ode to turquoise (via an old door)

This is how I left you at the end of my arbor post, with the new white arbor, and primed door trim . . . and the antique door of the studio looking shabby in some reject paint from the hardware store from several years ago. 

Our Adirondack chairs, on the other hand, are painted in this friendly shade of turquoise, or pool blue. It looks happy and intentional, wheras that old door looked pretty sad and unwelcoming. Worse, I'd say, than when my brother brought me the old door in the first place, with peeling white paint.

We can mark the door off of our never-ending to-do list; I took advantage of the nice weather to prime and spray it, and now it's just as happy and friendly as our chairs. It gives the whole building a different character. (The color is Rustoleum's Aqua.)

Of course, it helps that the sun was shining that day, which always makes things look brighter and happier than on a cloudy day, but I'm giving the new paint an equal share of the credit.

Okay, just that quick update for now, but I've been weeding and planting and working on the yard a bit more since painting the door. You can bet I'll be posting about those adventures very soon.

In the meantime, thanks for reading!

more making, less consuming

I didn't previously mention that I have some overlapping goals right now. My New Year's resolution was to be more organized and tidier (which I did mention). And more recently, while cleaning the house for a visit by the appraiser, I determined that the new art studio won't be nearly large enough for all of the art and craft supplies I currently own. So I'm selling or giving away approximately 20% of my stuff for Lent. 

I haven't given anything up for Lent in quite some time . . . it's an interesting experience, not being a religious person. But I've already culled about 100 books from my collection, and 10 bags of fabric, clothing, and art supplies I no longer need.

While going through all of this stuff, I came to the realization that I could probably make art all year without buying any new materials. So that's my latest part of the project. I'm planning to go the rest of the year without buying any new art materials, just using up what I already own and salvaging a few vintage materials, mostly for free.

My first project is exciting, and will be part of the spring line: I'm making books using vintage book boards (tossed at my job when old books are disassembled) and materials I already have in my house. I'm thoroughly pleased with the first one so far, and will post photos soon!

You're the bee's knees.

xo