Category Archives: Painting

Stripping Paint Off a Door the Right Way

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Design Build Love

Refinishing doors is a little bit of a labor of love around our home after our Refinishing Our Front Door, so it seems natural that we share another way to refinish a front door. In our home, interior doors are composite, and we won’t be stripping paint from them any day, but in case we come across a door we want to strip and re-design to repurpose in our home, we felt that this guest tutorial was well worth sharing! And for many of you, painted solid wood doors may be a big part of your home! Hope the tutorial helps and enjoy! ________________________________________________________________________ At some stage in our DIY lifetime we will all be faced with the task of stripping furniture of paint or any other sealant. In our experience 80% of the time our front doors or internal doors will be the pieces we attempt to convert. Solid wooden doors are a great piece to strip as they visually benefit so much from both the natural or distressed finish as well as being painted. Whichever look you are going for, the chances are you will need to firstly strip the door of its current coating. Stripping paint, if done the correct way is actually one of our favourite DIY projects; it can be therapeutic and nearly always results in a great looking finished item. If executed poorly and without the necessary tools, it can quickly become one of the most frustrating tasks you could attempt. Before you begin it is important that you have the below items to hand: Stripping knifeWire woolDust sheetsSandpaper and sanding block or mechanical sanderelectric hot air gunchemical stripperSafety gogglesMaskRubber gloves 1. Preparation There are a few key things to consider before you touch the door. Have a dust sheet down, as it will … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Furniture, Painting | Leave a comment

We’ve Been Featured @ Remodelaholic

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Design Build Love

Our Laundry Room and DIY Herringbone Wall Treatment have been featured on an absolutely amazing blog, Remodelaholic! Feel free to check out the post and make sure to check out all of her amazing projects! Thanks for the feature Cassity! ~Ashley Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share on netvibes share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet about it Buzz it up Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later Bookmark in Browser Tell a friend

Posted in Guest Blogging, Laundry Room, Painting | 6 Comments

Master Bathroom Updates

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Design Build Love

Our master bathroom has been a long source of shame in our household. It was terribly ugly and nasty when we moved in, and besides an extremely thorough cleaning and a quick coat of beige on the walls, it really hasn’t received much attention. Part of the reason that this room has been put so far on the backburner is that we plan to do a full gut of the bathroom and start from scratch. The basic RENOVATION PLANS include: DIY-built double vanity Removal of the junky soaking tub Build out a huge walk-in shower for two people Change out standard window for a really long and high window Removal of carpet (seriously, who puts carpet in a bathroom?!?!? c’mon people!) Installation of fun tile/stone floor Removal of “hollywood” light bar Installation of new light fixtures Vanity mirror dress-up Install pocket/bi-fold door for entry to closet Lots of plans, right?!?! Exactly! That’s why we just haven’t gotten to any of them. We’re thinking that our bathroom will likely be last on the list to get attention because we are the only ones who use it, and it functions perfectly fine. But, since it will likely be a while before any serious work gets done in there, I figured I should at least make a small effort to bring it up from completely shameful to at least passable, especially since there is no visual separation from the master bedroom! As paint was really all that had been done, my next steps involve getting accessories! Fun stuff!!! As you may have read in my earlier post, I had quite the ordeal finding just the right bath towels, but for now, I am completely happy with my selection. After I settled on the towels, I scoured the shelves of multiple Ross, Marshalls, and … Continue reading

