Pimp my ride (or just my light fixture)

Charlotte got picked up from school in the chicken limo on Friday, thanks to a friend's surprise birthday party.

Friday was also good for me, because I discovered that auto spray paint is the best.stuff.ever.

If you have not been using auto spray paint, you are missing out.  It is at least twice as expensive ($7 for the cans above at my Advance Autoparts, which are 8 oz vs. the standard 12 oz Rustoleum can), but it sprays out in a super fine mist making it almost difficult to get drips.  I am a terrible spray painter, so that is pretty key.  Ready mixed stuff comes in a variety of nuanced neutrals, as well as a few random bright colors (you've been in a parking lot).  I originally thought I'd spray paint this fixture a light gold with mica particles in it, but ended up with something called "Pebble Beige" that has a pearl/metallic but not glitter finish.  It is a Nissan color, incidently.  It is that elusive metallic that you are not sure if it is silver or gold...I think it will be nice in my (almost completely) light blue bedroom.

You have to scuff or sand and wipe down with rubbing alcohol or another degreaser.  The instructions recommend priming chips with their "filling" primer.  Because I had one good afternoon to paint (must be at least 60 degrees, according to the can) I skipped the primer and I kind of wish I hadn't.  It "fills" paint chips and nicks, so file that one away for another refinishing job.

I was going to prime the "candle" covers since they were plastic, but the Advanced Autoparts guy said to just sand with 800 grit sandpaper.

I ended up starting a third can of the paint--partly because this fixture was hard to get even coverage on, and partly because I was contending with significant wind towards the end (necessitating a few extra coats on the candles after several "mishaps").  But 5 to 7 thin coats later (not all full coats, just getting all the nooks and weird angles), I was left with this:

to be installed on Thursday.  Yay!

A little warning though--because it is such a fine mist, even spray painting outdoors required a mask.  I was warned by my office mate, super-handy Chuck, and I thought it was kind of a "oh, your pregnant...".  I don't normally wear a mask if I'm outside....but after the first or second coat I went a got a mask I had kept from my last paint stripping project.  And by the third coat I kind of wondered if I should have had goggles, too (I tossed the contacts just in case...you know, in an abundance of totally non-scientific caution).

1/2

Advanced Autoparts had lots of color options, and Amazon.com offers a large variety of color kits by car brand for around $30 each.  So start taking notes when you are in a parking lot.  And I hear that a specialty autopaint store will mix any color you want and put it into spray cans for you, which is handy if your friendly Benjamin Moore dealer no longer offers the service, but call ahead--unclear how common it is to get actual spray paint cans vs. the kind of "cans" that hook up to an air-compressor. Because I hear you need a really good air-compressor to do a nice paint finish, supposedly.

via

Also, Advanced Autoparts had "glitter spray" which puts a mica glitter clear coat over any color--like the Duplicolor Effex paint used in the above photo.  So its time to figure out what we can cover in glitter tastefully.....what is your vote?  Kitchen table top?  Lamp base?  Rast hack?

The more you know.

Hope your weekend was good.  We had a playdate at The Children's Museum, which I haven't been to in a while (Kevin takes the girls there more than I do).  And what did I discover in their newly remodelled Playscape (sensory room for 5 and under)?  WALLS of Hunt Slonem paintings.

There was yet another assemblage of rabits, a big moth painting and two cockatoos as well.  And little educational quips on the wall about how Slonem enjoys painting animals.  I know of the artist, generally, thanks to my extensive periodicals subscriptions...of Vogue and most shelter magazines.  He shows up on my pinterest feed every now and then.  Not exactly curator material.  But, thanks to the internet, I figured 15-30 minutes would make me an expert and that was well worth the investment, even though I'm pretty sure none of us can afford this stuff.  So after a whirlwind of websites, videos, and google image search, here are the fruits of my labors.

Hunt Slonem is the subject of an extensive monograph published in 2011 by Vendome Publishers, NY; text by Dominique Nahas. Using multiplicity as a governing principle, Slonem has created a body of work as inimitable as it is recognizable. This in-depth 30-year survey, which features more than 600 vibrant illustrations, reveals what informs and influences this original and enigmatic artist.

via Elle Decor

Well, multiplicity--or repeated images, anyway--is near and dear to my heart.  I (like everyone else) enjoy his rabbits and his birds.

via Luxe magazine

Cockatoos, Hunt Slonem

Architectural Digest (I think Brooke Shield's home...)

And since he has been around for 30 years, I figure he must do something else, too.  He does:

Portraits, landscapes, morning glories, ocelots......Sidenote:  I totally want an ocelot...or three. Mini, amazonian leopards, "ocelot" seems cooler and more obscure than the maintstream spotted cats.  Archer has an ocelot.  I'm pretty sure I saw an ocelot pelt at the market in Lisbon and I sort of regretted not smuggling it home.

Salvador Dali with his pet Ocelot, via Wikipedia

If you need more ocelot, go to F Yeah Ocelots tumblr page.

Slonem's website intro is awesome, and gives you a taste of the "excess" he is fond of...I wish I knew if these were his studios or "sets."  The videos on his website (the second one--on the right--is better) indicate that they could be either.  Because he collects a lot of crazy-ass antiques and shows his work alongside his collections.  The videos show his homes, which are filled with the same crazy....and happen to be either lofts in NYC or southern Louisianna plantations (one was in InStyle Home).  I could handle that split.  While his decorating style is not for me, the colored walls and silk curtains are pretty marvelous.  I'm particularly fond of the orange room in the second video...I don't think I would have liked orange walls but the color was really interesting.  I can't get a screen shot, but I think this is the same:

From Pleasure Palaces:  the Art and Homes of Hunt Slonem

There is one line in the video where Slonem quotes/paraphrases David Hockney's statement that  if you hang a painting on a white wall, you eye goes to the edge of the painting but if you hang a painting on a colored wall your eye goes to the middle of the painting.  So far, I have liked paintings on my royal blue walls--I was worried initially.  Always good to have some legit back-up.

And because all internet searches lead to unexcpected discoveries, I found Ellen Kennon, the woman who makes Slonem's interior paints.  Apparently, she is one the top color consultants in the country according to House Beautiful?  Check her paint out here.  I'd buy that paint.  And you can buy it online and pick it up at a Glidden retailer.  Its about $60ish/gallon.  I might buy the paint deck for $24....especially since I'm less than pleased with the current nursery swatches.

Apparently British Racing Stripe Green is a hard color to narrow in on.  And who really knows if that is even what I want...I'm really relating to DV right now:

Too bad I don't have minions available to hunt down the idea of british racing stripe green for me, especially ones I could admonish for not being able to read my mind.

What did you do this weekend?  Skip church in favor of internet research and blog posts?  Paint swatches on walls?  Film commercials for ribbon belts?

Variety is the spice of life.