dESiGNalogue

DIY Wallpaper

  Before

 

 

  After

(work in progress)

DEBRA

Dom and I decided to spruce up the hallway to the bathroom.  We found the perfect little shelf that we haggled for $5 at a yardsale.  With a little black paint, it was the perfect piece! I decided that I really wanted some interesting wallpaper just in that area to contrast the white walls throughout the apartment.  I thought about the charm and originality of ink drawings, inspired by this pen & ink duvet from Urban http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?itemdescription=true&itemCount=60&startValue=61&selectedProductColor=&sortby=&id=14661565&parentid=A_FURN_BEDDING&sortProperties=+product.marketingPriority,-product.startDate&navCount=174&navAction=poppushpush&color=

I got some giant roll paper and we fooled around w/ different ways to hang.  We decided rubber cement was the best choice since its a vulcanizing adhesive, which means it doesn't sink into porous materials. It also rubs right off of the paint, giving us the temporary solution we needed.

Now we have a fun space to draw on, and whats even better is that its completely renewable everytime I decide on a new theme!

DIY Furniture

DEBRA

While we were out on Saturday, we were caught in a terriffic thunderstorm.  The kind where you're soaking wet just making the mad dash from the store to your car.  When we got home, it hadn't rained cats and dogs, but did rain Pedestal Tables...as there was one left on the curb in the rain.  This baby was it! Hardwood, fairly sturdy and decent condition. We cleaned it off and carried it inside and took a good 30 minutes figuring out how the hell we were gonna get it up the stairs. 

 

Pondering the physics of stairs...

As beautiful as the top is, and as much as I really admire and respect the craftsmanship that went into creating this fine piece of furniture, I simply cannot cope with oak in any setting (except for flooring).  Plus the photos make it look like its a priceless antique, when really its just going New England Pub-style at best. It looks like it was made from someone's leftover parquet floor.  The need for my dream, satin-black pedestal table among the rest of the black and white interior is what lead us to the small back injuries of getting this baby home.  But you gotta admit, for $20 worth of paint and a buttload of elbow grease, it was well worth saving the $999 from the likes of Pottery Barn!

 Before

Round = space saver

 After

(1st coat of black)