Sunday, March 23, 2014

Hallway Floor Plan

To scale, no less.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Bedroom is Coming Along...

Current mood board (above).

Room in progress (below).

Monday, March 17, 2014

Dining Room in Blue and White

dining room in blue and white

dining room in blue and white by jess-junk featuring off white furniture

I created some boards on Polyvore for the first time, just to give it a try. First, I created a "dining_room" template, then I chose products to put into those placeholders.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Which Paint Color?


Paint Color "Meander Blue" SW 6484 - Interior from Sherwin-Williams


Paint Color "Dewy" SW 6469 by Sherwin-Williams.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Stop the Plank Wall Trend in the Name of Fire Safety

Wood Planked Wall, Image and Project on Cape27 Blog
Recently, it has become popular to install wood planks (boards) on top of ordinary dry wall. It adds aesthetic warmth and visual texture and interest. The problem is that wood is not as fire-resistant as ordinary interior walls (i.e. dry wall).

Fireplace Plank Wall, Image from Design*Sponge, Rita Brownstein; See Note Below Regarding Fireplaces
I worry about all that wood making the room more susceptible to fire. This especially worries me when any of the following are true:
  • The planked walls go on all four sides of a room
  • A planked wall is anywhere near a fireplace* or stove
  • A planked wall is anywhere near electrical work
  • The wooden planks are dry, e.g. old barn wood that is left untreated

Plank Wall, Image from Do-It-Yourself

My web research has shown that the items in a room (furniture, curtains, etc.) are more likely to encourage a fire to burn than either dry wall or wood. However, when you compare wood to dry wall (apples to apples, one wall covering to another), I would think that the wood is less resistant to fire than ordinary dry wall / gypsum.

See this Flame-Spread Ratings article, excerpt below:
Flame-Spread Classification Flame-Spread Rating or Index
Class I (or A) 0 - 25 (Good)
Class II (or B) 26 - 75 (Medium)
Class III (or C) 76 - 200 (Poor)
Material/speciesFlameSpread
Rating
Flame-Spread Class
Hardboard siding panels<200III
APA Wood Structural Panels (includes APA 303 Sidings such as T1-11)76-200III
Birch, Yellow80III
Brick0I
Cedar, Western Red69II
Douglas-fir90III
Fiberboard, Medium Density167III
Gypsum Wallboard10-15I
Gypsum Sheathing15-20I
Fiber-cement exterior materials0I
Hemlock, West Coast73II
Idaho white pine82III
Inorganic reinforced cement board0I
Maple104III
Masonite<200III
Oak, Red or White100III
Oriented Strand Board (OSB)150III
Particle Board116-178III
Pine, Lodgepole98III
Pine, Ponderosa115III
Plywood, Fire-retardant-treated construction0-25I
Plywood, Oak125-185III
Plywood, Pine120-140III
Spruce, Engelmann55II
T1-1176-200III

However, that being said, maybe you could coat the wood with layers of fire-resistant polyurethane? Or, why not use barnwood-look tiles like in the image below?

Tile Wall, Image from Houzz Article by Travis

Other tips to reduce fire-susceptibility:
  • Install double-pane windows
  • Use thicker gypsum, i.e. 5/8-inch thick gypsum
See this Fire-Resistant Details article.


If you are still interested in doing a real wood plank wall, The House of Smiths website does a nice tutorial.

Image from Tutorial by The House of Smiths Blog

*Note: If you are doing a plank wall near a fireplace, make sure you have at least a 6-inch separation, or whatever the building code in your area directs.

Tweaking the Master Bedroom Moodboard

I tried adding a different lamp, candle holders, stool, and headboard.

Sources for new items:
Lamp - IKEA
Candle Holders - WEST ELM (with votive candle inserts from CRATE & BARREL, not shown)
Stool - BELLACOR

Monday, March 10, 2014

Simple Silver Leaf and Typography Photoshop Tutorial



This tutorial is inspired by this Gold Leaf Photoshop Elements tutorial on Teal & Lime. However, my tutorial uses silver leaf, Photoshop CS6 software (not Elements), one file throughout (not two), and uses the Rasterize feature (not the Define Brush feature plus the Eraser tool).

Steps:

Create a document that is 11 inches wide, 8.5 inches tall, and 300 PPI (pixels per inch). Make the Mode CMYK by going to Image->Mode->CMYK Color.

Do a Google search for the background you want (e.g. search for "silver leaf background") and select a high-res image. Copy it (CTRL+C on a PC), and paste it into your document (CTRL+V on a PC).

