The Fireplace is complete with a Smooth Leather Finish!

After having technical difficulties with my camera, I finally managed to squeak out some decent picture of the fireplace. Just as a reminder, here is what it looked like before.

This is the most bland fireplace in the world... At least it works

Now, take a look at the difference!

a quart of paint and a quart of glaze and some scrap wood dress this fireplace up nicely

I painted the walls with a smooth leather faux finish, gooseberry maroon, and jet black mixed with glaze. I used crumpled paper stuffed in plastic grocery bags to get the pattern effect I wanted and it came out pretty good, regardless of doing it wrong because I misread the directions.

Glaze seems to be very forgiving, but it’s expensive so I don’t like to waste it, which is what I did unfortunately. I mixed up about 5 times as much glaze as I needed which was annoying. I’ll do better when I work on the bathroom.

I also made a sleeve for the mantle. It took me a while to find the right wood at the right price, and finally settled on a wooden step from home depot. It was big enough to cover the mantle, made of hard wood and bull nosed in the front, yet still only about 10 dollars. I was hoping to get it for cheaper but large pieces are hard to come by.

I used pine for the rest and the one flourish I used were the round circle capping on the ends to cover the seams where I put it together. I like the look of wood, so I wont paint it. I will put wood putty in the seams and drill holes. It just sits on top and is not bolted in to the permanent mantle in any way.

This make the place look a bit more homey without doing any major alterations.

I will paint the bathroom tonight and install my custom-made towel racks as well.

Dumpster Salvage Rights…ask and Ye Shall Recieve

Note: Some of the Hangers are still in the packaging. They were never used and they were thrown out! I'm getting more and more surprised at the waste in this world!

It’s been a little tight this past week with rent and all, but I managed to get a bunch of stuff done. I will take a picture of the fireplace in a few days. I have a glitch with the camera at the moment, especially since I want to take a good picture of it.
But that’s not what I want to talk about today.
I was hanging up my clothing and getting it all organized and I only have so many STRONG hangers and I have a lot of heavy stuff. In fact I don’t even have enough of the weak hangers to get all my shirts hanging (I have no wardrobe at the moment. All my clothing his hung or on a shelf)
Anyway. I was thinking about some basic needs of mine. Nothing extravagant, and I don’t think I have been focused on that lately because I have been able to get by without them.
So this is on my short list of things I need.
A plunger, a small garbage can for the laundry room, a broom, a two-step ladder and hangers.
What did I find this week at the dumpster? All of them! The Plunger looks like it was never used, but I still bleached it. I also was in a small blue garbage can…again… still with the stickers on it…New. There was a broom there too! There was a Rubbermaid ladder there and about 100 plastic hangers. So tonight I will re-hang all my clothing that requires it.

 

This is a good reminder to appreciate the simple things. I know I do.

 

 

Faith in Layers

Among other things, I am a makeup artist.  I teach classes on effective makeup techniques. One particular class I taught this month was on “Grocery Store Makeup” where I took common items from the food isles and made some really believable makeup effects. The last one being a nine inch slit throat on my 15-year-old victim. When it was done, it was hard to tell, even up close that I had not really slit his throat.

 

But it didn’t start out that way. It initially looked like a bunch of snot all over his neck. One of the hardest things to teach is that the layers don’t all go on at once. I’m not drawing a slit throat with red and black markers. I am putting a layer of false skin and opening it up, pulling it wide and bending it over. Half of the colors I add are counter-intuitive. They don’t make sense as the building blocks, but after I add color and blood, it looks just like the real thing even up close.

 

It seems that I need to take my own advice. I have been working slowly on the fireplace and have just about completed it. I have painted the base Gooseberry maroon and finally added the glaze to make it what they call in the faux paint world ‘smooth’ leather. I have also built the basic cover of the fireplace mantle and it makes a world of difference. I still and a bit freaked out because it’s a little darker than I expected.

 

I don’t have my farm window yet and that annoys me. I found one at habitat for humanity but they want 25 bucks for it. That’s a bit pricey for a window that wont be used as a window. I may be forced to fabricate one to work with the mantle, but that annoys me as well. I really want to find a genuine nasty, paint chipping off, weathered wood window.

 

It’s hard to imagine the window in front of the faux finish right now. I placed a few different picture frames on the mantle an that made me feel a little better, but the paint is so intense by itself, it may overwhelm the fireplace all by itself. I don’t want to do that. I will not repaint it a different color. I will just need to be content that I have not finished all the layers yet. The window and the light sconces will need to be added first and I have not found them yet for the right price. I already feel over budget with it, but I know it’s worth it. It will be the most expensive area of the room and $50 dollars. The glaze was a learning process and I learned that I needed far less of it than I made and eventually had to waste. Next time I will do better. The Bathroom is another Faux Finish and I will try and use the remainder of the glaze I didn’t waste.  Hopefully my instincts are right.

 

O already know I have to paint the rest of the room because the fireplace is such a ‘WOW], the rest of the room looks disgustingly bland and out of balance. Its hard to sit on it when I know what needs to be done, but don’t have the cash. Hopefully I will come by some of that this month.

 

Regardless of all of that, it’s still scary. I will take pictures when its done, and then again when I paint the rest of the room.