Studio Progress

     So, for the first time in my life I'm going to have a room of my own. I don't have to share it with anyone, I can do what I want in there and I can decorate however I want! It's such an amazing thing.

     This is my space, it doesn't look like much but it's gonna be amazing. The big windows face south, I can see the water! It's a great size 14' x 12' with a large closet. Since the space will be my studio, it needs to be practical, so the first thing that needs to happen is the carpet has to go!

     Ciao carpet!

I want the flooring to be durable, easy to clean, not expensive, and fun to look at! After an unhealthy amount of research I decided to go with a tile product, VCT  - Vinyl Compsition Tile. This is a commercial glue down product designed for high traffic areas. It's really easy to put down - basically you put down a layer of adhesive, wait 20 minutes and set the tiles down. They cut with an exacto knife, come in a ton of fun colors and truly are indestructable.

                                   But first.... as long as the room is empty - let's PAINT!

     I chose this incredible, dark teal - it's going to be perfect with all my white cabinets and tables! But back to the tile....

     I simply found the center of the room, snapped chalk lines in both directions and layed the tiles along the lines - really is that easy!

BEAUTIFUL!! Now, on to those cabinets....

You've Gotta Break a Few Eggs...

And so it begins....

We bought this cute little house:

     It's a two level condo in a water front neighborhood. Pretty standard three bedrooms, three bathrooms. Nice size rooms, large eat-in kitchen, big windows. It's great for casual,  relaxed living.

    Some of my favorite things are that I have a smaller yard, which is a lovely plant filled space that I don't have to take care of. I don't have to do any of the yard work or any outside maintenance.

     It faces south and gets wonderful light in the room that I'll be using for my studio space. It's spacious but feels cozy and familiar. It's a beautiful color!

     It's within walking distance of my sister - there are gonna be sister adventures!

I'm excited about our new adventure in our new place.


     But of course, nothings perfect. The house sat empty for almost ten years. Everything is original to the house which was built in 1990. We decided that since we still owned our home in West Virginia we'd do some of the major renovations before we moved - less mess to live in. Structurally everything is in good shape but it needs a major update. We decided to do the kitchen, the bathrooms and the fireplace initially - then it just got out of control and lighting, my studio and the laundry room were added to the pre-move-in list.

Much craziness ensued.

   
     We gutted the kitchen, all three bathrooms and the fireplace. The thought process was that we weren't living there, these were the biggest projects, they would make the biggest mess and be the most inconvenient if we were in the
house while it happened.

     We're thinking how brilliant and organized we are!

     While we were making messes, we decided that more lighting would be wonderful, so we added pot lights to the kitchen and living room projects.

     More demo  ~  more holes

     Of course nothing went exactly as planned.

     When the cabinets came out and they took out the bulkhead (which the contractor was sure was empty) it was full of plumbing and electrical and heating ducts.

More demo  ~  more holes

     The estimated time to completion was six to eight weeks.  This stretched into six months. We failed electrical inspections FIVE times. For awhile it seemed as though they just kept adding more holes. We were about eight weeks with no water (yea, we failed those inspections too!).

   
     Oh, and we put new flooring in the foyer.That pile in the living room is the flooring.

     One of my favorite stories about this insanity is that while the house looked like nuclear fallout my husbands biggest priority was getting a television big enough to fit over the fireplace. That television and cable hook up were the first things done the minute he could get someone out there!

     He was the happiest man alive that day, and the next day when he was able to stroll down to our dock and cast a line.

     Stay tuned - it's all gonna come together and be our happy place!

Making a Different House a Home...

     It's been ages since I've posted anything - not because there was nothing to share, more because there's been too much. Sometimes you just get so caught up in the 'daily grind' you can't find time to do the things you love. The last couple of years have seen job changes, health issues and family stuff, seems like we're just rolling along from one catastrophe to the next around here.

     Well, there's about to be another big change - we've bought a house in the most amazing place, Soloman's Island, MD. There's about to be a whole lot of renovations going on! This was one of those, "too good to be true" sort of situations. We weren't looking for a house, it just sort of fell on us, like the Wizard of Oz! The first two years we owned the house we rented it out because it was the easiest thing at the time and the original thought was we'd move there when we retired.

     My husband had a heart attack in 2016. To say this was a life altering event is an understatement. We decided that waiting for retirement to live in paradise was the stupidest decision we'd made in a long time. So, after much planning we're headed to this lovely location:

     The house has a little age on it - built in 1990 but it sat empty for almost 10 years while the previous owner and a bank had a tug-o-war over it. Eventually the bank won and then... well, we won! So now I get views like this:

     I'm feeling pretty lucky! So stay tuned, there's a ton of work to do to make this house a home!

The Gorey Guest Bath

     I've been pondering the guest bath for a long time - three years to be exact. I knew that I wanted something fun, light hearted, amusing. But it's a really small bathroom and everything I came up with seemed as though it would overwhelm the tiny space.

