Thursday, September 6, 2012

An Elegant Evening Out

My husband and I recently enjoyed a magical evening at the Chicago in White event (inspired by Diner en Blanc). An elegant picnic where everyone wears all white, brings along their own table, and dances to a live jazz band under the stars. The fun part is you don't know where you are going till you meet up with your group.

I made my own white wrap skirt out of a beautiful white satin with a silver brocade design. The simple tablescape included elements from my wedding (the small white vase and the LED light inside it). We ate our gourmet food from Whole Foods off real china and drank from real glasses. To start off the dinner, everyone twirls their white fabric napkins in the air.

The Meet-up

Before the train got more crowded

The table and you can kind of see my skirt


Waving napkins

Tuck in

Everyone puts their tables together in a row, like one long banquet table

Surrounded by city and siting by the river at the Merchandise Mart

Monday, September 3, 2012

Geometric Painting for Bathroom

The bathroom in my loft is stark white. It was done up really spa like when we were house hunting. We moved in and put up a white shower curtain and our set of towels in two colors that don't match the bath mat we had (didn't get the upgrade for the mat when we got married). At best the room felt spartan, at the worst if felt like a bachelor pad. Oh, and the cat box had to go in here too.

I wanted to paint the whole room a warming taupe. My husband disagreed. With family coming to stay for the first time at the end of summer, I knew I had to do something. One of the biggest problems was tying the colors in the room together to each other and also the rest of our loft. After being inspired by another blogger's geometric painting, I decided to do a painting similar to a type of project I would do with my art students. Instead, this time I would keep my lines white by employing painters tape. 

If you saw my painting post, you know I have 13 paint samples leftover from our "great indecision".  I decided to put some of them to good use for m painting. I only had to buy a canvas from my local art supply store, the rest of my supplies included the paint samples and leftover painters tape and or course my own brushes.

I chose four colors: the gray from the TV area and a small accent wall, the deep teal in the entryway, the taupe I wanted for the bathroom, and a muted purple (we love purple).

Tips: Use different thicknesses of tape for interest. Trust your instincts and your eye for your own composition.

The whole process took me just a couple hours.

at the beginning, used a chair for an easel 

just starting to paint

done!

After hanging it in the bathroom, I upgraded the shower curtain to match the taupe in the painting and now even have a matching bathmat. 

before...all white

 Now where the painting is installed, across from the mirror

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