Paintings in the Park....

The night of our fundraiser we also had two outlined murals for people to paint...

 I couldn't believe how many people contributed to the murals and they look amazing!! I actually would love the Buddah woman in my house!! But the view everyday from my door is oh so lovely and the whole neighborhood gets to enjoy these beauts!

Notice my Indian flower garland is framing her!

Close up of the detail...

Flying monkey man...

Close up...

AND if you're a local, we're having another painting party featuring the awesomely talented Africa Brass at 3pm, Sunday, November 20th at Clouet Gardens! WINE will be served! ;)

Bywater Artist & Art Studio...

Yesterday I went over to my friend, Regina Scully's art studio and snapped a couple of pictures of her latest works...

Random small world side note - she went to college and was roomies (in Rhode Island!) with The Hubs and we run into her here in New Orleans and turns out she lives 2 blocks away from us on our street!

Anyhoot, her studio is around the corner from us and she's in the same space as another local artist, Dr. Bob.

Regina's place is to the left, a lot less flashy than the scary clown man directing you to Dr. Bob!

Regina's paintings are abstract and HUGE - notice her standing next to the one below. I love the colors and abstract shapes in her work. I could stare at all the tiny details of one of her paintings for hours!

I love the light blue against the reds and oranges... below is a close up of some of the detail.

I love this black and white sculptural piece as well - it reminds me of a little village of people!

What I really love is to see Regina's work space - so much paint!

Regina is getting ready for her next show which will be at the Heriard-Cimino Gallery here in New Orleans. It will be in early 2012 and I can't wait to see her new paintings!

Definite DIY Happenin' for Neglected Fireplace!...

Our poor...poor...poor fireplace is in definite need of some lovin'! I mean LOOK AT THIS!!

I'm not really sure what is going on here... it is 150 years old though so I will cut it some slack.

Although I'm in one of my crazy DIY moods though where any day I will just grab my favorite tool, the crowbar and have at this already disintegrating slate hearth!

And call me crazy but I don't think it would be that difficult to tile this guy - although according to This Old House the level of difficulty is listed as "hard". Either I'm delusional or their definition of hard and mine are completely different!

The main reason I think I could pull this off is because I will be selecting a very small tile... maybe a penny tile or a tiny subway tile... which means NO cutting of tile! (that whole wet tile cutter thing scares me!) and I would just finish off the ends with shoe molding?? Not sure yet. Have to consult contractor brother on the specifics.

Here's what I'm eyeing:

Possibly this fabulous mother of pearl penny tile for the brick surround...

And for some contrast maybe this marble pattern for the hearth?

Not sure yet... I need to price out how much this "little" project would be before I get too excited! BUT for your viewing pleasure - here are my inspiration photos!!

This pattern below is oh so lovely!

Anyone tried doing something like this before?! I'm excited to try this one!

Sconce Lovin'!...

Today at work I've been searching through probably THOUSANDS of different wall sconces for a job we are doing... just wanted to share some fun ones that caught my eye!

Found HERE.

Found HERE.

Now I know this one below is nothing new, but I LOVE it!

Found HERE.

One of the rooms is getting Greek Key wallpaper, I love the lines in this one against the pattern of Greek Key...

Found HERE.

This is one of my favorite pendants... I know this one has been featured a lot but let's face it, I'm in New Orleans - where it takes 10 years for any trend to hit this city! So this would be oh so unique and different! ;)

via Thomas O'Brien

These next two are totally out there and I'm wondering what Bossman will say about them but I think they're cool!

This first one is made from driftwood, I wish there were two of them but just the one is very interesting... Love the colors of the wood.



Bossman also mentioned he pictured some sort of antler sconce for one of the rooms - came across this guy:

Which I think could definitely go too "cabin chic" (not the look we're going for!) but I think done with the right furniture and accessories it could really look cool - I'd change out that bulb to an Edison bulb though.

So there ya have it! Boo's favorite sconces of the day!!

How about y'all out there, any favorite lighting resources when on a (somewhat) budget!?