The Painted Hive

Bamboo Faux Window Valance

October 8, 2010 56 Comments

Remember how I was planning to use all these….

….to dress up the one (yes, just one) window in my bedroom?

Well, it’s all finally up and I’m really happy with how it turned out….eventually. Sure, there may have been one or two ‘measure once, drill twice’ incidents and about three hours spent trying to work out how that darn bamboo blind was actually gonna stay up there and look half decent though it all came together in the end.

First up was the roller blind which I mounted on the window frame…

As I’ve mentioned previously, we needed a blackout treatment and nothing really beats these guys for effectiveness and affordability. Shame about the looks though.

Enter solution one; el-cheapo IKEA curtains…

I love the simplicity of white hidden tab-top drapes on a narrow black rod. I hung these as near the ceiling as possible to give the illusion of height and they work really well to conceal the roller blind’s ugly plastic capping and cord whilst giving the room a gentle softness

Now, I could very well have left my window treatment at that. Because of where the roller blind is mounted it blends in pretty seamlessly, however, I had a vision (and how hard could it be to make a bamboo blind that’s supposed to be attached to a window frame into a valancey thingo that hangs off a pole? Well, not hard at all after three hours of exhausting the 101 best possible ways to do it!).

I’ll spare you all the trials and tribulations and just say that in the end I decided to cut the blind straight down the middle horizontally. I then removed the string and eyelets from the lower section and re-tied the binding thread (which sounds time-consuming though was relatively quick and easy) so I had a plain piece of woven matchstick bamboo.

I know it may seem crazy cutting up a completely perfect blind though I had no intention of actually ever using it as a blind. I did initially check out the garden section of the hardware store for some type of bamboo screening I could use instead though couldn’t find what I wanted – plus screening is way more expensive than a blind anyway.

I draped and wrapped my piece of bamboo around a cheap black curtain rod, playing around with a few different looks until I found one I liked (my blind is pretty evenly weighted though if you try this and find yours keeps slipping use some strong tape or pliable wire to keep it in place). Next, I simply hung it up on some brackets to conceal the roller blind.

I love the rustic, natural feel it adds to the window.

I needed my bamboo valance to sit out over the roller blind though behind the curtains so used mid-length mounting brackets.

You can see how it all works in this pic…

So, there you have it. A slightly crazy-lady way to create an affordable and attractive blackout solution for your window.

AT A GLANCE
SOURCES
Roller Blind (Spotlight $60)
Curtains (IKEA Vivan $12)
Bamboo Blind (Bunnings Warehouse $15)
Rods and Brackets (Spotlight $20)

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Filed Under: DIY, How To, Master Bedroom, Window Treatments Tagged With: Tutorials

Farmhouse Chic

October 4, 2010 28 Comments

…or something like that. Whatever it is, today I’m loving it.

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Filed Under: Inspiration

Master Bedroom Progress

September 29, 2010 24 Comments

Once again you probably thought I’d forgotten all about my bedroom makeover. Well, I have actually been s-l-o-w-l-y plugging away at it.

The other day I bought one of these…

And then, cause I needed a black-out option too, I also bought one of these…

Now, before you think I’ve gone a little crazy buying multiple blinds when I actually only have one window to dress I do have a plan (kinda).

As you probably already saw, I also finished (and have now hung!) this…

Which, as I sadly suspected might have been the case, now causes a clash with this…

Though don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find somewhere else to show-off my beloved starburst mirror.

Sooo, now I’ve come up with a fresh idea for dressing the wall that mirror previously occupied which involves some of these…

And these…

And last but not least, I found some AWESOME lamps!

Well, when I say “I” I actually mean a friend of mine (thanks Maria!) who graciously came to my rescue when I was stumped on which lamps to go with. These aren’t super, super cheap though they’re not outlandishly expensive either (I’m lucky enough to be getting them at wholesale price which is ace).

Only problem is….I won’t have them til early December – oh poo!

Never fear though, I’m not gonna wait that long to share my bedroom makeover. I’m hoping to post about it sometime soon (featuring my current lamps of course – which, truth be told, actually fit in quite nicely anyways).

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Filed Under: Master Bedroom

Vintage Dresser Transformation

September 20, 2010 42 Comments

So, there’s cool vintage and then there’s not so cool vintage, right? Well, when I first saw this deco vanity it definitely sat in the latter category though just needed a little nudge to bump it to the former.

