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| I decided to see if I could 'pretty up' my closet door. They are the plain hollow core doors that we all despise.
First I bought two 8' pieces of trim. I cut and glued them to the door (holding them on with duct tape until they dried. 
I painted the trim silver (should have done this before I glued them). Stencilled a bird in the boxes, painted them and put my initials in the boxes. Taa-daa!
I still need to touch up the paint around the boxes
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by shades_of_idaho (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 18:14
| WOW Loretta, You are fast. This is great. I think this makes a big difference in how to door looks. I was eye balling the mirror frames on those door mirrors I have stacked in the studio and will have to get the tape measure out and see what I come up with for the hall way. I did notice I have two different styles so will have to watch for where I got what frame. LOL My biggest problem is where to start and where to stop.. How does a person work around those bull nosed corners? If I only had to do one side of the hallway it would be really easy nothing to work around. We have a weird indent in our hall wall. It is because of the extra heavy duty roof load parts of the wall is almost 8 inches thick. OK Wait it is coming to me. I could do a box within a box to get the look of chair rail with out having to get into the corner edge mess. Hummmmmmmmmmmmm I am looking forward to this project. chris |
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- Posted by prairie-girl (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 21:01
| Wooo, way to go, Loretta! You are doing a beautiful job. :o) I really like the butterflies and birds - very pretty. There certainly are some things that you can do that I (much as I love my hubby) cannot. lol Good for you for getting on it, and *doing*. I get so many ideas that never come to fruition. Chris, a 'box in a box' sounds like a great idea (if you're planning what I think you are). I'm not quite sure what your goal is, but I bet it will be nice. :o) It kind of sounds like you are going to do faux paneling on the bottom half of your hall wall? |
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- Posted by trancegemini_wa (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 21:07
| wow I love it loretta! and the stencilling looks great too I thought they were stickers! |
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| My son came in and commented on them - asking if they were bluebirds. Duh! No! They are humming birds - so I guess I better get some brown paint for its feathers, lol Chris, when I got to the corner on my chairrail, I used the corner blocks so I would not have to make extra miter cuts.  |
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- Posted by shades_of_idaho (My Page) on Mon, Jan 25, 10 at 23:06
| We have rounded outside corners in the whole house. I think it is called bull nosed corners. So not sure how to do a chair rail bend around the corner. BUT if I stop the rail before the corner back a few inches on each end I can then add a downward run or wood like a frame and then add the smaller frame under the chair rail. Mostly like you I am just trying to add interest to the long boring hall wall. LOL Bad on me been sitting here enjoying being able to be on the internet again. Thanks for the pictures. So many ideas to make our small houses. Chris |
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- Posted by moccasinlanding (My Page) on Tue, Jan 26, 10 at 2:22
| Prairie, sometimes it is a blessing that we do NOT create all of our imaginings! I believe that we keep working on the concept and avoid mental ruts, and finally the supreme absolute most fantastic solution will come to us. When it does, write it down, and go sleep on it. If it is still exciting in the morning, well, it was meant to be. |
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| Oh, I love that lamp. There must be more to the room we all would enjoy. Can you share more pics? I've used those corners too and they do look great. Very easy in the long run. |
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| Emagineer, that lamp is strictly for looks, lol I fell in love with it and bought it years ago. The shade is wood, so very little light is reflected out. I have a timer and a 15 watt bulb in it. When I was working (got off at 2:00am) it would always be on so I would not be coming into a dark house. Here are some more pics of my living room. I had the opening closed up in the rear wall, repainted, bought new lamps, rug, picture over the couch, small table between the windows, put up new shelves. I want a new ceiling light, but haven't found the right one. I need 'something' to hang next to the small picture, but have not run accross the right piece.
I plan to make a cornice board to put over these windows when I have time. And I wanted to show the mirrors I took off of my old bedroom dresser about 8 years ago, painted them and have had them in the living room ever since!
