Kristine

If you caught the past post, I shared how this newel-post-meets-half-wall was left in a bit of a mess after my parent’s builders made some changes. There was originally a balustrade where the new half wall is (which was added to conceal some structural steel needed for the new extension above) however the builders weren’t quite sure how to deal with the situation, so I told them to just leave it with me. I contemplated leaving the shelf natural, or some of the trim around the top of the finial, however in the end I figured white would be cleaner and save the need to try and match all of the higgeldy-piggeldy wood. I applied one coat of stain-blocking primer to prevent any bleed from the timber, and two top coats of Vivid White (standard untinted ‘builder’s white’) in Gloss (to match all of the other trim throughout the house).

Most of these issues can be avoided by using the ‘dry-glue’ method (where you coat your surface with adhesive, allow to completely dry, then reactivate the glue with heat – usually using an iron – to attach the paper) but it’s still not fool-proof. I’ve created a few custom Harry Potter book page signs in the past, most of them with deep and meaningful quotes, but I wanted this to be a bit fun and quirky. My original book page quote signs are large poster size (60cm x 90cm/24″ x 36″) however I decided to make this one smaller at around A2 size To back the print I bought a 12mm/.5″ deep MDF off-cut from my local hardware store for $2 and cut it to size.

I’m interrupting my regular suite extension posts to share this impromptu little make-over of my master bedroom. Not having anything pretty or finished to show you guys has been bugging me (and probably you too!), plus I’ve been going a little crazy with nothing to decorate or style, so yesterday I decided to play around with some of the decor left-over from the flip house in my own home. Though I’m getting to that point where I’d like to make a few big changes, not because I don’t like things as they are, mainly just because I want to experiment with injecting a slightly different feel in the room. I also managed to get a quick snap of sweet Rose (who we are dog-sitting at the moment) though she’s not usually permitted on furniture so we won’t tell her mum I allowed this – shhhh.

We were originally going to use pencil tile though this was about 20 times cheaper, plus I prefer the fact that the timber trim provides long unbroken lines. It’s a good little tip…if you’re quite unsure about the exact colour you want, instead of spending money buying a million sample pots, just get two at the extreme ends of your spectrum. Because there isn’t much space on the little basin, from the start I’ve been considering using a mirror with some kind of shelf. Another little project I’ve been working on is trying to make sense of this messy half-wall-meets-newel-post left by the builders.