paint

little things :: the hand edition

23 November 2015 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Recently I had the opportunity to finish a little project that’s been curing for a while. If I’d known it would be so quick and easy I would have completed it ages ago!

I bought this awesome cast iron hand to hold jewelry in my bathroom from one of my favorite shops in Columbus, Elm and Iron (they have a shop in Cincinnati too)…

And while the cast iron look is great, it was not the look I was going for in my bathroom. So I broke out some leftover champagne metallic spray paint and gave it a spritz.

After a mere two quick coats, it looks like this…

Exactly the look I was going for.

So I hung it below my affirmation art…

…and added a little gold paint pen to the screw heads so they didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. (Get it? Sore thumb?)

Add jewelry and voila! A stylish piece with a practical application!

Hands down, a super fun project!

(OK, I’ll stop with the puns now.)

another glorious chalkboard project

31 December 2014 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Remember the 1990s?

I do, mostly because my kitchen table and chairs remind me of the 90s on a daily basis…

With the table legs being a full-on tribute to the 90s…

90s table closeup
But the 90s table is all I have and nowhere in my mostly non-existent budget is there a line item for a new kitchen table, so I had to get creative.

You know how I love chalkboard paint, right? It’s already kind of a theme in my kitchen, since I painted my kitchen cabinets with chalkboard paint and did a section of the wall in chalkboard too. Why stop there?

I decided to paint my kitchen table in chalkboard paint.

Of course the peanut gallery (ie, my kids) thought it was a terrible idea. And of course I could care less about their opinion on such matters because I had a vision! So I set about painting it with chalkboard paint.

I started out with the legs and underside. I used an angled brush to get into the corners, nooks, and crannies, but mostly used a small foam roller designed for painting cabinets to get the smoothest application.

After just the first coat things were looking a little scary. Like maybe my kids were right and I had made a GIANT mistake…

Chalkboard paint not looking like it’s going to cover or stick to the surface. (No I didn’t prime or sand…this is me we’re talking about!)
Christmas tree not yet decorated, despite it being 3 weekends before Christmas. Yes, in fact, I was procrastinating on my decorating by painting my kitchen table. What of it?
My son’s laundry. Just keeping it real, people.
Dog photobombing my picture like it’s her job. And yes, she does have bows in her hair.

With regard to #1, what could I do, other than press onward. So I did…

I painted 5 coats on the legs and sides of the table. Not too bad – only took a couple of hours. Then I let it dry and flipped the table over to paint the top. The top got 6 coats. Sounds like a lot of time and effort, but since it was such a small area (not a complete wall or room), the actual painting time didn’t take long. And while each coat was drying, I just went on about my business. You know, avoiding decorating for Christmas and whatnot. I started the project at 2pm and put the last coat on around 11pm.

Here it is, beginning to come together and not looking so scary…

The most awesome finished product…Not only does it look fabulous, but I’m thinking it looks a kind of Pottery Barn. All for the price of a can of chalkboard paint, which was about 10 bucks! Can’t beat that!

Plus the formerly 90s table legs got a new lease on life, with a line of chalk drawn in the inset…

I had thought about maybe doing gold leaf in the inset, but then realized that a chalk line would be the perfect casual addition to the table! Plus I can change the colors when I feel like it or erase it completely, depending on my mood.

Here’s my first scribbling on the new table…

Now if you think that’s the end of the story, you clearly haven’t been reading here for too long.

It was only moments before I realized that with a 14-year-old and a 21-year-old, I probably made a very grave mistake in painting anything chalkboard. Let’s just say they added some “commentary” to my otherwise glorious chalkboard project…

Sigh. And it only got worse from there. Most of it wouldn’t even be considered PG-13, so I won’t elaborate. But I’m sure you can use your imagination. At least the table looks great.

PROJECT UPDATE

And by project update, I mean project FAIL!

So this happened…

It started out with a couple of scratches in the paint, then a couple of areas that bubbled, followed by the kids and I having a paint peeling party one day at dinner.

Lesson learned: USE PRIMER!

So we continue to peel away portions. It’s far more rewarding than sanding. And I guess I will either a) leave it as it once it’s fully peeled, or b) eventually repaint, this time using a primer.

