DIY Random Geometric Design Wall

I've been trying to figure out what to do with the bare wall in my dining room since we moved into our cute Pasadena apartment.  It's the first thing you see as your enter our home and it needed some jazzing up.

I didn't necessarily want to paint the wall a solid color, nor did I have the funds to order some of the amazing wall paper I've seen on the internet, pintrest, or other blogs.  I also didn't want to use a stencil since that would require me to purchase or make one.  

So, as always, I did this on the cheap with the resources at hand.  Lucky for me, I had some paint and supplies left over from another project. 


Here is what the dining area looked life before the paint job.

aaaaaaand here are the results!

I'll show you how I did it if you feel inclined to make some of this magic happen in your very own rad pad.


Supplies:

1.   $30 Paint- I used Divine Color in Devine Buck (Target)
2.   $10 Paint tray kit-  brush, roller, roller frame, edger, tray
5.   $7 Painters tape- 1" & 2" (thinner for lines, thicker for taping off the wall edges and base boards)
6.   $1 Stirrer stick- it's that red thing with the holes in it. Got it from Target for, like, $1 and IMO is 
           more efficient than a traditional wooden stirrer stick 
7.   $4 Spray paint- Rust-Oleum in Metallic Gold
8.   $0 Old sheet to protect your floor
9.   $0.50 Large piece of stiff cardboard
10. $3 Mask

Total Cost- $55.50 ("Free" for me since I already had the aforementioned supplies)
Total time- 2 hours
Difficulty- 3 on the DIY Difficulty Scale

Ok, so I love Design Sponge and found this  post while purusing the interwebs in search of inspiration. 




I think I nailed it.

Ok, enough background story. Now, for the tutorial.

First, I taped off the edges of the wall, ceiling, and base boards

Then, I started spray painting. It was a little scary at first and I wish someone was there to capture the expression of sheer glee and terror as I made that first line in the middle of my wall. 

I felt like a tagger.

I felt like a rebel.

I felt like...I shouldda bought a mask

because that spray paint was getting all up in my nostrils.  Gross.

When I took a step back to snap this photo I realized that this looked cool all on its own and if I wanted to, I could stop here and call it a day. But I didn't want to because I had a vision of something different.  

Anyway, I pretty much free handed the lines.  I will say that you should make the lines twice at thick as your tape so that you leave some room for error when you're laying down your painters tape.  I had to widen a lot of the original lines when I started laying down the tape.

This is also where I used the stiff piece of cardboard. Although I taped off the edge of the walls, spray paint still has a tenancy to over spray.  I used it to protect the wall I didn't want getting spray painted when I was getting close to the edge.  Does that make sense?


Next, I taped over the lines with painters tape. Make sure to go over each line with a cloth or something to help it get into the groves and bumps if you have textured walls like I do.

Again, this would also be pretty dang cool if you wanted to go with a kelly green and gold design.   

I tried do that "anti-bleed trick" that everyone does to make sure their lines come out crisp by painting over the tape with the color that's under your tape and then painting over the whole thing with the second color once the first color is dry




.....but I think because it was spray paint it wasn't thick enough to get under the tape?

IDK.  The lines still had some bleed through when I took the tape off but you know what? I kind of loved it! It's a happy accident! 

The irregular edges make it look like gold leaf.  The areas that show the white of the wall where the painters tape was laid over the edge of the spray paint line created a lovely ombre effect that I couldn't be happier with.  It makes it look like something you would find on the walls of Anthropology, and THAT, friends, is something that thrills me!

(If you don't want a happy accident, click here to find some helpful tips on working with painters tape.)


I didn't get a shot of painting over the whole wall but I wish I had.  It was pretty neat painting the wall and revealing the creation underneath once I peeled the tape off. 

And that was it! All in all it took me maybe... 2 hours?  I was done before I knew it.

Since that's the darkest corner of the apartment I was afraid the dark color would make it feel like a dungeon, but low and behold, it totally doesn't!  The metallic gold really helps brighten the area and reflects what little light there is in that neck of the woods.

One last side-by-side before and after for you!

 

'Til next time, 

.V.

DIY Gilded Cement Tealight Holder

I've been wanting to do this project for a while.  It was one of those, "I'll do it when the stars align and I just so happen to have all of the ingredients."  Well, last week was one of those days when it all came together and I finally got to make my very own Gilded Cement Tealight Holder.  Join me, wont you, as I take a trip down memory lane and reminisce on the many failures and successes brought on by this deceptively "simple" project.  In fair warning, however, this post is basically going to chronicle how to do this project in the most back assward way possible.  

