 Paula Seifred O'Brien - Artwork - Sewing Patterns - Colorful Home - Inspiration |
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Welcome to Paula's colorful house! Don't come inside if you are afraid of color!! You've been warned... Little metal watering cans from Ikea hang over the front door giving a hint of what's inside. The semicircle sun over the door is painted with acrylics on a large piece of Styrofoam and has sequins pinned into it for added shine. This was nailed up in place in 1998 and still looks just as great as on day one which only goes to show that decoration need not be expensive to work. |
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After renovating and living
in 5 houses carefully decorated with resale in mind, we bought this
house in 1998. We gutted it and decorated with only us in mind as
we hope to only leave in a box!
I used to call its style Pee Wee Herman's resthouse for tired circus performers. It's still pretty colorful but after 10 years, I have started to make some of the interior paint scumbled finishes over into solids to tone it down just a bit. It is pretty busy but we love it. The only white walls are in my studio. |
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A decorated
fence with pieces of tree branches and a pair of cross country
skiis. The inspiration for the outside of my house is the wonderful
shop Bunnies By The Bay in La Conner,
WA.
Here are my pictures of this shop in a big old Victorian house with a storybook fence made of found objects and whirligigs. Mine is not quite there yet but I am still working on it... |
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Our front garden is quite
secluded hidden behind a big hedge. We don't have bylaws in our town
limiting the number of colors one can paint a house... so I used quite
a few on the fence!
Most people seem to love it and it sure makes a refreshing and amusing change from the muted stoney colors that dominate the North American landscape. Just think of the gaily painted Victorian houses of San Francisco. I don't have the gingerbread details so I spread the jolly colors around the garden instead. |
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Some plastic piggy banks from Ikea and a teapot from the thrift store decorate the painted fence. I sealed up the openings of the teapot so that water won't collect and be a breeding ground for mosquitos. |
