Home decorating and design

Thank you so very much. He is a cross between a collie and a saint bernard. And I was just kidding, my husband would kill me and I guess I would miss the mangy mutt. So, next week I paint wallpaper, it is in a bathroom, wonder if that would make a difference? My friend said it is nice wallpaper, why don't I keep it? Well, I have tried almost everything on the market to clean it and it has been a futile attempt each time. Black would work on the gas heater, guess I better turn pilot off just to save my ass eh? Thanks again Gretta

Hi Linda, welcome and when do you sleep? Gretta

I love to decorate... though my husband accuses me of sniffing glue. We have several things "growing" on our wall. I've stencilled a garden mural in our front entryway... I'm working on a garden trellis between the living room and dining room... and the kitchen has a stencilled bird bath... and is a "work in progress". ============= Hi Kim, Welcome! (Actually, I'm new to this list too). I'd love to see some photos of your work! Do you have any you could attach? Have you ever done *outdoor* stenciling? I live in SW Florida, and somewhere near my home (seen photos of it) there is a house with gorgeous flowers 'trellised' all up the side of it. Absolutely fantastic. I don't know what kind of paint they used for the murals (quite real looking at first glance). Just wondered whatcha thought..... One more thing ... ever stenciled ceramic tile FLOORS? ~Michelle

Help me.

Hi Everyone! My name is Kim and I'm an independent Design Consultant with Custom Corner... their product has been on the Christopher Lowell show... We now carry his line of paint... and the two ladies who founded Custom Corner will be on the show in September! I love to decorate... though my husband accuses me of sniffing glue. We have several things "growing" on our wall. I've stencilled a garden mural in our front entryway... I'm working on a garden trellis between the living room and dining room... and the kitchen has a stencilled bird bath... and is a "work in progress". I'd love to share decorating ideas! If you are getting into stencilling and have any questions... please feel free to email me at frugalfiness@.... I've taken a stencilling course from a certified art teacher and have lots of information that I'd be happy to pass along! Thanks for starting such a great board! Kim Beitel - Independent Design Consultant -- Custom Corner ... Lookin for a new career?

Help me.

Welcome Kim. When you move into the house of your dreams, send us all pics. Congratulations on your home. Gretta

Hello! My name is Kim. I live in Tucson, Arizona. I'm 24 years old and am married to a great guy. We don't have any kids, just two dogs. :) I am a cake decorator at a grocery store. I also like to paint (decorative painting). I also like all sorts of crafts. We are in the process of buying a home. It will close on Sept. 30 if everything goes smoothly. I can't wait to move! So, right now I am all excited about decorating it. I watch lots of Christopher Lowell and HGTV. I also get a lot of decorating books at the library. I've gotten a lot of good ideas from these sources. Anyway, I'm glad I found this list! Take care. Kim in AZ

In a message dated 09/02/2000 9:57:11 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Interior_Motives@egroups.com writes: << If I used KILZ, then what type of paint and what type of sealant??? Needless to say it needs to be hardy! Then you could use any kind of paint (preferably latex), then about 5 coats of a non-yellowing polyurethane for protection. Maureen

Hello! I just found your group and am amazed that with Christopher's "following" there aren't MORE on this list! :-) I'm looking forward to checking out this list. Right off the bat I'm curious if any of you can help me .... I seem to remember a LONG time ago hearing Christopher refer to painting floors. I have a "someday-to-be-replaced-but-not-quite-yet" white tile floor throughout most of my house. I'd like to give the kitchen/dining area a real facelift with this floor. It always looks dirty, etc. due to small chips throughout. I'm country styled, so just about anything would work, but with 4 kids ages 1-11, 2 dogs and 2 cats, I'd like something that doesn't show so much. If I used KILZ, then what type of paint and what type of sealant??? Needless to say it needs to be hardy! Thanks soooo much, ~Michelle