Why can’t anything ever be easy? Hahahaha! And that, my friends, is the true nature of DIY!

If you enjoyed this blog post, please share…

design vacation :: angsty teen boy’s room

21 October 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

My little boy is not so little anymore.

In fact, he’s a teenager. Guess that means it’s high time for an angsty teen room.

When we last saw the boy’s room, it was a vintage cowboy room…

Not so cool for a teenager. So sadly it had to go.

Then it needed to cure for the requisite length of time. Here at Homage Style, we don’t just jump into projects. We think them through, allowing the creative juices to flow. Some call this procrastination. I call it the creative spirit!

Well, this past week, my son went to Washington, DC with his 8th grade class, so I decided to take some time off from my day job and revamp the boy’s room. So off I went on yet another design vacation.

My son picked his own paint color and it was deep cobalt blue from Behr. I felt that it might be a little dark and overpowering, but then again, I’m just the mom…what the hell do I know? So I let him have his paint color. Ultimately it was the perfect color to set the tone for a dark and angsty teen room.

Let’s take a look around the room, before the angsty teen boy gets home and kicks us out! Here’s the finished product…

With two windows, the room gets plenty of light, plus the black and white striped curtains from Ikea help to keep things light and fun.

At the foot of the bed are two grey beanbag chairs…

For the record, I don’t advocate TVs in kid’s rooms, but the boy scavenged this one, and a little dumpster diving never hurt anyone, so I let him keep it. Plus there’s no cable, so he can only play video games on it. Aren’t those beanbag chairs perfect for gaming?

In the corner above the TV is a globe lamp that I made myself from a discarded globe my sister the school teacher gave me…

Globe lamp how-to blog post coming soon. Bet my sister’s sorry she gave up that little treasure!

On the wall next to the TV is an old laminate bookcase that I spray painted ages ago for kid #1 and it’s still going strong. Above it is a manly French memo board that I created from a wooden retail display shelf…

Ohio State fans, don’t mind the Michigan hat…he only wears it on crazy hat day!

How-to blog post for the French memo board will be coming soon too.

The memo board is my pride and joy of the entire room! I’ve been percolating on this idea for quite some time now and was thrilled with how it turned out!

A closer look…

The wall opposite the window has some great features as well, like the floor-to-ceiling bulletin board made of 12″x 12″ cork tiles…

Isn’t that fun? Right now there’s a synthesizer in front of it, but I’m sure it won’t be long before it’s covered with all sorts of memorabilia.

Notice the You Are Awesome poster that I made last year at a letterpress printing class I took with some girlfriends. Plus there’s the lava lamp…isn’t that a requirement for every angsty teen room?

And the black and white striped canvas balances out the black and white curtains on the other side of the room and breaks up all that blue. It was super easy and cheap to make…just painted the canvas white, then taped off for the black stripes, painted the black stripes, and voila!

We’ve all heard the saying, the best things in life are free. Well, this is especially true for free art! It’s the best!

I was lucky enough to score some advertising art posters from work and was thrilled that they were the perfect colors and style for the boy’s room. And by score, I mean co-opt them after someone left the company and left these bad boys behind. The first is a cool clown placed to the left of the window…

And the other is a giant robot towering above the headboard…

To the left of the robot poster is a Serbian ethnic instrument, a tambura, which the boy occasionally tries his hand at. It, along with the wooden French memo board and the cork board, as well as the natural wood on the furniture and the wooden box on the nightstand add an earthier touch to what could otherwise be a too cold blue room. All the beautiful wood tones warm up the room while giving it a very masculine touch.

I was really happy with the way the room turned out, but was especially thrilled when the boy came home and said he LOVED his new room! I’d call that a successful design vacation!

black angels

1 September 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Perhaps it reflects the blackness of my soul, but I find something so alluring about high gloss black angels.

So in the spirit of attending to the blackness of my soul, this weekend I decided to finish curing yet another project…the black angels project.

