mrsjonespaintedfinishes.com » gratefuls

before, before, before.

stephanie — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:36:15 +0000

after several recent (and enormously frustrating) calendar upheavals at the whims of others, it is bliss to just have some quiet studio time for a cleansing breath, and a nice little pile of “befores” to tackle. please check back for the “afters”, and some other wonderful reveals coming very soon.

thank you for the opportunity to vent.

king me.

stephanie — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 04:43:39 +0000

it’s finally here: launch day. king me, the rock ‘n’ roll royalty tour travel app is now available in the itunes store.

back in april, my uber-talented & precious friend sally walker davies called in a request. help her with a few photos and a little research for a travel guide? absolutely! as the days unfolded, the project became more detailed, fascinating, challenging and fun than we’d imagined…in the 21 years that memphis has been my adoptive hometown, there were sights and streets i’d never seen until now, and it’s given me (and all the joneses) a new appreciation for our city and the music heritage here.

and now, 1200 photographs later, the app is finally polished up, licensed by graceland, and ready to roll (or to rock ‘n’ roll – sorry, couldn’t help that one!)….so please indulge me just a moment for a few gratefuls and acknowlegements:

first, of course, to sally, for the confidence and the opportunity…margaret, for riding shot-gun…bill oates at oates design for our fabulous icon…rodger motz at prudential realty for the personal tour of the circle g ranch…liz at lansky’s…tim sampson and his team at stax records…cora at sun studio…josh at the rock ‘n’ soul museum…alicia dean at graceland…jon hornyak of the memphis naras chapter…maxwell concessions for the funnel cake…john mccommon for lending his yearbooks…principal barber at humes middle school…alan and miranda at lauderdale courts/uptown apartments…all the apples for venturing to coletta’s for barbeque pizza…my lovely friends (and you all know who you are) for support, enthusiasm, and carpool coverage…my family, for putting up with ever more ridiculous detours and schedule changes and being willing to “suffer” through several rounds of arcade-burgers & milkshakes for the sake of a single photograph.

with the establishment of the facebook and twitter presence for king me, me & mrs. jones will get back to our regularly scheduled programming here. just a few favorite snapshots before we go:

countdown to summer…

stephanie — Wed, 26 May 2010 21:15:47 +0000

the young joneses are still wrapping up final exams & those many many school-year-end events, but for once, i’m ahead of schedule on something…we officially have our favorite roll-down-the-windows-and-turn-it-up song for the summer. so the pressure is off there.

bonus: in the happy, fun video, the band perry is (wait for it….) painting! yes they are, glamorously graffiti-style, and having such a blast, too. which reminds me how incredibly lucky i am to get to do something every day that i enjoy so thoroughly. thank you (again and again!) to all my lovely clients, designers & collaborators who make it happen.

and…i am super-extra-grateful to have the chance to slow it down a little while school’s out, but there will be some fun projects and new things at market central to show you during the coming weeks, so please check back in.

thank you, helen

stephanie — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:09:07 +0000

frequent readers know of mrs. jones’s unabashed adoration of the completely fabulous helen morris…stencil designer, teacher, goddess. imagine, then, the thrillification upon finding that helen has written this lovely, generous post on her wonderfully inspiring blog.

(here she is in her now-famous elvis skirt, which she and her husband created for her to wear while giving a speech in memphis last year.)(i’m telling you, she’s the bomb.)

boxwood fans, unite!

stephanie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:51:42 +0000

many thanks to deborah at boxwood terrace for her recent kind words and comments…mrs. jones is feeling the love! if you’ve found your way here via her lovely blog, welcome.

32 sq ft, con’t.

stephanie — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:15:28 +0000

for those of you playing the home game, here is the before, during & after of the little vignette, and all the particulars:

paint colors, from benjamin moore: ivory white, #925 (base coat – wall and floor), brushed aluminum, #1485 (used for stenciling), deep indigo, #1442 (dark checks on floor) and bali, #702 (lighter frames). from pratt & lambert: boucle, #24.26 (darker frames) and on the trim, woodwitch, #32.22, an excellent, slightly moody color recommended by my exceedingly chic friend jenny.

the stencil is a tried & true fave from royal design studio, fabric damask. there is a little raw-umber-tinted glaze at work as well.

it’s a little shocking that so tiny an endeavor required so much planning. please indulge me as i once more express enormous gratitude to family & friends (in no particular order) who helped me get things this far: margaret, for the nudge (and choosing the stencil), sarah, sally, allison, anna, mk, selena, meg, perre, dru, cheryl, catherine, karen & katherine for encouragement and counsel, lauren (below), for arranging & hanging the frames, julia for the opening day tulips, my other lauren for the poochie treats, epps for patience, sound advice, and for channeling his inner trim carpenter, and honey & bug for the coffee, love, and cupcakes.

a grandview kind of day

stephanie — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:41:26 +0000

proving once and for all that they are not afraid to get their hands dirty, the super-lovely ladies of the grandview garden club invited mrs. jones to teach a workshop today at the memphis botanic garden. after a short tutorial, each of them got full-on hands-on and put fun finishes of their choice (painted & vintage-y, stained & glossy, crusty & mossy, or tarted-up chalkboard) on to pots. they were all stellar students (and served a fab lunch, of course!)

returning thanks

stephanie — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:10:45 +0000

for mr. jones’s clan, all roads lead home to columbia, tennessee. there, you have wagging doggies to greet you, beautiful nieces and wonderful cousins-by-the-dozens to see, young men shed of their navy blazers to play football with, plenty of rolls - and everything else! - to go around twice (and butter turkeys to go along), friendly horses and cows that come looking for apples, and never quite enough time.

in short, so much to be grateful for that there is not enough room to express it all here. i hope all of you had a happy thanksgiving too.

les passees? still very much in fashion

stephanie — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:37:18 +0000

while a chandelier and table were drying in the studio (pictures shortly!), mrs. jones snuck out to give a program for the swank and savvy ladies of the les passees fine arts club. we ran through some ideas for last-minute centerpieces: gilded pumpkins, pomegranates and pears for thanksgiving and christmas, ways to liven up the holiday “kids’ tables” with chalkboard paints, quick asian-import glazed pots for the chinese new year, shimmery metallics for valentine’s day, right through to aged stone (okay, they’re really concrete) bunnies for easter tables, with a brief stop at distressed paint techniques. (and of course, thank you, they served a lovely lunch afterwards!)

pimiento cheese finger sandwiches,

stephanie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:36:40 +0000

tiny ham biscuits with onion-balsamic jam, curried butternut squash soup and mrs. jones were all on the program today at the november meeting of the suburban garden club. many thanks to all the lovely members for a wonderful afternoon, fabulous lunch, and lively discussion after my demonstration of centerpiece ideas featuring - what else? - painted pots.