Brandishing a paintbrush in her snout, Pigcasso enthusiastically tosses her head to create bright, bold strokes across a canvas propped up in her sty.

The sow was rescued from an abattoir as a piglet and brought to an animal sanctuary in Franschhoek, in South Africa’s Western Cape region in 2016, where her new owners noticed her love of colour and paintbrushes.

“Pigs are very smart animals and so when I brought Pigcasso here to the barn, I thought how do I keep her entertained?” said Joanne Lefson, who runs Farm Sanctuary SA.

“We threw in some soccer balls, rugby balls and of course there were some paintbrushes lying around because the barn was newly built… She basically ate or destroyed everything except these paintbrushes… she loved them so much,” Lefson added.

Soon the pig was dipping the brushes into pots of paint and making her mark. Her paintings can sell for almost US$4,000, with the proceeds going to animal welfare. She has even had one of her artworks turned into a watch face for Swiss watchmaker Swatch.

Swatch announced a collaboration with the pig last month.

The limited edition “Flying Pig by Ms. Pigcasso,” features green, blue and pink brush strokes and sells for US$120.

“Pigcasso is definitely an abstract expressionist, you can’t exactly define what she’s painting but I can tell you that her style slightly changes depending on her mood like any great artist,” said Lefson.

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“French Charming is a great choice,” says Bev Bell, creative director, Beauti-Tone Paint and Home Products Division, Home Hardware Stores Limited. “It is a perfect balance of blue and grey, making it an incredibly livable colour for any room.” Some of the voters’ responses were, “I can see this colour in any part of my home,” and, “It looks like it will work well with all different colours,” and, “I just love this colour!”

Voters also loved the idea of being asked, not only for their opinion, but to ultimately choose the winner. Voting took place at a national design show in January and online at Home Hardware’s Facebook and Twitter pages during the same period.

“As Canadians, we know what we love,” says Bell. “When we walk into a room and feel immediately grounded, it is usually because the colour makes us comfortable and relaxed.

Some of us prefer cool colours, others warm. The way we perceive colour is rooted deep within us. It’s something we are born with, just like so many of our best qualities.”

You can see in the photo that this colour pairs well with the white window trim. Keep contrast in mind when choosing medium to dark wall colours.

Because French Charming is a blue-grey hue, pulling either colour out in accents, as was done in the photo is a good choice.

In other rooms, like a living room or den, you could use this wall colour with a dark charcoal or black in furniture and/or accessories. Items like black floating wall shelves, for example, would work well. If you have black furniture and find it a bit overwhelming visually, soften it with muted colour furniture throws and toss cushions in a matching or co-ordinating colour to the walls.

French Charming is available exclusively at Home Hardware, Home Building Centre and Home Hardware Building Centre locations.

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FLOOR MAT

Create works of art for your floor with a canvas drop sheet and paint.

Materials:

• One 5×12-foot canvas drop sheet
• No-Sew Glue
• Painter’s tape
• Beauti-Tone Designer Series Paint in chosen colours
• Beauti-Tone Designer Series Silk in a clear untinted base

Instructions:

Cut the size of carpet you desire from the canvas drop sheet. With an iron, fold under a hem and press. Apply No-Sew Glue under hem and press to secure. With painter’s tape, mark and mask out a design on your carpet. Paint desired colours. Once dry, coat the entire carpet with three coats of Beauti-Tone Designer Series Silk in an untinted clear base to make the carpet stain resistant.

Add your own unique flair with stencils, lettering or free-form art. Co-ordinate your chosen colours with other colours in your room. Add unexpected bursts of colour to your floor mat for added interest. A black border will make the colours pop. Another great twist on this project is to make small floor mats to sit under pet dishes to catch spills and drips. Stencil your pet’s name and paw prints onto their own mat for extra fun.

HALL TREE

Personalize your entryway with a hall tree that’s as much beautiful as functional.

Materials:

• One 4×8-foot panel of 5/8-inch Good One Side (G1S) plywood
• One 1×48-inch hardwood dowel
• One 911-ml container Beauti-Tone cabinet and furniture white base interior acrylic paint
• Approx. six plastic anchors with screws 1-5/8 inches longer than the depth of the anchors

Tools:

• Jigsaw
• Driver drill
• Mitre saw or hand saw
• Drill press (or a clamp and a steady hand)

Instructions:

Begin by tracing the shape you want for your tree on the plywood panel. Next, position some blocks of wood beneath the panel to raise it off your work surface and accommodate the jigsaw blade cutting through the wood. Now, start working around your outline with the jigsaw until you have your tree cut out. You’ll want your tree to sit off the wall a bit, so cut the wood dowel into six 1.0- to 1.5-inch pieces. Then, using a drill press (or a clamp and drill) drill a hole just slightly larger than your screws through the centre of each.

Stand your tree up against the wall you’re going to mount it on and drill pilot holes through to the wall, marking where you’ll need to install your anchors. Once the anchors are in, set each of your screws into the tree so that just a bit of the tip is sticking out the back. Line them up with their respective dowels, and one by one, screw them through the dowel and into the wall anchors. You may want to cover the screw holes with wood roundhead plugs.

Last, apply two coats of Beauti-Tone’s cabinet and furniture paint — it’s self-priming, and cures quickly to a tough finish.

