My darling, dear sweet neighbor upstairs stopped me on the street a few weeks ago and asked if I could paint her a pink leopard ceiling like the one in her fingernail salon. File this under “Retro 80s.”

My neighbor likes all things girly-girl — think hot pink, animal prints and pictures of Betty Page. We were originally going to put this in the kitchen, but it makes much more sense in the bathroom where it transforms a plain white box into the kind of private temple of solitude devoted to the transformational act of applying one’s make-up. I imagine one enters such a room as an executive assistant, and exits a diva.

I finally gave myself permission to go ahead when I found this other photo in a publication from the 80s. If you can believe this, the first sample board I did was too pink — bubble gum on bubble gum on bubble gum — and was way too cloying. I know these pictures are dark, but in the final color scheme, we have a soft pink, a cranberry and a marshmallow peanut, by which I mean this: one color has a red base, one has a blue base, one has a yellow base. Elegant, right?

So go ahead, pamper yourself with a little leopard. For the girly-girl within you.

Images: Mark Chamberlain

- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter
Mark Chamberlain Painting

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