Honestly people, this project has been curing in my garage for probably seven years. Rather than judging me and thinking what a lazy human being I must be, consider it a personal favor to you. Doesn’t it make you feel better about yourself to know that there’s someone out there far lazier than you? And besides, if I can start and finish a project after it’s cured for seven years, hell, you can do just about anything you put your mind to!

The black angels started their life as an underwhelming resin wall hanging…

This spot over my front door needed a little something…

It’s bland…very bland…

So I took the basic resin angel wall hanging…

…tossed it on a lawn bag in my garage and started spray painting with a high gloss black. It only took 2 coats, so it was quick and easy, plus it didn’t cost me one red cent, because I already had the spray paint (and you are aware that I’ve had the damn resin thing lingering around for years).

And before you know it, it was a reflection of the high glossy blackness of my soul…there…now, isn’t that better?

Here it is above the front door…

You don’t get the full effect from afar, plus the area still needs to much more work (paint on the walls, the door painted black, board and batten all around – I have big plans, people), but you get the idea.

Another close-up…

And the angels from another angle…

Gloriousness!

Thank goodness I felt like letting the high gloss blackness of my soul come out this weekend. I just love how these glorious black angels turned out!

Showing off at Funky Junk Interiors.

finally figured it out

26 January 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

The other day when my sister and I were sitting around in my bedroom like it was our job, I finally figured out what’s wrong with my bedroom. Aside from needing to be painted something other than beigiest beige.

It doesn’t match the style of my house.

It was a total EUREKA! I have found it! moment. I was completely excited as I explained my rationale to my sister. She, being the kind, yet sarcastic person that she is, handled it all well and without too much boredom or irritation.

See, the problem is that it has a vaulted ceiling with all kinds of funky off-center angles and whatnot…

…which is a very contemporary look, yet the style of the house is more traditional. It’s always bothered me and I finally put my finger on the problem after a mere 6.5 years.

Um yeah, I am taking these pictures from my bed. Don’t be a hater! It’s Saturday morning!

Needless to say, I was dancing around with joy, trying to explain all of this to my sister. She was OK with my explanation, but I didn’t think she was understanding the seriousness of this discovery. I mean this is right up there with gravity, the New World, and the human genome project.

One thing she did understand and agree with me wholeheartedly is my opinion on plant ledges. They’re stupid. Giant dust collectors. Only look good in model homes with a set of 3 giant vases (pronounced “VAH-zez”).

All of this angled, vaulted, plant-ledged goodness in a lame attempt for the builder to make the room seem bigger – soaring ceilings, decorative spaces – when the room is plenty big and most people just want to cozy bedroom anyway. A tray ceiling would have been a better option, or maybe even just a plain old flat ceiling.

So my answer is to paint not just the walls (gray), but also the ceiling. Of course this kind of thinking gives people angst. When I mentioned it to my teenage daugther, she shouted “No!” My sister was more diplomatic and suggested that perhaps I paint the walls first to see how I like the color.

Phooey. Go big or go home! (I’m already home, but you know what I mean.)

Anyway, I think that painting the ceiling will give the room a more cohesive look – tie it all together. With so many angles, crown molding would look odd, plus it would accentuate the contrast of styles (contemporary vs traditional) and not in the good, throw-in-something-funky-when-you’re-decorating way.

And the white ceiling is so vast and “soaring,” I’m concerned that it would still be the focus of the room…

Now, I must admit that I am slightly concerned that the room will be too dark and that I might lie in bed, look up, and feel like my coffin lid is closing down on me, but the room has plenty of light, so it should be OK. Plus the single color should help to play down all of the many overly dramatic angles.

Notice this…

…that’s where Estelle is going to live…

And notice this…

…no, your eyes do not deceive you. That is, indeed, a smoke detector place approximately 12 feet off the ground for easy battery upkeep. And let me assure you that said smoke detector never started chirping during daylight hours. Last time it was 11pm on a school night that had me running to the grocery store for batteries. I’m sure it’s probably placed so high based on some building code, but I also have to point out that it’s the perfect placement in the event that someone bursts into flames while attending to the plant ledge.

clockwork orange

26 March 2012 by Andrea 1 Comment

Or…

How I Realized That I Would Be Crazy to Paint My Wall Orange

I had this brilliant idea that I would paint an orange rose, something along this lines of this…

…on a giant canvas and hang it on this gray stairwell wall…

…which would be great, because I’m planning to use orange as an accent color in my family room, and it would all tie together seamlessly.

