ORC – Spring Weeks 4 & 5

Weeks 4 & 5

 

Here we go with the last update on the bathroom project I’m working on during the One Room Challenge. I haven’t done many updates because we had some major things happen during the past few weeks — we actually decided put our house on the market and it sold a couple of weeks ago.

I had been planning to do the One Room Challenge for a few months and the project was supposed to be all about doing small manageable updates that could be done over a couple of hours each weekend. Well, good thing it was a simple plan since we had to cram the whole thing into one weekend.

I had planned to do all of the work myself but we were so lucky to have good friends come visit for the weekend – good friends who are very skilled with home improvement. This is Alfredo and he was the one who brought my vision to reality. He brought his circular saw and years of experience doing his own projects. I have so much to learn from him!

I had wanted to create the look of floating shelves in our bathroom closet while using materials I already had. My plan was the use plywood that was from a booth I had made for the One of a Kind Show.

This is the booth I made a few years ago to sell my art & accessories. It has been in storage in the garage and I’ve been saving the wood to repurpose. (You may recognize the shelf & storage unit from my studio).

Alfredo traced the shape of the shelves onto the plywood and then cut them with the circular saw.

He then created thin strips to go on the front of the shelves to give them depth.

Now the shelves are a feature waiting to be styled rather than a messy storage area — All with reused materials. I had planned to stain the wood but I ended up liking it as is. With the walls and tiles all being white, the wood here warms up the room.

 

Here’s a little step by step guide for how to update a vanity without doing a renovation — it’s easy and makes a world of difference. Next week will be the final reveal.

 

 

 

To see how everyone else is coming along with their rooms follow the link below:

New in the Studio: Screen Printed Tea Towels

Here’s a look inside my studio from the side of the room that I haven’t shown before. I did a mini makeover last year with several more DIY projects, which included building a new work table for screen printing.

With all of the focus on doing home improvement projects, I wanted to make an accessory for the finished space, in this case the kitchen.  Here’s a look at the process and finished pieces.

 

 

They are designed to be functional for everyday use and the linen will get softer with every wash.

Also, a tutorial for this wreath as seen in the photo above will be coming to the blog within the next week.

This board and batten wall works well for hanging fabric to dry too. The tutorial on how I built is here and was recently featured on Apartment Therapy.

Black Interior Doors

Have you ever thought about painting your interior doors black? I saw a story on Houzz this summer about painting interior doors black, and they had great reasons to do it. While picking up the black paint roller seemed risky at first I never second guessed that decision.

We have a narrow hallway with four doors in a very tight space. After painting the inside of the front door, I hesitated about doing the closet door too and waited a few days to paint it. Then I also changed the basic door leading to the garage into a chalkboard door. The hardware was all shiny brass, and I spray painted them following the instructions from The Creative Cubby using oil rubbed bronze spray paint.

Here’s a look at the basement door that I just painted black a couple of weeks ago after re-reading the story on Houzz about how a black door can make the ceiling look taller by drawing the eye up with the contrasting colour.

I recommend reading 11 Reasons to Paint Your Interior Doors Black on Houzz if you haven’t already.

 

Related Posts:

Adding Architectural Elements 

Mini Studio Tour & Updated Logo

Since relocating I have not shared my current workspace. Along with all of the painting on furniture and walls I’ve been doing in the rest of the house my studio also got a personalized look.

For the paint colours I knew that I loved dark walls but didn’t want them to be overpowering so I chose to paint the back wall as an accent.  To contrast I used pale pink (Benjamin Moore Origins Vintage Pearl) to warm up the space and be fun since this is a creative environment.

 

Gold

Over the past week I’ve been busy and so inspired, all by adding gold to the colour palette. I’m using it on a whole line of new things for spring, including another version of the iPad sleeve. Here’s a peak inside of my studio and what I’ve been working on.

 I’m in the midst of finishing up and photographing so there will be more to come.

In the Studio

For awhile I’ve been wanting to share some photos from my sunny studio — so here are some candid shots while I work. Thanks to my husband Juan Pablo for taking the photos!

Process: Screen Printing

Last week I was filling out some forms, describing all of the stages that go into making a Shibang purse. What I realized was that there is one important stage that I don’t highlight very much, screen printing. I use screen printing as a layer in the design and then add dimension with embellishment on top.

The branches are the design that I am referring to. They were first drawn with charcoal onto tracing paper, then exposed onto the screen (which was coated with photo sensitive emulsion). This design with the branches began as a way to create a lighter look for the felt by adding blossoms or smaller flowers. What originally was a spring/summer look has now been continued through to winter styles by changing the colours. The colours that I mix up for the pigments change every few months as well for a slightly different look.

First I cut the pattern piece and then individually print each piece.

Usually I print a batch of one colour at once and then get the mess cleaned up and back to sewing. Once I’m done printing I roll the vinyl cover back over the table and continue to lay out the fleece and construct the bag.

This is the rest of the table that I wanted to include because I made it myself, and for me it was a big project.