TayRose Design interior design DIY Archives - Page 2 of 7

New Home, new furnishings Part 2 Master Suite

Master Suite in neutrals

So many of us are so busy that we rarely have time to enjoy and retreat to our Master Oasis’s until the family has been fed; dishes done; lunches made for the next morning; kids bathed; stories read; kids tucked in; laundry folded; and bills paid…..so, collapsing into the bed that may or may not have been made that morning, and falling immediately into an unconscious slumber is how our Master bedroom meets our need. And yet, trends reveal when it comes to designing, or building a house, clients want the master suite, and “en-suite” to be spacious with sitting areas, even exercise machines with adjoining steam showers, double vanities and tv sets as their “must haves.” Who has time to enjoy all of this blessedness? But hey, who wouldn’t want a restful, spacious area to retreat to at the end of a hectic day? We all deserve a space that beckons when the day is done, and the door can be closed to put the world on a time out.

Master suite sitting area in neutrals

This Master bedroom space was one of those spaces where I wanted to create a soothing break from the demands that every young parent lovingly accepts. The client had sent me several photos of colors and styles they liked for the room which were very helpful to draw inspiration from and recreate for them. Neutrals were chosen, in creams and taupe with a bit of gray. Lots of texture from the nubby linen and metal nail heads of the casual chairs; the cool metal from the glass side table; to the painted metal art on the wall over the bed; and the soft cream of the carpet underfoot. The warm woods of the bed, nightstands and dresser give a nice contrast to all of the neutral colors surrounding the room.

Seating grouping in master

The comforter was a great find at Burlington’s and was the light neutral color that the client was looking for. It’s hard to see, but there are fine light gray lines creating a subtle pattern on the fabric. I was able to find matching shams, a throw, and all of the accent pillows at several different stores while shopping for accessories. We found long curtain panels that had beautiful texture and just the perfect colors of gray and taupe to frame the windows and carry the color to the walls. We hung the panels higher over the window to draw your eye up and helps the room feel larger.

Cream lamp and curtain panel by bedside

I found the lamps and shades, in a simple shape, creamy like the trim color and a few photo frames to be filled with kiddo pictures in black and white to keep with the neutral scheme. The design rule of grouping in 3’s and 5’s really does work in most cases, and helps surface areas from getting too cluttered. Choosing groups that have different heights and shapes gives the items more definition and interest. A small seating area was created on the back wall with a couple of nubby chairs, a small glass top table and then adding the accent mirror centered over the grouping instead of centering the mirror on the wall. The standing dressing mirror fit perfectly just outside the entrance to the master bath plus doubles as a jewelry cabinet- I love when products can be double duty…so functional!!

Since the bed should really be the focal point of the room, I wanted something light and airy for the space over the large bed. While in the Home Store, I found a large grey metal floral leaf art piece that was pointing up and leaning against the wall. I picked it up and immediately turned it upside down. Perfect! I just needed to take some cream colored chalk paint and lightly distress the metal a bit to soften the color and bring it more to a neutral but still have that hint of gray coming through….just like the comforter….get where I am going with this? Why upside down? Well, I think it looked better upside down, and I liked how the bottom which is now the top was narrower than the top which is now the bottom, and it seemed to “hug” the bed. Did I lose anyone? It’s fun to change up something whether it’s turning it upside down, or sideways, or adding a piece to it, or changing the color…..it’s all part of the design process.

Floral metal wall art painted and distressed

You will notice that there is a lot of wall space in this room, and we do have future plans for that. To the right of the bed, the wall leading to the master closet will be a grouping of black and white wedding photos framed and hung, one which will be enlarged to go behind an old pane window.

It’s important to carve out a space where you can escape…..even if just for a little while to rejuvenate….not only will you benefit from the results it can bring, but your family will appreciate it as well. Even something so simple as making the bed and finding homes for the clothes that made their way to the floor, can do wonders when you drag yourself at the end of the day to a space that is welcoming you back.

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Fireplace brick surround makeover-Brighten Up Space

This particular makeover didn’t start out as expected. You see, my client wanted to change the feel of her formal living room to more of a casual feel so they didn’t have to go downstairs to their family room all the time. My client was looking for new curtains, some updated wall art and accessories in colors that would bring some “pop” to the room.