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- Posted by prairie-girl (My Page) on Tue, Jan 26, 10 at 14:01
| Loretta, I LOVE the picture above your sofa. My hubby and I went to Italy last spring (20th anniv) and I am seriously itching to go back. The smaller pic you've hung by the door is intriguing - it looks like someone reaching down to help someone climb up? Your LR looks very classy and comfy. The colours you've used are so warm and inviting. I see you've got a folded flag on your shelf. Did you lose someone close to you? (forgive me if I'm being too snoopy, ok?) |
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| Thanks, Missy. It took me a week to paint that room. I was thouroughly sick of it. Its mostly wasted space, I suppose because we very seldom use it. But it is the one room in my house that is always 'spic-n-span' and ready for guest! The pic beside the door is titled "He's Not Heavy, He's my Brother'. I love it and hope I had a larger size. We got the flag when my dad died. I fly it for Veteran's Day, Memorial Day and 4th of July. What a great anniversary gift! I have always imagined going to Europe and seeing all of the things I've read about (I used to be an avid romance reader) lol. |
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- Posted by trancegemini_wa (My Page) on Wed, Jan 27, 10 at 6:47
| I love that room loretta it's just so elegant and the colours are beautiful and I just love your old dresser mirrors too - what a great use for them, they're such a pretty, ornate shape. You really have done a lot of work in there by the sound of it to get it to where it is now. gosh if I could get one room to look that good I'd be so happy hehe Carm |
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- Posted by flowerlady6 (My Page) on Wed, Jan 27, 10 at 9:04
| Loretta ~ I love what you did with your closet door. It really adds to your room. You took something boring and turned it into charm and loveliness. FlowerLady |
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| Loretta, I love your room too. I know a formal room seems to be wasted most of the time, but I will be so happy when we make our front room into a formal room that is, like you said, spic and span, all the time. If someone knocked on my door right now, I just wouldn't answer it. Seriously. |
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- Posted by shades_of_idaho (My Page) on Fri, Jan 29, 10 at 23:20
| LOL @ matri, I have always wanted to do a come as you are party on the internet. Like some one post and every one grab cameras to take a picture of your room you are sitting in just as it is with out picking up. Can say mine would not be great as we got home from town and I just crashed after putting groceries away. Everything else is as is. The blessing is most times dust does not show in pictures. Heheheheh Chris |
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| Chris, What a kick that would be! I'm so self concious about posting pics, sure take me out of my comfort zone. The decorating forum would think we were all nuts. |
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| Thanks for your kind words ladies. One reason it is easy to keep it neat is because there has never been a tv in there - so no reason for kids to hang out in there, lol. Marti, I understand what you mean. There have been times that I peeped out the window to see who was at the door and immediately said to myself, "you ain't hardly coming in here"! Well, I have no shame Chris! This is where I spend most of my time. Mail on the floor and electric heater to keep my toes toasty. I did close the sheers so you can't tell the curtain rod is crooked, lol
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- Posted by shades_of_idaho (My Page) on Sat, Jan 30, 10 at 18:06
| Looks great to me Loretta, Going to be totally honest here. It would not be fair for me to take a picture. I just sat down after spending quite awhile cleaning the house. So for now everything is put away and vacuumed and sort of dusted. Should have taken the picture before. Sorry. I am sure you all will catch me soon as the house does not last this way very long. Paint your couch Loretta if you do not like the way it looks.You can choose any color. I used latex. Emagineer told me you can also use Auto upholstery paint. I have all the directions if you want me to send them to you for the latex. It is simple. Just takes patience. It looks like you have a skirt you might have to remove that or just fiddle with the paint. My chair I did is all tight. No ruffles. Chris |
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| Chris, I saw a thread about painting chairs. Seems like I remember some remarks about it feeling like leather and having to put powder over it (for some reason I cannot remember). Please send me directions. Do you have a pic of yours? |
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- Posted by shades_of_idaho (My Page) on Sun, Jan 31, 10 at 22:49
