Author name: Karla Nathan

Yesterday, I finally got around to patching the ceiling in the guest bathroom.  We’d had a dripping skylight removed and covered over, after years of repairing and replacing and still having waterfalls in the room when it rained. But the patch was noticeable and always bugged me. Since I hate to do any kind of work on a ceiling, it was easier to ignore than to fix.  Finally, I got out some dry wall mud, stirred in some lavender paint and trowled it on thickly.  Over that I did a wispy faux finish in soft pink, and then used some of those two colors to blend down into the turquoise, green and yellow on the walls. 

The faux finish is a gentle blending of saturated pastels and looks so springlike and happy.  I like to use more vibrant colors in rooms that I am not in all the time, like the guest bath and the breezeway.  I adore color, but I have found that I need a soothing, neutral background to most of my house. Using splashes of pretty colors in the bath or in the grandchild’s nursery, is the solution for me to have a smattering of these more vivid shades in my surroundings.

I like to think of this room as having "watercolor" walls. I think they are just right to hang my watercolor of a purple iris on.

Fixing one problem, brought my attention to other things that had been bothering me.  One springy, fresh room, leads to others looking dowdy and dull.  I thought maybe washing curtains in the living room would help, so took those down. While they were down, I decided it wasn’t enough.  I needed a change as well as  a cleaning.  Seems like the only time my house gets a good cleaning is when I take rooms apart to repaint them. 

I tried to do a robin’s egg blue in my living room for a while, because I have quite a crush on that shade right now.  I lived with it for a month, then had to put a glaze over it to tone it down.  Then, I decided, it still wasn’t me, so yesterday while the dry wall mud was drying in the bathroom, I painted  the living room a golden, sandy color and left one accent wall blue.  The blue wall is covered in anaglyptic wallpaper, which gives it texture and makes it a natural choice for an accent color.

I also have covered the inset tops of two small tables with anaglyptic paper and use them together as a coffee table.  A coat of umber tinted polyurethane keeps them carefree.

That is Bookie on the sofa.  He seems to think that a couch alone is not soft enough, he needs to be on the fluffiest pillow on the couch to really get cozy.  He is the reason my ivory and white couch has slip covered cushions.  I don’t know how anyone with dogs can live without washable slipcovers!

The rest of the room is all done in flat paint, in this golden sandy color. It is a Ralph Lauren paint, which I rarely use.  Behr is my favorite, for the price it is a great product.  But this color was just right (well for now at least) and I gave it a try, and was happy with the results. It covered up the blue in one coat, which is always a huge plus!

Now, I am thinking about making new slipcovers for my couch in a springier color.  The brown is feeling a bit heavy now that winter is about over, I like changing fabrics with the seasons.  This is a new couch, though, and I don’t have another set made up yet, hate to sew, and don’t feel like I have a reasonable excuse to hire someone to make them.  When I find the perfect fabric, I’m sure the great excuse will come to me, or I will get out my sewing machine and ‘make it work’. 

My dad passed away this year and has been on my mind a lot lately, I will always miss him.  When I was born, he wanted to name me after him, I was the third daughter and supposedly his last chance for a namesake.  Mom was still under anesthesia when the nurse brought in the in birth certificate to be filled out.  Instead of Karla Jo, as planned, he filled in Huberta Josephine (his name was Hubert).  Mom promptly changed it as soon as she was able, but it was a story that horrified me as a child and entertains me as an adult. 

To honor his wishes for someone to be named for him, I named a Yorkie puppy  Huberta this summer.  Sadly, she died 4 months later and I was heart broken again.  Soon after, I made a tie dye shirt for my little grand baby, the fairy girl, Leandra.  I thought I’d go for something fancy from the tie dye video we got and spent time folding and tying off what I thought would be a butterfly.  24 hours later, when I washed it out, I discovered this- Bertie’s portrait!!

Here is a photo of Bertie the Yorkie on a hand painted bench in my studio, she spent a lot of time out here with me while I worked.  With her is an angel I made from a vintage doll with some sparklies and feathers, after re-painting the face.  And doesn’t the tie dyeshirt bear an eerie resemblance to her?

Recently, while going through my desk, I saw Bertie’s AKC papers and noticed for the first time, that her birthday was my parent’s wedding anniversary.  Seeing that date, freshened the feelings of loss that I will always have with me.  I decided to do something productive with these feelings and made an album in honor of  my dad.  He was an avid gardener and I wanted to express that on the cover.   I peeled the labels off cans of tomatoes and green beans and tore up a 1950s garden guide that was in my stash of supplies, to collage the cover. I think he’d like that.  Tomatoes  were important to him.  At his funeral, when everyone else brought flowers, I brought a tomato plant. 

I have many of the photos in thiscollage album (not all are loaded yet) in my photo album here on this site.  Click on the one labeled "Downey" to see it.  When it is opened, click on the photos to enlarge.   

Yesterday, my computer was feeling a bit grumpy and wouldn’t cooperate with downloading my photos.  today, its attitude seems to be better, so I am adding the closeups of the ceiling tin I posted yesterday.