Upon entering the room, what caught my eye first was the oversized sofa and loveseat which were newly purchased, so they had to stay. Secondly, the fireplace of multi-colored dark bricks didn’t give off the light and bright feeling she was looking for in the room. In the back of my mind, I remembered a fireplace makeover I had done just a few months prior and how well it turned out. So tentatively, not knowing whether she absolutely loved her fireplace or not, and, not wanting to offend her, but just to suggest, I asked her if she had ever thought of changing the brick color. Well, she almost jumped off the sofa with glee saying she always wanted to paint it but wasn’t sure- if I had any photos of the one I did prior, how much it would lighten the room, how soon it could be painted, and, oh, did I mention how excited she was!

Fireplace before paint treatment

I took lots of before pictures so I could show my friend Amy who helped me with the last fireplace makeover to see the size and colors. This fireplace is a smaller surface, only up to the mantle. My concern was how deep the colors were and how many coats of watered down paint we would need to brush on in order to cover the especially deep red colored bricks.

close up of bricks before paint treatment

Amy gathered up her glazes, rags and drop cloths, and I picked up a sample quart of the new color paint that the client was going to paint her walls…Accessible Beige from Sherwin Williams. One of my “go to” colors, it looks great anywhere with most any color. A perfect neutral.

We arrived and started our prep, taping with painters tape all around the edges and covering the fireplace doors and carpet with plastic, plus laying down drop cloths. It seems like the taping and prep takes longer than the painting, but very necessary! Not taking any chances of splattering paint on walls or carpet. We had a small bucket that we added some water and started to add the wall color paint, mixing it until it was lightly tinted. Better to start with a lighter mix than too opaque with the paint. With a brush in one hand and a rag in the other, we started to paint the first coat over the dark bricks. The bricks were soaking up the paint fast and barely changing the color. I thought, wow, this is going to take a lot of coats. After painting the whole area with the lightest coat, we waited a few minutes then added a little more paint to the water mixture and started the whole process over again, painting on and dabbing off with the rag. We found that we painted more over the red bricks then dabbed off some on the more darker color bricks giving a more varied look with the colors, plus, dabbing also gives texture- a stippled look.

Fireplace started painting after taping off

The client was working upstairs, but often came down to peek at the progress and loved seeing the transformation. I was surprised that we only had to go over the surface twice reaching the color saturation that the client approved with a little dabbing of extra paint here and there over the deeper red bricks. The surface dried very quickly, we waited about 20-30 minutes or so before removing the tape and plastic. The pictures show the fireplace before the walls were painted, they were a soft yellow color. The new wall color was painted about 3 days later in the same color as fireplace but a bit deeper, for the paint would be at full strength and not watered down. Thank you Amy, for the “after” photo, you can see how we let the different shades of colored brick come through for added dimension and color, but the reddish tints are now warmer neutrals.

Fireplace painted makeover after

As for the rest of the room, the client decided to wait a bit and decide what she really wants. I made some suggestions and she may call to have more work done.

Fireplace before and after

All in all, another fireplace makeover success. A side note…I love brick fireplaces and I rarely suggest painting them, but there are a few, that just need a little help, and we’re glad to oblige!

(If you have a fireplace that needs a little lift and you would like a quote and live locally, take a picture and measurements and email them to me and we can give you an approximate quote for the job.)

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Shareathon Cutting Edge Stencil Project – Sofa Table and Pillow

I again was invited by Hometalk.com to participate in a Shareathon project featuring Cutting Edge Stencils on any item of my choosing and sharing the process. I haven’t used stencils very often and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try them on a larger scale.

I went to the Cutting Edge website, www.CuttingEdgeStencils.com and tried to choose just one of their beautiful array of various stencils for my project. I had just been to an auction and purchased a sofa table that I thought would be a great candidate for stencils. I chose the “French Poem” allover stencil, from the website because I really liked the writing style and since I don’t speak French, the mystery of what the words say….

While waiting for the stencil to arrive, I decided that I would prep my table so it will be ready for stenciling. The sofa table had a factory finish, meaning it had a shiny finish over the paint that had to be sanded down before applying any new paint so the paint had something to grab onto.

After sanding, I wiped off all of the sanding dust and wiped down all of the surfaces of the table so it had a clean, dust free surface to start painting. Cutting Edge Stencils recommends acrylic or latex paint which I would have used if I painted my table with a latex paint, but I chose to try the mineral based paint again from Country Chic Paints in the color Cheesecake, for that color is a warm cream and goes with everything. I wanted a contrast color for accents and for the legs, so deciding the 2nd paint color was between Dark Roast and Licorice….dark brown or black. I chose the dark brown color, mainly because again, it would have a better chance of blending in with most decor, and I also wanted to add some metallic highlights, and an antique gold would best suit a dark brown color.

