In the spirit of Thanksgiving, let's be thankful that there are talented people in the world you can hire to paint a mural on your walls, or create a custom portrait of your family, or your kids, or your dog or cat...

My friend Kristin Steffen is one of those blessed ones with true artistic talent.  And as a mother of three, she also understands children, so I'm not surprised to learn she's been called upon by several people (including me) to paint murals on their kids walls.

But she also is great with portraits and pastels, including a beautiful and dignified work of art that she made as a wedding present for us:

She has more examples of her custom wall art on her new home page.   Take a peek... even if you're not in the market to hire a Wisconsin artist, you will undoubtedly find some inspiration for your own home remodeling projects!

Posted by Caeli at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have finally caved in to my son's request to paint his bedroom.  We went back and forth between painting the walls red and decorating it with Star Wars posters, or painting a space-themed mural on his walls and ceiling.  The mural option won out in the end, though I'm already starting to wish I had argued for the red-paint option.   It is a work in progress, and it will be for a while to come I fear.  It's a good thing he and his little sister don't mind sharing a room during this process.

The first step (after prepping - spackling, masking, etc.) was to do the sky's background.  I drew a curvy line to indicate the horizon, about 3/4 of the way up the walls, all the way around the room.  Then I opened a can of purple and a can of dark blue paint, and with one brush dipping back and forth between the two colors, I painted the entire ceiling and the upper part of the walls with swirled purple and blue, smooshing them together.  It was a combination of French brush and dry brush and a little bit of rag painting (dabbing at heavier bits of paint with the rag to prevent runs, which gave it an interesting texture here and there).  There was no particular method to it.  I didn't put any glaze in the paint. 

Once I had that blue and purple background, it was time to add stars.  I got some white paint and mixed some glaze in with it.  I used an old toothbrush and dipped it in the paint, then ran my forefinger across the bristles to spray specks of white paint onto the darker background color.  This worked very well and only took an hour or so to do the whole sky with stars.  I used latex gloves, which helped save my hands. 

I am pretty happy with how the sky turned out. I have started adding other features, but this is not going nearly as smoothly.  I will put pictures up when I've worked out some of the problems.  The main problem is I am not much of an artist, but I was not willing to shell out $95 a piece for Fatheads of the Star Wars the Clone Wars characters, ships and droids.  Hence I am trying to paint them myself.  Actually the gunship turned out fairly well, and Asoka doesn't look half bad, though she's only half finished.  More pictures to come. 

Posted by Caeli at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just got a note from a friend of mine who is really into knitting, and now has a blog about knitting:

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I wanted to update you on my knitting projects. Remember when we went to Herschners to check out the bargain room? Well I have put the yarns I found to great use.

I used the purple Lopi wool yarn ($2.00 per skein) to make some hats for the kids and their American Girl dolls. So cute and quick! Now I am working on a scarf with the olive green ($3.50 per skein) to make a scarf for a friend. It will be a great chance to play with some cable patterns I have been eyeing!!

It seems odd that I started knitting in the summer. My goal to get a scarf entered into the State Fair was achieved and I received a score of 90 out of 100 from the judges. Not enough for a ribbon, but the whole experience was fun. Now that it is fall and I am knitting in front of my fireplace it just feels right! What better way to spend a fall afternoon than in front of the fireplace starting a new project!

Socks seem to be “the thing” to make, so I have begun working on my first pair.

Knitting is so much fun because it never really ends. I have learned to keep about three projects going at a time. The variety is great!

Check out my blog sometime, www.knit1purl2chat.blogspot.com. There you can see what I am working on, here about the woes of ripping out large amounts of work, and see my reviews and interactions with local yarn shops.

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It sounds like a lot of fun, so maybe now that I am not designing floor medallions or hovering over contractors, I could take up a new hobby?  Well, maybe not quite yet.   There's still a lot of home improvement going on here, but someday I think I would not mind trying knitting.

Posted by Caeli at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been sharing a little about my experience with the design and installation of waterjet medallions at the church I belong to. 

After the waterjet company cut all those pieces of porcelain tile according to my designs, creating five large, complex jigsaw puzzles, they carefully placed the pieces on cardboard and shrink-wrapped them.  The rep for the company in charge of our floor replacement project personally drove these precious pieces of tile in the back of his pickup truck 3-1/2 hours from the waterjet company to our church.  The parts and pieces were then laid out on the floor for installation to begin.

