This is such a “guy thing”.  I mean I was laughing out loud while reading this email. What will you guys think of sending me next???  THAT Painter Lady Subscribers – Get your hubby involved!

I just want you to know I love your news letters – no matter how boring some can be for a guy….

I’m sending you some pics of a 1985 Chevy Celebrity station wagon that I purchased locally for $100 to use as a fishing wagon. I sanded the flaking clearcoat on it and cut in with a brush and rolled with Rust-oleum profesional series ( dries within a hour ) unlike regular which dries in 5 hrs gloss white enamel which is only available at Lowes in my area ….Boynton Beach FL

I used 2 quarts with no primer over a yr ago and it still looks great….total cost was under $42.47 including sandpaper & Impala decals I purchased off Ebay & a can of .99 red paint for the brakes and a can of grey spray hammer finish for the wheels and black hammer finish around the windows & on door handles.

I just sold my car on Ebay for $1,500.00 !!!!!

Pictures I took during the painting process and finished product….I have you to thank for saving all that painting $$$ expense and it was fun doing it myself….AND it went from a junker car to a cool looking ride and its now being used not junked ………so I guess I should have painted it green………lol

I just love when a newsletter subscriber sends me pictures – especially when she shares just what she did to create this gorgeous Living Room by creating Textured Walls With Joint Compound Before Painting! Scroll down to the bottom to see all 5 pictures.

Debra,I wanted to share with you pictures of my recently redecorated living room.

Because I was unable to remove the very old wall paper on the walls that had been glued on for 30 years, I decided to just cover it up.

So, I primed the wall paper, then I just applied joint compound with a flat trowel in a random free hand finish covering the seams well.

Some of the grooved wallpaper shows through in places and because I liked the rustic look, I did not sand or smooth over the finish.

It took a few days working 4 foot sections at a time.

Since I wanted a shiny finish, I covered it up using a high gloss paint in an earth tone finish.

It was a easy way to cover up the textured paper without stripping the paper and I am thrilled with the results and I have received lots of compliments!

We added a gas fireplace and I glazed the moldings around the fireplace with a dark brown glaze to highlight the detail.

To add pizzazz and a touch of whimsy (which your website gave me the courage to do), I painted around the oval mirror hanging in the foyer area.

It was fun to be creative and I knew I could just paint over it if I did not like the results.

I also decided to paint the ceiling a pale teal color.

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas and the courage to be get my paint on!

Martha

This is impressive! And what a huge job! I love how elegant this room turned out.

Don’t ever be afraid of paint… It’s just paint!

By the way… do you know how hard it is to take great pictures of faux finishes? From experience – Martha captured the texture and the great looking finishes perfectly.

Thank You so much Martha for sharing this with all of us.

Another great question about Faux Leather Paint Finishes from a newsletter subscriber.

I attempted the faux leather-look and tried with many colors and after experimenting with 7 different colors/shades I wasn’t happy with any of them and ended up painting the walls a solid color.

I experimented with pieces of wall board using different base colors and glaze with the various colors……then tried applying the contractors plastic to the board to achieve that leather look……..did not turn out well.

I have plaster walls so they are not completely smooth and I thought the leather-look would actually help disguise some of the imperfections in the plastic since the house is 150 years old.

Maybe I should have just stuck with the same base color and then once the glaze was added to that the variation would have been subtle enough to appear leather-like once I was able to achieve applying the plastic over the wall.

Please advise.
thanks, Linda

Hi..

How disappointing to not be able to achieve the results you wanted in faux leather finish.

Please tell me what color the solid color is now… and what color of fax finish leather you want.

I can help – really – I just need a few of the particulars.

debra

The wall is currently painted a taupe………wanted something in that same color family to resemble faux leather.

Thanks

Okay… so you want something that is in the med brown (Bomber Jacket) style leather.
I know you tried several different colors of base and glaze…

Did you just put on glaze and then use the plastic wrap to pull off?

What I mean is…. did you do anything with glazes before the plastic wrap stage?  Like a layer of glaze “faux painted” on the wall without plastic wrap?

Another question… are your walls smooth – No Texture?

debra

On my sample boards I had base coat (taupe) and then layed the 2nd color mixed with a glaze and then applied the plastic wrap…… Walls are plaster and smooth

thanks

Okay Linda… I have a much better idea of the faux leather wall you are trying to create.

You started out correctly with a base coat of taupe but you didn’t put on enough layers of glaze.

Here are the steps:

1. Base coat in taupe with satin finish latex paint.
2. Faux glaze the wall with a medium brown glaze. Mix a glaze liquid with a coffee mocha color.
   1. Use the woolie pad technique as described here: Paint Faux Red Leather
3. Because you wall does not have a textured finish you must use the plastic drop cloth method for the leather look.  The last step requires a faux glaze mixture tinted with paint tints… not with actual paint. The mixture looks somewhat like stain.  Use Burnt Umber for a realistic leather “grain”.
4. Roll the glaze onto the wall and lay over the thin plastic painter drop cloth. Mush around a bit – but don’t rub!
5. Peel off the drop cloth in one fell swoop. (You can only use it once – so use the cheap ones).
6. Quickly move to the next section and over lap the first section a bit – repeat step 4 and 5.
7. Blend the “seem” between the two sections with a gentle touch and your woolie pad or a brush.
8. To fix any spots you don’t like after the entire wall is done… you can take a ball of plastic wrap from your kitchen and dab it into the faux glaze and then gently pat it on to those areas that just don’t seem to blend in.

