Friday, February 4, 2011

Pink Saturday & Faux Leather

Welcome to Pink Saturday 
today I am sharing some decorating
work I have been doing along with my PS post  

 For PS I wanted to share this cute pink heart letter holder
and the sweet pink of my granddaughter (who is now a teen)

I hope you will stick around for
the stairwell tour.

Some before pictures
Note the empty nook.
A look from the top of the stairs in my studio.

As you can see nothing had been done.  I did finish the mudding
and put a coat of primer on the walls.  (after the pictures, of course)
Missy Moew had to get in on the act.

After the priming I went into where my stash of 
brown grocery bags are taking up way to much space.
I think this is what really lit my fire on getting this done,
I want my laundry room back.
Kirk and I had a bag ripping and crumpling party.
We tore assorted sized from the bags and
crumpled them up.
So far we have done this 3 times.  Grin.
The sizes ranged from larger then a dinner plate to about 6 to 8 inches
and we kept straight edges on some for going against moldings
Next, I ironed the paper flat, much easier to 
work with and not trying to flatten them out at the wall.
Don't iron the wrinkles out, just flatten them.
I used this wallpaper glue, it worked really well
I will have used 3 gallons by time the room is done.
I also used a 4 inch paint brush to spread the paste,
first on the wall, stuck the paper on and them more paste over the top.
The paint brush also worked well from smoothing out the paper
and getting air bubbles out.
Test patches in a hidden spot.  Just in case this
turned out to be a bad idea......which it didn't.
I discovered a few things as I worked on the walls
1.  This is a labor of love.
2.  Don't over work the bags once they are on the wall.
As you can see in the picture below they look
horrible, but what happens is they stretch 
with the moisture.  They will shrink back.
3.  DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO CUT SLITS IN ANY BUBBLES!
Ask me how I know.
Again the paper shrinks back when it dries, thus leaving gaps where the cuts are.
I know this picture looks really bad, but again this will not be the final
outcome, this is very wet.  I work with is a bit, moving (lifting) and
smoothing once or twice, but then I stop because it just wrinkles again.

Here is how it looks after it dries, 
On the lower half of this picture you can see where
I began adding glaze to the wall, it really 
makes the look.
More to come on that part.
Kirk made the bookcase for that nook I told you to remember.
And I filled it up with books that have been
in boxes since we moved here 5 years ago
Also done now are the stairs themselves
we did not bother to finish them before.
This was a 2 day process, but the results are beautiful.

That is it for this time.
Still to go, finish the walls, glaze them, trim things out
and add handrail and decorate.

Thank you for stopping by, please leave a message.
Have a Happy Pink Saturday and 
pop on over to How Sweet the Sound for 
many wonderful Pinks

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gail, I am SO in awe of you! You are better at taking nothing and turning it into something than anyone I know. That looks amazing! I love the bookshelf and am jealous.

Anonymous said...

Happy PS!

Thanks for sharing.

~Debbie

Mari said...

HELLO AND HAPPY PINK SATURDAY~WOW ITS TURNING OUT JUST BEAUTIFUL :)

Country Wings in Phoenix said...

Happy Pink Saturday Gail Sweetie... You are definitely in the pink at your house getting all these wonderful things done.

First of all I love, LOVE the stairs, how pretty they look all finished. I also love that bookcase in the little cove. That is gorgeous and so useful too. It fits it to a "T".

Now who but you would have thought to use paper bags for the wallpaper. How elegant and pretty it looks. I can't wait to see the finished product. I love the peeks. I mean what better use for paper bags than wallpaper. A beautiful neutral color and didn't cost a cent for the paper. You bought the groceries. I love it.

Anxiously awaiting the FINALE. Have a gorgeous weekend sweetie. Many hugs and much love, Sherry

Tammy@Beatrice Banks said...

Wow! That is an amazing project. Can't wait to see it all finished!

Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble Christmas said...

Holy Moly!!
What a fantastic job!! It looks wonderful!!

Hugs,
Debbie

Savannah Granny said...

Gail, this really looks great. I have seen this technique before and I always love it. I have done something similar with tissue paper but the tissue paper is painted. Your stairs look fab. and the bookcase is wonderful found space.
Let me know if you have a favorite post that I can feature next week. Ginger :)