This was a new experience for the crew - they had not had to deal with a custom medallion installation before.  Typically, floor medallions are purchased in a ready-to-install format, attached to a sheet of mesh like mosaic tile is, to be laid in one or just a few sections, not one tile at a time.

Our installer had picked up some of this mesh, along with some spray adhesive, thinking to attach the sections of tile onto the mesh before putting them in place.  However, it soon became clear that this would be more difficult than just laying each piece individually in the thin-set.

It is helpful to have a thin-set that allows a little bit longer working time.  The installer had to pay attention not only to putting the puzzle together correctly, but also dealing with tiles that were varied in thickness, and in making sure the spacing (which was tight) was consistent.

In the end, they turned out great, and we were happy with the waterjet medallion installations.

Posted by Caeli at 06:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am compelled to record why I believe central vac is superior to the usual Dirt Devils or Hoovers or other standard household vacuums.  The one compelling me is my DH, who is perhaps looking for additional motivation to install the central vac system we purchased over a year ago.  It is still in boxes in the garage, but not for long.

We purchased our central vac system, which includes Hide-a-Hose, around the time we were remodeling our kitchen and living room with office area.  Obviously I was the one who wanted to get a central vac, but I had not wanted one until I found out that Hide-a-Hose existed.

Years ago a co-worker of my mother's had asked me to house-sit while they were house hunting in another city. Their current house was on the market, and it was my job to scoop up after the cat and get the mail and generally keep the place looking nice for showings.  The place seemed to have acres of thick wall-to-wall carpeting, and showed footprints whenever I walked on it.  I was to use the central vac before I left every day to make it look like the carpet had never been stepped on.  

They did not have a Hide-a-Hose.  The heavy, humongous vacuum hose was coiled up and hung in a closet.  I had to take it out and hook it up the outlet in the wall, then after vacuuming I had to coil it neatly and hang it in the closet again.  It was a pain, and I swore I would never get a central vac. 

However, it was nice and quiet, I had to admit.  And years later, with three kids and a crazy Bichon to clean up after, I was wishing I had a quiet vacuum.  The noise of a regular vacuum meant it could not be used when the toddler was napping.  Yet that was an idea time to vacuum since she would not be in the way, or screaming at the vacuum cleaner. 

There was one other consideration.  We were going through vacuums very quickly.  They were getting heavy-duty use, and kept burning up or otherwise breaking down.  A central vac with a really powerful motor (cyclonic action) might be just what we need.

I thought it would be nice if there were a type of central vac that had a retractable hose, which you could pull out from the wall socket when you needed it, and which would suck the hose back into the wall when you were done.   I did a little searching and found out that Hide-a-Hose existed.  That's when I said all I wanted for Christmas was a central vac with Hide-a-Hose, and we placed the order, and one day the boxes arrived and it's been in the garage ever since.

The reason it's not installed yet is because we are in the typical DIY remodeler's state of many unfinished projects.  It's hard to decide where to start... finish the trim work?  Paint the adjoining hallway?  Put in more storage for the every-growing mound of outgrown children's clothing?  Etc.  

I have just moved central vac installation to the top of the list.  We just burned out yet another standard vacuum cleaner, and one day my husband went to the dump with four such defunct vacuum cleaners that were in the basement or garage.  I said that we have a really good, high-quality vacuum in the garage and it does not pay to waste money on buying another Dirt Devil or the like.  

It means we now have to plan where the Hide-a-Hose will run (it does retract into the wall, but in actuality it is stored inside PVC pipe that runs through the walls and along the ceiling of the basement).  It will mean putting in hundreds of feet of PVC piping, running a low-voltage wiring for the automatic switches on the wall outlets and kick-sweeps.   And of course, he will have to install the big cyclonic unit itself. 

So maybe I will have to bring in the Shop Vac from the garage for a while to vacuum the living room, but it will be worth it to finally get my central vac installed!  A quiet, powerful vacuum is soon to be mine, and we'll be sure to share our adventures here in the home remodeling blog as we progress with the central vac installation.

Posted by Caeli at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)