michelle my belle

mainly house remodel stuff

my weekend was filled with lot's of soccer (my youngest-not myself!), returning emails, family dinner and house remodel stuff.
the one kinda crafty DIY thing i did - was spray paint an outdoor light fixture.
i found some killer ones i really, REALLY wanted on the barn light electric site but, they were going to be about $200 ea. oy!
i think we have like 10 of them around the outside of the house... cha-ching!
so to lowe's we ventured, and found this-

definitely not as cool as barn light electric's...

but with a couple coats of spray paint...just beautiful!
and at savings of about $187 ea.
i think i can deal.

this is a cabinet we found that we're in the process of making into a vanity for the guest bath.

and my $3 shade i found at junkyard bonanza!!!
also going in the guest bath.
it's getting close! 2 weeks & counting.

hope you also had a great & productive weekend. happy monday to you!

stairs. stairs. magical stairs!

i am absolutely dying to show you the colorful and fun stairs project!
and... the paper is STILL on them from painting the trim. ugh.

therefore, here's a mediocre picture taken right before installation.
...the look will also change once the stair treads are on.

the quote is by john maxwell.

i super-duper love them!
i'll make sure to show a finished picture too.
promise.

warning: i'm so excited about these, you may well get sick of seeing them in all my pictures!

colorful hand painted stairs

it feels so good to actually take creative inspiration and turn it into action!
i can't say that i do it very often. 
i'm always just trying to keep up with the "have to dos".
painting these stairs is solely for the purpose of FUN, and it has just completely invigorated me!

after 16 hours, through the night! (hence the poor picture quality!)
i finished at 8AM!
i haven't pulled an all-nighter in quite sometime... well, besides when traveling back from china.

it was a much bigger project than i had reckoned.

quite thankful to have done them on a table/floor rather than in place, attached to the stairs!
i think that would be a real bugger. and back-breaker.

the water and a bazillion brushes were probably cleaned at least 4 times!
for me that is some pretty serious painting time.

oh, i forgot to show you these fabulous stairs that i saw while in london last year!
unfortunately i can't remember the equally sensational shop they came from. :(

i CAN. NOT. WAIT. to show you the stair risers installed!!!!
they are going to look fan-tab-u-lous!
soon, very very soon!

major stairway inspiration!

some of you may already know this...
we're going to be moving soon. (i'll share more about that at a later date)
and there are stairs in the new place that lead up to my home studio.
much thanks to pinterest i've been uber inspired: stenciled stairs, wallpapered stairs,
rustic stairs, colorful painted stairs, artsy stairs. oh my!

1. stencil gallery  2. color between the lines  3. claudio paillalef  4. apartment therapy  5. style files 
6. french by design  7. pinterest

picture via the style files

oh to decide what direction to take!
so many fun choices...
do i go pretty? colorful? artsy? modern? simple?

and off i go...
my work cut out for me.
16 mdf stair risers and a lot of paint!