Redesigning a Lamp!

A recent project of mine was to find an old lamp and redesign it! I took a trip to Goodwill in town and found a lamp with no shade for $6.38. What a deal! It was a hammered black metal. With luck it would hopefully still work! I took it home and plugged her in and she worked!

Next, I stopped at Hobby Lobby in Davenport, and decided I wanted to spray paint the black metal base silver and add some gold colored webbing spray paint on top of the silver. The silver spray paint was free to me, leftover from another project. The gold webbing spray paint was $5.99. It took 3 coats of silver spray paint and three coats of the gold webbing paint.

I made a quick trip to Home Depot and found a new 10" harp which cost $3.65. That too I spray painted silver.

I also had a new shade that was free to me left over from a broken lamp from our store, Feather Your Nest Interiors. Lastly, I added some fringe or BLING to the bottom of the shade. It cost $4.19.

So this NEW lamp cost me a TOTAL of $20.21 + Tax.

I really like how the lamp turned out!!! A great inexpensive gift idea for a friend or loved one. It took me 3 hours total to complete once I had all the supplies. Cheers and enjoy.

BEFORE PICTURE

AFTER PICTURE

HVAC and Carpet Cleaning Tips For Your Home

I just finished reading an article "Breathe Easier In Your Home" out of a local magazine called Women's Edition, October 2013 issue.  This article is all about finding and setting a time to clean your ducts and other system components along with your carpets twice a year.  It recommends once in the spring and once in the fall to have your carpets professionally cleaned to get rid of all the dirt, dust and mites that may be trapped in the fibers of your carpet.  The EPA doesn't offer any guidelines on how often you should have your ducts cleaned, but it should be done as needed. 

"When choosing a professional duct or carpet cleaning service, it is important to do your homework.  Look for industry designations such as CRI and the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA).  And, as with any professional service provider, be sure to ask for an estimate, but don't let price be your only consideration."

Other online sources for information are:

www.epa.gov
www.nadca.com
www.carpet-rug.org
www.iicrc.org

Below is a link from NADCA's website on Energy Savings in your home.  Take the time to view as it's important to keep your HVAC systems working properly.

http://youtu.be/hImvxVyZvQE

In California, a Midcentury House in the Redwoods

In The New York City Times article "In California, a Midcentury House in the Redwoods" I was introduced to the intriguing idea of living in a tree house. This article shows a couple, The Todd's, that purchased a home built in 1958 by Daniel J. Liebermann, an architect who had apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright, and he was just 28 when he designed it for himself and his wife. This small home is just 1,100 sq ft and was purchased in 2006 for $1,125,000 by the Todd's. Many updates were needed as the house was in need of repairs when purchased in 2006. The couple combined the three small bedrooms into one large master suite and bath. They also upgraded the house’s 19 skylights, kitchen and radianting heating system. New lighting was installed throughout the house; the wood rafters and the ceiling were wire-brushed and waxed; the concrete floors were restained and polished; and the exposed brick walls were coated with plaster to create a more modern look. All to the tune of $350 a sq ft. The end result is amazing as you can see in the following pictures.


http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/06/17/garden/20100617-location-slideshow.html

Decorating with Color!

Get Creative with Color: 10 Enviable (and Totally Attainable) Rooms.

This article from Good Housekeeping has great pictures of rooms done by designers to show how you can use color in rooms!

Don't be afraid of color. I think that color is what makes your house your home! Show us how much you love your home by expressing yourself! Be creative, be energetic, be inventive! Don't go for safe...

go BOLD!

These pictures are from www.goodhousekeeping.com.





Read more: Colorful Home Decor - How to Add Color to Your Room - Good Housekeeping
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Visit us at GoodHouseKeeping.com

High-Wire Act

I just read the article High-Wire Act by Dana Thomas from Elle Decor Magazine.  This article features the Parisian loft apartment of French Fashion Designer Yvan Mispelaere that was once a school for acrobats.  This loft is 1700 sq ft of luxury and a mixture of  vintage and modern time periods.  He has incorporated pieces and design inspiration anywhere from an Italian 1950s dining table to the guest room's custom-made cabinetry that was inspired by Giorgio de Chirico, a 1970s plaster speaker.   Below you will see the pictures taken from the loft and the great mix of time periods.

It goes without saying, that interior design in the 21st century,  has become an eclectic mix of decades of furniture and accessories that inspire and seduce the senses.

