Art & Crafts
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After finding this set of antique doors at auction, Carpenter and Weiss removed several layers of paint, revealing the wood’s natural characteristics. They then joined the doors to form a single panel that, when opened, offers a view of the master suite’s sitting area. The rough-hewn quality of the wood offsets the contemporary feel of the surrounding walls, cabinetry and black hardware, as well as the hanging artwork that’s visible when the door is open.
Install string or thin cables across your studio walls and keep a bowl of clothespins handy. As you print your photos, clip on your favorite shots. This display can be in a constant state of change based on your most current photographs. Eclectic by Sweet as a Candy Sweet as a Candy SaveEmail Play around with the composition. Separate black and whites from color and film from digital, or group by theme (family, weddings, travel, nature).
Cairn” is the Gaelic word for a stack of stones left as a trailside marker for the next passerby, signifying a direction or perhaps the availability of food or water. Or these ancient structures can serve as a landmark, identifying a grave, a battlefield or a reverential space or vista. Cairns, like this one in Southern California, today often exemplify the meditative Zen practice of rock balancing.
With wine bottles. Bottle trees are common in the southern United States, where legend portrays them as a way to capture evil spirits. Typically a metal frame or pieces of rebar are placed in the ground and topped with inverted wine bottles. For this creative take on a bottle tree, wine bottles were threaded onto pieces of rebar, making a unique and whimsical privacy screen.
SaveEmail I have volunteered for the event in the past and once worked for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the de Young and the Legion of Honor museums). But I loved the event before and after my involvement, and I can unbiasedly say it’s amazing. This photo of Sean Scully’s “Wall of Light Horizon” shows why. I’ve walked by this painting many times, and despite my admiration for it, I sometimes take it for granted. But this arrangement by The Tompkison Group caused me to see the red horizontal lines and the the subtle brown, green and black hues with fresh eyes.
Supersize it. "It’s important to me to show each homeowner’s personality in an interior," says designer Kimball Starr. "For this client, his cats are his family, so I wanted to honor that by giving them prominence. I had their portraits photographed and supersized and then displayed their faces where he can enjoy them every day."
Avocado Sweets Interior Design Studio Maybe the art magazines? 6. Magazine wallcovering. The London designers at Avocado Sweets Interior Design Studio made a striking first impression at an entryway by gluing pages from old magazines to the walls, then coating them in a clear varnish. Not only is it a fun twist on the photo-wallpaper trend, but it’s also a clever way to recycle paper rather than toss it.
10. Framed foliage. You don’t always have to go far to find inspiration. A collection of dried leaves from your backyard mounted on paper counts as art as much as photorealistic paintings or abstracts by the masters. Framed magazine pages or vinyl records work too; it’s all in the presentation.
11. Furniture topper. Take a page from mixed-media artist Erin Lang Norris’ book, and transform an entryway bench into a masterpiece with all manner of craft supplies. Stencils, paper, stamps, Mod Podge, wallpaper, magazine cutouts — anything goes when you’re creating personalized art for your home.
2. Add excitement to recycled crates. Vintage crates are great for storage or display. But if you're tired of the salvaged and worn wood look, brighten things up with a new coat of paint and some wrapping paper, attached with a strong adhesive.
4. Frame it for instant wall art. Want to keep things simple? Frame your prettiest papers from Christmas in a group for a gallery wall. Tip: If you use different types of paper, choose a single color for the frames for a cohesive look.
SaveEmail 8. Dress up shoe boxes. I can't be the only person with a closet shelf full of empty shoe boxes. Instead of tossing them into the recycling bin, cover them with extra gift wrap for storage you'll want to show off.
10. Cover clipboards for office inspiration. In lieu of a bulletin board or pegboard, use a few clipboards to hang inspirational images in front of your desk. Cover the clipboards with gift wrap and hang them on your office wall with a nail or hook.
floor tiles as wall art
1. DIY beach art. Use found pebbles, sea glass, or shells to create one-of-a-kind wall art, practically for free. To make, simply arrange objects on card stock and attach them with glue, then place your masterpiece in a shadow box or frame it with a regular picture frame with the glass removed.
Driftwood shape. Start by tracing and cutting out a base shape (like the sea horse here) from foam core, poster board or something sturdier like Homasote. Lay your driftwood pieces on top of your design and play around until you get them lined up in a way that fits — you may want to experiment with lining them up straight, making a crosshatch pattern or making them radiate from the center of your design. Small pieces of driftwood can be trimmed to fit with pruners or kitchen shears. When you’re ready, grab a hot-glue gun and start gluing!
For an easy DIY project, tape one wall into rectangular sections and paint with a tone-on-tone palette, drawing colors from a fabric or art that you like, especially blue-greens, which almost never clash with one other. The patchwork effect gives a room a casual elegance, and you won’t get tired of any one color nearly as quickly.
Unless you paint your entire space one hue, it can sometimes be tough to decide where to end one color and begin another. One bold trend, however, is to stop worrying completely and paint outside the lines to create fun and whimsical effects.
How much does a Hoosier cabinet cost? Expect to pay $500 to $1,200 for a cabinet in good shape. In the 1990s, Fyffe recalls, it wasn’t uncommon to see them sell for more than $3,500. “As most antiques make rotations, I hope that someday these cabinets will come back full circle and give many more people the love of owning a part of history,” he says.
