Category Archives: Interior decoration

Kitchen Backsplash

April 28, 2010

I was looking for something quick and easy to cover up some holes in the wall where I removed a spice rack from above the stove in the kitchen. I found these large plastic faux tin tiles at Lowe’s that easily affix to most surfaces. They aren’t the cheapest thing, but I only had to buy one sheet for $20 and it was enough to cover the area. When I got it home, I had to cut it to the shape I needed it. I affixed it with some foam squares that were sticky on both sides. The nice part is this is a quick fit until I figure out what I really want to do with the backsplash and it looks nice. I might even like this for the backsplash – who knows – it has been added to my list of options.

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Painting the Master Bathroom

February 5, 2010

At a little before noon, I decided that I would scrapbook this weekend and finally start working on the master bathroom today.

I started by wiping down the walls and floor which is something that was long overdue. I patched all of the little holes in the walls with light Spackle and made lunch while I waited for it to dry. Once dry it was finally on to painting. I usually trim the walls first, but wanted to see progress quickly, to keep me motivated, so I put paint on the roller and did the large portions first.

Trying to cover orange wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it did take 2 coats. I just love this Sherwin Williams Harmony no-VOC paint and the color is Temperate Taupe 6037. Just a little bit of smell from the latex paint but no stuffing of my nose or headaches. I still had the fan on since I always do that when I paint since it helps it dry.

I tried a new smaller roller this time and I really like it. It is lightweight and can fit behind the toilet to paint the wall that had never been painted before. I had to loaded it with paint more often, but I think I will use these more in the future. Also, with this smaller roller, there were a lot less drips.

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It was starting to get dark when I realized I needed to install the new vanity light so I could finish trimming. The fixture is from Lowe’s and it in the mix and match collection where the fixture and glass shades are purchased separately – so I could get just what I wanted. The shades are white but I am using CFL’s and they weren’t completely warmed up yet when I took the picture below. With a little bit of light from the bedroom, I was able to finish the area I needed to so that I could install the light.

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Once the light was installed I was able to finish trimming with lots of light. It looks like I might have to do a second coat of trim, but I will see what it looks like in the morning.

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I hope that I can install the medicine cabinet and shower rod & curtain in the next couple days maybe tomorrow.

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Frame of Mind

September 15, 2009

Sometimes just a change of a frame on a piece of art makes it look completely different. I have a set of 4 seasonal fairy prints by fantasy artist David Delamare. I really didn’t like the gold frames, so after searching, I found brushed nickel paint. I took the pictures out of the frames, sanded down the frames to make sure the paint would stick, and then applied the spray paint outside.The pictures look so much better and different colors pop out now.

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The gold ones may look better with the wall color (which is the same in both pictures), however, the walls will be painted soon and the frames will fit in perfectly then.

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From Blah to Bold to Calm

September 7, 2009

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Guest Bedroom Phase 1 : Guest Bedroom Phase 2 : Guest Bedroom Phase 3

From blah to bold to calm, this bedroom is like a chameleon. This room started out and remained a guestroom for quite a while until recently when it became more of a craft room/office with an occasional guest.

Phase 1 of this bedroom with the white walls, borrowed furniture, and Ikea bedding and cabinet had that just moved in look since, well, I had just moved in.

Once the time came for painting this bedroom, phase 2, I was in a crazy color mood and things became a bit bold. Grass green walls and futon, electric blue cabinet and rug, green and yellow accents, and lots of stuffed animals. And, yes, this was used as a guest room still.

Phase 1 to Phase 2 changes included:

  • Upgrading the twin mattress to a full-sized futon
  • Painting the walls a grass green
  • Upgrading the small cabinet to a large cabinet to hold blankets and sheets and guest-type things
  • Adding lots of accessories including stuffed animals and pictures

The current design, phase 3, reflects a calming of my personality. The 5 color elements used to design the room are:

  • sage green
  • dark brown
  • brushed nickel
  • white
  • medium brown

This room still has a ways to go, but it is currently functional.

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Living Room Lighting

August 20, 2009

It was time for some new lighting in the living room. The lights we had were really nice still, but I wanted to use them in one of the bedroom upstairs, so I researched to see what I liked and then see if I could find it locally. I did find the lights at 2 different stores and decided to get them at Target. They were pretty easy to put together. The harder part of getting the right wattage of CFL for the room. I didn’t want to be blinded, but I wanted the lights to light up the room. We have a ceiling fan with a light if we want garish bright overhead lighting. We have task lighting on our desks, so just a nice natural light would be good. After starting with the 150W equivalent, we ended up with the simple 40W equivalent CFL. We will be saving so much too with these new lights. Also, a neat added feature is these lights have 3 shelves for our speakers, a candle, and a few little items that usually go on an end table but now I can free up that space. The lamps turned out great!

