Make a Dramatic Statement to a room simply with Paint

DARE TO BE BOLD, WITH COLOR

Are you tired of boring white walls, but you have no idea what color you would like to paint? Well, why choose just one color? You can use as many colors as you like and create your own personal statement to your home. I believe that there is no right or wrong when it comes designing a personal space as long as you are not designing to sell your home.

Many people often find it extremely challenging to choose colors of paint when the kitchen, dinning room and living room are basically...all one room...especially seperating the kitchen and dinning room spaces when they share one common wall.

Here is a kitchen, dinning and living room space painted with five different colors; maze yellow, turquoise, sage green, copper brown and white for definition and separation.

Wider stripes were cleverly painted in the dinning room to define and separate the kitchen and dinning spaces.

Rectangles were painted, using the same colors, in the living room to accent the dinning room stripes. The rest of the living room was painted with one solid color of maze yellow.

All the doors and trim were painted white.

Fire Pit built in exterior deck

Supplies: Landscaping blocks, fire bricks, construction glue, one metal or iron grate, concrete mix or ready made blocks Tools: shovel, level, rubber mallot.

1. Pour a concrete slab about one foot larger than the diameter of your desired fire pit. Smooth out and let set over night until concrete has set. An alternative method is to purchase concrete blocks and place them together in the ground.

2. Place curved retaining landscaping blocks in a desired radius size and secure the bottom row with construction glue to the concrete slab. Stager the next row (like a brick pattern) and glue them to the first row. Continue staggering and gluing each row until you achieve your desired heigth.
Note: the first few rows will have air holes (gaps in the bricks for air)

3. Place fire bricks along the inside wall of the landscaping blocks and stagger these to match the outer wall for air holes. The fire bricks will not be glued. They just sit one on top of the other. Once you have reached your desired height for the actual logs to burn, then place a iron grate (radius slightly smaller than the inside wall of the landscaping blocks) on top of the fire bricks. Continue to place the fire bricks around, close together, with no gaps, until you have reached the top of the landscaping blocks.

4. Cleaning: once the ashes have reached the top of the grate, simply remove the firebricks and the grate and shovel it out. Then replace the grate and fire bricks and you are ready for the next season.

5. Determining height: remember that different types of wood sparks, so be sure to make your pit high enough to avoid potential fires etc.

The exterior deck shown in the photos is approx 2 1/2 feet above ground level.

Inexpensive Kitchen Face Lift by Fauxing with Paint

Want a richer looking Kitchen that "POPS"?

Well you can get just that with simply two colors of paint, a paint brush, a bristled scrub brush, and a little four letter word.....w-o-r-k.

We purchased this 1997 manufactured home to flip. We wanted to make the interior look more expensive without spending much cash, we had a strick budget with this home.

We decided to faux the kitchen a dark color to make the cabinet stand out. We chose a dark blue because there were existing stained glass windows with this color existing.

To start, we taped off all trim and cabinet edges and then we proceeded to paint a medium toned blue (picture 2) and let that dry over night. We then painted over the medium blue with a dark, "almost black" blue and used a scrub brush and begain to remove some of the paint by "X" shaped strokes. After each stroke, we wiped the excess paint onto a rag.

The dark blue paint was first thinned with glaze (3 parts glaze, one part paint) to delay drying time. Once the paint was dry, we removed the painters tape....and wala....a completely different look in the kitchen.

This faux techique along with the darker color selectlion helps hide the wall panel strips that are common in manufactured homes for an additional bonus.

The new home owners loved it!

Exterior Front Face Lift

It is truely amazing that we have had absolutely No snow here in Western Michigan in the past month!

We actually had the opportunity to re-side the front exterior of Units 1 and 2 of Hess Lake Condominiums. We still have a little work to do in the spring with paint. The cottages were a basic white and we changed it to a deep blue.

Re-siding is actually easy, so don't let it intimitate you girls. You can use the existing starter strip and J-channel if desired.

We simply removed the old vinyl siding with a hammer by pulling out the nails and set the siding down on the ground in small stacks.

We framed the windows and doors with 4 inch cedar for a more modern look.

We then proceeded to hang the new blue colored J-channel and vinyl siding, starting at the bottom of the building. You want to be careful not to force the new nails in too far and pinch the siding, because it needs to be able to move freely when it expands and contracts due to the weather elements through all four seasons.

When we were finished, we re-used the vinyl siding boxes and placed the old white siding into them. This way we can store it easily and re-use it for a different project, such as a shed...why not, it is free material, and we are all about saving money and the environment.

This entire project cost $500.00 and 8 hours labor for a brand new "crisp and sharp" front exterior look.

Remember, there are no rules in exterior decorating. You can have a different color vinyl siding in the front only, just like brick, cedar shank, etc.

We will show finished pictures of this building in the spring.