Dishfunctional Designs: How To Upcycle Thrift Shop Finds Into Trendy Home Decor

Dishfunctional Designs: How To Upcycle Thrift Shop Finds Into Trendy Home Decor

Get Rid of Carpet That Makes You Angry: The Story of My Laminate Wood

When I first purchased my house, I had decided the carpet had to go.  It is a grey carpet that has seen its fill of days in this house.  Stains would not come out...carpet shampooing barely made a dent...and it just did not fit my want for the house.  However, I was gun-shy in making a big purchase decision.  This is not one of those easy house items that can be redone again and again without a big punch to the wallet.

Moving forward to 2012, 7 years later, and the carpet is still here.  Talk about not making a decision!  Well, 2012 is the year I go for it.  I follow my gut, I have confidence in my decisions and my thoughts need to turn into action. 

Actually, as great as that sounds, what really happened was one of my lovely old lady cats decided that a corner of my dining room was her litter box.  I shampooed.  I used vinegar.  I used spray that was supposed to dissuade pets from that area.  Nothing was working.  I thought about taking that section out.  Then came the epiphany mentioned earlier.  It is my house and it is time to take it back from the carpet I loathed!

My Uncle, the carpet and the cat that caused this whole thing to come to fruition.

Gross carpet that was pulled from my house.

I decided laminate wood flooring was what I wanted.  I was not going to invest in real wood flooring as that expense did not match the value of the house itself.  Plus, I read articles on laminate wood being more durable and of course cheaper.  I decided on Brazilian Cherry and found it at Home Depot for .99 a square foot.  Perfect!  I would ask my uncle to help me with the flooring!  No more thinking about it...time to believe in my decisions and put it to action!

Brazilian Cherry laminate Flooring for my flooring.

To help matters, when I went to purchase the flooring a team member at Home Depot told me he had the same flooring in his wreck room and loved it.  That sounded good and durable to me.  I purchased enough to redo my small dining room.  That along with a flooring starter kit and a $25 underlay, I was set.

My dining room with carpeting.  Those who came to play that day have been hidden with stars.  Because?  It seems like the right idea?  I have no idea.

All the furniture was moved into the living room and chaos was underway.

A good test to determine if maybe you should purge:  move one small room worth of furniture into another room.  That is a lot of stuff!

The coumpound saw was borrowed from my grandmother and the flooring project was underway.  Keep in mind, you NEED to make sure the underlay is laid with the proper side up.  Those labels are no joke.  If you do it wrong your wood flooring will eventually move.  Not that my handy Uncle would do that, but turns out my ex-boyfriend did in the office upstairs (future blog).

One day later and the flooring was done.  This is not a how-to on laying flooring.  I have no idea.  This is a how-to make a decision and make it happen.  A how-to on following and believing in your gut.  Now that the flooring was done, I also decided to re-arrange.  Finally, I also decided that replacing the baseboard was a good move.  I truly believe replacing baseboards in a house is like a cheap facelift.  It makes a HUGE difference!

Dining Room with Brazilian Cherrylaminate wood flooring.

Once this is started how could I leave the carpet in my downstairs at all.  That's right...the carpet was ripped out of the living room and thoughts towards the stairs were culminating.

Be prepared for a little inconvenience.

There is a lot of inconvenience with this process.  But again, I decided to go for it.  Pull out the carpet and pull out the baseboards.  Also, by losing the big TV in the living room (see previous blog) I would have room to rework the living room.

Living and Dining Room Pre-Laminate flooring and replanning of funiture placement.

Living and Dining Room after the Laminante flooring and furniture placement.  The drapes still need work in this picture.  No worries, they come out great!

I wanted to open up the space to include everyone in conversation and reach a more elegant and beautiful space.  The drapes still needed to be ironed and swagged, but time was short prior to hosting a birthday party for my friend.

The staircase is another story all its own as well.  That will be saved for another blog.  I love my wood flooring.  It is very rich and durable.  I love that I went with my decision and find that I smile when I walk in my house when I look at it.  I also went ahead and asked my uncle to complete the small hallway upstairs, as well.  New flooring, new baseboards and new furniture placement changed the enitre efficiency and beauty of my house.

I have kept a spreadsheet going identifying my spend as it happens.  The laminate flooring, underlay, baseboards, kit, wood glue, and labor (some cash and feeding, etc) came to about $1000 with $690 being allocated to supplies.

Well worth it, I think.  No, let me restate that.  Well worth it, I know.

House Redressing Burn Out Continues

I did not get back to it today.  I worked 13 hours and am now getting to my personal hobbies.  I am too tired to work on the next chandelier for my kitchen.  It is a great piece my mom had sitting in her garage.  It is silver.  I have spray painted the chandelier Stone Texture Brown and I am still unsure.  I made the candle/light holders black, but they got dust on them.  So, some sanding and repainting is necessary. 

I currently am housing a fluorescent light fixture, which means lots of holes in the ceiling to fix.  A big job in my mind today, but I am sure tomorrow it will seem a fleeting task.  Why?  Fleeting tasks are much easier to handle mentally than one big task.

So, as said by Scarlett in Gone With The Wind, "After all...tomorrow is another day."

My tomorrow happens to include spending time with one of my closest friends recovering from surgery.  So maybe it should be "after all...the day after tomorrow is another day."

As long as it is not weeks, I am on track!

House Redressing Burn Out

I have a lot of ideas and plans.  I enjoy making decisions, even if some go wrong.  However, today this blog is just an update that I am having a tough time making decisions.  I think I am burning out a bit after a lot of decision making and money spending.

I am getting a headache even looking online at simple decor items and deciding whether or not to purchase items.  I think this would be a time that I should take a break.  A short break, but a break where I spend an evening just watching TV or reading a book.  I constantly multi task, working on the Internet for the house, work and socializing...and trying to relax.

