Paint Colors Made Easy

Hello Michele here with www.briarpatchprim.com and this week I am going to talk to you about paint. How to select a paint color and finally overcome your fear of color.

Choosing color is the number one fear of home decorating. Does just the thought of picking out a paint color cause you to go into a cold sweat? Have you ever gone to your home store in hopes to find just the right color for your walls and find that there are about 4,000 different swatches to choose from, become nauceous and head home feeling completely defeated? I can tell you that trying to find the right color of paint is like going for groceries on an empty stomache-

its a bad idea. The reason the store has so many to choose from is to encourage you to take them home with you. Its really important to make this choice at home and in the room you want to paint. This will allow you to view it in the right lighting and when your not so distracted.

When we aren’t confident in our color selection we tend to hide behind white and biege, or worse, nothing. In my opinion white is a hard color to decorate with. White causes a sharp contrast against dark wood and actually causes your furniture to appear darker. Accessories don’t seem to be united. And in the prim decor world white just doesn’t have a place in our homes.

So you know your ready to create a nice primitive atmosphere in your home. Popular primitive wall colors tend to be brown, mustard, or even grey.

Your first step will be to go to the paint store or home store and pick up a handful of paint swatches. Lets say you decide you want to go with a nice mustard color in your room. When at the store pick up all the mustard colored swatches in different shades. When at home find a quiet time to sit down and play with your paint swatches, mix and match the different shades and let them sit out over the next few days. Every time you walk by look at them and discard the colors that you do not like, leaving you with ones that are pleasing. The one that is your favorite is the one that is going to accent your collections, your pictures and even your furniture. A good rule of thumb in finding the neutral shade in your color of choice is to go to the paint color that is in the middle of a swatch of similar shades.

Remember that this paint color is going to be a background color. This color will be layered with many different accessories and lighting and even furniture. And if you really don’t like it its just paint you can change it out.

So if I’ve done nothing else I hope I’ve encouraged you to give your home a united look by using a great paint color. If you’ve been living with white walls for a really long time then the first roll of the paint may cause you to go into panic mode. This is all to natural. Don’t change your mind until the entire room is painted and all signs of white are gone. Once done you’ll be able to get a clear vision of what your room will look and feel like.

Thank you for listening to my segment and be sure to check out my site www.briarpatchprim.com and until next time have fun decorating.

All About This Blog and Me.

This is my official Briar Patch Primitives blog. This is going to be your favorite source for all your primitive decorating needs. I’ll keep you posted on the latest decorating trends and the hottest colors. I’ll be sharing with you lots of tips and I’ll even show you how to get things done using my techniques and tutorials. So whether your a real do-it-yourself kind of person or not, you’ll enjoy reading what I have to share.

I’ve studied interior decorating and graduated from Sheffield School of Interior Design. This allows me to share with you decorating insider secrets. Decorating is to me what water is to a fish. Even when I was a little girl I would spend hours decorating and redesigning my room, now I know why, it is my passion. I’ve done the professional thing and owned and operated my very own decorating business and specialized in decorating homes for my clients using what they already owned. This led me to my next venture, owning a primitive home decor store. And that is how Briar Patch Primitives was born. You can also catch me each week as a co-host on the wonderful podcast Primtalkradio, where each week I contribute detailed segments on the world of primitive decorating.

I was born and raised in South Central PA, and a wonderful wife to Richard, my darling husband of 15 years. My two amazingly full of life children are Jordan age 11 and Danyele age 8.

In addition to my busy life I manage to be a leader of our local TOPS Chapter #PA1602, where I get to encourage other people to take off pounds sensibly.

I’m So Far Behind, I’m Ahead?

Well I started this little beauty before christmas and I didn’t quite have all the supplies or the time, until now.  I finally made myself sit down and finish some projects.  I’m doing this in an attempt to be ahead of the game for this years Holiday selling season.

I made this santa using a Tennessee Ridge pattern.  Enjoy and if you want to buy just shoot me an email.  I will be sellin him for 34.95 plus tax and shipping.

A few things I’ve been working on.

This is grubbied clothespins I dipped in wax and added my own special spice mix.

Some primitive candles I dipped.

And these are some grubby hearts.  I decided to just play around with these to see what would come of it.  I’m pretty pleased with the outcome.

Grubby Jar Technique

Hello Michele here from www.briarpatchprim.com well its really been a busy month with all the changes my business has been going through, but now I am comfortably settled into my home office and beginning my adventure as a work at home mom.

Today I’d like to share a simple technique I like to use to grubby up glass jars. I’m sure you’ve seen primitive grubby jars on line and in prim shops across the country.

To make these grubby jars you will first want to get a jar. This is a great way to recycle those old food jars or even use a new candle jar and use this technique as a way to prim up your favorite candle or give as a gift.

You will also need modge podge, and cinnamon. I simply paint on the modge podge with an old paint brush and then sprinkle heavily with cinnamon, allow it to dry some and repeat these steps until you have it as grubby as you like, its all a matter of personal preference. You could also add in old coffee grounds, nutmeg, any spice you want to really. This is were you can really get creative. Now that you have the jar as dark as you’d like just give it one last coat of modge podge and let dry. Voila! You now have a grubby jar to decorate with.

Now as you know decorating is my specialty so I’m going to share a few ideas I’ve brainstormed for you. You can use your jar as a vase fill it with water and put in some seasonal flowers. Valentine’s day is just around the corner set the empty vase on the table and hint to your dear hubby that its for roses. Wink, Wink, hint, hint. You can fill the jar with craft supplies, dried pantry items like rice or beans. Fill with potpourri to add great fragrance to your house. Put just a light layer of spices on the jar when your making it and then fill the jar with christmas lights for a soft glow or go ahead and make a light out of it using a light adapter. Fill it with those gifts in a jar ideas and give to a friend for valentines day just tie some red homespun around the rim and add a nice handmade tag. Set several out along your sidewalk and put in a tealight to make a great luminary. The possibilities are endless.

I love to see how you’ve been inspired please send me photos of your projects. You can contact me through my site www.briarpatchprim.com and until next time have fun decorating.