand, here's a little trick. Paint the background white, then using the stencil, pencil in the lines and use them as a guide to paint the black stripes with an artist's brush. If you're hand is not so steady, you can use a black paint pen to cut in the edges. Hope that helps! Good luck.

Lynn said...

thats so much...I will try that and send a pic when i complete it...she is 17 going on 18 so the decor is a little more grown up looking that the beautiful work you did for the little girl

Anonymous said...

Do you know the what the colors where called that you painted the walls with? The lighter color & the darker color. I'd like to know what the name of it is where I no to get the same colors. Thanks Jamie

Unknown said...

what is the color called on the bottom??