It came to me for the bargain price of $0 – really, the things people just throw away. It was complete with ugly bakelite handles, a glass shelf and two wing mirrors too, though I only remembered to take the ‘before’ pic after I already removed them – oops!

Anyways, after a general clean, patch-up and light all over sand I replaced the central glass shelf with a piece of timber (just cause the glass didn’t seem quite right for the look I was going for) then primed and painted the whole thing black.

To add some distinction, and for a slight industrial edge, I stencilled on some simple numbers in pale buttery vanilla before distressing the whole piece (corners, edges and flat surfaces) by hand with a sanding block.

Next I sealed the whole thing with wipe-on poly before attaching some new nickel bin pulls.

The big tri-piece wing mirror is completely detachable so you can use it with…

or without…

I love the way some paint and a few unique little touches can give an old piece of furniture a completely new feel, and in this case, has made what was distinctly a bedroom item into a piece that can be used virtually anywhere.

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Filed Under: Before & After, Furniture Rehab Tagged With: Industrial, Typography

DIY Large Scale Printable Maps

September 18, 2010 68 Comments

So, while my bedroom makeover drags on and on at least I can share some insightful snippets of the journey thus far to (hopefully) keep you keen.

I know a lot of you have been hanging out to know how I was going to create a massive wall map on a budget – cause, dang, those things can be super expensive.

Well, it all started with this image…

Which got the cogs a-turning, and then evolved further when for $40 I scored this…

It was one of those, “Honey, stop the car!” moments when I spotted it outside our local charity store. You might think $40 isn’t all that cheap though this frame is MASSIVE – 150cm x 80cm (60 x 31 inches)!

And finally, after some deliberation, I settled on this map…

So gorgeous. Who doesn’t love vintage cartography?

And now, after some further research and a little bit of work I have this…

(Okay, still to actually be hung though you get the idea – BTW, that’s my TV bench it’s sitting on and overhanging…it’s biiig!).

And all for just $70 total (that’s $40 for the frame and only $30 for the massive map!).

So, here’s how I did it…

1. Find a high resolution, zoomable map somewhere on-line.
Map History is a great resource for this kinda thing. Just remember to make sure the map isn’t copyright protected and reproducing it is permissable.

2. Here’s where the ‘zoom’ feature is important. If you simply tried to copy and paste the whole map in one go the image resolution would be way too small to enlarge it without massive pixilation. So, starting in one corner, zoom in (as far as you need to depending on the size of the map you want to create) then copy that one section or save it as a picture file.

3. Once saved or copied, open up your map segment in an editing program like Photoshop (if you don’t currently have an editing program you can use this program which is free to download).

4. Still in your editing program, make the canvas size the same as that you want your finished poster to be (in my case 120cm x 60cm (47 x 23 inches) – which is the size of the opening in my frame) and assess, based on your initial map segment, if after you copied the entire map in comparable sections it would be large enough to cover your desired area.

5. Sound complicated? It may take some playing around though it is actually pretty straight forward. Trust me, I’m no computer buff (or maths expert) and I managed to work it out somehow :-)

6. Go back to your on-line map and move from segment to segment, copying and saving each section so it overlaps slightly, then pasting it all together, like a jigsaw puzzle, in your editing program to form one giant image (some sites will be more user-friendly than others when navigating from segment to segment).

To make up my completed image only took around 15 map segments and around 1 hour of copy-pasting so, while it sounds like a lot of effort, it’s actually pretty quick and easy.

7. Once you have completed your digital image, edit it as necessary (i.e. change the colour, add a border etc, etc, etc) then save it as a JPEG file. To double check that once printed-out you will have a good quality image, zoom in to relative size (use in-built rulers as a guide) and check for pixilation.

Very slight pixilation can only be seen in my map from as close as around two inches away which is really nothing to worry about.

8. Save your JPEG file to a USB and take it to your local budget printing store to be printed.
Depending on the size of you map you may also be able to print it at home in sections.

9. Do with it what you will!
I simply attached mine with Mod Podge to the existing oil reproduction print already in my frame then sealed it with a burnt umber glaze.

Seriously, this was waaaay easier than I made it sound though I was just trying to be thorough. I am now hooked and am making massive maps for everyone I know!

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