So with paint colors in hand and after the top of the table was sanded down, I used a sanding block to rough up the surface on the legs and apron of the table. One of the features that I liked about this table was that the ends flip up or down, and transforms from a really long table to a shorter version depending on the space allowed. Another feature is that there is a drawer, which is very nice to have to store items for buffet, desk or playing cards .

I painted 2 coats of paint on the top and on the bottom shelf and let it dry. I used a roller for the 2nd coat to smooth the layer, although the grain in the wood still showed the pattern, at least the paint was smoother without brush marks for an easier surface to stencil on. I also painted the legs and the border in the contrast color with 2 coats as well. The stencil arrived and there was a nice instructional sheet included along with a mini foam roller with several replacements and a small stencil brush. The instructional included everything I needed from materials, getting started, stenciling techniques, tips and tricks and finally, cleaning and storage of the stencil. Cutting Edge Stencils also have wonderful tutorials on their website that I referred to before I got started so a lot of the uncertainty I felt melted away.

The stencil I received was an allover stencil, which means it is made for large surfaces like a wall. Since the top and shelf of my table were on a much smaller scale, I ended up taping the stencil on the ends to stabilize the stencil so it wouldn’t move as I painted.

The table was also longer than the stencil, so I needed to re-lay the stencil after the paint had dried on the first half and line it up with the lettering to continue the poem. Since the stencil is clear, it was easy to line up lettering as the pattern continued on the surface. I started to use the small stencil brush using a small amount of paint on the brush, then dabbing on a paper towel before dabbing on table surface, and this process worked fine, but it was going very slowly, so I opted to try the foam roller instead.

What a difference! With the roller, painting went super fast and very easy. I still rolled off a lot of the paint on a paper towel before applying on stencil and was careful how I rolled so that the roller didn’t catch on the letter edges and pull them up while rolling. The chalk based paint seemed to work fine, no problems at all with the stencil. I wanted to also try the stencil on fabric, so after finishing the table, and laying the stencil on the pillow cover to see how I wanted to line it up, I used windex to spray on the dried paint and wiped clean with paper towels and rags. Easy peasy.

After all the surfaces were painted and dry, I applied some antique gold colored rub n’ buff metallic to the legs and a little on the borders to bring out some highlights on the curves and brighten up the brown a bit.

After applying the metallic, I used the natural wax offered by the same company as the paint and brushed on all the surfaces and buffed off the excess until all the stickiness was gone.

I found a wallpaper roll I had onhand that I used to line the drawer, so a bit of a surprise when opened, and the colors seemed to work well with the paint colors.

As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to try the stencil on fabric, so I used a solid velveteen pillow I had onhand, and I first removed the pillow insert, then laid the stencil down on top of the fabric and lined up the lettering as straight as I could, then taped down the edges of the stencil to the floor to keep it steady as I painted. I was able to use the foam roller in the same application procedure on the fabric as I did on the table top and shelf and it worked like a charm! I even used the same chalk based paint that I used on the table, for I read that the paint could be used on fabric as well. I decided to flip and have the cream stencil words on a brown surface to show a different look with the lettering, plus I did have the pillow on hand, so no added cost there!

When staging the photo with the table, I used a table lamp that had originally been brass and I painted it in the same color as the table with the chalk based paint, and I also took the lampshade and stripped off the fabric and painted the wire in cheesecake color as well. I found at Hobby Lobby back in the dollhouse furniture area, a small wood dresser that I painted in same paints as the sofa table to pull in the colors as your eye went to the top of the lamp, and to have a little unexpected finial idea.

I love how the stencil poem gives enough of a pattern but doesn’t feel too busy and can be decorated easily. (Of course, when my husband takes such beautiful pictures, everything looks awesome. See more of his wonderful work at eRegalStudio.com. )

Cutting Edge Stencils recommend storing the larger stencils flat and under a bed as an option, so that is where my stencil is heading….but not for long for I’m sure I will have more projects in the future that will include this stencil!

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Petite Rocking Chair gets “Rockin'” facelift

Taylor

23 Apr 2015

Custom Design, DIY, Interior Design Room, Repurposed

cotton piping, cushion, Home Decor, ikat, printing, rocking chair, TayRose Design

I found this sweet little rocker and I usually don’t buy rockers for they don’t sell at the shop, but this rocker was smaller, had some issues, and I thought that someone might want to put it in their garden with a pot of lovelies on the seat and wouldn’t really care too much about the condition. The rocker was stained in dark walnut, but had some paint marks on it here and there. The seat was originally cane, but it was all broken through and had a nailed masonite board over the hole in the seat. I brought it to the shop as is to use as display to set items on the seat, and it worked great! I had thought about painting it a lighter color and fixing it up a bit, but I thought I would wait and offer that to a buyer so I could get their color preference.

