Turning Bliss to Hisssss and Chic to Eeeeek!

For those who long for light and bright, chic and shabby interiors, Halloween decor can be a bit daunting. How does one take something so lovely, not to mention pink, and turn it into something spooky and menacing? Take, for instance, the sweet bride doll that lives in my kitchen cabinet. Enclosed in a glass cloche with a skeleton to guard her amongst the cobwebs, she becomes the epitome of spooky and menacing.

White is the picture of summer but it makes the perfect backdrop for changing seasons as can be seen in the photo below . . .

My large all white mantel provides a lot of space to cover. Sparse is just right for the warm months but when it cools off outside, one wants to turn up the heat inside . . .

. . . .in which case, more is much, much more. (Click HERE if you want to see how we made this fireplace on our lonesomes . . .)

With a few changes, switches, and removals, one can turn delicate beauty . . .

. . . into the picture of fright!

Often, one can find things they already have to enhance holiday decor. The "haunted house" photo below is a black and white version of a photo I took of the stables at the home of Lord Byron in Nottinghamshire, England. It was one of my favorite buildings in all of Britain but printed without color and cropped a bit askew, it is as haunted-looking as they come.

The frame in this photo was purchased at a flea market for $2 as it is warped. I can't hang it on the wall but it makes for an interesting statement in this Halloween tableaux.

I had the poster print above the mantel made online from a free-use antique postcard by Ellen Clapsaddle. It has just the right antique, primitive Halloween look I was going for. It certainly seems to have the black tabby spooked!

What displays as a lovely summer green on the walls in proper lighting . . .

. . . .glows an eerie Wicked-Witch-of-the-West-green in the candlelight.

A corner of the bureau dressed in summer . . .

. . . with a few switches and additions becomes a ghostly altar. Ancestor photos featuring children in white clothing and mustachioed men framed in black puts a whole new light on the previously sweet-looking garden statue.

One of the easiest ways to make your light and bright interiors say "boo!" is to . . .

. . . add some simple witches hats made out of black construction paper to your photos and artwork. Everybody looks good in a witch hat at Halloween!

The darker, more Victorian-looking hallway here is easily made spooky . . .

. . . with the addition of a few battery operated votive candles. (The glass-doored cabinet to the right of the photo below will be the subject of a later before and after post. Go HERE for a post on how I turned this landing from something ho-hum into the library I yearned for.)

The alternate view of the hall in this photo shows my bedroom door sporting its new trim and glass paned door---a post for another day, as well.

Another example of how removing a few things and adding a few others creates impact! (Click HERE to see how we made this cave of an entryway a thing of beauty.)

The roses and white linen is removed and replaced with items that will stay until the end of winter. . . that is, with a "few" exceptions . . .

Let's see that bat attack one more time. Before . . .

. . . and after! Bat patterns are widely available on the internet. Trace onto black construction paper and cut them out while you are watching T.V.--then tape them anywhere and everywhere for a fun flock of festive fright! The addition to black shades on the chandelier help to add that eerie glow.

Remember my kitchen window re-do this past spring? (see HERE for the before and after for the window project) As much as I adore the new look . . .

. . .I wanted something a bit heavier for the cold months of the year. The black chandelier spends six months of the year outside and three or four months above my kitchen sink. It's just enough of a change to say "Halloween" without a lot of fuss.
The orange shade over the lamp in the corner of the counter makes a big, but easy, difference, too.

These cabinets started out as builder quality, i.e., old and ugly. Go HERE to read how I made them something a bit more special. Scroll down to see how I made them "spooky".

This metal sculpture is the perfect size to hide the flowery decor on the top of my fridge and adds a lot of sparkle, too.

A few similar addtions to the shelves here create the same look with ease.

With just a few tricks and treats, you can make any decor say "hisssss" and "eeek!"

Happy Halloween!!!

Turning Old Chairs and Bits of Wood Into a One-of-a-Kind Garden Bench

I am often tempted to start these decor blog posts with the words "I wanted a . . ." which would be perfectly appropriate in this case (as in every other). A year ago, the family and I were out for a drive when I spotted the below porch swing in the front yard of a house along the highway--and I wanted it. Badly. So badly, I quickly became obsessed.

I adored its gothic cut-outs, its Victorian gingerbread house trim and other architectural details. I had to have one and the moment we arrived home, I immediately began an internet search, a desperate hunt, a haunted chase after this elusive porch swing. But it was not to be--not on eBay, not on Craig's list, not on any online store (though I could possibly have had one made--if I was willing to pay upwards of $500 for it). I looked in brick and mortar stores, as well, antique stores and architectural salvage stores but after nearly a year of hunting, I never found anything that came close. Then, one day, as I was gazing out into my back garden where I had placed my old dining room chairs which I no longer had a need for, I had an idea . . .

No, they wouldn't make a swing (I don't have a place to hang one, anyway) and they aren't nearly as delicate as the bench of my dreams but they did have curves, they did have gothic arches and cut outs and lots of architectural details. Though they weren't as perfect as the swing that had been haunting me for so long, they would do.