 

But I also knew that I had to have some color! Gak! Look at all that beige!!!

So after much thought and the rejection of many ideas - including a really funny idea I had for using a Superman theme. Picture it - "This is a job for..." Bwahaahahahaha! I finally hit on the perfect thing. I decided to do a sort of a tribute to an artist and writer that I just love - Edward Gorey. If you're not familiar with his work Google The Gashlycrumb Tinies which is one of my favorites. I just crack up every time I see his work. 

So, first thing to do is begin to search for the right fabric to make the shower curtain. I found a great one in a color combination that looked perfect. Pale, sage green background with very pale pink highlights, lots of shades of grey. As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what I was going to do!

           I whipped up a shower curtain - so easy. Basically a giant square with wide hems top and bottom. Measure your opening, you'll need one and a half times the width of fabric and about 72" long. I decided to use large grommets instead of shower curtain rings. I've done posts before on how to use these grommets before, so if you want the details check out this post: Drapes

But here's the quickie version of how to put them on. 

Using the template that comes in the package, measure and mark the locations for your grommets. Take the size of the grommets into consideration when you're spacing them and always use an even number. I used a dozen 2.5" grommets. 

Cut the holes, be careful to stay inside the line!

Put the half of the grommet with the ridges under the fabric, place the half of the grommet with the spikes on top. Make sure the fabric is  under the grommet and snap the two halves together. So simple - and aren't they so much better looking than those metal rings?

Now to get the paint up - and I do mean UP! I decided that I wanted to paint the ceiling as well as the walls. Why don't we all paint the ceilings?? It's one of my favorite things to do. This is a really dark little space so I wanted to stay away from overly dark colors and try to give the room the illusion of size and light. I did this by painting the ceiling a very pale pink. The color is called Pink Taffy by Valspar. The walls are a true grey called Gravity. Crisp, clean, light ~ perfect!

This is probably the worst picture ever. Don't worry, I have others!

Now for the fun part ~ I wanted an accent wall. I love really wide stripes, which I could have done but I wanted something a little more - dramatic. So, I decided to go with huge (12" wide) stripes at a 45' angle. In my head this sounded simple but after much pondering, mumbling, mathing, I gave up and called my daughter-in-law, the math teacher. She made me a gigantic template! It's the perfect 45' angle with little marks for the width of each stripe marked on it. All I had to do was start in the corner, make the first line, slide the template over until it lined up with the marks and zip the next line on - couldn't be easier!

Once all the lines are lightly penciled on the wall I taped off the stripes using Frog tape. It looked like this:

You'll notice that the stripes aren't the same width. The wider sections are the ones that will be painted the darker grey. Once the tape is on the wall you need to work fairly quickly because the longer the tape stays on the wall the harder it is to remove it cleanly. My process is to paint a stripe and then remove the tape while the paint is still wet. The lines come out much sharper that way.

AWESOME!!

Now we just have to put it all together!

I just love these quick, easy projects. A little fabric, a little paint ~ a big change!

I

The Guest Room Makeover

Furnishing a guest room is a special challenge. Of course there needs to be the typical things every bedroom needs - a place to sleep and a place to store clothing. But more than that, you need the space to convey a message; welcome, relax, enjoy. I want anyone who stays in my guest room to feel like they're on vacation. Even if it's just an overnight visit they should be relaxed, worry-free, cozy and comfortable. I wanted to fill the room with memories of past vacations, reminders of great places and times spent with friends and family: smiles.

 I love the guest room in our house. It's a really big room (14'x14'), has a good sized walk-in closet with a window, and a huge double window (72" wide), on one wall making it a wonderful, bright space.

 One of the very first things I found for the room was this amazing painting - one of those, stop-you-in-your-tracks kind of paintings. Loved the colors, the feeling of experiencing another time, days at the lake, family, vacations, endless summers - this was what I wanted in this room!

I decided that blue and yellow and lots of bright whites would be the perfect combination for this space. I didn't want the room to get crowded with a lot of bulky, dark furniture. Blue for the water - lakes, oceans, rivers, ponds and pools - places we all go to relax and have fun. Yellow for the sun, warmth, summer - happiness! White for the furniture and all the doors and trim - it keeps things light and fresh.

I already had a nice queen sized bed and nightstands for the room but needed a headboard. We have one of those unfinished furniture places here in town where I managed to score the perfect headboard,  simple, clean lines and the best part is that is was only $5.00!! It had a crack in the wood - whatever!

I filled the crack with wood filler, painted the headboard bright white and viola! Perfect headboard!

The other cool thing I found in the unfinished wood place was this nifty bench - which looks great and is a terrific place to put on your shoes. A quick coat of bright white paint and a cushion I made from a fabric remnant - whole project cost less then $25!

This little sign is one of my favorite things in the room. It's painted on wooden boards. I simply added the cup hooks along the bottom and used sea urchin shells and air plants to make little jellyfish which I hung from lengths of twine. How cute is that??

