Pretty in &Paint Patina
Anchor your rooms and center your spaces with Latina Patina’s one-of-a-kind, hand-painted, stunning furniture pieces.
Do you dream of finding unique, amazing furniture you could use as the perfect statement pieces to anchor the look of some of your rooms? Do you long for beautiful, one-of-a kind pieces to be focal points in your favorite spaces? Well, seek no further than the awesome, creative furniture pieces at Latina Patina, hand painted by artist/designer Alena Lara. Her products are created to be furniture that customers will absolutely love and can rework their current spaces around.
NEW BEGINNINGS
Before Alena started painting furniture, she was a hairstylist, but she’d had a car accident that was keeping her from working in the same capacity as before.
She says, “I had a lot of time to think and decided I needed to do something different but that I could be passionate about. I also wanted to do something that would allow me to spend more time with my daughters, who were very young at the time.”
She was browsing on Facebook one day and saw lots of painted furniture on Marketplace and thought she would try her own hand at it. “I bought some paint and painted a small table. It wasn’t spectacular, but there was an instant excitement there,” she explains. Alena started educating herself on paint products and techniques. She already had a strong background in color theory from being a colorist and makeup artist, and this would prove very useful. Also, her father became her go-to guy for all paint-related questions, “as he has a very successful painting company and is very detail oriented,” Alena shares.
PROCESS
Just how does Alena create her stunning, gorgeous furniture? “I start with a color palette that I feel complements the piece of furniture I’m working on,” she says. “And as I’m painting, the full picture starts to come into focus, until it just comes together like a puzzle ... It’s truly an amazing process!” Most of the furniture she purchases to paint is vintage, so its physical form will always remain, but she updates it with a color palette that fits her client’s current style.
“I absolutely love what I do and feel incredibly blessed to wake up each day and be able to create.”
Alena looks for furniture with good bones in need of some TLC. “I will do small repairs,” she says, “but my amazing husband is the one who will do the big woodworking repairs, like replacing entire sections of a piece and making it look like it’s original.” Once all the repairs are done, then it’s Alena’s time to create. “I don’t skimp on my paint and brushes. Technique is important, but so is the quality of the products you use.” And keep in mind: Each of Alena’s painted furniture pieces is a one-of-a-kind original and might not be around the next time you remember it and decide it was exactly what you want and need.
INSPIRATION
Some of Alena’s inspiration comes from traveling—to countries like Colombia, Japan, Italy, South Korea and observing their cultures and architecture. She has also made many trips to visit family in Mexico and loves seeing, as she describes it, “the different artisanal styles in each little town we would visit and the old doors with their beautiful patina.”
She also finds inspiration in God, her family, and her friends. Alena says, “My parents have always encouraged my siblings and me to find our passion and do what we love, and that in itself has given me the freedom to create without boundaries.” Her daughters also inspire her with their creativity all the time, Alena reports. In addition to custom furniture painting and selling furniture, she teaches furniture painting and technique workshops to students at all levels, from beginners to advanced. She uses Annie Sloan chalk paint, Iron Orchid Design and Artisan Enhancements to create and teach with. “I love to teach because we all do things so differently that I often learn something new, or a new idea will just spark from watching and listening to others,” Alena explains.
Alena is delighted with her new calling as an artist, designer, furniture painter and teacher. “I absolutely love what I do and feel incredibly blessed to wake up each day and be able create,” she says. “I’m so thankful to have such an incredible husband, who encourages me, does all the heavy lifting of my furniture and who lets me create uninterrupted.” In addition, the shop where she teaches workshops and sells her furniture “is a beautiful little white cottage located in a historic city! I couldn’t think of a better place or people to be around and do what I love!”
And we can’t think of any better or more striking furniture pieces to use to anchor our favorite rooms or as stars of the show in myriad spaces throughout our homes.
FOR MORE ON ALENA AND HER WORK, VISIT INSTAGRAM: LATINA_PATINA_ FACEBOOK: HTTPS://M.FACEBOOK.COM/LATINAPATINA STORE: BONAVENTURE BLUES, 3114 E. VICTORY DRIVE, SAVANNAH, GA 31404 (912) 349-3983