Little Lori Logo

I've spent the last couple of days doing a painted mural of Certified Tire's logo onto the wall in the lobby.  They had previously had their logo on the wall in vinyl but it wouldn't stay stuck to the bumpy wall and the lettering would just fall off.   

I came in at the end of the work day on Saturday and worked late during the weekend so not to interrupt business during the day and so they would have full use back Monday morning. 

 

Here is the before photo of the wall.  It definitely needs something there.  Here it is at another angle. 

 

It's a nice shop and the guys there have done a good job fixing my own car recently when the rear axle broke. 

 

My husband took this photo of me while I was painting. I didn't know he did it until after.  I am glad he did take it though, so often I am the one behind the camera.  My kids know I get to do fun stuff but it makes it more special to have photographic evidence. 

 

The word Certified has a tiny white border.... definitely need a very steady hand to do the details.  At one point in my life I lost the ability to use my right arm, it took nearly a year to get it to work again and it shook terribly for the longest time.  It still shakes if I try to life something heavy or something over my head at times.   I have kept practicing to get the full use of my arm back enough to paint detail again, I'm happy it's good to go and it's steady again. 

 

Here it is all done! Now when they open on Monday morning the place will have a little piece of my work up on the wall. 

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Love Lori

Wood walls and soccer balls

Hi everyone, 

  It's been a long time since I sat down to write a blog post.  I have done some fun items for a really wonderful family and I want to show you how they are turning out.  

  First, they asked my husband and I to build a shiplap wall for their boys room.   Isn't this grey shiplap fun? 

 

It added some beautiful texture and dimension to the room.  Next I chalked out the pattern for three of his favorite soccer logos to go on the wood wall. 

I always swallow really hard when it's time to add the first paint, It's the point of no return.  No mistakes and no drips is the goal. 

My chalk lines are only a suggestion and not something that I follow religiously. Sometimes adaptations need to be made on the spot. 

 

I work alone quite a bit so it was fun to have a friendly and furry little supervisor around. 

 

So this is the finished product, here is Real Barcelona, Real Madrid and Real Salt Lake logos.  This was a really fun project to do and I hope they are enjoying the room, as much as I enjoyed helping create it. 

A little birdhouse in your soul

Today I will be starting on a birdhouse I've been commissioned to make. It's not really a birdhouse but more of a bird condo.  I don't have any pictures of it on hand to show you but I do have pencil sketching sour in my shop that I will post later. 

 I was looking online for some examples of other bird dwellings for multiple bird friends. 

It's going into winter here but this sweet lady (who I am making it for), is happy to get it anytime. She is such a doll and a great friend! 

Here are a few more examples of other birdhouses. 

I am going to be taking some items out to our human house we are building for our family.  It's getting closer to being done. We hopefully will be in by Thanksgiving!  I have some fun things I plan on doing for that once we are in. 

   

I'm also working on some fun metal art coming up! I can't wait to show you that. 

I have a couple of different styles I'm cooking up. Some that are more design and some that are more pictures. 

I have also been dying to get back to doing some fine art on canvas. Canvas is where I started out decades ago. In the winter I would be in my parents garage painting and freezing until they purchased me an oil heater. I spent many years staying up late into the night painting in that tiny garage. (I think some of them are still out there) 

Have a great weekend everyone! Happy Art-tober 

Love Lori 

Parade of Homes part 2 Aged Basketball Hoop

 

Here is an aged basketball hoop I made for the home. 

I teamed up with Cahoon Interiors again, to do this art piece that goes above the basketball court. 

I built the backboard out of blue pine with a knotty alder frame for the contrast. Then it was stained brown and grey washed. 

Here it is before I stained and distressed the backboard and hoop. It was a fun project to build. 

I made Danielle's family a smaller version for her home as a little gift.  I think it turned out really nice. 

A big thank you to my husband Geoff for helping me and supporting me in all these projects and the time I spent away from him and the kids. 

Parade of Homes

I have been working with Cahoon Interiors to create some fun art and furniture designs for the Parade of Homes. The Parade of Homes is basically the Olympics of home building and interior design for the state of Utah. I am extremely grateful and honored that I have been asked to create for this project. 

This is the home I have been helping with. It's a stunning beauty in the hills above Saratoga Springs.

   I have been asked to do a few art pieces and furniture pieces to be showcased inside.  

This room turned out really lovely. The photo was taken by my friend Danielle. I did the dresser and the night stand for the room. I wish the whole room could be fit into each photo because the chandelier and the light pink ceiling are so delicate and soft.  This is the dresser and the mirror I painted. The dresser is in a metallic silver with gold highlights and the mirror is gold with silver highlights. I think they work out stunning together. 

I have done projects in other rooms that I will be showing in the next few days. 

  I am on vacation right now and I have gathered some fun new creative ideas for when I get home. Tomorrow I am going to a swap meet and I am excited for what treasures I might find down here.

   

More fun photos to come soon!

Until then, I'll enjoy a little sunshine. 

 Love, Lori

This little light of mine

I found this pretty light at Lowe's hardware the other day on clearance and I knew I had to get it. 

With tax it came to $24.01 and I thought the flower shape would be perfect for my little girls room.  I haven't done a lot to make their room very interesting.  I have one dresser I painted that they share. 

These are the drawers of the dresser in their room.  Here is the before & after picture. 

I did go back with the silver guilders paste and lighten the hardware.

Here is the light installed, I think it's beautiful!  We saved the original flush mount light to re-instal when we move since we are renters. This was my Mother's Day gift to me.  I would love to buy my girls "Beddy's" zipper bedding to make their bunk beds easier to make.  (It's on my wish-list.)

These are the type of bedding I would like to buy for them.  They are a local Utah company that I am not affiliated with but I drool over their designs.  The best part is they have zippers on both sides of the bedding so kids can zip it up like a sleeping bag. 

They even do grown-up sizes! They have Queen ones and soon they are launching King sized bedding.  I have a King sized bed and I might actually make my bed everyday if it only involved zipping.  They have an online website and they are starting to sell them at RC Willey stores so I am watching/waiting for a great sale. I am thinking Christmas would be cozy with these.  Other than getting a new light, I have been taking it easy. I just had another operation (low back nerve ablation) and although it's helping, I am not quite ready for work in the shop. 

I hope you enjoy something beautiful today!

Love Lori