Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

Kate Brown's fab, tiny, low impact home

I was in Powell River, BC, Canada last year and I met artist Kate Brown.  She invited me to visit the 350 sq foot low impact home that she shares with her very large dog, Moon. I thought that you may like to see it too. Kate's home was based on this one.

photo of Quietude by Stuart Bish

The architect was Henry Yorke Mann and he designed a house named Quietude for his partner Denise. Kate saw it in a magazine and felt that it was just what she needed and contacted Henry. Kate's version of the home was built locally from fir. It had only just been finished when I visited. At the time, I felt it was rude to photograph her house inside or out.  Instead, I took pictures of the structures in Kate's garden,

she has a meditation hut, a greenhouse, several outdoor eating spaces, 

a studio and a covered outdoor dining room and carport.

Better pictures of Kate's home and the story of it's origin appear in a recent article on Kate's home in PR Living Magazine. (Pages 7-10 and the cover.)

The story of Quietude appears in Natural Home & Garden and on the Henry Yorke Mann website.

Both Kate's home and Quietude, are built around a central square measuring 10x10 feet, the square area has a cathedral ceiling light by a large skylight, four rooms or areas radiate from the central square and there is a basement below. 

This month I saw Kate again she is leaving Powell River to move closer to her family and her fab, little eco house is for sale. Interested? Tell me and I can put you in touch with her.

Helen.

 

 

how to stencil champagne cocktail

 

Firstly, one needs the stencil VN76 Champagne Cocktail and three colours of water based paint. Other ingredients include two stencil brushes, one foam paint roller and stencil tape.  

Tape stencil no 1 into position, make sure it is straight. Lightly apply paint through stencil with a foam paint roller.  Work off excess paint onto scrap so that the paint is damp and not wet when applied. The roller is used for speed of paint application but a stencil brush can be used instead.

Remove stencil one and position stencil two (they are numbered) No2 is the stencil with the circle designs cut into it.

Match up the patterns by marking through two of the diamond shape registration holes. There is one in each corner of the stencil.

Move the stencil along, up, or down by matching the marks with the diamond shaped holes.

Stencil the larger circles in one colour

and the smaller ones in another colour.

Sit back,sip and enjoy.

Helen.

Stencil, brushes and tape from The Stencil Library. Colours from Crown Paint.

Helen

 

 

 

 

 

 

five furniture facelifts

In the spirit of make do and mend here are five ideas for revamping furniture using stencils, paint and imagination.

Remove the mirror top (or protect with painter's tape). Paint the frame a metallic silver finish or high-gloss gray for a silvery effect. Determine stencil placement on the mirror, and temporarily secure with stencil spray adhesive. Apply silver enamel paint with a stencil brush, stippling gently until the design is covered. To extend the scrollwork, reposition the stencil so that it connects to the existing design. Let the paint cure for 21 days, or bake according to instructions on enamel paint container.

Table resources Paint: (On frame) Passive, No. 7064 in Gloss; Sherwin-Williams. (On mirror top) FolkArt Enamel Paint 2oz-Metallic Silver; available at crafts stores. Stencil: No. DE255; The Stencil Library.

 

Bold flowers turn solid-color upholstered furniture (or slipcovers) into conversation starters, especially when you're the artist. We used stencils and acrylic paint mixed with textile medium to update our bergere chair.

For best results: Decide flower placement first, balance sizes and colors, and practice on scrap fabric. Attach stencils, one at a time, with stencil spray adhesive. Paint from the outside of the stencil in with a small foam roller to achieve a thin layer. Use a stencil brush for details. Paint the frame a coordinating color.

Chair resources Paint: (On frame) Nomadic Desert, No. 6107 in Gloss; Sherwin-Williams. (Flowers) Baby Chick, No. 2023-20; Starry Night Blue, No. 2067-20; Raspberry Glaze, No. 2078-20; Benjamin Moore. Stencils: Sunflower, No. DM12-S; Daisy, No. DM14-S; The Stencil Library.

 

The versatility of the stencil tool provides decoration on floor, wall and painted utility cabinet.

Stencil VN299 Stickyweed from The Stencil Library.  Matt emulsion paints from Crown Paint.

Two contrasting paint colours and a lacy stencil pattern revamp a dresser found in a rubbish-skip.

Stencil 'Elizabethan' from the book Stencil It by Helen Morris. Stencil It features 15 tear out laminated stencils. Available Oct 2011 from Stencil Library, Amazon and other book sellers.

A detail from a pattern stencilled on the wall is introduced to a chair back using acrlyic based paint onto cotton sateen. The upholstery was quite firm, so stencilling the fabric presented no difficulty.

