Design Surprises

I love a surprise, who doesn't love being surprised?  I guess it depends on the kind of surprise; money is always good, flowers, clothes.  Have you ever thought about the little things in your home that add a little whimsy and surprise your family and friends?  I love the idea, it can reflect so much of who you are, the things you value and the love of a family.  Here are some of my favorite little surprises!

 

Bet your guests wouldn't expect to shower under a that!  Love the corrugated shower walls too!

So, so cool!  I love that she put it at floor level.  Fun!

 

I have seen this idea before but can be a hard thing for people to pull off, this is great!

 

Here is a little whimsy of my own.  This 3' fork hangs in my kitchen with a quote from our family's favorite story.  It's a big part of our family 'Fork-lore' get it? 

 

So, look around your house, any design surprises?

DIY Floral Vase

This was a quick and fun little project, a frosted flower vase.  You see them all over, home decor shops and especially on Pinterest.  This is a variation on the rubber band method you may have seen.

 

It was so easy.  I have a few of these cylinder flower vases around and they look pretty old and stained so I was happy to give them a bit of a pick-me-up.

 

I picked up some cheap stickers at the store and chose a simple flower.

                                  I arranged the stickers on the vase in an assymetrical pattern then sprayed it with Rust-Oleums Frosted Glass spray paint.  I love this stuff, I have used it on actual windows that needed just a bit of privacy.  It's easy to apply and dries quickly.  This project took a grand total of 15 min. from beginning to end.  I sprayed a couple of coats, let it dry for 10 then using an exacto knife, peeled off the stickers.  It's so cute and just like the ones you find in home decor stores only you can do it for pennies!

For the second one, I had this piece of lace with a swirly flower and wanted to see how that would work.  I just wanted to create a band of design so I covered up the rest of the vase to prevent overspray. 

 

It turned out cute as well!  Easy.  Think of the fun designs you can do with this technique.  Using Christmas stickers as the 'stencil' you could create a holiday jar and fill with candy and treats to use as a neighbor gift.  This Frosted Glass spray could even be applied to the underside of a glass plate for a nice presentation of goodies.

 

If you decide to try it, post your finished project over on my Facebook Page so we can all see your talent!  Happy crafting!

Cabinet Refinishing Part II

Here it is, the end results of my cabinet refinishing experiment.  I am really happy with the results.  I learned a lot and even though I really like it, there are some things I would do differently.  I will get to that in a minute...  Here is the before...

  Here's the AFTER....

What do you think?  Do you like it?  Obviously, now I have to paint the walls.  The contrast is too much for me and it's high time this bathroom got a little attention.  I have big plans for the walls but that is going to be another surprise!  I think I will also replace the flooring.  It's a work in progress and this is a great start! 

If I decided to refinish my kitchen cabinets, I'm not sure I will use the Rust-Oleum product.  I am interested to see how the bathroom holds up to wear and tear.  It was easy enough and I have enough product to do at least two more bathrooms if I want. 

The one thing that I found difficult was getting the paint in the little grooves of the recessed panels without ending up with big globs of paint.  The final sealer coat was also very difficult, probably the hardest part of the process.  I did end up sanding down a couple of areas and re-touching them.  In a couple of places, I got the finish coat on too heavy and rather than drying clear, it dried white.  That was disappointing. 

All in all, I am pleased with the product and the final results.  It's actually way nicer than I had expected.   I need to decide if I am going to tackle my kitchen cabinets...They are horrible looking, more of the same boring oak.  Here is a kitchen I found in the colors I really want for my kitchen. 

I would do my main cabinets in the cream with a pewter glaze and my island in the pewter grey...so warm and inviting.  I love this kitchen.  I don't love the kitchen I have now.  We'll see.  First things first, finish the bathroom!

Cabinet Refinishing

This weekend, I took on a big project, well, big for me.  A daring project too!  I decided it was time to redo my cabinets.  Golden Oak is fine but I am pretty tired of it and it's all over my house.  I see all sorts of people re doing cabinets these days and they look so nice when they are done.  After doing a lot of reading and research and shopping around for the best refinishing technique, I decided to go with this product.