For this project, you will need:

1. A container aka mold
2. Cement
3. Smaller DISPOSABLE containers (like shot-sized Dixie cups)...you'll understand why I stress disposable 
4. Masking or painters tape
5. Scissors
6. Something heavy
7. Sand paper or sanding block
8. Needle nose pliers
9. Spray paint- optional

 Ok, so while walking Dexter, I happen upon some of my people (read: fellow Mexicans) doing some landscaping and brick laying and recalled a time when I read this great DIY cement planters tutorial from Kate of Centsational Girl.  I literally visit her site every day while making my internet rounds because her blog and talent is er.may.zing!

 Anyway, I had this on the back burner for a while because I seriously could not afford to buy the 55 lbs bag-o-cement she recommended.  But when I saw my people working their magic with that cement mixer and a gazzillion bags of cement I felt like a slot machine cause all I could hear were those glorious KLING KLING KLINGING sounds that let you know you've hit it big. 

As soon as we got back home, and much to my man's embarrassment, I grabbed an empty Q-Tip container, a couple bucks (just in case they took me up on my offer to pay for it), walked back to the house where all the landscaping was taking place, scored some cement for free, and walked back home with prize in hand 

:) 

Anyway, this is what I started with: container full-o-cement, glass tea lights (cause I'm that kind of smart special), some saran wrap, and masking tape. 

  

Look at all that cementy goodness. Isn't it magnificent? 

 

OK, so, here's the part where you head-desk or face-palm or SMH your little heart out cause I straight up used 3 glass votive candles because the original intention was for those 3 little guys to fit in there all snug-like.  But, BUT! How, HOW I ever thought this would work in the end I have no idea.  Actually, that's a lie.  I sincerely thought the magic saran wrap would help slip them out like a rabbit being pulled out of a magician's ass hat.

Either way, I wrapped my 3 little guys up nice and tight. 

You'll see why later, but this ended up being one of the biggest P.I.A. in the world and I would recommend using some of these bad boys instead of glass for the same textured effect that was achieved with the saran wrap.   If you want it nice and smooth, skip the saran.

Like the genius I am I went ahead and just shoved the wrapped candles into the wet cement but that just tore the saran and I had to clean and re-wrap all 3 candles. 

I finally put two and two together and figured out that I had to empty the mold and put the candles in first so I scooped the cement out into a separate bowl, then poured a 1/2 inch layer it into the mold, set the votive candles on top of that layer, then poured the rest of the cement into the mold. 

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES, KIDS!

See how sad my hand looks?

***Be sure to wash off any cement that gets on your existing cement*** 

I used the brick as a leveling tool to make sure all 3 votive candels were in there evenly. 

The cement set after two days of forgetting about it and looked like this.

 

I used a pair of scissors to cut the plastic and just tore the rest off by hand.

 

 Free at last and I was pretty surprised because it didn't look insanely horrible.

 Here's another genius moment.  As you can see, the middle votive slipped out pretty easily. I'm glad because I kind of liked the way that one smelled. But the rest? They weren't so lucky :(

 

So....yeah....after whacking it a couple of times and having shards of glass shoot up into my face I realized that I was really close to winning one of those Darwin Awards so I moved the party into a plastic bag. 

I got a little carried away with the hammer and cracked the cement. 

Sonofa!

 

Fail, right?

No worries, though.  I just poured a crap load of Elmer's glue in the cracks, wiped off the excess et voilà! It was as good as new.

A couple things not pictured here:

1. I used the needle nose pliers listed at the top of this post to pull out the saran wrap that got stuck in the dry cement.
2. I sanded down the rough edges with sand paper and a sanding block.
3. The spray painting process, but that's super easy.  Just tape the edges you don't want sprayed and cover the rest of the cement block with paper or plastic, then tape that down.   

I used Rust-oleum Metallic Gold spray paint. Seriously LOVE the stuff!  I have it in silver too.

The light was absorbed by the flat grey cement so the bright metallic gold paint really helps reflect the warm glow of the flame and highlight the interesting textural effects of the saran wrap impressions.   

Here's how it looks in my bathroom. 

 

Not too bad, huh?

Til next time, 

.V.