| Sure Loretta, Here are the directions from another GW person or maybe it was another decorating site.Left the name for the proper credits. Here are the directions from Magnaverde that he had posted a few years back. I did the same instructions. "Of course you can paint a sofa. Forget all that nonsense about teensy bottles of expensive paint medium from the crafts store. You don't need anything more than regular latex semi-gloss paint and a lot of guts. I found a beautiful Baker Chippendale camelback sofa, with cool curved arms and a fat down cushion, but it was covered in a hideous glazed chintz in the ugliest colors I ever saw. I found some great yellow wool damask to reupholster with, but it would have cost me $3OOO for the fabric alone, and I was in a hurry anyway--people coming in 2 weeks--so as a temporary fix I painted my sofa instead. Everyone freaked out when I told then the plan, but it worked. I was planning on painting my living room dark green, so I decided to go with red leather. First, I painted the whole thing with bubblegum pink semigloss latex paint, using the widest foam brush I could find, and brushing it on in long strokes front-to-back and up + down. Think of that as the primer coat. I let it dry 2 days, then sanded it super lightly with fine-grade sandpaper to get rid of the burrs--and there were a lot of them. When I couldn't feel any more sharp things, another coat of paint, spread thin. Dried & sanded again. Then spread--with my hands--a thin coat of raspberry red semi-gloss paint I had deadened a little with brown to make it less vivid. Because it was a deep color, there wasn't much white filler in the paint, so it was almost like a glaze or stain, instead of paint, which is just what I wanted, anyway. I just smoothed it on, like suntan oil, and worked it into the pink paint. I let it build a little thicker on the back, on the inside of the arms and at the back edge of the loose cushion, so that the paler, thinner red took on an air of wear at the high points. I let it dry 2 days, then CAREFULLY sanded the few new sharp things, and touched up those spots with my fingers. I let it dry 2 days, then waxed the whole thing with regular paste wax. After it was dry, I polished it with a soft cloth, then dusted it with talcum, and vacuumed it all off. It was a little stiff the first few days, but now it not only looks like red leather, it feels like it. This worked great on my ugly glazed chintz, and probably would work on any smooth fabric, except that some may have more burrs and therefore require more sanding, but I wouldn't try it on anything with a heavy texture. And no, the paint doesn't peel off. And no, it's not stiff, either. Think about it--it's latex and essentially, that's what's in those little bottles of fabric medium." Regards, My fabric was NOT smooth and had small nubs on it. OH well so what I just did it anyway. Something like chenille might be WAY to ruff. I did not use any powder. We use this chair all the time and I love how easy it is to wipe off. I do not mind the slight vinyl feel and we usually keep a rug on the seat. It freaked me out when I first started and the first couple of coats just sucked right in. Be sure to let it completely dry before doing additional coats of paint. It has to seal the fabric. Now we are all in greens here I wish I had painted it a soft green and might do it later. I did not use a paste wax on it either. So who follows directions anyway ? Heheheheh Have a blast. Chris |
Here is a link that might be useful: Painted Chair
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| Loretta, that loveseat looks a lot like one we had that dd#2 took with her when she moved. I can't tell what the design is on yours, but ours has fishing pictures. It is a pull out bed type too, uncomfortable as a bed, but really comfortable as a seat. I actually liked the loveseat, but it was promised to dd. |
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| Marti, It is a Lane chair. It's a really comfortable loveseat, but the bed IS uncomfortable. I bought it while in the midst of my divorce, so I was not my normal observant self! I had it for quite a while before I even noticed it had pictures of fishing and cabins on it! |
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| Yours has fish stuff on it too? How funny, I bet it's the same one. My mom & her cousin bought this one when my great uncle (who had no kids) went into a nursing home. He was only there 3 months until he passed. The cousin lived too far and didn't want any of the furniture, so mom nabbed the loveseat and table for dd#2. Dd was thrilled at the time (because she had just started college and had no money) but when she finally got her first apartment, her tastes had changed and she almost didn't take it, but she needed something in her 2nd bedroom. Did yours come with small pillows too? |
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| Yes, Marti. It had 2 pillows. It seems we have the same chair. I've looked at loads of slipcovers. I saw one site that has a "smallLoveseat" slipcover that comes closets to being the right size. I just haven't found a fabric I like. |
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| Yep, looks like you & dd#2 have the same one. You know what else? Dd#2 picked living room furniture that looks a lot like yours, except hers is a teal & rose stripe on an offwhite background. She only has one wingback chair and a sofa & loveseat though. |
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- Posted by prairie-girl (My Page) on Thu, Feb 4, 10 at 16:40
| Loretta, have you looked at Ikea slipcovers? I don't know what size your couch is, but they seem to have a good variety of covers. If you don't want to paint the couch, and want to go darker, you could also try dyeing the fabric on it. I have dyed many things (never a couch) and have been usually pretty happy with how they've turned out. |
Here is a link that might be useful: ikea slipcovers
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- Posted by goldsmithio (My Page) on Sun, Feb 7, 10 at 17:49
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