Stencil.... Yet Again!

I wanted to finish grouting the tile, and install the faceplates, but Drew has had some crazy busy work week... And the stencil just turned out too awesome to hold out on you!

This first picture shows how subtle the paint looks... The other pictures are taken from angles that emphasize the gloss and matte...

We love it... We just stand in the bathroom and admire it! Patting our own backs, and self high fiving!

Stencil 2

Stencils Continued...

This is where a little bit of magic happened.... Drew took over... I am not one for details and patients when it comes to projects... In fact just tonight I spray painted a round mirror.... I got one strip of tape on it and said forget it.... Why else did they invent goof off?!

I will say that i did paint the walls in the bathroom first, point me! Again, I chose Sherwin Williams, light french grey... We chose a satin, and gloss finish of the same color... We painted on the gloss first, and then when we painted the stencil we did the satin which is a flatter sheen... So Drewpy took the reins... Found the center of the wall, and placed the new stencil paper over it...

The stencil paper is more of a plastic, so it doesn't warp when wet with paint, and clear so you can trace easily...

We used a high density foam roller, we kept an old pillowcase next to the tray. After you get paint on the roller, we rolled it on the pillow case so that the roller had minimal paint on it...

Too much paint on the roller and you would get paint runs, underneath the stencil...

Drew did super light strokes, multiple times... We ended up going back through and painting two coats...

Drew just pushed the stencil in the corner and rolled it... I kept telling him to wait until the end and cut it so it fit in the corner easier, but this seemed to work for him...

This is in the middle of the second coat of stencil...

A sneak peak of the stencil drying....

It is so nice to have a busier pattern, toned way down because the color is the same, but just a hint of gloss....
Final pictures hopefully soon!

Stencil

So I decided to try my hand at wall stencils... Love the look, don't love the price... $60 for a stencil.... However let me just say, that after I started in on my DIY wall stencil, I now understand the price, and might invest in one.

laylagrace.com

I found this pillow, and loved the pattern, I liked that there are two shapes in one.

So I saved the picture on my iPad. Used my app, ArtRage, enlarged the pillow, and snapped a screen shot of the pillow pattern...

Then I measured my walls, there is not a lot of room in between my crown moulding and marble tile wainscot. Which will hopefully make for and easier painty job.

After measuring the wall, I picked the scale I wanted for the design, and sized the picture to what I needed.... Then came the super sophisticated iPad way of tracing.... I slapped my piece of paper on top of my screen and traced it.... Oh to have an HP Wireless printer.... All of these champagne problems...

The real problem was I was nervous that I didn't trace it exactly even, or that the image because it came from a pillow would be slightly skewed, which would end up throwing off the whole wall... So I measured one "corner" of the stencil, and then traced it four times.... Flipping it over and turning it upside down to get perfect proportion.

I then took that tracing and made a few more cut outs to see if my proportion was on.... It was...

Then I bought a cardboard box from Home Depot, for $1... I wanted something thick, so the paint wouldn't warp it, but something I could cut through with an exacto knife...

This is where I turned it over to Drew.... My brain doesn't work the way his does.... He's a gosh darn genius... He squared up the cardboard using the 1,3,5 method.... Whaaaaaaa? Then measured my stencil, and spaced them out evenly and traced them all for me... I got out the exacto knife and cut out his tracing...

Well I'll give you a spoiler alert... Cardboard was crap.... Too thick, and we would have had to press the roller too hard to get the foam roller to get it to paint the wall... So we made a trip to the Hobby Lobby to buy some stencil paper....
Part deux.... To... Be.... Continued....

Instagram Week

This week I watched a three year old beam with pride as she rode her bike all the way to the park... I beamed a little too...

I love my job...

While vigorously a knife, I ended up jamming it into my hand, in-between my thumb and pointer finger... In hung in there for a second while I talked myself into not fainting... Pulled it off, and tried to swear off doing dishes forever...

Come to find out we are I'll prepared for bodily injuries... I found a t-shirt and painters tape for a bandage... Not the best...

Drew helped me make a wall stencil... Walls are primed and ready... Hopefully to be finished this weekend...

On a trip to Home Depot we spotted a free couch.... Which I believe to be perfect for our home office.... Drew insists it smells like urine..... Drama Queen!

Have a happy weekend!

Drew's Paneled Wall

Drew did a finish trim job that I just had to share...

Boring, plain beige wall, no trim around windows... Boring, boring, boring.... I'll tell you what wasn't boring, was the owners, houndstooth, tufted headboard... I had no idea the houndstooth would translate so well onto a tufted piece... Now to make the wall match the headboard.

Drew had a shelf from another room, made out of a super expensive wood that the client wanted the wall to look like. Drew took less expensive wood, and stained it to match.... Plank by plank....

Drew's staining method is precise, and always turns out beautiful and not blotchy.

1. Start with Minwax Pre-conditioner... This helps the wood absorb stain at the same rate... This is key to avoid blotches.

2.  Use cheese cloth rags to dip in and rub the stain on.  Drew uses minwax stains, that are found at Home Depot.  Always rub the stain on in the direction of the grain.

3. Let it sit...

4.  Wipe of excess...

5. Apply second coat of Minwax stain.. I believed he used Walnut on this wood.

6. When the wood is the color you want, wipe off excess and let dry.

7. Then using sponge brush apply a clear coat.  Drew also used Minwax's Polycrylic sealer.

8. After clear coat dries according to instructions take a fine grit sandpaper and knock down the sealer...

9.  Don't worry about wiping between coats of sanding and sealing... It all gets absorbed. 

10. Final coat of sealer... and done.

To install...

1. Drew started at the base of the wall and marked some level marks with a chalk box and a level.  This helps keep the boards straight... After the first few, they sit on top of each other so there isn't too much room for error.

2.  Then he shot on the boards with his Ridgid Nail gun, shooting 16" on center as much as possible because that's where the studs are in the wall..

3. When he got to the windows this is where it got tricky, he measured the distance and cut the planks to size, then mitered the ends on 45 degrees and returned them into the window with short cuts also one side cut on a 45 degree mitre.

4. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat...

And Bam! The big reveal! I should have given you a little bit more warning it was coming.... It's dangerous to thrust that much beauty on a person all at once.... Smiley face!

But seriously.... Come on, isn't it incredible? Yes... Yes it is!

Any home improvement needs? Call Drew...
801.244.8790

Repurposed Entertainment Center Turned Vanity

Drew had an old entertainment center he was hauling away from a job he did. The entertainment center was super long and had two glass doors.

We dismantled the entertainment center, which came apart easily into two cabinets.

We cut the top down to size...

The only tricky part was getting the edge detail match all the way around. So we cut the edge off of the scrap piece we weren't using, and glued it onto the edge.

We bought 4 legs from Home Depot, for a few dollars each.

Painted everything, with Martha Stewarts paint line, zinc.... Perfect grey.

We still have some knots to fill, and paint touch ups... I am thinking about painting the inside of the glass grey, I love the look of the underside of glass painted... Gives it a nice depth.

Now to build our sink and the vanity is complete!

Gold Bird Branch Mobile

For a high school/sorority friends shower I decided to make a felted mobile... It started with cutting a branch from our Aspen tree.

Plucked the leaves from the branch...

Lightly, lightly sanded the branch, and cleaned it off. And sprayed it gold with Rustoleum's metallic gold, spray paint.

Then sealed it with modge podge's spray sealer.

I then tied my birds and clouds that I felted to the branches with fishing wire. I stacked the branches on top if each other to give it a little dimension.

I love how it turned out... Now just to get it to my friend!