Saturday, February 4, 2012

Midnight madness - getting the job done.

It was a little after 1.15am when I came inside after just finishing the final top coat of paint in my studio! Yes, it's quite late, didn't get much done today, so it was a night job after the kids were all tucked up. Hubby went to a movie so I was kept company by listening to pod casts by Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington... love and hate them at the same time.


Anyway, what a pleasure it is to finally complete this step  - to stand back and see all that hard work and effort paid off. I started early this morning and went to town with a tube of no-more-gaps... just being picky really on joins and around the old window and French Doors. My daughter was with me and came out with a question that made me realise I was being a little too fussy after I gave her the run down and a little lesson about what I was doing "Mum, does everything you do have to be absolutely perfect?"... errr... ehem!  ahh only from a 7 year old!  I ended up managing the 2 top coats in one day. Yay for quick dry paint eh?


So the colour is a lovely soft pale grey called Porcelain by Resene - I fell in love with the colour and thought the name was pretty appropriate with my love of clay. The colour notes on the Resene website say this:
"Resene Porcelain is a kaolin white, fine and delicate" and I couldn't agree more.

I think its going to be a lovely colour to have in my creative work space. It's a little too late and too dark to take a photo but I'll upload one tomorrow. (for now this colour swatch will have to do!)


So I have had quite the creative week, not all my creativity has to come from clay ( although I did manage to make quite a few wee things today as well and are drying as I type).


A couple of days ago I painted a chair for my office - I have one of those ugly grey office chairs on wheels, but I couldn't stand the thought of that, so I painted one of our old wooden dining chairs and recovered the cushion in my favourite coffee sack design. I have a huge box of coffee sacks that I've been waiting for the right things to use with. So far this is my second re-vamping of furniture.  (1st was a ottoman) I thought the chair came out really well.  I painted the wood with another Resene colour called Acropolis - this is the paint I used when I painted our lounge and kitchen. It's a lovely natural colour and my 5yr old son has called it a 'Hot Wheels colour'... why you ask? Well he helped me paint it outside on the lawn and he thought it was white, then we took it inside the studio for him to discover it wasn't white at all, so he has dubbed it Hot wheels colour as it changes like his 'colour change' hot wheels car... ahhh, I love him, he is so funny! 


Resene actually describes this as "a lightened complex dirty neutral" - yikes! I think is also the same as Half Tea for those that know the new colour names.  Now that I have painted the walls in the studio, I just hope this goes!



I managed a quick trip to one of my favourite salvage yards called The Pumphouse today. It was 4.50pm and they closed at 5pm so I just ran in to ask if they had what I was after... sadly no, but I did cast my eyes over some pretty amazing finds. I took a couple of quick photos of the lovely main building just as I was leaving - lovely to this this old stone and brick work still standing.  Aside from all the tragedy from the earthquake demolitions, some real treasures have come up for grabs and I can't wait to go back on my own and see what I can find.


Right, better get to bed, think my brain has wound down enough for me to drift off - I've got to get up early to flick a quick coat of white paint over the skirting boards and ceiling architraves. I want to get my studio re-organised by the end of the day. After all desks and cabinets are in place the FUN will start... building the new shelves and getting out all my treasures (oh and making things too!)


x Gill

4 comments:

  1. I love seeing old buildings that are still in good condition in Christchurch; so few and far between nowadays. Look forward to seeing your studio.

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    1. I love them too Rachelle, I'm sure there are plenty still about that we have forgotten about.

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  2. Love the colour you have chosen for the studio. I'm sure a perfect colour to work in! Your chair has come up beautifully and the recovering looks fabulous!!

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    1. Thanks Justine - have a peek at my next blog post for some more pics xx

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