it's Lisa from Kiki&Polly
You probably remember me talking about Lisa Golightly more often here on B:KIds ... I'm a big fan of her artwork and am delighted she is our guest this week for an Open House Tour ... Lisa's love for painting was inspired by her dad who is also an artist and her children ... Lisa likes to create paintings children and families and has illustrated a childrens book ... please vistit her website for all the information and enjoy the images of her lovely house here below ...
{hall and entrance}
1. ) What kind of house do you live and with whom and what kind of neighborhood?
I live in a 1918 Dutch Colonial with my husband, two kids and our dog George Washington (named by my daughter) in Portland, Oregon. We really can't imagine living anywhere else, this city is one of those places that feels like a small town, everyone seems to know everyone and I think part of that
comes from all the little neighborhoods. We're lucky to live in a wonderful area filled with beautiful old homes, walking distance to stores, cafes, and our kids school.
{living room and vintage desk}
2.)Where do you like to shop for furniture and home accessories? Do you also like to buy vintage pieces, if yes … where do you search for them?
I grew up antique shopping, so it is definitely in my blood. Antiquing is my parents very favorite past time. I have memories from a very young age of playing hide and seek with my brother in huge warehouses filled with antique furniture, while our parents shopped. In fact, a lot of the pieces
we have are by way of my parents, they spot things for me all the time. We've lucked into some pieces, like the vintage sign on our mantel, we actually found it in the attic when we moved in.
{‘45th parallel’ above fireplace}
3.) What kind of art or crafts or design can bring a smile to your face and how important is the influence from other artists for you in your day to day life and work?
hmmm....Well I love home design magazines and I am known to hoard them and go through them again and again. A lot of times it can be a wall color that inspires me to start a piece and I've always been fascinated by how people choose and live with art.
{art on wall and son sitting at table reading}
4.) what’s one of your favorite places in your house, where you love to sit down and just relaxed?
My favorite spot to just sit and relax is at one of the grey chairs in the living room with a cup of coffee and sketch book in hand. There's good light and a nice view out the front of the house.
{kitchen}
5.) The day often starts in the kitchen … can you describe a typical day in the life of your family and how you combine this with your work?
I am usually back from dropping the kids at school by 9 and work all day until mid-afternoon. The up side to working from home is also the downside. It is always just steps always so I find it can be hard to step away, especially when I am in the middle of something. I love it though, I am a home body so it's perfect for me. When the kids get home a lot of times my work has found its way to the dining room and we'll all just sit there working on our own little projects.
{son’s room}
6.) How important is it for you to decorate your children’s room in such a lovely way, do you think it is as much as important to them and what's your son’s favorite part of his room?
Their rooms definitely evolved rather than being planned. They are both very attached to their rooms, and don't like things changed around too much (which is hard for me because I'm one to constantly rearrange!) We really just started with basic pieces and grew from there based on their
interests. My son loves elephants, so the vintage Colliers magazine cover was perfect and I really liked the graphic quality and colors of them.
Oh and he says his favorite part is his bed, because he can jump on it. That answer says a lot about him!
{girl’s bedroom}
7.) This room is so soft, friendly and welcoming … how did you decide on the colors, decorating and furniture?
Again, the colors really sort of evolved. My daughter is not a girly girl, so I found this bed spread when she was little. It's soft but not too girly. The green dresser was a vintage find, the hutch was my grandmothers china hutch that I painted and her bed was mine when I was little. A lot of their toys were mine as well. My grandparents moved to the states from Germany and had a German imports store that we inherited a lot from. The giraffe in my daughter's room, and a large lion in my sons room are old steiffs that are enjoying a second life with our kids, and hopefully they will survive to be enjoyed by their kids someday.
{girl’s bedroom with giant giraffe}
8.) What are some favorite places on the web where you search for inspiration and children’s items?
There are so many great sites. I love Arthurs Circus and Three Potato four for vintage finds and oompa for great wood German toys (my weakness).
{girl’s bedroom with bed}
9. ) Do you have any nighttime rituals before bringing your children to bed … what parts of upbringing of your children do you find harder than you ever had expected?
We've always done the 3 b's. Bath, brush teeth, book. As they get older and more independent it is changing, my daughter likes to read to herself now after she is tucked in. So by changed a lot, I mean has gotten much easier!
{Bedroom with white boxes}
10.) How did you came up with the idea to make these white boxes and how did you make them? What decorating advice can you give us?
I am constantly changing things around, it drives my family crazy. My husband was kind enough to build these shelves and the boxes are from Ikea, that I then wallpapered. We really needed some more storage and I like having a long surface like that to lean art on.
{2 bedrooms}
11.) What ambiance did you want to create in the bedrooms?
I recently painted the room white, it's been everything from blue to chocolate brown. I've always been
drawn to all white spaces, I'd paint every wall and floor white if my family would consent! I love it , it's very calming but still warm.
{images of your work}
12.) Can you tell us a bit more about your artwork, how you started, what you really like and don’t like about it and what would be the best advice you can give to anybody who would like to start selling their artwork too?
I took a break from working not long after my daughter was born and started playing around with new mediums whenever I had a spare moment. It was a good time create purely for the fun of it without any expectations. By the time both my kids were in school, I was ready to create full time again. My best advice would be to find what you love and maybe even what scares you to try. I had a professor who once told me if it scares you then you should do it, and that was the best advice I ever got, and has held very true.
..Kiki&Polly..
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