Every room needs a mirror and some hooks for hanging a towel, your purse, a robe - whatever. This piece combines the need for mirror, shelf and hooks - all with great style!

I added this little dresser to have a place to store things for guests staying more than a night. I keep travel size items in the top drawer like shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, deodorant and such in case items are forgotten. Small nightstands on either side of the bed with drawers for storage and lamps for night readers. These are the kinds of touches that I think make this room special. It's important to think of the little things that will make guests as comfortable and welcome as possible.

 Lots of vacation reminders complete the room. I know I got this one right because I want to sleep here! It feels welcoming and cheerful.

 I've even got a dog beg that I keep stored under the bed in case we have family or friends who visit with their canine companions.

Creative Space - Part II

     Last November I did a post about our basement. I really thought that I would have it finished by now and I'd be down there every day creating up a storm. Didn't happen. Life intruded ~ it looked like this:

I had to have a total hip replacement ~ *sigh* ~

     It went really well and now I'm walking and climbing stairs and ready to rock-n-roll on the basement! When I last posted about this project we had just finished the drywall and had the carpet installed (you can see it here: Basement - Stage I). The next step was to get the lights up and hang doors. We used pre-hung doors - a little more money but such a time saver! They come already in the frame, you simply pop off the  back of the frame, slide them into the opening, level the door using shims and put the frame back on. We have five doors down there and the whole project was done in less then a day.

     Then came the fun part.... paint!

     Painting the doors is something that I really stressed over. I love to paint, I just really don't usually love painted doors or trim. I normally paint both with a bright white. I do this because I love color and I change my mind a lot. It's easier to paint a wall then it is to paint a lot of trim! BUT - I want the basement to be bright colors ~ really bright. I found a poster that I really loved and decided to use it as my color inspiration - 

The winning colors are  ~ Sea Frolic and Pumpkin Custard.

     All the doors are this beautiful bright orange!

     I'm really happy with the color and really glad that I decided to paint the doors, the color makes me very happy. 

     Now I just have to find a free day to get those walls started! Stay tuned for Part III....

It's All About the Legs

     I have been looking for months and months for the perfect coffee table for the living room. I love Mid Century Modern patterns and colors but I'm not completely in love with all the furniture. I could see in my head, sort of what I wanted, but couldn't find it anywhere.

     I saw a table in a magazine that someone made that was soooooo close - and I decided, what the heck.... how hard can it be? The idea was simple, I would make and paint the top and purchase hairpin legs. I started smurfing around the internet for the legs and came across these...

   
     Are you serious? These came from Spiral Cone Legs - a husband and wife company. Each leg is custom made from welded steel and powder coated. It's the only place in the world that you can get them. I was immediately in love - and had ordered mine in about thirty seconds.

     Next step was to get the rest of my supplies which were pretty simple. I bought a half sheet (4'x4') of 3\4" plywood. I didn't get the top quality because I was going to paint the table and put a glossy finish over the paint. I used a big sheet of cardboard to make a template, once I had the size and shape worked out, I traced it onto the plywood and used a jigsaw to cut it out.

So far, so good! I spent the rest of the afternoon sanding the edges, mostly because I'm really not great with the jig saw and the edges were crazy crooked! I didn't want the edge to be straight, I wanted it to angle back from the top to the underside. I got a router bit and stood nervously by while my husband routed the edge. Maybe I'll be brave enough to rout the next project!

Then it was back to the sander....... I sanded the routed edge and the top of the table, filled in a couple of places with wood filler that were too deep to sand smooth and tried to get the top edge just slightly softened.

Now we get to the scary part... paint and putting on the design. Up to this point, I could pretty much sand out any mistakes - the paint was going to be harder to fix if I hated it.

I knew I wasn't going to need that much paint so I got a Valspar sample - $2.98 at Lowes - it only took one little tub to put three coats on the table top. The color is called Sea Mist - I painted the edge and the underside several shades darker. I played around with the colors and shapes for the design on paper until I was happy. There are hundreds of pattern references on the internet for Mid Century Modern designs. I wanted something clean, simple and sort of Sputnik looking.

I penciled the circles very lightly onto the table top and painted them using craft acrylics.

The black line work is done using a Sharpie brand permanent marker.

The legs were really easy to attach, they have tabs with holes for the screws. One of the tabs is longer then the others so that you can get the legs positioned correctly. The long tab should point outward. You can get these legs either straight or angled, mine are obviously the angled style. Thanks to the Spiral Leg guys for thinking of the details!

The legs are attached with a washer and 3\4" wood screws.

Final step was to put a finish on the table. I wanted it to be very glossy. I used a Valspar spray on varnish. It worked great and dried in about 15 minutes, but because it was an acetone based product I had to spray it in the garage with the doors open.

I love it when an idea works! Now I'm gonna try to figure out how to re-upholster that ugly little ottoman in the background!