In answer to your question - I painted all the floors in the house that we just moved out of. They were old self-stick vinyl tiles. ===== Hi Liz ... Thanks for answering so quick. You must have been online! Your photos of the floor are wonderful. I like how you "met" the hall and the kitchen.... Looks great! More questions: Did you just paint on the diagonal regardless of the vinyl seams? Maybe that wouldn't even show with the Kilz (or other better suited products you mentioned). My problem is that I have real grout and real tiles, so would probably have to stick with the "painted grout" lines being on the square ... then again, it might make for interesting texture. Hmmm. Any thoughts? Did you use interior or exterior paint? Your colors are great. That is exactly the style/color I'd like to have in my kitchen / dining area. Thanks for your photo links ... you've given me HOPE! haha ~Michelle

I stumbled on to this site. I have never been in a group so I hope I am doing this right. I am 49, married to a wonderful guy for 32 years. I have 3 married grown children and 4 incredible grandchildren. My husband and I bought our 1st house when I was 18. We have owned 12 others. I have sold real estate 3 different times. My husband has been a Realtor since 1987 and makes a good living at it. We love houses. I love decorating and tend to move to a new one so I can decorate or redecorate. We are in a lovely home currently but I wanted to build. My husband said I could do anything to this house if I would stay put. Sounds like a project. My current focus is our bedroom. I watched too many Christopher Lowe shows because I am painting the entire bedroom and bath as a secret garden. I will try to figure out how to send pictures. So far I have the basic sky, stucco walls, etc. done. (All faux of course!) Linda

The thermometer says 105, outside my big ol un-airconditioned house, but I have found a way to get cool - 1 Carry a heavy 8' ladder up the 20 steps plus a landing to the second floor. 2 Wedge it into a 2'x5' closet 3 Now, climb up so that your head is 9' up, right against the ceiling, inside the closet with absolutely no air circulation and measure again, being careful to get both the width and the depth off by about 1/4 inch (larger, of course, smaller, would be no fun . . .LOL) 4 Climb back down. 5 Prop a huge old, warped 80 lb piece of sheetrock amidst the piles of boxes so you can cut it to the right size 6 Carry the sheetrock up the ladder and spend 10 minutes maneuvering it past the doorframe and over the ladder, and oh, yeah, over your head. 7 Push upward briskly, allowing all the accumulated mouse/bug/raccoon dirt that has sifted through the ceiling to shoot through the hole you cut for the light and directly into your eyes. 8 Wedge it into place, holding it up over your head. 9 Hold the sheetrock with your head, and use your free hand to grab the drill/driver 10 Lay the sheetrock down and climb back down the ladder 11 Pick up the drill/driver, climb back up the ladder, repeat steps 6- 9 12 Wedge the sheetrock back into place, hold it with your head again. 13 Make sure you leave lots of sweat marks on the sheetrock, it adds to the authenticity. 14 Screw a couple of sheetrock screws into it, popping them through the paper, because, of course, the sheetrock isn't really up as high as it should be. 15 Beat on the sheetrock with a piece of molding that you've taken off the wall, make sure you get some good nicks and damage in visible areas of the molding so that you will have a memento of the occasion when you are through. 16 Screw it up wherever it actually hits the ceiling. 17 Position yourself to reach the remaining 100-year-old wallpaper to pull it out, of course, this location being directly under the mouse crap and bug crap and various and sundry other crap which is going to fall and stick to your absolutely dripping face, arms, legs, etc. 18 - Climb back down the ladder - you'd be amazed how cool the house feels now!! That was one 40 minute segment of my day . . .How is yours going? <grin Liz/Texas

Hi, My name is Bonnie and I'm new to the group. I'm a interior decorator and I'm the creator/owner of Ochsner Interiors. I have a web site that offers free decorating advice if anyone is interested. I also publish a decorating article once a month that is free to subscribe to. Anyway, I'm 25 and married with the cutest little girl in the world. Her name is Schyler(sky.lar) Charise (ka.reese) and she is now 18 months old. I can't believe how fast she has grown. I use to watch Interior Motives everyday until Elmo and Sesame Street took over the television. Well, I look forward to chatting with everyone and I'll talk to you soon. Bonnie

