|
|
The Foundation Of Primitive Style When I was growing up and even as an adult I always remember my parent’s house, full of very nice and costly items but you always had to be SOOO careful not to sit here or there and not to touch this or that and it never had a real comfy feel to it.. as children we couldn’t go in the living room b/c of the expensive furniture, we had to watch TV in the den, which was fine, it was very large but gee, why do we have that BIG room with all that expensive stuff in it when we can’t go in there and use it?? LOL!! I love Prim decorating, it is so warm and homey and worn looking you can’t help but feel at home! Never afraid to sit on a piece of furniture or prop your feet up! Any marks from use just add to the charm. My personal experience with prim decorating has been very rewarding. I haven’t had the money some folks do to decorate so I have to be more creative and I am thankful for that actually! As I always used to hear said, "poverty forces you to be creative!" And I must say it has. I am not poverty stricken, LOL, but don't have the means to splurge for decorating. That is how I got started in crafting dolls. I had met a friend years ago who had a lovely home all decorated in country style but she had bought everything. Well I just loved that look but couldn’t afford to go out and buy all that stuff and I wanted it right then! So, I dusted off the sewing machine and got to work and haven’t stopped yet. My style evolved over to prim rather than the "Country" look. I must say I love the more simple Prim style than that cluttered Country, it was so high maintenance when it came to dusting! LOL. I make primitive dolls and design patterns that are sold on my website and many other places. I believe the wall and floor coverings make a big differnece in the look of your prim decorating but the great thing is that it can be done for pennies!! Don't have to be rich to get that look. After taking care of the outside of the house, you know, getting some chickens and a couple goats, I wanted wood floors for my home so off we went to the local lumber store and bought wide cedar planks and nailed them down with those old square head masonry nails and that is what my floor in the living room is like! Very prim. For the den floor, well no money to go to Home Depot and buy new flooring soooo we ended up going over to where they were tearing down an old nursing home in town and were able to salvage a lot of wood, we cut it and nailed it to the floor in the den.... much $$ saved!! My kitchen floor is simply pine planks from the local lumber store nailed down with the masonry nails. Now let me tell you what we came up with for the bathroom floor.. poured some bags of quick-crete from Wal-Mart over the entire floor, then we laid down a board as a guide, used a stick to draw the lines in the concrete, then drew the lines the other way about the length of bricks...when it dried it looked like a brick paver floor, I then painted it a reddish brown. Looks great and you can’t beat the price! For the walls in the bathroom I wanted a prim garden look so we did the walls with those big stones and everyone loves it, did it ourselves, hubby is a mason so that helped! Now let me tell you what I did for my kitchen walls that saved me hundreds of $$...... I loved that white weathered board wall paper you see in all the magazines but I have a very large kitchen and it would cost me several hundred dollars to do my kitchen in that paper! Oh but I wanted it soo bad, what’s a girl to do???? Hmmm, okay, I have it.. go to Wal-Mart, buy some antique white and also brown wall paint, get the kids to help paint the wall white, let dry, get a 2x4 out of hubby’s shop, use it for a guide to draw the lines for boards all side by side up and down, using a pencil. Now when I was done I went over the pencil marks using the pointy edge of one of those foam paint brushes, I mixed a little brown and black acrylic paint together and painted over the pencil lines, didn’t have to be straight or neat at all and that’s a good thing b/c they aren’t! When that dried I got out that wood graining tool I bought years and years ago from Michael’s Crafts and never knew what I would ever use it for (they still sell them!), well the day had come! Ta Da!! Dipped that wood grain tool in the brown paint and had a blast making those wood grain designs with that tool!! It was so much fun and was soo fast! Done! And you know what, I love it more than that wall paper, and everyone who has ever come over always says how real the painting looks and how much they like it! They can’t believe it was done the way it was when I tell them what I did! I would love to just do every room in my house that way BUT, I do like other prim colors for walls also. I think Mustard color is a very nice color for walls when you decorate in primitive style, it blends so well with that look. I used a dark brown for the wood trim. It is great b/c no matter what your dominate color scheme is, mustard seems to go well with any of it, reds, blues, greens. I guess the biggest reason I like prim so much is there are really no fancy rules about it! Just toss something old and home made here and there, spray some of those great smellin’ sprays or light some wonderful scented candles...... and wa-la! You are done! I am glad I have been forced to be creative b/c it has given me such great pleasure in what I do and you sure have to think a lot harder than some folks in order to get what you want...hee hee! But whether you buy it or make it, you can’t help but enjoy it! Primitive is just soo cozy and comfy!!! Primitive Blessing’s, Carmen Bigelow .........Visit my website at www.littlecountryblessins.com      
All Rights Reserved © 2008 A Prim Krafters Journal |
Special Friends
Favorite Forums
|