Stencil detail taken from CH12 Pavilion panel no 1. Stencil and metallic paint from The Stencil Library.

Projects 1&2 produced and written by Sara Reimer. Photographs by Greg Scheidemann from Mid West Living magazine. See more of their furniture facelifts here.

Projects 3,4&5 produced and photographed by Helen Morris (me).

Helen.

 

Helen back.

I'm back from my visit to America and Canada.

I taught a class at  the International Decorative Artisan's convention in Virginia, then parked myself with friends in Pennsylvania and British Columbia. I had a brilliant time and stayed in four, yes four stencilled homes.....it must be contagious! 

This Wednesday we are opening our own stencilled home for the monthly tour and there will be an unveiling of Rachel's newly decorated sitting/dining room, or at least the work in progress.  I have not been allowed to see any of the work so far but many of the contents from the previous roomscape have made their way into our shop.

This week visitors to The Stencil Library shop can choose to buy cocktail hats, feather dusters and stencilled furniture.

They could be the new owners of Rachel's wardrobe or some of the vintage clothes inside it.  There will be vintage gloves and heaps of fabric.

There will be quintessentially 'British' accessories and generally quirky finds.

Apart from that we will have the usual stencils, paints and decorating stuff that our shop is known for.

Helen 

A different perspective

It always pays to look at things from different angles as you never know what you might see and how much more interesting it might be.

 
I have probably seen this a million times before, but it wasn't until my boyfriend took a photograph of it, that I REALLY looked at it.  At first I wasn't sure what it was.  Are you not either? 

 
Photograph: The Journal newspaper

It is the view directly up from under the chandelier hanging over my bathtub in my stencilled bathroom.  Now that is cool.

 

Introducing Ned the Octopus (I'm in love)

Every now and again, I will get VERY excited about a stencil design.  This is one of them (read on.....).  I am still in the midst of redecorating my living room which is coming together rather nicely, but I had this trunk that needed dealing with.

 
It is made out of chipboard with a foam pad on the lid, and there is nothing remotely exciting about it, but it is excellent for storage which I desperately need, so something had to be done with it.  I bought some blue velvet which I decided to stencil with the same blue/black colour I've painted the walls with.  I was hovering between two stencils from the fabulous new vintage range: VN140 Dragons, which is a rather fab dragon silhouette, and VN160 Octopus.  As soon as the Octopus stencil was designed, I thought it was fabulous and quite art deco.  I have always had an idea to do him on a dark wall in a darker colour so that it is quite muted.  The pattern would look quite abstract and swirly at first, but when you looked closely, you would realise that it is a whole collective of octopuses.  That will have to wait, but in the meantime, I decided to use him on my fabric.

 

There is just something about him.  I've called him "Ned" because he looks like a Ned to me for some reason. 

 
And here is the finished trunk (I apologise for the photo quality, I had to take these quickly with my iphone). 

 
All in all, it was very quick to do.  I had 3 metres (about 10 feet) of fabric to stencil which took about 2-3 hours.  It is just attached to the trunk with a staple gun so won't win any upholstery prizes, but you can't see that.  That only took about 30 minutes so the whole project took at most, an afternoon.

I'm pleased with how my living room is turning out.  I have hit a slight problem in that I don't have a sofa organised for it yet (I'm looking for an old one).  So I won't show you the results just yet.  I am about to start phase two (the dining room end of the room) in the meantime so may just wait and show you the results all at once.

I hope you like Ned as much as I do.

Rachel.

 

Is it a stencil?? No, it's a hat

I spend a lot of time visiting antiques fairs, flea markets, and the like looking for interesting things.  I usually find something.  But every now and again, I find something REALLY interesting or special.  Recently I found this:

 

Yes, it is a hat and the shape of it is a bit unusual....but look closely at those perforations....
 
At first I missed it too.  Hundreds of tiny airplanes! And yes, I suppose you could stencil through them if you wanted.  I have a wonderful book called "Forties Fashion" by Jonathan Walford.  I had seen a few examples of patriotic fashion before, but it is quite rare.  However his book has several photographs of everything from scarves, to buttons, to handbags and clothes.  Patriotism was at an all time high during WW2, but not surprisingly times were extremely difficult.  In Europe, rationing was in full effect (including fabrics) and people would have to get very creative with their clothing.  But despite that, every opportunity was used to be patriotic and there have been some wonderful fabric prints and jewelry to represent that.  This is just a fantastic example of how to look fashionable and stylish, but at the same time show support for the troops.  Just amazing, don't you think?

Rachel.