Liz- It is a hardrock maple table. We bought it 21 years ago. It is banged up from being used for everything under the sun when the girls were young. It is Temple Stuart-a good table. I have 6 chairs too. It has a warm honey finish and I am going to finish it natural if I can get it clean enough. It will be in our formal dining room. I can't wait to get into the new house and decorate. I want to use some glass shelves that we had cut and never found a place for in this house. They should be perfect in Florida. Debbe

Hi Debbe Welcome to the list! I have stripped using chemicals and using sandpaper. I try to do most of it with sandpaper, since I don't like the chemicals, I'm allergic to so many. I have heard from others that a heat gun works really well, but be careful not to burn the wood. If it's just a clear finish like lacquer or varnish, a chemical stripper works really fast and well. What kind of table is it? What are your plans for the table? If you want to paint it, you wouldn't have to strip it. Liz/Texas

I have a really big old neato glass hanging lamp that would be great for the front porch if I could only get the ugly brown screen-printed flowers off of it. . . . does anyone know any way to do this? Paint remover doesn't touch them. They are kind of raised, and a razor kind of scrapes them off, but it's slow going. HELP! Thanks! Liz/Texas

I AM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS GROUP. I AM ALSO INTO TRASH TO TREASURES.I FIND LOTS OF FREEBIES AND NEAR FREEBIES. I HAVE HELPED 3 OF MY KIDS FURNISH APARTMENTS ON SUCH FINDS. MY KIDS AND FRIENDS ARE AMAZED AT WHAT I DO, AND CREATE.ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY ARE USUALLY PRETTY SURE I'M NUTS WHEN THEY SEE SOME OF THE STUFF I'VE BROUGHT HOME. AN IDEA FOR OLD CRAPPY FURNATURE.OR MAKING FURNATURE IS.TAKE TISSUE PAPER.SCRUNCH IT UP.ROLL IT AROUND IN YOUR HANDS UNTIL IT'S SOFT. THEN FLATTEN IT BACK OUT..........THENTEAR IT INTO WORKABLE SIZE PIECES.PAINT A HEAVY LAYER OF SCHOOL GLUE A PATCH AT A TIME ON THE PIECE, AND GENTLY FLATTEN OUT THE TISSUE ON IT. THIS GIVES A GREAT CRINKLEY EFFECT. IT WORKS GREAT ON OLD YUCKY PREFAB FURNATURE. A FRIEND AND I DID IT ON HER DREESER.THEN YOU HAVE TO PAINT OVER IT.SO YOU CAN WIPE IT OFF AND STUFF. WE ALSO STAMPED SOME GEOMETRIC DESIGNS ON IT.............IT WAS FOR HER DAUGHTER'S ROOM. IT TURNED OUT AWESOME. WE ROUGHED THE SURFACE UP WITH SAND PAPER FIRST. I'VE USED THIS TECHNIQUE ON OTHER WOODEN AND PLASTIC OBJECTS. I BOUGHT AN UGLY PREFAB DESK AT A GARAGE SALE FOR $1 AND I PRIMED IT W/KILZ, THEN MODGE PODGED THESE BEAUTIFUL FLORAL NAPKINS ON THE TOP WRITING SURFACE. IT'S ADORABLE. IF ANYONE NEEDS IDEAS I HAVE A ZILLION. ABOUT ME.I AM 40, JUST FACING IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS THE EMPTY NEST SYNDROME, UNEMPLOYMENT AND DIVORCE. NOT TO SOUND LIKE A DOWNER. ANYHOW I'VE DECIDED THAT MY TALENT LIES IN DECORATING...SO IF ANYONE HAS CARREER ADVICE I'M INTERESTED. THANKS