Category Archives: Katie’s House

Katie’s House: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Before we surge forward with our plans for 2016, Mera and I thought it would be fun to pause a moment to reflect on some of our favorite projects we completed last year.

I’m starting my look back at 2015 with something that didn’t really make it onto the blog. Though I shared our adventures in roofing (aka the most ungratifying before and after ever), that was just the tip of the iceberg. In the waning days of autumn, with clear skies overhead but rain on the horizon, we tackled the exterior of our house. And by tackled, I mean destroyed.

destroyed house 2

destroyed houseWhen I texted Mera the picture above, captioned with a silently screaming emoji, she said it looked like the aftermath of a hurricane. We were racing the weather, and for a couple weeks it was a frenzy of paint scraping, siding replacement, and endless caulking. We hired out the actual painting except for the trim, and finally our sweet red house was looking more like itself.
painted house
It was a pretty miserable couple of weeks, with lots of worry that the weather would change and we’d spend all winter living behind a sheath of Tyvek, but now when the rains lash against the house it’s nice to know everything is sealed up tight.

The other big project we completed in 2015 – one that was very well documented here at RHW – was the Chamber of Secrets.

Red House West || Looking Back, Looking Forward

Months after finishing it, I continue to love this room and – most uncharacteristically – I’m hard-pressed to find a single thing I would change. The process of designing and building the shelves and closet with Cameron was really fun, and it was so gratifying to see sketches on paper transform into the real thing. Turns out that all the back-and-forth we did about the Chamber’s design elements (deciding on the curved shelves, the trim on the cabinetry, the placement of the closet) was very good practice for a pretty big project that we’re currently in the midst of. More on that in just a minute.

Red House West || Before & After - Chamber of Secrets RevealNot all of last year’s projects at Red House (south) West were big ones – I had a lot of fun making the oil painting bulletin board and the wood-tiled table, and refining my easy method for making fabric-covered mats (maybe 2016 will be the year that all the art makes it off the floor and onto the walls! Maybe!).

Red House West || Looking Back, Looking Forward

Red House West || DIY Fabric Mats

So last year was really good, but I’ve got a feeling that 2016 is going to be fantastic. Do you remember when I shared plans for the family room? I honestly thought (despite lots of evidence to the contrary) that it would be a quick project. I mean, I painted over those yellow walls and I was pretty sure I was home free:

Red House West || Family Room Redo
I had a plan, after all, and the only thing left was to put this green dream of a mood board into action:

Red House West || Family Room RedoRed House West || Family Room Redo

Red House West || Family Room Redo

Clockwise from upper left: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The sticking point of my plan, as you may remember, was the couch. I put in some serious (like seriously serious) time searching Craigslist and thrift stores, but couldn’t find anything in our budget that was even remotely (not even with lots of elbow grease and ingenuity) what I wanted. And so we decided to build one ourselves! And though it’s smaller in scale than the built-ins in the Chamber, it has taken just as many drawings, adjustments, and conversations. Here’s a sneak peek of it mid-process, before adding the back:

Red House West || Looking Back, Looking ForwardAs we move into 2016 I’m so excited to share the finished couch – including an attempt at diy down-wrapped cushions – and finally, finally to share the whole family room (the plan for which has shifted, think more blue than green). I’m also really excited that soon we’ll be snuggling during Netflix marathons, rather than sitting in side-by-side chairs holding hands across the great divide.

Check in next Wednesday when Mera shares her own reflections on 2015 and plans for the new year.  We’re both heading into a particularly busy time at work, so for the next couple months we’ll be posting once a week – on Wednesdays – rather than twice. We’re planning to get back to our regular schedule when things calm down a bit, hopefully in March.

As always, thanks for being a part of Red House West – here’s to an amazing 2016!

 

Framing Tips: An Update

More than a year ago I wrote a post about some DIY ideas I had for framing art.  Some things haven’t changed much, the first sentence in that post reads, “I woke up this morning to the sound of a torrential downpour.  The rain lasted all morning and the light was flat and gray.”  But while the weather hasn’t improved, my method for DIY framing on the cheap has.

The impetus for revisiting that tutorial came from some art I recently bought on Etsy, including this original acrylic landscape and a $2 portrait card, both from Isabella Di Sclafani (who did the Jane Eyre print in the Chamber of Secrets), and this print by Israeli artist Tali, whose Etsy store is called TushTush.

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsI like all of these pieces so much, and was determined not to add them to the towering stacks of unframed art already inhabiting many corners of our house.  So I read through my old post, made some tweaks to the process, then assembled my materials.

Supplies:

  • Poster board
  • Fabric
  • Spray Adhesive
  • Glue, Mod Podge, or double sided tape
  • Utility Knife
  • Ruler (I highly recommend a clear acrylic one)
  • Cutting Mat
  • Frames (I used ones from the thrift store)
  • Pencil

Red House West || DIY Fabric Mats
Step One:
Lay the glass pane from your frame on a piece of poster board and trace around it. Cut it out using either scissors or a utility knife.  Center your art on your cut poster board, and trace around it. You want your opening to be smaller than your art, so measure in about 1/8″ from all sides of your traced line, and use the utility knife and ruler to cut it out.

Here is a photo of two cut mats; I made the one around the piece on the left quite a bit larger than the portrait itself because I wanted to do a double mat:

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsStep Two:

Cut a piece of fabric just slightly larger than the outer edges of your mat.  If necessary, iron it to get the wrinkles out, then lay it out on a flat surface.

