Friday, December 12, 2014

DIY Non Skid Rugs

 As I was calking the backsplash on my new sink (more to come on that) I remembered back to a Pintrest post that I believe was from Martha Steward about using caulk to make a rug non stick.  I had an open can of caulk and a slippery rug so I thought I'd give it a try.  I only paid $13.00 for the rug so it was really no be loss if the rug had to be scraped.




I started with a line across of the rug about every foot. Its best to really press the tip of the caulk into the rug so it produces a flatter line as opposed to a bead of caulk.  I'm afraid the areas that turned out as a bead may peel off over time.


The caulk states it's "rain ready" in an hour but I waited about 3 hours before putting it back.  I didn't want the reason it stuck was because it was glued to my hardwood floors.


It is a little hard to tell, but you can see the caulk likes about every foot.  Once dried I put it back and it worked!!  The rug didn't budge, even when the 3 dogs ran down the hallway this morning.  I walked back and forth trying to see if I could feel the caulk underneath but it was pretty smooth.

I have so many of the rug pads that you put underneath and they ALWAYS seem to move, it drives me nuts.  I'm hoping this will be a fix! This rug has a stiff back to it, I have two other rugs that are more like a throw rug, so really no backing.  I'm going to try them next as they NEVER stay in place and the backing never stay in place.  Thinking of putting the caulk in a grid patter?  I'll let you know how it goes!

 

Thursday, December 4, 2014

The Itsy Bitsy Bathroom

So our powder room is quite small,  I needed a design to really make the room seem as big and open as possible.  No dark colors here. Trust me, in that I'm not afraid of dark, but I didn't want this to seem like a cave.  It had this dirty yellow striped wallpaper that needed to go. Under the paper the walls were in no shape to be painted without major patch work and let's just say,  been there done that.  So a thick wallpaper it is. And you'll know I love grasscloth wallpaper.  Being the thrifty consumer I am, I went to ebay to find a good deal. Let me tell you,  grasscloth is not cheap.  I found two double rolls for about 60 bucks with shipping so not too bad. It was more of a weave, and when I got it I had some reservations.  It seemed kinda boring,  so I consider spray painted in a metallic to bring it to life. I tried both silver and gold but both seemed a little gaudy.  I went with the natural and love it!! In the small space it really warms it up.
Disregard my bad camera phone pic, but you can get the point
The vanity cabinet is a flat pack from the KSI warehouse,  the light fixture is from Home Depot.   It seems like vanity lighting is either ugly or super expensive.  This one was around 70 bucks and I think it looks pretty good. Not to mention,  I put it in all by my self! The counter top is on its way from Menard ' s but more on that later.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

It's getting there...

 
So last week I was finally able to finish the painting of the living room.  Sadly its kinda hard to tell there is a difference in wall color, but trust me its much brighter.  I'm still in need a few new pieces and some more accents, but at least it's no longer a mess and starting to look much better. And considering what I have to work with I'm satisfied for the moment.
 
The wall color is Four Winds by Valspar and the stencil is Gauntlet Grey by Sherman Williams.
 
So in case you forget what the before looked like...
 
It was were all my random pieces of furniture went to die basically.  The room is one of the largest rooms of the house and just never had its own identity.
 

 
So back to the after.  I ended up painting the valance (more about that in a later post)  It was very well made and covered in silk so I hated to get rid of it.

 
I love the old suitcases, I actually bought them for $5 a piece at the estate sale of this house.  So its a nice remembrance to the original owners. (The were really the original owners, as they build the house back in the late 60's)

 

 
The sofa is the same as the before.  There was a slipcover over the green.  However, as so many things do, it has made a comeback so with all the pattern in the wall I like the sofa minus the cover.  Beside the sofa has to be at least 40 years old and is better made than 90% of what is on the market today. When we move again I want to put in our bedroom at the foot of the bed so I will most likely have another slipcover made from Calico Corners again. They made the first slipcover and it fit great, and help up amazing considering it was 25 years old.

 


I really love the way the wall turned out!
 

 
It looks great from the front entry and dining room.
 
 
I had to take a picture at night with the glow of the lamps.
 