This pair of chairs used to be a foursome but two of them gave up the ghost quite some time ago. I did have the foresight to save some of the curvy legs (one never knows when one might need some curvy chair legs) and the insert from the back of one of them. I spent two months just staring at those chairs and conjuring a way to make them into a bench. And then, one night when The Spouse was away and I was attempting to refrain from eating my way out of my lonliness (we're pretty attached, The Spouse and I) I brought the chairs inside and began to work.

I knew I had to find a way to attach the the frameless insert to the frame of the chair on either side. Lacking tools and knowledge and insight, I decided to simply start drilling holes until I had an area large enough for the wooden tab on either side of the insert.

This photo, though fuzzy, as it was taken whilst I was drilling (never the best idea) shows how I began to develop a narrow, rectangular hole to insert the tab shown below. The below photo demonstrates how it was needful to shorten the wooden tab so that it fit into the opening without pushing the tab of the insert on the other side out of place.

Taking a rest from that, I removed the seats from the chairs. This is an easy task as the seats of most old chairs are held in place with screws.

Again, kind of fuzzy but still way better than the photos I let my 8 year old take of this project (those are coming up).

The above photo shows how I filled the cavity with glue--I used Liquid Nails or something like that. Use lots of it (er, assuming you choose to attempt a project like this, yourself).

The above photo shows the exta insert from the back of a third chair attached to the two full chairs by inserting the wooden tab into the holes I made on the inside frame of each chair. I then knew that I had to make sure the chairs stayed together and all going in the right direction at the right angle so the glue could dry while the chairs were all in the right position. So, I went out to the garage and found left-overs from other projects. The brown piece in the front used to be the top of the antique headboard we used to build our fireplace (click here to see how that turned out) and the one in the back was left over from the kitchen window trim project (see here). I must say that long and wickedly ridged drywall screws are very easy to drive through almost anything if you have an electric screwdriver. (I love my electric screwdriver.) (Love. It.)

Once the chairs were securely attached and I felt confident the pieces were all in the right places, I used wood fill for all the little gaps. This brand of wood fill starts out flourescent pink and dries to white, at which time you know it is ready to be sanded.
But first, I needed arms. I had intended to use my extra pair of chair legs for the arms but knew it required a lot of sawing through thick wood so decided to use a different pair of table legs I acquired I know not where/when but have been storing and tripping over on a regular basis in the garage for years. Now they are safely attached (via screws) to the bench and I have to say, I like them there much better than beneath my heedless feet.

I then brought my chairs-turned-bench out to the garage to be sanded (I probably should have done the whole project there but I like my carpeted living room floor better--thank goodness for vacuum cleaners) and spray painted. Once I had a base coat of spray paint on it, I painted the whole thing with several coats of high gloss paint to help protect it from the weather (though I plan to bring it in once the rain starts--not all wood is meant to endure the wet).

A few days later, The Spouse helped me cut a piece of beadboard left over from the bathroom project (see last post) with the electric saw (I don't do electric saws) to fit the seat area, and my obsession could finally take a rest.

Even though I haven't yet painted the edge of the beadboard seat, I quite adore it and find it a very comfortable place to sit and sip a glass of cold lemonade.

To see more garden photos, click HERE.

Transforming the Bathroom From Eeek to Chic Part Two--Finally!!!

So, the "new" bathroom is finally done and I just love it! I used to make sure that door was always closed but now I make sure it is always open, so lovely does it look and smell. Well worth the money and time we put into this. And the blood, sweat, and tears, of which there was much and many! (It's always harder than you think it's going to be.) (Always.)

We have two bathrooms in our little cottage but no one would use the "blue" bathroom. As the Middle Child says "horrific things have happened in there". Though this is all true, a big part of the problem was the broken fan, which, failing in its duty, meant it was a wet and smelly place even before the wall-encapsulating barfing.

As it turns out, the fan was the only thing that needed replacing, something we accomplished in a short space of time and for about $25.00. However, once I got The Spouse to agree that the bathroom needed a transformation of sorts in order to entice anyone (other than The Big Guy) to think of it as a safe place to be (the Little Guy and the MC using our ensuite bathroom is getting pretty old), the juices started flowing. And, without further ado, I present the before photo . . .


And the after! (please do remember that my camera can't produce a straight line at certain distances so things are not as warped as they appear . . .)

Note the lovely new fan (which came from a "cheater" kit, meaning we didn't replace the whole thing with new casing, etc., as that would have required making the hole bigger or smaller).

Next is the before photo of the problem with the tub--The Big Guy has pulled off the overflow thingamajig (in spite of all we did to replace that, I still never learned the correct term for that). There's a sad story related to this overflow apparatus; at some point the original tub was covered over with one of those tub and walls all-in-one features made of some kind of plastic. In doing so, the holes that are meant to line up with the holes on the overflow thingie don't --- so no screws can be used to hold it in place. The overflow thing that was there when we moved in was attached with glue which is probably the reason it eventually came off. We figured if we used glue, it could last at least a few years, at which point we would just glue it again.

