DIY Archives - Julia O'Malley

Before & After: Mera’s playroom makeover

Julia O'Malley — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 19:06:43 +0000

By Mera Matthews from Red House West

Okay, so this before photo was taken when the room was going through a particularly awkward/heinous phase. It wasn’t always this bad, but during the holidays last year we realized that we needed the space to function both as playroom, and as an occasional guest room when we have lots of family visiting. We cobbled it together, but the room was a chaotic, rumpled mess. Definitely not a welcoming retreat for weary travelers, nor a space to spark the imagination of a preschooler. Fast forward five months, through drywall repair, painting (a really pretty pale pink that I love!) and changing out fixtures, outlets, and switches, and here is what it looks like now:

When I think of playrooms, antique Persian rugs don’t typically jump to mind, but this rug totally makes the room. It came from my father-in-law’s childhood home, and was in our living room for a while. (As it was in our living room, it’s too big for this room and curls up on the edges, but I think that adds to the magic.) To me it looks like the secret room you would stumble into when the back of the antique wardrobe you’re hiding in gives way.

The element I’m most proud of in this room is the playhouse. It is a simple piece of plywood, with a caster on the bottom, attached to the wall with a piano hinge (I’ll be sharing details on how we made it soon).

It’s painted with chalkboard paint and folds flat against the wall, or can be pulled out so that Opal can play store or house, or do puppet shows, or whatever she can think of. Turns out a lot of imaginary scenarios are made better and more fun by the addition of a window.

The daybed is from Land of Nod, and is really really useful in this room. Having a bed for guests was non-negotiable, but it’s also nice to have a cozy perch for reading together, and it makes for comfortable theater seating for the audience at puppet shows.

Behind the daybed hangs a thrifted miniature painting. It’s tiny, only 3×4, but the details knock me out, and the colors are just right.

The curtains are lovely, light, and informal. I’ve never had a room with matching drapes of any kind, and I suddenly feel like I get it — they really do tie the room together.

Katie helped me hang the wallpaper during her last visit to Alaska (you can read our tips for wallpapering success here), and I’m still completely in love with it. It packs a graphic punch, but doesn’t overwhelm the room, and is a great backdrop for Opal’s storytelling performances, which lately usually begin with “back in the olden days . . .”

I’ve had the string lights for a while, and I love them. I like the look of bare bulb fixtures, but they’re generally too harsh for my eyes. Not these babies. I have them on a dimmer, and they give off a warm and lovely glow.

I’m really happy with this room now! We all spend more time in here, and Opal is often engaged in deep, imaginative play, rather than digging through rubble and rubbish. I love that the room is clearly a playroom, but isn’t overwhelmed by toys or loud colors or designs, and that Opal’s creativity is the star of the show.

Thanks for reading along, and in case you’re curious, here are sources:

Daybed, Land of Nod; Mattress Cover, Etsy; Curtains, (print no longer available, but same style) Urban Outfitters; Mural Wallpaper, Anthropologie; Buffalo Check Pillows, Ikea; String Lights, onefortythree; Wall Paint, Peach Fade by Behr.

Mera is a lifelong Alaskan with a passion for decorating and design. Together with her pal Katie she writes Red House West, a blog about creating stylish, personality-filled homes in cities perhaps not best known as epicenters of design. Check out Red House West for tales of DIY victory and woe, hotshot thrifting tips, and musings on style and decor.

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Guest post: Fernanda’s spray-paint secrets for a $50 furniture makeover

Julia O'Malley — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 20:00:46 +0000

When I decided to give my living room/dining room a make-under, one of the pieces that I planned to sell the Pier 1 server above. When no one seemed interested in buying it, I decided to repurpose it and give my entryway a pop of color.

I started by removing the hardware, hinges, doors, and drawers to allow me to work on each piece separately. Then, I applied two coats of Zinsser Bulls Eye Primer with a paint roller, letting them dry in between coats.

Next, I sprayed the server with two cans of Rust-Oleum Professional High Performance Enamel spray paint in Safety Red, in my opinion, the best fire-engine-red paint as far as spray paint goes.

I recommend using the Rust-Oleum Spray Paint Gun attachment to have more control over where the paint is directed and over the thickness of the paint coat.

With spray paint, a little goes a long way, you can always spray a little more if necessary. The two cans resulted in two coats of paint, allowing time to dry between coats.

Once the paint was completely dry I added two coats of Miniwax Wipe-On Poly Clear Gloss with a clean, lint-free cloth to give it a nice glossy finish. You could go with a satin finish as well, but I wanted the orange-red to shine a little extra bright.

I replaced the old hardware with marble and wood knobs from Anthropologie, at $18 apiece they are the most expensive part of the project, but as any cabinet designer can tell you, hardware can make a statement that impacts the entire design. It’s the little things, you know?

The cost of all the materials minus the hardware came to $47.24 at Lowes.

Decorating with bright hues may seem daunting, but a painted piece of furniture may just be the right amount of color to create visual interest, and add vibrancy to an overlooked space. Be brave!

Fernanda Conrad is a designer and blogger who lives in Anchorage.

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Before and after: The entry project

Julia O'Malley — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 07:13:12 +0000

We almost didn’t look at the duplex we ended up buying last year because of how creepy it seemed from the outside. Part of that was the overgrown forest in the front yard, part of it was the entry area. Sadly, I didn’t think to photograph it before we replaced the cracked yellow side lights and pulled up the green indoor/outdoor carpeting that was on the porch (it was filthy). The porch light, original 1967 style, was rusting and there were cracks in the doors that light came through. The house in general still needs a paint job, but giving the doors and porch a paint make-over totally changed the feel of the house.

What I did: First, I used wood putty to patch the cracks. I used sandpaper to smooth that out and painted the inside. Next, over a weekend, I sanded the outside of the doors with a belt sander and finished them off by hand-sanding the trim parts. I used tack cloth to make sure all the dust was gone. Then I used a good primer. After that, it took three coats of yellow paint. I painted the detail parts first with a brush and flat parts with a roller. (I was super careful not to let the paint drip. That’s a hazard when painting doors.) I used black stair paint on the porch, several coats, applied with an extra furry roller. The porch is a little imperfect, because I couldn’t get all the adhesive off, but looks a lot better than it once did. I replaced the light fixture with a $40 modern-looking one from Lowes. Price tag for the whole makeover: About $100.

Here it is decorated for Christmas:

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