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Fretwork Stencil

Okay, so I shared earlier in the week about my latest project, the living room fretwork stencil from Sarah M Dorsey Designs.  If you have never checked out her blog, I'd suggest to stop by and take a look around.  Now this stencil was massive, in regards to a single pattern stencil.  Now this my no means was my first rodeo when it comes to stenciling, as I've learned a few things over my projects.  1. stenciling is like childbirth, you forget the negative until it's too late. 2. Don't use paint and primer in one.  It just makes it that much harder to remove the stencil.  (now the best paint to remove was from my first project, if you remember I used a metallic paint so it was a thinner paint and was much better to clean off the stencil)
 
Here is the new stencil taped to the wall, you can really see the size, I believe the finished design is 32 by 32.  I used a stencil level when I did the bathroom ceiling, but yet to use one for a wall.  And here is why, if your ceiling is not level then the gap at the top will not be off as compared to ceiling and to me look funny, so I "assume" the ceiling, or in this case the picture rail is level, and use the concept of visual level.  If your stencil is always flush with the ceiling than it will look level in relationship to the ceiling.  It's always seemed to work for me.
 
Here is one of my, hindsight is 20/20 pieces of advice, I would cover most of the plastic of the stencil with painters tape and just leave about an inch or less around the cut off of the stencil.  Why you ask?  Simple - it makes it that much faster and easier to clean.  Just peel the tape.

 
I used a 4 inch foam roller.  Now with a 4 inch wide roller there, at least for me, was a lot of the plastic of the stencil that was covered with paint, and then dried and cover, and dried and covered, you got the point. So there was a point when I was litterly using paint stripper to get the paint off the stencil, it was bad.  (by the way, not sure if I would recommend paint stripper, I sent my husband into the hardware store to get turpentine, and he came out with paint stripper, as it said on the can it removed dried paint, he tried.  I did not leave on the stripper for very long as I was not sure if it would eat away at the plastic.  I was safe, but I can't trust the method)

So if you cover most of the stencil with painters tape, you will thank me as you are scraping dried paint off the edges.

 
The key to a good stencil line, the less paint the better.  I know what is what everyone says but its true.  I like to use a full size paint tray and roll off the extra along the groves.  


Roll your thin coat and remove...

 
Most important thing to remember, it will not be perfect up close, but A. no one will notice but you and B. from a distance it will look perfect

 
Little side track...
The picture below is from Sarah M Dorsey's blog.  If you notice her stencil has more of a depth in the shades of color.  She used a stencil brush.  You can use about an inch in diameter stencil brush to complete the process as well.  This can allow for a less uniform look as opposed to a roller.  I also can only believe that it is much more time consuming as well. Don't get me wrong the look is very cool.  And I bet the stencil is easier to clean.
 
Back to the living room.  Now the stencil is made to over lap in order to keep the pattern on track, as you can see from the picture below.  This makes repositioning the stencil very fast and easy.




When you move to the next full pattern there is still an overlap. As for the same process for top and bottom. From there you just keep moving along the wall.  I would go one of the left, then one on the right as to let the most recent section dry.



So after you keep going, and going, and going your almost done!  In the photo above you can see the little white lines in the pattern when the stencil had to have supports to hold the pattern together.  I choose to fill them in by hand after it was completed.  I used a 1 inch foam brush (the kind the pointed knife edge) it was the perfect width to fill in the lines.

Ta-Da!  It's done!  Awesome if I do say so my self!





Never mind all of the junk all over the room, its a little bit of a hot mess right now.  Hopefully sooner than later, I can post the finished redo. That would just mean I have to finish it, which I HOPE to by the end of the weekend...or next.




Sunday, November 9, 2014

Living Room Redo

I'm so excited about my new Etsy purchase, I just had to share!  I just purchased this new wall stencil for my living room remodel.  It's so awesome I cant wait! The living room is like night of the random furniture.  It's the last room, besides the bathrooms, that I have yet to do anything to. Not to mention its one of the largest rooms so it's in need of sometime.  I went out to Ace Hardware this week to pick up some paint.  More to come soon!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

So many accomplishments in one short year

To commemorate Ellie's first birthday,  I had our wonderfully talented photographer design a little "chalkboard" with all the fun accomplishments Ellie's has had over her first year.  We didn't really talk details before and it was just perfect!  We used it as a prop for our family photos where Ellie was wearing black and gold, I guess great minds think alike! It took all week but I decided to hang it in the hallway right off the foyer, it blends wonderfully with the decor!