Alan.. add railing?
n this photo, we see how one aficionado of handicrafts has paired Uzbek suzani pillows with kilim floor cushions. Often, it takes a well-trained eye to discern Persian kilims from the woven wool textiles of native Central, South and North Americans, as they have similar weaves and patterns.
photo shelves
photo shelves
The color choice in the dining room started with a photo of a peacock. The cyan blue accent walls were created to transport dinner guests to a vacation state of mind. “As you take in the magnificent views, the manmade color story of CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) provides a lively backdrop to the serene, nature-made color story of the surrounding countryside,” Christen says.
The existing pillars got a new look through the use of a faux brick paint finish.
Bring texture to the walls. A variation of the silver leaf wall treatment from the previous picture, this treatment brings dimensionality to the walls using several shades of silver leaf layered on top of one another. The depth created using this technique is subtle and elegant for this mid-century inspired space.
Venetian plaster. Venetian plaster is a finish using thin layers of plaster that are then burnished to create a smooth surface. It’s a great way to create a unique illusion of depth and texture through a wall treatment. The application process is similar to painting, but it takes more drying time than a normal painting process. It may take longer to complete, but you won’t regret the finished product.
Marble. Marble floors always seem to steal the show. Why not a marble wall? The natural veining and color variation of the marble turns the wall into a statement mural.
Cut-outs. Consider cutting openings into your walls to look into the next room — open space always helps an area feel lighter and airier. For a kick of added interest, paint the insides of the cutouts; they double as an artistic piece.
Wood tiles. Replace traditional ceramic tiles with a wood tiles for an organic effect. Choose woods of varying grains and install the individual tiles at different depths for a 3-D illusion.
Five glass panels designed by Michael A. Gilkey, Inc. in collaboration with artist and installer Sarah Hinds of Somewhere Glassworks, Inc. The series pays homage to the Gulf sunsets that are visible just across the street from this Casey Key home. The installation was executed with architectural silicone to stainless steel sleeving which not only allows the owner to remove the panels for cleaning and security, but to house fiber optic lighting that uplights the panels at night.
7. Custom backsplash. In easily the most inventive use of fabric that I have come across, this designer encased a yard in glass and called it a backsplash. It’s a brilliant, refreshing way to get a little color and pattern into the kitchen in a totally unexpected way.
Not content to use just one paint color, DIY expert Shannon Kaye designed and painted a stylized landscape onto the front of this vintage dresser.
Another stylistic approach is to leave some of the original wood exposed and paint the remaining areas, as successfully demonstrated on another piece by Miss Mustard Seed.
DANE AUSTIN DESIGN SaveEmail Behold the gallery hall. Austin is an avid collector, having studied fine art and art history at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington and Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London. “It’s really difficult for me to collect one type of art because there’s so much that I love. There’s not a particular rhyme or reason to the pieces we have. We just buy what we love and that speaks to us,” he says, adding: “If we feel like we’ve loved them long enough, it’s OK to let them go. If someone comes over and really loves a piece, I’ve been known to take it off the wall and give it to them.”
Murray, who tries to begin a painting each day, is always in need of storage space. This art stall features sliding panels that allow the art to be hung vertically, tucked safely away from the rest of the studio.
Wallpaper-like coaster collection in Montreal. Inspired by a trip to Ireland in 2005, Caroline and David Denis built a cozy bar in their basement. The countertop is made of wood salvaged during their renovation and a graphic accent wall is decorated with beer coasters the couple collected over the years. David built the shelves and hung travel photos and other mementos on the walls.
Robert Burns SaveEmail 17. No material left behind in Oregon. Jen and Bryan Danger tried to use as much reclaimed material as possible in their so-called accessory dwelling unit in Portland. The couple used screws to make the numbers on their house-design studio.
The couple made a wine rack out of metal tubing, using mostly steel reclaimed from other projects.
14. Give plain walls a dramatic paint job. Painting your walls is one of the simplest ways to update your interior. If plain blocks of color are too staid for you, get creative and experiment with different painting styles and techniques. In this sleep sanctuary, a chalky peach paint was applied on top of a cornflower-blue base. Notice how the blurry freehand style of the lower portion of the feature wall gives it a dreamy quality.
. Give your shelves a bright update. Jazz up plain shelves by painting the back of the display case an eye-popping hue or a quartet of different colors, as seen in the dining area above. Alternatively, line the wall or back panels with patterned wallpaper for a graphic look.
Do you desire a look that’s more chic and contemporary? Paint a cool geometric motif on your walls instead.
If you plan on staying in your house for a while, take that jar of collected rocks, shells and mementos and make it part of your patio wall or floor.
One of the most striking elements in the house is this amazing wine refrigerator that the couple designed and built themselves. As Susan explains, “In wine country, you wind up with a lot of wine bottles; it just happens!” The refrigerator stores up to 400 bottles, and the storage is three bottles deep.
Margot Hartford Photography Once the main cyan color was picked and added to the wall around the window, Christen had the paint shop add 10 percent white to the batch for the next stripe, then another 10 percent white for the next stripe, continuing the gradations until she ended up with a creamy white she wanted for the rest of the walls. The result is an ombré effect. How to Paint Stripes Right
MARBLED PAPER
“I like collages; they make me happy,” says Etingin. Both the exterior and interior of her cabinets tell a story.
cassett art
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