 I chose the Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations because it was an all inclusive package.  I like to keep things simple.  I didn't have time, nor did I want to hunt around the Do It Yourself shops trying to gather all the supplies I needed and risk getting the wrong thing and botching the entire project.  Since this was my first attempt at refinishing anything of significance, I decided to let someone else do the hard work...Thanks Rust Oleum. 

The kit comes with everything and they claim it is easy, fast, simple etc...It was easy.  No sanding or stripping, just one simple step to degloss the cabinets.   Well, it's simple but I think I burned about a 1000 calories rubbing down the doors and frame. 

Anyways, here are some pics of the before and during...

Cabinet before.  I decided to start on a smallish project in case things didn't work out.

I removed all the doors and such then taped off around the floor and walls.

I set up a workspace in the garage.  It was fine but the lighting wasn't as good as it should be even though I had spot lights set up.  Natural, bright lighting would have been better and next time I do this, I will set it up in my kitchen that is flooded with natural light. There weren't any harsh fumes or smells and everything cleaned up easily with water.

After deglossing everything, I added the tinted bond (base) color.  It was pretty streaky and I started getting nervous but after the second coat, it looked much better!

I am really happy with the results and I will reveal the finished cabinet right here on Wednesday!  I added a glaze and the finish coat is done....I can't wait for you to see it!

DIY Bath Mat

I have been working on a really cool diy/repurposing project.  I had a really ragged bathmat, the kind just made out of terry cloth.  It had thin parts in it, even holes.  I decided to try a technique I discovered a couple of years ago by taking other terry towels and sewing strips on top of the old bath mat.  I love the way it turned out!  From start to finish, it was about 6 hours. 

 

Here are the step by steps...

I bought two inexpensive towels from the clearance shelves at a big box retailer.  I paid $2 for each towel.  The project takes two larger towels. 

 

I cut each towel into strips about 1.5 inches wide but you can go wider or more narrow depending on your style and preference.   The beauty of this step is that you don't have to be accurate or completely straight! 

 

You begin anywhere on the mat, even in the middle is fine.  Just start free forming the strips, gathering and puckering slightly as you hand sew each strip to the existing mat.  I did a couple of flowers and went in circles but you could just go back and forth with straight lines instead of the wavy, free form.  Just use a needle and thread with a running stitch.

 

Voila!!  I love the finished product.  It is thick and the texture adds so much interest to an otherwise boring bath mat! 

 

This is such a fun technique and can be used to embellish all sorts of things!  Your imagination is the only limit.   Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Huge Contrast

Last week, it was all about tiny spaces, this week we look at the opposite end of the spectrum!  Big, beautiful homes!  How would you like to live here?

What a great kitchen!

And another...

This laundry room is pretty sweet!





So, now we've seen the big and the small.  More than likely the majority of us fit somewhere in between!  Even though, this may never be your reality or mine, it's still fun to dream.

Luxury Homes

Wide open spaces, luxurious rooms, lush furnishings, rich woods, marble, imported finishes...the stuff dream homes are made of!  There's nothing like walking into a big, beautiful home and wishing it was yours, even for one day! 

I love big homes but not just any big home.  I love a well designed, totally functional big home.  Believe it or not, big does not necessarily mean beautiful or functional.  I have seen some pretty dysfunctional large homes in my day.  It's nice to have a large home but don't build or buy so large that the space becomes so big, it's wasted.  Everything should have a place and everything in its place. 

I have designed several large homes, over 6000 sq. ft.  One home I designed even had an indoor soccer court below the basement level!  Sounds extravagent right?  Well, every space in that home had a function, not a made up function but a reason for it's existence, that's important.  Sometimes people dream of big rooms but then when it comes time to fill up that room, they are disappointed to find it really is too big to be functional, then the design challenge is no different than house that is too small and poorly designed.  So bigger is not necessarily better!

Here are some examples,

An Awkward Kitchen.  What is the purpose of the bench on the left.  So much wasted space.
(Photo collegecitydesignbuild.com)

 It's nice to have a large master suite, but this bedroom is ridiculous!  Unless you are having Zumba classes in your bedroom, this is a waste of money both in finishes and architecture.

Not only is this room too big, but the furniture if off scale as well.  Everything looks miniature and dwarfed.  Having a large home still takes some thought and good design is just as important.  Don't get caught up in the dream of big, get caught up in the dream of a well designed, functional home. 

On Wednesday, we will look at some awesome, well designed spaces!