Monday, October 27, 2014

That was so 1970!


I finally got around to re doing the back entry.  It has been on my "list" since October 2013, but just keep falling behind.  I was really really dreading taking down the wall paper, but thanks to my new wallpaper steamer it was not the disaster I was dreading. 

I tried to find an actual before picture, but I realized I never took one, I guess I was trying to hide it.  It was full of the same wallpaper that was in the kitchen, and that still lives on in the laundry room.  The one on the right is the best I could find.

It took about 4 nights of 2 to 3 hour session to remove the wallpaper and all of the glue.  It must of been unpasted wallpaper so the glue had to be scraped off the walls too.
You can see the laundry room in the background.  For the time being I am planning on leaving the laundry room wallpaper as a little memento to the original owners. And because I really don't want to take down more wallpaper.  When we have the basement framed out next year I do plan on moving the laundry room door back behind the powder room.  It really bugs me that guests have to go into the laundry room to use the bathroom.



 
I painted the area the same blue as the family room, I believe it was Ocean Breeze or something to that extent. I'll have to double check.  I already had the paint and that way the space flows into the family room. 

Here is my "free" light fixture makeover.  It was one of those "old lady" frosted glass blubs so I had taken off the bulb and was going to try and find a clear open bottom glass shade and an Edison bulb, well first problem the opening was too wide for any of the glass shades at home depot, and problem two I broke the current glass blub on the way into home depot.  So we did end up buying a new fixture, but I really didn't like it and figured I'd spend the money when I found something I really liked.  I had an idea about a shade, so I went looking for one in my surprising large collection on lamp shades.  I found the right size and color and it even had a bulb clip and everything! So its better than before and it was free!

My next project is the doors. Right now the wood really stands out, and that is what they look like over the whole house.  It's on the list to redo the doors, I want to either nail on trim or install new panel doors and paint them either black or white.  I was looking at slab doors and they are only like 25 to 30 bucks for new ones, and molding will cost over half that per door so if the sizes line up, I'm totally getting new doors.
As for the color, lets get the doors up first.

And a new chalkboard.  This is my biggest one yet, who knows maybe next time I'll do a whole wall.  I'm on a chalkboard kick.  I like location as a welcome to the house.  Most of our friends and family come to the back door so it gets a lot of traffic, plus I can change it with ever season to decorate!

 
I have a post to do about different types of chalk, its more complex that you would think. I took these pictures at night so I plan to get some updated day time ones.
 

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

2015 - The Year of the Curb Appeal

Before
After
I know 2014 has yet to end, however this weather is just too cold to work outside, so all curb appeal updates have been pushed back to next year. So with that being said, I have a number of months to change my mind before settling on a plan of action.  We did get a new front door this year.  More by need than choice, but regardless we still love it. It's by JELD-WEN from Home Depot.  It's a big start in the overall curb appeal update, and it also did wonders for the foyer (to come later).  The door at some point, next year, will get painted a color, along with the flower boxes I want to add, updated the landscaping, painting the garage and shed doors, a new window trellis, oh and maybe painting some of the siding.  The list keeps growing and they say it's going to be a long winter.

Art Class

Back on Mother's Day, Ellie made some cards for her Grandmas.  It was a shot in the dark about the end results, but I have to say they turned out pretty well! 
 
 
We started with some card stock cut into hearts, and some Liquitex acrylic paint (trust me about Liquitex, its light years ahead of the cheap little bottle that come in a hundred colors at the craft store, this brand dries with a really nice sheen)
 
A few blobs of 3 different colors, and I put the card into a Ziploc bag.
 
 
 Then I gave it to the artist, and she went to town.




 

 
To remove the card its easiest to cut the sides open on the plastic bag and peel off the top layer or else paint gets everywhere, which defeats the purpose of the project.
 
TA-DA!