This idea can also work in a child’s room, a playroom or a nursery. Paint the tree in fun colours to brighten up these spaces. Add dowels or hooks to the front of the tree on which to hang additional lightweight items like umbrellas, baseball caps and light jackets. You could even paint a growth chart on the tree trunk to make it multi-functional.

New colours and project ideas are an inspiration for change. Let’s have some fun updating our décor!

The post Do-it-yourself projects for the home appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The featured photo is a good example for me. The wall colour is very similar to what I painted in my bathroom. I also just happened to find two exact bath sheets at a thrift store (brand new) in the same colours and patterns as the ones pictured here. What are the odds?

What I hadn’t considered were black cabinets, which look quite lovely in the photograph. I painted my old cabinets out in white (from oak) to give them a new lease on life until the entire bathroom is renovated later this year. I still had white cabinetry on my mind for the new space until I saw this photo. I also hadn’t considered a silver-coloured frame for the bathroom mirror either, which blends well with the other silver-toned elements in the room, including the faucet and sconces. I may have to rethink a few things before I make final decisions for my new bathroom. It’s not that white cabinetry wouldn’t work, but I like the look of the black lower vanity and think I just may go that route now that I’ve seen it in an actual room setting.

That’s why decorating magazines, websites and television shows are so popular. They give us lots of great ideas for our own homes. Whether you happen upon that perfect colour scheme or a DIY project for your old furniture, having a photo of the finished product sure makes the choices a lot easier.

Sometimes you have to create your own photo by using programs available on paint suppliers’ websites where you can paint a room on the computer to see how your paint colour choices will look. Other sites, from lighting to flooring, can offer helpful tools for your specific project and offer great photographs to guide you in your search for the perfect product.

Internet sites like HGTV, Pinterest, House and Home, offer great shots of before and after makeovers for everything from kitchens to hallways. There is a lot of information out there to help you. Keep a file of photos, whether on your computer or on paper, so that you don’t forget those great little projects you happen upon. You may not use them all in one project but they are a great reference for future projects.

I personally keep a binder of “great décor ideas” that I clip from magazines. I use sheet protectors to hold the photos and have divided the binder into room sections. It’s good to have a refresher and skim over the photos every now and then.

I try to find such photos for my columns. I look for rooms that will inspire, teach and help readers think about change. Email me at Connieoliver2015@gmail.com if you get stuck. If I don’t have a solution, perhaps one of my readers does. It’s all about sharing and supporting each other in the quest for a comfortable space and a place to call home.

The post A photo can help you make decorating decisions appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The oak cabinets were dated and well used, as was the inset mirrored medicine cabinet. The wall cabinets were taken down and given a few fresh coats of warm-white paint, and the hardware was removed beforehand to ensure a quality finish. The vanity was also given a few coats of warm-white paint, inside and out. The inset medicine cabinet was also removed and the inside got a few coats of white spray paint, which covered up the rusty spots and gave the cabinet new life. It took three coats of paint to cover the oak cabinets so they were painted over two days in order to allow for proper drying time.

After the cabinets and old towel bar and hooks were removed and the walls patched and primed, the walls were given a fresh look with a shade of soft-grey paint. To avoid the difficulty of trying to paint the walls around the toilet, the wall was divided leaving the bottom one-third the existing colour, which was white. This will save you a lot of grief if you’re in the same situation. Use a quality painter’s tape and a level to create a clean division on the wall. If you can’t use this technique (perhaps because the existing colour will not work with your new colour or the walls are in rough shape), then do your best to paint the entire wall around and behind the toilet. It can be done; it’s just a bit fussy.

It only took half a day to paint the small bathroom allowing for the appropriate drying time between coats. Use a bathroom and kitchen paint meant for these rooms specifically. It will hold up better in the long run.

The door and trim were left in their existing warm white, which offsets the new colour beautifully. If your door and trim are dark wood, update them with some new white paint in the same shade used on your cabinets. Painting out dark wood will keep it from looking dated. You can paint just the bathroom side of the door in order to keep a cohesive look in the hallway. The edge of the door should also be painted white. (In a case like this, paint the edge of the door the same colour as the side of the door that opens into the room.)

The cabinet hardware was reinstalled and the freshly painted cabinets were hung back up onto the freshly painted walls.

Spending a few dollars on new bathroom accessories will help update the look. A new black double towel bar, (which you can see in the reflection of the medicine cabinet mirror) and a matching robe hook on the back of the door were installed. The black really pops against the grey walls, and once everything was in place the bathroom was transformed.

So, if you need a quick update, a bit of paint and some time and patience can help you freshen up a room in a couple of days. A small room, like a bathroom, can easily be updated with the addition of new items like towels, a shower curtain and rings, a new toilet seat, bath mats and artwork. Consider covering a pitted shower rod with an inexpensive shower rod cover. New bath mats in a complimentary colour can take the focus off of old flooring until you can replace it. Items like new matching towel bars and robe hooks can be fairly reasonable in price and can make a big difference in the overall finished look. Even seemingly unimportant items like a toothbrush holder and cup set and a new trash bin in a great colour will give your bathroom a fresh look. These are all affordable items that will help transform a dingy bathroom.

What are you doing for the next few days? Perhaps, a bathroom update?

The post Update your bathroom in a weekend appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.