BACK TO HOME DESIGN: October 2010

Friday, October 29, 2010

Friday Design Inspiration - Texture, Paint and Trim Details

This year our local Kaleidoscope of Homes had some themes that emerged in texture, paint and trim.

A faux crocodile headboard adds just the right impact in this neutral bedroom.

Texture is one of the most important items in design - especially in a more neutral color scheme. The homes in this year's tour of homes were filled with quiet colors and rich textures.

A burlap head board with nail head detail is juxtaposed with a collection of embellished pillows.

Love this linen covered bar stool....

Rich linen appears again in this curvy chair...

Texture is easily added through accessories like the faux bamboo box above....

Paint finishes like faux treatments stencils have evolved a lot over the years (thank goodness in some cases...I'm talking about you sponge paint!) and we saw some great options on the tour.

Large scale damask stenciling on sherbet colored walls - yum!

A striped scheme makes a smallish bath appear huge!

A tonal stencil boarder with a little jewel detail.

A tonal harlequin paint treatment with nail head detail.

Another large scale stencil on plaster.

Another large scale damask stencil used on a vanity.

Lastly, we saw a lot of interesting design details, especially nail head trim used in a wide variety of applications.

Nail head detail combined with faux, stenciled wainscot - gorgeous.

Nail head combined with panel treatment and faxu leather paint.

Nail head corners on faux plaster wall treatment.

Nail head vanity accent...

Nail head detail on accessories too...

Hope you were inspired by our outing - have a great weekend!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

project day - before & afters

Today was project day at the workshop. The weather was glorious - sunny and unseasonably warm. Since the weather was so amazing, I decided to work outdoors in the fresh air amongst the perfect backdrop of fall foliage. I had furniture projects that I needed to tackle - two cupboards, four chairs and a farm table. My work space is in an old commercial scallop processing barn that is on a large piece of property. I opened up the doors and got to work in the yard.

below are photos of some of the furniture that I worked on today

The first thing that I did was finish the surface of the farm table - I sanded it and then gave it a very cool finish using a rub on wax treatment.

Briwax is one of the brands that makes liming wax. Really all it is - is a paste wax that has a white tint to it. You can rub it into the grain of the wood and make it as translucent or opaque as you feel.

What is so nice about this product is that all the little imperfections in the wood, worm holes, tiny cracks and knots absorb the white tint to give the surface a nice aged look.

Once you wax the surface you can add a coat of regular clear paste wax to give the surface extra protection.

On to the next project - this cupboard was in fine shape. The original white paint was not too bad. The major flaw was that the hardware was green and very outdated.

I cleaned the cabinet with a bleach and water mixture, sanded the surface with my orbital sander to remove a little of the paint for a light distressing. Lastly I replaced the hardware with some flea market glass handles and vintage style bin pulls from Restoration Hardware.

My last project on the list was an old farm house pine cupboard that had glass doors, someone had started stripping off the paint and left it half done. Instead of painting this beautiful pine cupboard, I decided to finish removing the paint by sanding it off. I used my orbital sander starting with 60 grit sand paper, then 80, then finally 180. I left little traces of the original cream paint in some areas. Even though I was outdoors I did wear my dust mask. I cleaned the newly sanded cupboard with a bleach and water mixture and let it dry in the sun - I left the finish natural.