Then I got the brilliant idea that I could paint a small section of the wall orange to the left of the gray wall. Seemed like a great idea in my mind. (That’s foreshadowing, folks…)

Since I was only going to paint about a 5-foot section, I thought about just buying a quart of paint and going for it. But then I thought better of it when I wasn’t certain which orange to choose, so I brought home a couple of paint chips and taped them to the wall like I always do…

…which is a good thing, because I realized that I hated all of them and I don’t think that orange is a color that I can live with, at least not on an entire wall. Didn’t like a single one of them. Not the coral or macaroni and cheese variety, not tangerine, not clementine, not bold orange, none of them.

So let this be a lesson to you. (And by you, I mean me.) Always tape your paint chips to the wall to see how you like them before slathering on the paint.

design vacation :: project break :: shabby chic meets mod lamps

23 February 2012 by Andrea 1 Comment

I’m on vacation this week, and spending some time cleaning and freshening up a couple of rooms. I’ve been hacking away at my master bedroom, slowly but surely.

The look that I’m going for in my master bedroom is shabby chic meets mod. I’ve already got the shabby chic going on, and a couple of mod elements, but felt that these lamps were a little too ornate for the look I’m after…

The one on the right can be seen here in these keeping it real pics from the master bedroom…

Sorry, no before pic of the other lamp.

I decided to spray paint both lamps a glossy white. Simple enough. I figured it should be a quick and easy sprucing up. Maybe an hour max. Of course even thinking that was the kiss of death that guaranteed I’d have some sort of problem! Guess I forgot the basic physics formula of any DIY project…project time and difficulty is inversely proportionate to the number of times DIYer says or thinks it will be a quick and easy slam dunk!

Here are they lamps after the first coat or so…

I happened to notice that the lamp on the left was having a little bit of an adhesion issue…

The paint just wasn’t sticking on the neck of the lamp. What the heck? So I continued spraying. I would conquer this lamp with cheap spray paint.

No improvement. Maybe it was the cheap spray paint. Maybe it was because I didn’t wait long enough between coats. Or maybe there was some sort of texture or oil base or who knows what. The other lamp, however, was shaping up quite nicely.

I had a can of Krylon Fusion for Plastic in white, so I decided to give that a try, since it’s supposed to stick to just about anything. That began to work.

After I got the neck of the lamp fixed up with the Krylon, I sprayed the entire lamp with a couple more coats of glossy white. Finally, success!

Here’s the lamp that didn’t give me too much trouble, on a terrific inlaid shell table that I scored a couple years back at the end of summer for $20…

And here’s the problem child, that turned out great in the end…

Perhaps you’re wondering, why white? It’s all going toward my evil plan of eventually painting the walls a rich gray. Just imagine how beautifully the furniture and accessories will pop against a deep gray backdrop. Can’t wait to get to the painting phase of the journey.

A fun, eclectic collection of goodies that makes my shabby chic meets mod dream come alive.

And don’t forget to enter the Spring Cleaning Giveaway for a chance to win this adorable sterling silver charm bracelet!

Click here for contest entry details.

Showing off at these link parties…

the candidates

26 January 2012 by Andrea Leave a Comment

No, not those candidates!

This is about bedroom politics. Bedroom paint, that is.

There is a broad field of candidates…

The candidates’ names and platforms are…

1 -Bedford Gray, Martha Stewart Living – too light

2 -Cobblestone, Martha Stewart Living – too light

3 -Zinc, Martha Stewart Living – too dark

4 -Pewter Ring, Behr – too blue

5 -Seal Grey, Glidden – too blue

6 -Ashes, Behr – too light – too light

7 -Elephant Skin, Behr – a contender

8 – Mushroom, Martha Stewart Living – too muddy

9 -Fashion Gray, Behr – a contender

But we all know it’s a two-man race.

The finalists…

7 -Elephant Skin, Behr

9 -Fashion Gray, Behr

And the winner is…

Fashion Gray, from Behr!