Step Three:

Take your cut poster board outside (I did one at a time) and apply spray adhesive following the directions on the can.  It is really sticky, so I suggest using a hard, flat surface to spray on (last time I used a sheet and it was a mess).

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsStep Four:

Carry your mat board back inside and lay it sticky side down on the fabric you cut and laid out.  Gently press the mat onto the fabric then flip it over and smooth out any creases.  When I did this project a year ago, I tried to do this step outside and the combination of wind and grit and stickiness was a nightmare.  I strongly recommend having the spray station outside and doing everything else inside.

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsStep Five:

When the glue has set, use scissors or a utility knife to trim the excess fabric from the edges of the board.  The outer edge will most likely be covered by your frame, so you don’t need to worry about making a perfect cut.  Use your utility knife to make an ‘x’ in the opening of your mat board (image on the right).

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsStep Six:

Trim off the points of your triangles, then use Mod Podge, glue, or double-sided tape to adhere them to the back of your mat board.

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsStep Seven:

Reassemble your frames!  You’re done!

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsBy following the same steps listed above, but doing it twice, I made a double mat for the little lady portrait, and I really love the way it turned out.  She’s a sweet and quirky addition to our hallway.

Red House West || DIY Fabric Mats

close up hallwayThe landscape hangs in our living room above Norma Jean, who is still awaiting new clothes.  Looking at this photo I wonder if I may have hung it a little high relative to the chair, but the height is consistent with the rest of the art in the room so I’m not sure.

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsThe colors of the painting are a nice complement for Beatrice, who is on the opposite wall.

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsI decided to use a floral fabric for the other portrait, and I think the pattern and colors work well with her winsome expression.

Red House West || DIY Fabric Mats

The bottom of this mat is a little thicker than the top – there are more details on the thought behind this in the original post.

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsShe’s hanging on the blue walls in our dining room, and is doing a good job of making the early nights feel moody rather than gloomy.

Red House West || DIY Fabric MatsThanks for reading along – if any of you try this project I’d love to see! Mera and I are taking next week off from posting to enjoy Thanksgiving with our families; have a wonderful week and we’ll see you back here on Monday, November 28th!

 

Anthropologie-Inspired Geometric Table Top

My desire for crafting seems to be inversely proportional to the weather: for every degree that drops on the thermometer, my need to make something increases.  As the wind howled and the rain fell this last week, I decided to tackle a small project I’ve been meaning to do for ages.

I’ve had this metal table for a few years now, but I have zero recollection of where I got it.  The side of a road? The thrift store?  Your house?  Whatever its origin, it was cute enough to drag home (or steal, or however I got it), and we fashioned a top from a piece of scrap wood, stuck it in a corner with a lamp on it, and forgot about it.  Until a whisper carried on a late October wind reminded me.

Red House West || Anthro Inspired TableInspiration came, as it so often does, in the form of an Anthropologie catalog.  I like to think my style is unique, but the reality is that only financial constraint keeps me from a home and closet cloned straight from Anthropologie.  They, more than any other brand, create the fantasy life I’d like to live.  Soon after it appeared in my mailbox, I dogeared the pages with the new Sura collection, liking the geometric patterns and achromatic palette.

Red House West || Anthro Inspired Table

Red House West || Anthro Inspired Table Pretty sure I could pull something similar off for significantly less than the $1200 Anthro price tag, I gathered my supplies:

  • Four strips of 1/16″ thick Basswood (I can only find the packaged quantity online, but they were sold individually for less than $5 with a coupon at JoAnn’s)
  • Matte black paint
  • Paint brush and rag
  • Utility knife
  • Ruler
  • Wood glue (I used this)
  • Polyacrylic (or another clear topcoat)

To begin, I painted two of my boards with black chalkboard paint then used a rag to vigorously rub them so the grain would show through.

Red House West || Anthro Inspired Table I used a utility knife and straight edge to cut four-inch squares of both the natural and painted wood, then cut those into two halves, making triangles.

Red House West || Anthro Inspired Table

The thin wood cuts easily with just a utility knife.

I had fun playing around to see what layout I liked best.  I’m sorry for the photo quality: The hideous lighting and off-kilter framing can both be attributed to the late hour at which I was doing this.

Red House West || Anthro Inspired Table Once I had a design I liked, I put a thin layer of glue on the piece of wood we’d been using as a table top, attached half the tiles, then quickly put a board and a pile of heavy objects (a zillion-pound kitchen mixer among them) on top.  I then did the other half of tiles exactly the same way.  A thin, even layer of glue and a quick application of weight is essential (ESSENTIAL!) to keep the thin tiles from curling.  I let things dry overnight, then finished up with a coat of Polyacrylic.  Not counting dry time, the whole process took me less than two hours.

Red House West || Anthro Inspired Table

Red House West || Anthro Inspired Table A similar look could have maybe been achieved by taping and painting a single piece of wood, but I like the tiled effect and the way the grain goes in different directions.  I can totally imagine doing this again on a larger table surface, a cabinet front, or as a frame.  Maybe next time instead of painting, I’ll even try cerusing the wood using this tutorial from Little Green Notebook.

Red House West || Anthro Inspired Table

Red House West || Anthro Inspired Table I’m liking it so much that this morning I picked some of the hardy pink roses that are still blooming along our driveway, made a cup of tea, and just sat there appreciating my newest craft.

Red House West || Anthro Inspired TableAnyone else been bitten by the cold-weather crafting bug?