(1)

Create a new layer on top of that (see the New Layer icon on the bottom right and click it). Then, make the new layer white, or whatever you want your other color to be (select the area with the Magic Wand tool, then use the Fill tool and choose white on the upper swatch box). I’ve named my layers but this is an unnecessary step.

(2)

Now for the letters! Create new layer on top of your white layer and type "I heart you." For the letters, choose Rockwell Extra Bold font, or another thick font. For the heart, choose Webdings and type a capital ‘Y’. I used large font (e.g. 90-pt). To help center my text, I used View->New Guide to create a vertical guide at 5.5 inches (half the width) and a horizontal guide at 4.25 inches (half the height), but the guides are optional.

(3)

Afterwards, use the rectangular marque tool and draw a rectangle around your letters.

(4)

Go to Layer->Rasterize Type. Now you can select the letters like they were shapes. Deselect the rectangle (Select->Deselect), then use the Magic Wand to select the ‘I’.

(5)

Go to Select and choose Similar to select the rest of the letters which are similar in color to the 'I'. Now, move to your white layer and turn off visibility on your upper-most layer (highlight your white layer by clicking on it, then click the eye to the left of your upper-most layer to hide it).

(6)

Now you are ready for the fun part. Hit Delete to permanently delete the letters from your white layer, thus letting the silver layer below show through!

Deselect your letters (Select->Deselect, or CTRL+D on a PC) and you have your final image!

(7)

Now, decide how big you want to print this image. For my 4x6 inch frame, I went to Image->Canvas Size and chose 4 inches tall by 6 inches wide.

(8)

And it’s that simple!


(9)

Of course, if you want to do this the easy way and just download my final image, here is a 4.5 x 6.5 inch final image. You can print it out at full size (click it to enlarge it to full size), and trim it with scissors down to a 4x6 inch size.


Saturday, March 8, 2014

Final? Moodboard for Master Bedroom

I like this. It's very "me".
Sources:
Ottoman, cowhide - OVERSTOCK
Vase, blue - CB2
Sculpture, bear - ETSY
Bowls, navy - ETSY
Plant - IKEA
Shelf, bracketed - IKEA
Candle, silver - ANTHROPOLOGIE
Sheets, light blue - OVERSTOCK
Sheets, ivory - TARGET
Mirror, silver - WISTERIA
Lamp, rope - GRANDINROAD
Nightstand, grid - LANDOFNOD
Basket, wicker - IKEA
Jewelry stand, silver - TARGET
Rug, seafoam - RUGSUSA
Duvet, flax - WESTELM
Lamps, dove - KIRKLANDS
Incense, cabin-shaped - AMAZON
Makeup brush set, green - EBAY
Makeup shelf - CRATE&BARREL
Ottoman, taupe - AMAZON
Blanket, charcoal - IKEA
Euro Shams, covers - IKEA
Euro Shams, inserts - OVERSTOCK
Headboard - HOMEDECORATORS
Tray, silver - WESTELM
Nightstand, Nyvoll - IKEA
Storage Boxes, tan and floral - IKEA
Bowl, gray - ETSY
Frame, silver - WALMART
Frame, brown with ribbon - AMAZON
Dresser - IKEA
Curtains, egret - JCP
Curtain Rods - LOWES
Bedskirt, egret - JCP

Friday, March 7, 2014

Intermediate Master Bedroom Moodboard


Here is my moodboard at the half-way mark in my class. I am not sure if the mix of metals (chrome, silver, antique brass) is working. I'm also not sure about the colors - this design probably needs more navy. I also wanted to add in some pale yellow but could not find any suitable items. I guess that color isn't "in" this year.

Monday, March 3, 2014

The Floor Plan...

As you may recall, I am doing a master bedroom moodboard as a final project for my interior decorating class. Today's lesson was floorplan-making.

Although I thought I had a good idea of where everything would go (because the room is tiny), I am really glad that I put in the effort to create this floor plan. Above, the plan has labels (red font indicates items that I need to find and black font indicates items that I have already found). Below is the plan without labels, for people who prefer a more minimalist diagram.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Silver Frames

Even if you know you want a silver 11x14" frame with a white mat, the choices are still plentiful. Sometimes, I think more choices make things more difficult.
Left: Home Depot Timeless Lauren Picture Frame
Middle: Crate & Barrel Brushed Silver Frame
Right: Walmart 11x14 Set