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Showing posts from August, 2012

La Toilette

To eliminate any doubt, I decided to label this new bathroom. I found this stencil online at Maison Stencils .  Because they custom size, I asked them to make me one twice as big as the size that is offered. Next my brother built the transom frame. (Sorry, I completely forgot to take photos of the process) Anyway, not as easy as it sounds....lots of math and lots of opportunity for error. But it turned out great.  We debated whether to stencil the glass before sandwiching it into the frame or after.  We weighed the pros and cons and finally decided it was a toss up.  The toss came up after so I painted both sides of the transom with primer and two coats of paint after the glass was installed. Did I mention that one side of the transom is white and the other side cream?  Although my brother marked the top as L and R, I somehow ignored that and painted layer after layer.  Yes, my 50/50 chance of getting it right by accident failed.  I had put the colors on the wrong sides.  But

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Sometimes it is really hard to decide which is the fairest of them all. I found this at a local charity resale shop and thought it was the fairest.  Not so.  The proportions were all wrong with the vanity.  Opps! Then I saw this at an auction and brought it home with me.  Again that old dilemma about whether or not to paint the wood. But then..the discovery that it had been painted a few times before...in pink, no less.  So with that and the blessing of a neighbor who loves natural wood, I proceeded. I base coated with the same color I had used on the vanity. (Benjamin Moore HC-108 Sandy Hook Gray) I followed up with the same technique I used on the vanity drawers.  (wax rub, paint, and light buffing/sanding, followed by waxing) The word "technique" in the previous sentence will take you to a more complete description of the process. It turned out nicely but....I had been stock piling distressed mirrors and they were begging to become

A Sparkling Detail

A big step forward today!  The switches got connected to the wiring and the chandeliers soared into position to cast a glow over the new powder room and pantry. The story behind the purchase of this chandelier is in an earlier post . A few modifications were made to change it from a swag to a center light that would hang from the circular opening in the ceiling. I found paper to cover the candle holders and glued it in place. I used a spray on glue applied to the paper only and that worked fine.  I also added the glass saucers that I picked up at a sale. I was able to buy 4 large crystal prisms at a going-out-of-business sale. All together it was the simple look I wanted for the powder room. The one I origionally had my sights on is now ancient history. The single light bulb hanging from the pantry ceiling was looking a little understated.  So I dug through my stash and found one that with a little Stainless Steel spray pai

Weakness for Wallpaper

I drool over wallpaper books and envision different patterns in various rooms of my house.  Over the 35 years I have lived in this house I have had wallpaper in the kitchen, the dining room, one bath and 5 different bedrooms.  I hung it all myself and bought it off the shelf.  On the cheap, as that's my style. Some things have changed since those early years here.  I'm a lot older and have not wallpapered in probably 20 years.  The other thing is, wallpaper has gotten more expensive.  Those two things make using wallpaper in this bathroom and hiring it hung a little pricey.  But, I decided to just buck up and go for it because the thing that hasn't changed is my frugality.  I narrowed my picks down to these two.  The toile looks really good with the vanity and the damask looks good with the floor tile.  I really like them both but I finally settled on the greenish teal.  It is a York wallcovering (pattern #BR 6266-Name: Linear Damask)  It comes in a total of 6 colors an