Posted in Home Accessories, Master Bathroom, Painting, Shopping | 10 Comments

7 Simple Steps to Create Built-In Closet Storage

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Design Build Love

It’s really that simple! Built-in storage is essential in closets these days. In a perfect world, closets would always come with a full, functioning, effective closet kit, but they just don’t. In fact, bedroom closets are nearly useless when in their builder-grade state. Most closets are equipped with just one rod and a shelf just above it. This is extremely useless if you are looking to get organized! In fact, it is almost counter-productive because the one rod and one shelf are usually placed awkwardly two-thirds of the way up the wall, leaving the top, one-third completely useless. In addition to the wasted “headroom,” most builder-grade closets have a couple feet at each end of the closet that is made almost unusable and inaccessible when clothes are hung because it sits behind the wall. This wasted side space is exactly the area I chose to tackle this time around. Ok… my rant about builder-grade closets has ended. Here we go… Looking to upgrade your builder grade closet on the cheap without looking cheap? You’re in luck! These are my simple and straight forward instructions to add basic storage to any builder-grade closet- no demo required! Supplies Needed: MDF (1/2” or plywood if you prefer) Tape Measure Pencil Circular Saw (and table saw if you have one) Semi-Gloss or Gloss Paint Brushes and Rollers Caulk (and caulking gun) Hammer Finishing Nails Drill Screws (1.5” course thread drywall screws) Instructions: Step 1: Cut MDF to size for shelves and shelf supports NOTE: My shelves all measured 17” deep by 24” wide. Rear shelf supports were all 24” wide and 2.5” tall. Side shelf supports were all 16.5” wide by 2” tall. Step 2: Once all pieces are cut to size, install rear shelf supports first, leveling. We used five screws per … Continue reading

Posted in Closets, DIY, Get Organized, Guest Bedroom, Home Office, Painting | 4 Comments

How to Make Colorful Watercolor Tags

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Design Build Love

This no-spend month has really been a ton of fun! It’s challenged me creatively and forced me to think outside my normal “box.” In working to organize my office, I wanted to continue to inject color in addition to organize everything. Knowing that labels are KEY to organization, I set out to make pretty, colorful, effective labels for use in my hopefully soon-to-be organized office closet! Now, I know there are lots of computer generated graphics that I could’ve used to get a healthy dose of color, but I really wanted to get away from the computer for this part, and go elementary-style on myself! Yup, that’s right… I broke out the super cheap-o watercolors and paint brushes! I figured I could do some muddled-watercolor backgrounds and then print computer-generated text onto the dried painted paper. Truthfully, I couldn’t be happier with the results! Basically, this is how it went… 1- Paint paper with watercolors (TIP: if trying to achieve muddled color effect, paint entire page with water first) 2- Randomly paint on colors to create variation and depth 3- Allow to dry 4- Once dry, create desired text on the computer, insert dried watercolor painting into printer, and press “print!” 5- Next, I used spray adhesive to adhere the watercolor paper to white card stock for additional strength 6- Trim off excess card stock 7- Use hole punch (if needed for your project) 8- Attach to surface (I used ribbon to attach my labels to some white baskets) Now begins the fun organization project of putting everything in their newly labeled homes! ENJOY!!! ANYONE ELSE HAVE A FAVORITE FREE LABELING TECHNIQUE? LABELS ARE FUN, BUT PRETTY LABELS ARE EVEN BETTER, RIGHT? Linking up… Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share on … Continue reading

Posted in Art, DIY, Get Organized, Guest Bedroom, Home Office, Painting | 10 Comments

Reader Redesign: Dancing Commas Herringbone Wall

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Design Build Love

One of the greatest joys I’ve gotten from blogging is the ability to be constantly inspired. But, an even greater joy is found when I know that I’ve inspired others. This is the case with Jana at Dancing Commas. You see, my Laundry Room Overhaul and Herringbone Wall Treatment were a labor of love, and apparently left such a lasting impression on Jana, that she decided to tackle the project herself! You go girl!!! So, in honor of the big Pinterest Challenge happening right now, Jane challenged herself to create her own rendition of my herringbone wall treatment. And might I say… HER RESULTS ARE AMAZING! I absolutely love the colors she chose! And to boot, I learned a new trick for straight lines that involves a string and a weight- see you learn something new every day!. Don’t know what I’m talking about… head over to her blog to check it out! Even if you do know… head over to her blog anyways, you might learn something else! I promise you won’t be disappointed! Seriously, I am just so glad to see someone else tackle this project. It’s brought me so much happiness and enjoyment in that space… and let me tell you… MY LAUNDRY ROOM HAS NEVER STAYED CLEANER!!! I guess that’s what happens when you not only organize a space, but you beautify it too! Thanks for sharing Jana! ~Ashley Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share on netvibes share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet about it Buzz it up Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later Bookmark in Browser Tell a friend