About

Lisa Nielsen currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and three boys. All of whom are ruled over by the bow tie donning Schnoodle dog named Percy. Percy is nearly nine pounds of pure confidence with the bonus of a self assigned foreman to every project.

 

FAQ

Why a blog?

The idea of starting a blog was talked about among friends for a while, but was solidified when my youngest son’s friend counseled me one day when he was over at our house. He suggested that because I was always working on projects, I should totally blog about it. I figured that if a 11 year old boy was interested enough in my projects each time he came over, then perhaps others would be interested as well.

How do you know so much?

I was raised in a home that encouraged projects and learning. From drawing all over my diapered little sister to illustrating the walls, from creating elaborate birthday cakes to learning to sew, my mother was always there with supplies and an inhuman amount of patience.

My dad originally wished for sons but received four daughters. He refused to see gender as a reason to keep us from learning anything that he would teach a son. He was a firefighter, a general contractor, he owned a painting company, and my parents owned multiple rental houses. We, “The Girls”, became cheap child labor. Boy did we work hard! Helping out gave me opportunity to learn my way around power tools and paint brushes.

In elementary and middle school I made painted wood crafts and, at large craft shows, sold the crafts to earn spending money. Sixth grade was the year I made my first dress, multiple pairs of shorts and loads of scrunchies. These interests lead me to take sewing, cooking, and art classes in middle school and high school, then furthering that knowledge in college. I graduated college with my Bachelor’s degree in Pictorial Art. Pottery, paper making, intaglio printmaking, watercolor, color theory, and illustration are among some of the classes put towards my major. 

Once married, I had my own mural company where original artwork was featured in homes and businesses like the Opera House in downtown Los Gatos, CA. Once I had my three boys, I taught private art lessons for years. All the while improving my skills on projects around the home. I enjoy trying new things and, as long as it doesn’t kill me, I don’t mind learning from failures along the way.

Where did Tinged Blue come from?

I always seem to be surrounded by boys; from having groups of boys as friends growing up, to babysitting families that were predominantly boys, to having boys of my own, to working with cub scouts and boy scouts for years and the fact that my dad liked to treat his girls as equals to boys. The boy thing has just sort of rubbed off on me, or in other words, it has me tinged blue. That, and on numerous occasions I have literally been tinged blue when working on a project. From the stories that were associated with these reasons, the name just sort of felt right. Now I am excited to share my project ideas, successes, tips and even lessons learned on how not to do something, with all of you. Perhaps this blog will help those who follow my adventures as I try making a house a home and invite you to do the same.💙