Archive for the ‘Interior Projects’

It all started with my guest bedroom, where I needed 10 plaster angels and I had moved from the place where there was I store where I could get one for $ 10.00. I was desperate and needed to find an affordable solution and found it on eBay, a vendor who sold molds. There was nothing to loose by trying and the rest is history, I got my 10 angles for about $ 10.00. total :)

Concrete angle

Next came the lion heads. I needed 12 for my pool patio and every place I looked, they were $ 30-40 each. Again, back to the eBay vendor, and sure enough I found my lion head.

Lion head

Every time I ordered something from that vendor, I would get an extra mold as a thank you gift for free. Every time I made something with concrete and molds, I would have some concrete left over and I would use it up by making the gift molds just to have samples and boy did that pay off. When I was finally ready to work on my kitchen backsplash, I had nice collection of samples to play with to come up with the design.

Here is what you need for your project:

Molds

Molds

Concrete, the kind without gravel and large rocks

Concrete

and patience, as you probably will not have enough molds to make many tiles at the same time. I had 3 molds each for the type of the tile I used in my backsplash, so it took me about a month or little longer, to make enough for my project, making one set each day.

Once I had few tiles each, I took a photo of each type of tile and played in the photo editing software to come up with the backsplash design that I was happy with. I had many days to play around :)

Test design

While making my tiles, I had time to prepare the area for the backsplash. With my design, I did not want any outlets to interfere, so those got moved under the cabinets. Then the cement board, similar that is used in showers, was installed, so there was something solid to attach the tile to ,as the tile is heavier than regular tile.

Once I had enough tiles, the real fun started. I got to finally install the tile:

Progress

I used the same mix that is used to install ceramic tile, to install my cement tiles.

While the tile was being installed, I had to make up my mind what color I wanted the backsplash to be. I used some broken pieces to test all the acid stains I had, to see which one would work for this project the best.

Sample colors

In addition to moving light switches, we had some under cabinet lighting installed as well. This added some additional task lighting but also showcased the new backsplash.

Additional progress

Then on to staining and finally sealing with concrete sealer. Below photo has half just stained and half finished with sealer.

Half done

I stained the backsplash once it was all installed, including grout (same concrete) because I used one color for all the tiles and this made it simpler. If I would have decided to use multiple colors, I would have stained the tiles before installing. Sealed the tiles once before grouting, then grouted and sealed the whole project once more.

Here are some more finished project photos:

Stove side after

Stove side close-up

Bar side

Bar side close-up

8
Jul

Pillows

   Posted by: Lilianne in Interior Projects, Small Projects

for another $ 15 dollars I added 3 decorative pillows to finish the look for the blue chair. I know that it might not be the best taste to keep talking about money, but I think that it gives some idea and encouragement, that pretty things do not have to be expensive and out of reach.
So here they are :)

BlueChairWithPillows

and close-up:

BlueChairPillowCloseup

As you see, I used some of the left over fabric from the chair, bought some flashy fabric, the fringe is from eBay (cents for the dollar compared to store prices) and pillows inside where on sale in WalMart. I bought 3 pillows and cut one of them half to make two small pillows. The other small one I used on an other chair I recovered:

LeatherChairWithPillow

22
Jun

$ 42.00 makeover.

   Posted by: Lilianne in Interior Projects, Small Projects

I inherited this chair:

ChairBefore1

It had been stored in the garage and in Florida hot climate nothing survives this, especially upholstered furniture. So only thing to do was to recover it with new fabric.

I gave myself a very low budget, as times are hard, but was able to come way under the budget because I got the fabric so cheap from WalMart, paid just $ 2.00 per yard. But lets not get ahead of us.

ChairBefore2

First I needed to take the chair apart and get the old, ruined fabric off. First came off the bottom cross shown above.

ChairBefore3

This was pretty much that held the whole chair together. During the process of taking the fabric off, I discovered that this was already a 2nd layer of fabric on this chair. This made my job so much easier.

Pattern

I was able to use the fabric I took off as pattern for the new pieces. First I laid it on my tile floor to get an idea how much of the new material I needed. Later I also used it as my cutting board.

Pattern2

As I needed several pieces as two opposite pieces and not to by accident cut 2 the same side, I cut out one piece first and then used that as a pattern for the second one.

Batting1

I also added additional batting to make the chair softer and more comfortable.

Batting2

and even more so where it counts the most :)

CoveringUp

Then it was time to sew the pieces together and put it all back together again.

PuttingBackTogether1

As you will see from the finished photo, I introduced the middle button back to the chair. Getting this button there was the biggest ordeal of the whole project. I ended up using a knitting needle to get the whole through all this batting and fabric and used very thin wire to attach the button to the chair. You see here the wire stapled in place.

PuttingBackTogether2

To assemble the chair, I had to do it in reverse order. First I put the cross back. Then I slid the chair back in and tightened all the screws.

ChairDone

I am very pleased with the end result. I think the button adds quite a bit to it. I have plenty of fabric left over, so my next plan is to make some decorative pillows to add even more charm to the whole ensemble.

Let me know if you have any questions about this project :)

5
Jan

From plain to beautiful- living room.

   Posted by: Lilianne in Interior Projects

This is one of my very favorite projects. Not only because it came out well, if I may say so myself, but because 95% + work was done by me. The only help I had, was for were two people where required – one to hold and the other to cut or install.
So lets start the story with couple of before photos:

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The inspiration for this room came from Biltmore Estate Oak sitting room:

Of cause I was not able to do as elaborate job, nor would it really fit in regular house, but you will see how my interpretation came out.

After drawing out every weird corner and problem area on paper, I started by building the frame:

progress1

progress2

Before I could start installing the paneling, I had to decide what color I wanted to use for the stencil that I was going to do on some of the panels. Here is little test I did to make this decision:

goldorbalck

As the black stain looked too dark under the dark stain I was going to use as the main stain and as I had used the dark stained stencils previously in my great room projects, I decided to use gold this time.

Once this was decided, I was able to stencil the desings to the panels and install them:

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As you can see, the only thing that was stainde before installation, was the crown molding. Once the paneling was all installed, the only thing left to do was to stain it all.

Here are some final photos with the room done:

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Here is a close up of the panel with design:

panelcloseup

One more finished photo:

mediadone1

This project took me little over two months to complete, but it was fun all throughout.

27
Dec

Bar Counter wall rewamp

   Posted by: Lilianne in Interior Projects, Small Projects

Once the Great room ceiling was done

done1

, the bar counter wall looked plain and ugly.

barfrontbefore

I decided to use same technique and materials to finish the wall like I did on the ceiling, to make sure that these two work together in the same room.

barfrontafter

The designs was painted with the dark stain before the main stain was applied. The corbels were from eBay and I got an incredible deal on them. Everything was stained before assembled and afterward only some touch up was required. Here is the close up of the finished wall:

barcloseupsmall