A buyer did come in and loved the chair just as it was but wanted to know about a cushion. So I packed up the rocker, brought it home and started to look it over a bit closer since it was not going out in a garden, but will be going into a bedroom. I decided to give the chair a facelift….a fresh look, retaining as much of the original surface as possible. The paint marks were not coming off with paint remover, so my only other option was to sand them and then re-stain. I was grateful to have a dark walnut stain on-hand, and started to sand off the paint; gave a light sanding over the whole chair; wiped off all the sanding dust and then I re-stained the whole chair with the walnut stain.

The chair seat was brown, but it had water marks and didn’t match the stain color. I turned the chair over and with an x-acto knife, I cut around the seat opening to remove all of the broken cane hanging down from the busted seat. I first thought to paint the seat dark brown which I did with acrylics in brown and black mixed together. It went on fine, but when it dried, I could still see the outline of the watermark. So, I decided to stain it with the same walnut stain I used for the chair. After the stain dried, it was perfect, no stains and the color matched the chair perfectly! Whew!

For the cushion, the buyer wanted blues, and I had just the right fabric in my stash which she loved. The ikat pattern had several shades of blue which will blend with the blues in her room. I made a pattern of the seat by tracing the shape with paper. I wanted to have some sort of piping, and to save time and labor costs, I decided to use some cotton laundry line I had from a previous project and whip stitched it around the outside edge in the seam of the sewn cushion with blue embroidery thread. I wanted the ties to be out of a nice wide ribbon for bows, and found some wired ribbon at JoAnn Fabrics that not only matched the color, it had the same texture as the fabric on the cushion…awesome! I used a small section of ribbon and folded it over where the piping ends came together and sewed it on by machine. The ties were also sewn on by machine as close to the seam as possible at the top. I added small buttons that I sewed in each corner for more detail.

I always like adding a bit of unexpected surprise to items I work on when the inspiration hits me, and I decided to add the word, “Rockin” to the masonite seat top. Not that it will be seen on a daily basis, or maybe ever….but when it is, I can just envision the smiles it will bring and that makes it all worth it. I don’t have fancy printers and special paper, and I didn’t want to make stencils, so I decided to make the words on the computer in the size and font I liked, printed it off, then I thought, now what? I used to take a pencil and rub the back of the paper with the words and then trace the top with a pencil so the words would carbon off on the surface, but this wood seat was dark so that wouldn’t work. Then the inspiration hit me to use dressmaker transfer paper! The transfer paper worked like a charm, I just placed a sheet under my word sheet, and traced the words with a pencil and lifted up the paper and voila! The word was all traced out. I then painted inside the letters with white acrylic paint and then outlined the letters with a black marker. I lightly sanded it with 320 grid so it would look a little worn, and then I wiped on a coat of poly over the whole seat and let dry.

It was fun to bring a worn, sad little chair to a “rockin” fresher version of herself….plus knowing that it will be loved in a new home makes it all the more special!

**Update on rocker, client backed out of sale unfortunately, so chair is still available and I may be painting some blue accents to break up some of the stained wood. This happens sometimes, when clients back out of a custom order and gratefully it doesn’t happen too often…all lessons learned.

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Wallpaper Challenge…at least for me

I had an invitation asking if I would be interested in a new program called “Share-A-thon”. They were inviting a few contributors to try out a product and then “share” the step by step project to inspire others. When I heard it was wallpaper I was intrigued, for I have never used wallpaper before except to line drawers, so I thought this would be something new to try. We were sent a link to the product, who in this case is Walls Republic found here, http://www.wallsrepublic.com/ that have beautiful online candy for the eye, pages and dreamy pages of wallpaper samples (plus you can get up to 5 sample swatches for free). We had a list of samples to choose from and I chose a paper called Adeline in the color, Duck Egg #97411.

These papers use a newer, “paste to the wall” technology, where you paste the item you are attaching the paper to without having to paste the paper first. The papers are hung dry, so no soaking before hand…a nice one less step. Another awesome feature, is that the papers are dry strippable, which means they are easy to remove by just peeling back a corner and the whole paper comes off in one sheet….no more stripper and heaters and scrapers…just peel and go! Do you know how many times I have wanted to try wallpaper somewhere but because of the hassle to remove it I didn’t? This feature alone has me going room by room looking at the walls much differently now….

