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Posts Tagged ‘decor’
Older homes are a puzzle sometimes. Weird angles, finish choices, and funky sizes can create challenges in terms of space usage and light maximization.
A house I’m currently working on was no exception. I’m sure it was the bomb in the 50′s. Not so much in the 2010′s. The kitchen was dark and dated and the windows had been “fixed” to be more energy efficient, but unfortunately looked like it.
Our solution for the window niche was ripplefold, or ceiling mounted, draperies with an inset of sheer material. The ceiling mounted track is similar to hospital drapery — it’s a fine track with hooks that glide across smoothly creating soft, regular folds. The soffit wasn’t able to be removed, so it served to conceal the track. Yellow satin stripes in the sheer fabric added a little color, but most of all it exploded the light up and down, creating the effect that the window is actually a lot larger than it is. Honestly, the window is just slightly larger than the sheer section.
A window that was a problem is now a focal point. Even though the room isn’t completed, the homeowner is thrilled. And that’s all I needed to hear.
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Have you wanted to buy a large canvas image, but the expense turned you away? Well, here is an alternative and for about $18 so how can you resist? Mandy from Sugar Bee Crafts came up with this to dress up her daughter’s bedroom. How creative!
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Materials Needed
- Flash drive for Photo
- Foam Board (Home Depot/ or Lowes- approx. $11 but you can make 2 out of it!)
- Scissors
- Spray glue
- Utility knife
- Craft paint (whatever color you would like on the sides)
- Duct Tape
- Wire (or whatever you want to use to hang your Giant photo)
First, select the image you would like to use and put it onto a Flash drive. Next take it to an Office Store (Office Max/ Office Depot) and ask them for the “Engineer Print” and hand over your Flash Drive. The downside is that you can only get the image printed in Black and White. It is about $8 for a 4ft x 3 ft Image. They will inform you that it will not be Photo quality, but the image doesn’t turn out pixilated.
Once you have the print in hand place it on the foam board and cut the board to size.
Next, use the craft paint in whatever color you selected to paint the outside and edges of the Foam Piece.
Wait for the paint to dry and grab a buddy for this next step.
Spray Glue the foam piece. Be generous but don’t soak it. Have your buddy hold 2 corners and you hold the other, and then slowly lower the image onto the foam piece working out any bubbles and pressing evenly into place.
TIPS: Don’t SPRAYPAINT Styrofoam! It will eat it! Use craft paint and peel back any clear film so that the paint will work properly.
Don’t use MOD PODGE for flimsy paper! It will wrinkle the paper because it is too wet. The more you try to work out the wrinkles the worse they get.
Hanging: You can Duct tape wire to the back for hanging or be creative and find a different way. It isn’t pretty but no one will see it.
AND there you have it. For about $18 you can create a FABULOUS wall hanging that makes a statement!
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(Craft concept & photos: www.sugarbeecrafts.com. She has some really fun stuff on there! Check it out!)
If you’ve been following my Facebook page (and if you haven’t, I invite you now), you’d know that I’ve been in the process of renovating my office over the past few months. As I went back-and-forth over my built-in cabinetry design and window treatment fabric, one thing never changed — I was going to use a 112-year-old tool chest that was hand-made by my great-grandfather for the sitting area coffee table.
This chest was not in the best shape to say the least. There were years of grime, dust and metal corrosion that comes with something that is used for purely utilitarian purposes. My mom and husband thought I was crazy…I mean, the room is contemporary! And this old piece of junk just didn’t seem to fit. Yet, I knew it would be amazing, so after way too long (especially considering how easy it was), I finally cleaned it up and made it the unique and sentimental furniture piece that is frankly perfect.
The first thing I did was go over it really well with my vacuum’s brush attachment.
Oh, on a side note: Did you know that spiders do not hibernate in winter? I didn’t either, but was unpleasantly made aware during this process…
Next, after doing several Google searches and finding that several people sang the praises of Endust (this is not a paid product endorsement), I thoroughly saturated the wood with the furniture polish. The wood was very dry after many neglected years, but the color perked right up with a good coat. I had to scrub to get rid of all traces of the afore-mentioned spiders. <shudder!> I also sprayed the rusted metal hinges and latch to keep the rust from flaking off.
What I actually found when researching the best way to refurbish this chest is that Endust was good for polishing metal. Who knew? I sprayed the tin top liberally and then used a drill-powered buffer to slowly work my way across the top. What emerged from under the dry, powdery metal was more than I could have hoped for! The metal polished down to an awesome grey-blue with remnants of gold, white and red paint from projects generations ago. This will match my office so great! I let that dry and then applied a coat of Turtle Wax to seal it.
Someone had reinforced the bottom of the chest in recent years (BTW: that is a future project–painting them to match the rest of the chest). I added large industrial casters to the base. Two are locking so the coffee tables doesn’t go rolling across the room when I kick my feet up with my coffee and trade magazines.
And that just about does it! I think it looks great! Keep tuned in to see it in the final photos of the office.
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Just a little history:
The Moore-Shafer Shoe Company was based in Brockport, NY from the late 1800′s and closed in 1927. I have no idea how my great-grandfather, who never lived in NY, acquired the trunk.
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