It’s been a tough campaign season, but I think I’m gonna be very satisfied with the winner.

(Now I just have to hire a painter for my vaulted ceiling!)

making the chandelier – behind the madness

16 October 2011 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Let me tell you how I got to this wonderful chandelier transformation…

It started out like this…

I bought 2 cans of Rustoleum’s Universal Metallic Paint & Primer in One in Champagne Mist from Home Depot and took to the garage and used the box the the chandelier came in as my painting stand. Additionally, I covered a plastic bin in a lawn bag and placed the chandelier box on that, so I wouldn’t have to be bending over and straining my back. Since there were a lot of little parts and pieces that needed to be painted too, I poked a bunch of toothpicks into the flaps of the box and placed the pieces and parts on them.

Feeling a bit like Vlad the Impaler with all of the toothpicks

So I just kept the chandelier in the box and started spraying it. I decided that since this really needed to look terrific, I should probably be a little more patient than usual, so I sprayed in thin, even coats, and actually waited until the coats dried before applying the next coat. I was definitely impressed with my own ability to delay gratification. I’m not usually too good at that.

Once the this part was sprayed well and dry, I turn the chandelier upside down in the box and sprayed the other side. Lather, rinse, repeat.

In the meantime, I was also spraying the other parts, since the chandelier arrived unassembled.

Midway through this project, one of the cans of spray paint stopped working, even though it was only half empty. I took it back to Home Depot and they exchanged it with no questions asked. Now that’s customer service!

Ultimately the hardest part of this project was hanging the chandelier. What I didn’t know is that it’s a two-person job. Or at least it was for me. Fortunately, my sister had planned to come over and I drafted her into service. And, as always, it took a lot longer than I thought it would. Most of my projects work this way. From start to finish, which included turning off the power (NEVER skip this step) and taking down the old chandelier, plus assembling the new chandelier, it took 3 hours.

What was difficult was holding the very heavy chandelier up while connecting the wires and screwing it into the electrical box. My sister and I combined have the arm strength of a gerbil, so both of us holding our arms over our heads was bad enough…lifting a heavy chandelier with me balancing on a 6-foot ladder and my sister standing on a folding chair was damn near impossible. We’re just not that athletically inclined. (I don’t recommend using a folding chair, and encouraged my sister not to use it as well, but apparently she likes to live on the edge.) And who knew that standing on a ladder would induce leg cramps. What a mess!

But finally, we finished the task, turned the power back on, and voila! It worked!

One important thing I learned from this whole debacle is that I will probably need to hire someone to hang the chandelier that I have for my bedroom, which has a vaulted ceiling, and the light fixture I have planned for the two-story ceiling in my family room!

So what about the cost? I bought the chandelier for $35.96, and the spray paint was $7.98 each. So including tax, the total cost of the chandelier was $55.43. Not too bad if you ask me for all of this chandliering goodness!

chandelier transformation

16 October 2011 by Andrea 5 Comments

Finally, I’m bidding good riddance to the old brass octopus in my dining/living room and saying hello to my brand new chandelier!

Let’s start with a little chandelier retrospective. I started with this…

Bought this…

Spray painted to turn into this…

Rather than keeping the brushed nickel finish, I chose to spray paint with Rustoleum’s Universal Metallic Paint & Primer in One in Champagne Mist…

The reason I went with the Champagne over the brushed nickel was so that the chandelier would be more in line with the other warmer tones in the room, such as the beautiful carved mirror…

And the side table with birdcage lamp…

I love this lamp, and there is actually a little bird on a swing that works…

In fact, it was this lamp that inspired me to get the chandelier in the first place. Initially, I thought that I would get a drum shade pendant fixture for this room, but realized that would cut the room in half. The room really needed a fixture that you could see through, so the view into the room doesn’t stop at the light fixture. When I saw this one, it fit the bill.

The chandelier also reminded me of a the shape of a birdcage, but without being too literal. I didn’t want the room to become a birdcage-themed room. More of an homage to the birdcage. I think it’s perfect!

I love my new chandelier!

Showing off on Funky Junk Interiors and Remodelaholic link parties.