Read more: Yvan Mispelaere Design - Parisian Loft - ELLE DECOR
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Visit us at ELLEDECOR.com

Mispelaere designed the bedcover in the master bedroom, the floor is paved with custom-made painted wood tiles, and a two-way mirror on the back wall offers a view of the dining area below.

www.ELLEDECOR.com

 

The living room of fashion designer Yvan Mispelaere's Paris apartment, which he designed with architect Stéphane Ghestem, the sofas are by Zanotta, the 1970s light fixtures were found in Florence and costomized with brass accents, the Art Deco mirror screen came from a paris flea market, the brass-and-glass cocktail tables are vintage, and the marble sculpture by Venske & Spänle was purchased at the Hong Kong International Art Fair.

www.ELLEDECOR.com

The staircase is painted concrete, the glassware collection is vintage, and the brass chair is from the 1960s; Mispelaere designed both the Brancusi-inspired hand-carved stacked stools and the trompe l'oeil "tile" wood-and-cork inspiration board in the office beyond.

www.ELLEDECOR.com

The guest room's custom-made cabinetry was inspired by Giorgio de Chirico, a 1970s plaster speaker adds another Surrealist element, and the wall is painted in a blue by Dulux Valentine.

 

www.ELLEDECOR.com

The tilework in the master bath is a mix of standard white squares and Mispelaere's Peep Show tiles.

www.ELLEDECOR.com

The kitchen is hidden behind a black-walled, three-sided cube, and Ross Lovegrove Landscape chairs surround an Italian 1950s dining table expanded with Corian; the brass vases were made from unused World War I mortar shells.

www.ELLEDECOR.com

Article Review of "What's New In HPL."

I recently read the article "What's New in HPL" in the Surface and Panel Q3 2013 Magazine. This was a great review of the new innovative products that the different High Pressure Laminate companies are now making for commerical and some small residential applications.

Here are the different companies and what's new with them:

Arborite Ink at www.arborite.com/us has custom patterns from leading designers

Laminati at www.laminati-usa.com has come up with a laminate for architects and desginers that matches all indoor elemnets in order to save tiem and effort with specifying laminate.

Advanced Technology at www.advtechnology.com has two new NuMetal designs made of a thin metal surface and phenolic paper backing that are both for vertical and light duty horiztontal applications.

Abet Laminati at www.abetlaminati.com has Swarovski Elements and designs infused in their HPL.

Wilsonart at www.wilsonart.com has reshaped the entire supply chain for its paper source, which is 70% of its HPL Product line and is committed to sustainability.

Arpa HPL at www.arpaindustriale.com has a new innovative HPL line that inhibits growth of bacteria across the whole surface.

Greenlam at www.greenlam.com/us offers eco-friendly laminates from India. They use an array of innovative and super flexible veneers on kraft paper for their Veneer Laminate collection.

Lamitech at www.lamitech.com now offers Big Scale Granites in HPL. They are available in sheet size of 5x8, 5x12, and 4x8. All laminates are low VOC emissions and Greenguard certified.

Formica at www.formica.com/en-US was the original inventor of HPL 100 years ago. They have introduced a colorful and graphic Anniversary Collection. These patterns result in the fluidity of overlapping elements that repeat for 500 to 700 sheets, or approximately 1.3 miles.

Chemetal at www.ialaminates.com introduces 4 new HPL's that include textured and high gloss wood looks with exceptional design.

Article Review of "Tips on Lighting a Room Well"

I recently was reading my local newspaper the Muscatine Journal and I came across a great article on September 7 in the Home & Garden section titled "Tips on Lighting a Room Well."  This article was a great how to lesson for anyone looking to add more lighting to their home or a particular room.  It was sectioned out into advice in these catagories: Overhead and Eye-level , Go Retro, Forget Old Rules, Lighting as Art, and Better Bulbs.

Each section gave some great little tidbits of information that are useful in everyday applications.  Some of my favorite tips from the article are:

• Have overhead lights installed if your room has none
• Group different styles of lights in a romantic or whimsical setting
• Use chandeliers in other places than the dining room....like a bathroom
• Use the right type of bulb for the right room

I encourage you to look up this article online.  Here are a few lights and lamps and sconces that I find particularly great! 

A great use of wall sconces in a small powder room!

 

 

 

A unique lamp and overhead light for an eclectic living room.

 

 

This boys bedroom really has the surf and beachy feel with the orb light that cast shadows that look like sand dollars on the ceiling and walls.

 

 

These gold wall sconces really set the tone of the room as they are emphasized by the mirrored panels behind them.  Very dramatic effect for a small space.