In an nutshell… that’s all there is to it.

Hope this helps in your quest to create a faux leather paint finish,

Choosing a decorating theme for your toddler boy bedroom isn’t always easy. Your child can make it easy on you, however, if he has developed definite interests at a young age.

My twin toddler boys love cars, trucks, boats, trains,
motorcycles, anything with an engine in it. For months I debated how to update their nursery decor to a more big boy theme.

We were willing to spend a little money to do it, so I wanted to
make sure we changed to a theme they could grow up with, at least for several more years.

The first thing we chose for their new bedroom was a paint-by-number wall mural from Wallnutz.com. You can choose from a large selection of murals for boys or girls. We chose their transportation mural. We painted this mural on two walls of our boys room. There is a road that runs along the wall that has two cars and a semi driving on the road.

************

I also have another article here about Boys Theme Mural

**********

There is a large biplane in the sky.

Bi-Planes and Airplanes Peel and Stick Wall  Mural

There are also big white clouds in a blue sky. Our boys love it.

How To Paint Sky Murals

My husband traced and painted it in a weekend. You trace the mural on with carbon paper that is supplied with the outline, then paint the mural like you would a paint-by-number kit (paint is not included in the kit, you can buy it at any craft store).

It really easy and looks great.

Next we purchased our boys a play mat that has a play town on it, complete with roads for their cars. We found this play mat at Lowe’s. The colors matched the colors in the mural really well.

Click Here to purchase Giant Road Rug Online!

***************************

Toy and Book Organizer

For toy storage, we purchased a shelf and bin system.
They have one in primary colors for boys and pastel colors for girls.

These bins work great for small toys and the colors were also perfect. Watch your sales fliers, they often put these on sale for almost half price.

Ready For Take Off  Art Print -24″x18″

Also I found some great pictures to hang on the walls.

This one is all about airplanes!

The pictures have a light blue background that fit into the room perfectly.

To complete the old-fashioned theme, we found some replicas of antique biplanes to hang from their ceiling. They match both the wall mural and the wooden pictures perfectly. One boy picked a red one, the other one is yellow. They’re great! I have seen these planes at several stores that sell collectible items.

**************

Biplane Bookends

****************

BLACKOUT Textured Thermal Insulated Tab Top Curtain PAIR 84” x 63” long – Navy

Finally, I found some long, tabbed navy blue curtains and a black metal curtain rod that tied the whole room together.

The boys room now looks perfect, a boy’s auto and airplane paradise!

Here is a breakdown of the room’s costs:

Transportation mural and paint – $75
Play mat – $20
Curtains and rod – $50
Pictures – $60
Airplanes – $85
Toy organizer – $60

Total: $350

You might notice I didn’t mention bedding – our boys are still in cribs so I am waiting until they move to toddler beds to buy new
bedding.

Olive Kids Trains, Planes, & Trucks Sheet Set

I did notice at however, that they had some really cute toddler bedding with old-fashioned looking trains, planes  and trucks on it.

**********************

Article by: Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What’s for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at www.creativehomemaking.com.

This is an easy fix if you want to “jazz up” your kitchen back splash or even your fireplace… but don’t have the big bucks for real tile.

Learning how to make faux ceramic tile is fun and when you get tired of the “tile” you just paint over it! Much easier than chipping out that expensive tile.

In the past I’ve talked about using texture medium to create “raised” design tiles or motifs on your walls. This is a really pretty design idea – but it does require a bit more commitment.  If you want to get rid of the raised designs… you are going to have to invest in some “elbow grease”.

I’ve also given you some quick tips for A Faux Finish Back Splash.

And I’ve even helped you with some faux tile ideas for your patio: Painting  Concrete Patio

You are going to need a stencil! Yep… that’s how you keep every tile evenly sized, evenly spaced and yet each one just a bit unique. That’s what gives the tile backsplash a realistic look even though it’s just faux painted ceramic tile.

I highly recommend this “sculpture tile stencil” from StencilEase…  this little inexpensive tile stencil has saved my behind a jillion times. StencilEase calls this a “Sculputure Tile” because they recommend using the stencil with sculpture paste to give each tile a “raised” look.  This is more realistic… but as I’ve said before – “Texture Is Not The Easiest Stuff To Remove”.

This tile stencil comes in two sizes:

4 inch tile

6 inch tile

So… how do I make the tile look so real? With shadows and highlights – of course.

I teach the highlight and shadow technique in my Faux Brick Course… but essentially it’s the use of black paint to create shadows… and white paint to create highlights. Just like you would see on “real” tile.

Now… You will probably want to add some detail like I did on mine:

Adding the floral detail is very easy with a tile floral stencil… they still look hand painted because I went back and touched up each “tile” separately and this makes the tile look “real” and a bit different.

Floral Tile Stencil

As you can see… by just using a tiny bit of paint and a few inexpensive stencils… You can create a brand new look to your kitchen, bath or even your fireplace!  It’s easy…