I started thinking about how I would use the wallpaper. I knew that I wanted to make something that would show what to do with remnants after papering a wall. I decided on 3 items: a chair, a hanging lamp and a bi-fold door. I figured that these items could be used in a bedroom, a large bath or guest room.

3 before items for wallpaper project

After 3 pieces wallpapered with Walls Republic wallpaper

For the chair, I needed to shellac the chair first so that the tannin pigment of the stain would not bleed through the chalky mineral paint I planned to use. I found 2 colors that matched very closely to the colors in the wallpaper from Country Chic paints- Cheesecake, and Elegance. I applied the blue Elegance in various areas so it would show through the creamy cheesecake color when I distressed it.

After painting on the blue Elegance color, I applied 2 coats of the cream Cheesecake color. After drying for a day, I did some distressing and more blending of the 2 colors as per product directions…Country Chic has great tutorials on their website, which is so helpful for us diy’s. For the finishing coat on the painted areas of the chair, I used the Country Chic natural wax brushed on lightly then buffed off with a clean cloth for a smooth finish

Since the chair seat was wood, I thought it would be perfect to cover with the wallpaper. Mind you, this chair is meant to be an “accent” chair, not really used to sit on, but as a holder of sorts which you will see how further in the post. Also, the thick spindles along the back of the chair would be a great place to try some appliques with the wallpaper as well as an outlined curve on the top of the chair. I pried up the chair seat and painted the seat with a latex primer/paint mixture in white that I already had on hand. I painted 2 coats just to be sure no bleeding after the shellac layer and 2 primer/paint coats.

Once thoroughly dried as per can instructions, I unrolled some of the wallpaper out and laid the wooden seat on the paper and cut out leaving about and inch width around the perimeter to turn under the seat. I set the seat up on some risers ( I used all the same size paint cans) and proceeded to lightly bend the paper down along the edges so I can see the outline of the seat and know where the paper is supposed to lie. I picked up the recommended paste that Walls Republic had suggested from Lowes, the Roman brand adhesive and I brushed a liberal amount to the top of the wooden chair seat. Trying not to get any paste/glue on the top of the paper was the biggest challenge, then proceeded to lay my cut out piece on the seat starting from the top and laying down, pushing gently the air bubbles to the sides as I lowered the paper all the way down. Then I took my wallpaper brush I picked up at the Dollar Store, yeah..and smoothed more bubbles out to the sides for smooth surface. If I did happen to get a bit of glue on the paper, I tried to wipe off quickly with a damp rag.

Once the paper was dry, I really let it set overnight, I decided the best way to secure the ends under the chair seat was to hot glue along the underneath edge and it worked fine. For a little more added protection, I brushed a coat of Modge Podge to the surface and it dried clear and didn’t affect the paper, which was a great relief! (I did sample the Modge Podge on a small scrap to be sure it didn’t discolor the paper before actually applying to wood seat)

I decided rather than use the same nail heads which most of them were bent anyway, I had some large headed silver nail heads that my husband pre-drilled small holes around the perimeter of the seat and then hammered in the tacks. I like how the little bit of shimmer in the paper picks up the shimmer of the metal nail heads.

There is a part of the chair at the top that is outlined and I thought this would be a great place for an accent of this pretty paper. I made a pattern of the area on tracing paper and cut the wallpaper and applied it in the same way…paste, smooth out bubbles, clean off glue, modge podge. For the spindles cut “appliques” from the wallpaper and pasted them to the front of the spindles, smoothing the paper out with my fingers and wiping up the excess glue. When dry, I trimmed off the edges that stuck out with a razor blade.

Here are a couple of ways to use this trio of wallpapered items- in the bath:

Also in a bedroom, to catch tossed off clothing…

You could also use the bi-fold doors hinged together as a headboard for a twin or queen sized bed.

All in all, I learned more about wallpaper than when I started this project, and working with this new type of wallpaper, I think I was spoiled. W

hat turned out as a challenge ended up easier than I thought….I have a feeling that as I look around the house, many things just may end up with a wallpaper accent somehow…. try it, you’ll like it!!

To read about the other posts on wallpaper, find them here: http://tayrose.com/2015/04/16/taking-a-vintage-pendant-and-adding-wallpaper-for-a-fresh-look/ http://tayrose.com/2015/04/16/how-to-wallpaper-a-bi-fold-door-to-use-as-a-headboard-or-screen/

http://www.eregalstudio.com/ credit for finished group photo of wallpapered items.

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