creative painting

yesterday i spent the afternoon painting a second coat of paint on our dining room walls. i figured some of the splotchy bits would show up in photos so i should really get around to fixing that. halfway through the painting i was cursing our uneven walls and my short legs for not being able to reach the top despite standing on the tallest chair we have. so i took a break and read an email from d*s reader nikki. after seeing what SHE did with paint in her home i felt like a total loser for complaining about a single plain room. nikki received a lighting fixture from a designer friend and decided to mimic the shape of the lamp in paint on the ceiling. it's such an unexpected but beautiful detail. then she added a slew of stripes on the wall by her door and i was suddenly filled with the desire to stripe our whole home. it looks so pretty and really gives life to what could have been a cold studio space. stay tuned for a full sneak peek of nikki's home on the new d*s next week. [thanks, nikki!]