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Lamp Install

August 13, 2009

I have been wanting to do something with the pot lights over our kitchen peninsula, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them. While looking at the Lowe’s circular for this week, I saw conversion kits that fit in the light socket of a pot light and create a pendant light fixture. I thought I would try them out, so while I was errand running today, I picked up two kits and shades. I was so excited about them that after dinner, I decided to install them. I only made one mistake – I forgot to get CFLs bright enough for the counter when we are cutting up veggies and such – I will get those tomorrow when I go out.

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Dots

June 10, 2009

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I was watching an episode of The Stagers on HGTV and I saw the coolest wall decor. A whimsical way to update the look of a room – minimal cost and reusable. The product is called DottiLicious by WallCandy Arts. DottiLicious consists of 80 circles of various sizes (1″ to 10″) and colors (pink, blue, green, yellow, brown) that can but stuck to a wall and then removed and stuck again when a change is wanted. On the episode of The Stagers, they decorated a baby room with the dots, but I think they could be used just about anywhere.

What I think is really cool is that these are removable. The dots can be moved from one room to another or taken from one home to another. Also, this is a nice way to decorate a rental when painting is not allowed or putting too many holes in the walls is discouraged.

The company, WallCandy Arts, has other removable wall decorations too.

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Rustic Half Bath

October 15, 2008

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Half Bathroom (Before) : Half Bathroom (After)

A gallon of paint, a few pieces of wood, wood stain, and a few accessories can make a plain, boring half bathroom look like a mini-retreat.

First, a color palette was chosen which included 5 elements:

  • dark brown
  • sage green
  • white/cream
  • medium brown
  • chrome

Changes to the room include:

  • Painted walls and ceiling a rustic green called Pea Soup by Behr in a Satin finish.
  • Built and installed a wood frame and stained it dark brown to make the mirror look more substantial and decorative.
  • Removed towel bar from the side wall.
  • Installed towel hook for hand towel.
  • Installed candle sconces on each side of the mirror.
  • Removed green lace curtains.
  • Color coordinated accessories in white, green, and brown.
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Blue to Brown

June 22, 2008

I was visiting with friends this weekend and I mentioned painting my living room again. I started talking about what color the living room used to be and what it is now. While I was on my way home, I was thinking about the conversation and realized that I should start writing about all of the color changes of all my rooms. Most of the rooms in my house have been painted twice and some will soon be painted for a third time. I am not indecisive (well, not about interior design), I just like change. So, the previous living room color change that happened in January 2006 will start a string of posts to follow.

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1st painting (Behr ShipSide) : 2nd painting (Behr Traditional/Oakwood)

Paint is one of the most inexpensive ways to give your room a completely different look.  And if you don’t like it, just repaint.

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Bedroom of a different color

March 28, 2008

As I have mentioned earlier, I have an obsession at times with changing the look of the inside of my house. This time it was the master bedroom’s turn to look different. For the last 7 years, my bedroom has been violet-indigo – the official color is called Heliotrope.

My usual process is to go to Home Depot, choose a few samples, bring them home, and then choose between them after viewed in various forms of light a couple times throughout the day. Then once a color is chosen, I go to the store and buy the color in Behr Satin sheen.

However, with my movement to green products, I was disappointed that Home Depot did not have a low or no VOC interior paint option. Just in case you don’t know, VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound and exposure to them can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat and cause choking, coughing, and a scratchy throat. I have experienced these things when painting using my previous paint, so after lots of research into earth friendly paint options, I chose to go with Sherwin Williams due to their most earth friendly paint option being zero-VOC – it is called Harmony. I bought a fan deck of all of the colors so there would be no running back and forth to and from the store to figure out what color I want. After strategically going through the entire fan deck and ruling out those I didn’t like, I got down to 3 colors. I then checked those colors with all of the items that would be going into the bedroom. After comparison, I decided to go with SW6039 Poised Taupe – I have been leaning toward neutrals recently, so it fit with the current trend of the house.

I bought paint last week and this Wednesday I painted the bedroom after removing everything from the room, cleaning the walls, and spackling the holes. The paint had barely no smell as it was going on the walls. Once dry there was no smell and we were able to sleep in the bedroom that evening. In addition, I only had to use one coat to cover the previous color completely – that is a first for me! From now on I will be using Sherwin Williams Harmony paint.

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Before : Master Bedroom : Heliotrope

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After : Master Bedroom : Poised Taupe

The headboard is stained a dark American Walnut so that it matches with the rest of the furniture and has a Polyacrylic Water-based sealer.

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