Not. Non. No. Nein. So, in spite of money being spent on a new overflow thingie, special expensive glue and a second tube of a different kind of special expensive glue, the overflow remains uncovered.

The overflow failure almost proved too much for The Spouse but I convinced him that we had to carry on, make a success out of a failure, etc. etc. Which led to our next failure, one more spectacular than the last. Remember this mirror that covered the entire upper wall?

In my enternal optimism, I felt sure we could simply remove it, cut it down, and put it in an old frame that I had in the garage. We left this task nearly for last as, I must admit, it scared both of us. Finally the day came when we could put it off no longer (the family was getting tired of tools all over the place b/c I refuse to put tools away if I think I am going to use them again the next day . . . or the next--BIG waste of time, right?) The plan was to spread a blanket out on the ground in the garage, place the mirror on it, cut the size piece we needed and cut the rest of it into pieces that could easily be disposed of in the garbage can.

What happened was that the handy dandy glass cutter we bought ($13.98) was not the only tool needed. It seems there is some special holder/snapper-apart thing one needs. Once I finally convinced The Spouse to actually help me with this task and our hot breath was fogging up the mirror, I didn't dare take time out to purchase one of these special tools we would never again use. We figured we could do it without.

Not. Non. No. Nein. The glass cut fine but it cracked when we tried to split the two pieces apart. Sadder yet, the mirror was big enough for us to make three attempts, all with the same glass-splitting results. The Spouse was pretty discouraged by that point so instead of cutting up the glass in easy-to-be-disposed of pieces, he put huge chunks of the mirror in the garbage can and hit it with a wrench.

Glass. Every. Where.

However, the story ends happily. Living in the garage was a mirror we had bought when we had been married for just a few months and which has adorned many walls in many homes through the years but now had no place to dwell. I painted it the same color as the trim and now it hangs on the wall, smaller than it should be, but still living large.

But first we had to deal with the abomination we found beneath the mirror.

After two hours of work, scoring, misting, tearing (score, mist, tear, repeat!) and sanding, the wall was finally ready to accept paint. Did I mention we scored a can of blue paint for just $1 on the returns table at our local home improvement mecca? In the end, it was too dark and had to be mixed with the white trim paint. However, this was a blessing since the blue paint was flat and the white was hi gloss which, together, made for a nice finish for a bathroom that is often, er, glistening with moisture.

Lovely, is it not? And so much better than that mirror! The space does seem smaller and a bit darker but the new light fixture goes a long way towards that end (especially since the old one didn't work very well). However, the installation of this light fixture was the biggest challenge we faced and we had to face it FOUR times. It's too traumatic to talk about it but I will say that one of those attempts involved an electrocution. (Is there some kind of prize for the person who has been electrocuted the most times in the midst of a home improvement project? Does five seem like a large number? If so, The Spouse is in for a nice surprise.) (Bless his heart, is it any wonder he balks at these things?)

Still, we love its alabaster glow and aren't even concerned about the fact that the matte finish on the fixture doesn't match the shiny one of the new toilet paper holder since it's most likely not long for this world, anyway (we have been through so many of those, both in size and shape but The Big Guy seems to defeat them all).

Now, when I walk down the hall, I am greeted by this view, one which I have fantasized about ever since we moved in. The crown moulding was meant for a different project (my bedroom) but one must make sacrifices when the juices are flowing and The Spouse is willing. The beadboard was purchased almost a year ago and has been living in the garage all this time, inducing guilt and anxiety every time I barely miss running over it with my car. The trim at the top and bottom of the beadboard are left-overs from other projects so they were free. That's my favorite number: free. (The beadboard, or as it is often called, wainscoting, is the faux kind and comes all in one piece--we used about $10 worth.)

Please note how white and lovely the caulking looks in this sink! It took nearly an hour to get it just right--who knew it would be so hard?!?!?!

When I look at this picture, all I can think of is how much I want to change the floor--gah!!! (Even The Spouse agrees, even though it would involve removing the toilet and resealing it.) However, that and the new tub and tiled surround and pedestal sink all must needs wait . . . and wait and wait and wait until who knows when.

Still, I am very grateful for what we have been able to accomplish. We caulked, glued, nailed, wood-filled, painted, bead-boarded, mirrored, lighted, trimmed, sanded and repaired most of the bathroom at a cost of approximately $125-$150, which is a bit more than we planned on spending. (I hate math so I'm not going to attempt arriving at a specific number but the main expenses were the fan $25, the light fixture $35, the glass cutter $14, the beadboard $10, the toilet paper holder $16 and the white paint $27--of which approximately $22 worth is still sitting in the can. No pun intended.)

It was hard, aggravating and at times, downright dangerous, but it was worth it.

And if you come for a visit, I will even let you use it (though the Middle Child advises against it . . .)