Maybe, tomorrow I will just take a break.  Between work, money, redressing a house, and life in general - everyone is owed a little downtime.  I took a nap after work today, but it was not enough.  I think the lesson learned here is to give yourself a little time every once in a while to veg out or laze about.  Multi tasking may result in a headache that won't go away.

If you have this headache (even when enjoying all the activities in your life) it could result in some bad decisions.  Let's see if I can take my own advise!!!

Especially, after my refrigerator just decided that the ice maker should leak...on my new laminate wood flooring in the kitchen.  My headache just escalated.  Time for a small break.

Building a Frame Out of Chair Railing

I have a beautiful Klimt "Kiss" oil painting.  A reproduction, of course.  It will work beautifully with the color scheme downstairs.  My Grandma told me when I first moved in that it was too intimate to put downstairs, so I have had it in my bedroom.

Back to the idea of my own rules.  The painting is moving downstairs.  I love it with the color scheme downstairs.  I have talked to my G-ma again and she states she does not recall ever saying that and has proceeded in trying to locate more Klimt reproductions to marry with the "Kiss".

The Kiss by Klimt before the frame is created

My reproduction has some white appearing at the top and since it is being placed in my more elegantly styled downstairs, I decided it needed a frame.  So, as usual I went snooping on the Internet for a 3' by 4' frame to encase my painting.  The frames I liked were a bit more than my wallet liked.  I got to thinking something could be created.  After wandering around Home Depot, I spoke with my very crafty mother and she thought of moulding.  In the moulding area of Home Depot, I located chair railing.  Bingo!

Chair Railing with some nice detailing to keep with an elegant look.

I love some spray paint.  I bought some chair railing for $20 and Hammered Copper Spray Paint for $12.  A wood chisel was also purchased for $8.  I spray painted the two chair rails with the Copper making sure I did clean sweeps when spray painting so I would not get drops or weird blobs.  The nice thing about using spray paint with texture is that you have room for error.

Hammered Copper Spray Paint meets Pine Chair Railing.

The wood chisel allows you to chisel away any additional ledge you may need on the back to fit the picture (and cover the white space in my case). 

Measure width by length for the chair railing.

After allowing the paint to dry and chiseling the ledge, you need to measure the angles (45 degrees).  A miter box (about $10) can be used to cut the angles.  Wood glue the corners together on the painting and attach clamps to allow the glue to dry.

Here is my framed oil painting.

Copper wire and screws (on the upper portion of the frame - far right and left) were used to hang the painting.  This was all purchased at Home Depot for about $5.  At the end of the day, I spent about $155 on this piece.  The piece itself was about $100 at an oil reproduction shop a couple years ago.

I am still debating on adding black, iron corner pieces.  What do you think?  I also think a mate may be better in this space.  The Kiss is center with the living room start but not the windows.  I may be nit picky, but I think this may clarify the space and make a bit more sense with the space available.  Still debating.  This is an ongoing process and my addiction.

A Little Paint Goes A Long Way - Updating with Spray Paint

You want to make a statement really quick?  Take a look around your house.  What are the little things that you may take for granted that could make a BIG statement?

For starters, what about stair railing (if applicable)?  Is it really making the statement you want to make with your decoration efforts?  Mine was not.  I am working with Brazilian Cherry flooring, Tuscan paint colors and bold statements.  My stair railing is white.  Is that really the statement I want to make?  Not if I want to continue to GO BOLD.

White Stair Railing and pulled up flooring up my staircase.

After consideration I thought a great pop to my house would be a black stair railing.  Not only a pop of color, but a great way to keep the stair railing from showing dust and dirt.  Brown paper being taped off through the staircase and some flat Black Spray paint could make a nice showing.  Make sure to cover your floors, too!  The spray paint rains down.

Should have put something on the floor.  Goof Off was used to clean the floors without any issue.

2 coats of Rustoleum spray paint and a coat of gloss polyurethane made this happen.  Polyurethane protects and ensures the gloss coat I wanted.  Oil based polyurethane was chosen as it does a better job of protecting the paint job than water based.  With hands on the stair rails, I needed the best protection possible. 

The polyurethane chosen was MINWAX for its ratings and ease in applying.  A cheesecloth to apply the coat was all that was necessary.  Some time to make sure it is dry before using is certainly advised.

Another paint effort was with the gas valve cover on my fireplace.  I have gone with copper, bronze and golds downstairs.  A silver gas valve cover and key on my fireplace is obviously unacceptable.

Silver Gas Cover and Key is not going to flow with my color scheme.

A little Spray Paint in Hammered Copper sounded like a good idea.  The gas cover and key were removed pretty simply.  Then sprayed with two coats.  Again this is a two coat process.  Let it dry and then re-attach.  A $5 can of spray paint makes a big difference.

For about $35, big statements were made with really little effort.  I think it makes a huge difference and love it.  If I had not loved it, the nice thing is that I could have simply painted again.

Installing a Pendant Light Where a Recessed Light Exists

The best invention ever (may be a bit of an exaggeration)...the Screw in Light Bulb into a recessed light.  The one that is actually connected to a pendant light.  No work with electrical.  Literally, you can go to Lowes and get a fixture kit that screws in where the light bulb would normally screw in.  It has an electrical cord hanging down into a light piece. 

Then, to make matters better...you get to pick the fixture!  20 minutes and $30 later your recessed light becomes a pendant light!

Recessed Light in Kitchen becomes a Pendant Light

Granted, I need to straighten out the cord.  But, I loved the ease of making a big change above the kitchen bar without big cost and big renovation.

Note:  My local Home Depot does not carry these items.  Just head to Lowes.