Sunday, October 23, 2011

Create a Personalized Sign for Your Home

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for easy, beautiful projects to make your home beautiful and all the stencils, plaster molds and window etch designs you need to create a gorgeous space!




In my last post, I showed you how I transformed my tired, weathered, quite ugly exterior doors in to elegant entrances in to my home.


I love this home; It's beautiful, it's serene, it's peaceful and I'm making it very elegant.


I wanted to voice that sentiment to all visitors which I did by creating a special sign that greets visitors.


I started with a 1" thick  square of wood that I sanded and primed, then painted with the same exterior paint color I used for the doors.




I had custom lettering cut out of exterior vinyl from our friends as RASmithdesigns.com and applied them to the face of the sign. "Chateau De L' Amour" which means "Castle of Love" in French. R.A. Smith has a great little tool on the website that allows you to create the phrase you want, choose the font and the color and then whips out a quote for the design before you ever purchase. How cool is that?






I then used a raised plaster stencil with joint compound, in a small border design to do the edges of the sign. 




After it was dry, I painted it with the same exterior paint to seal it.




Adding metallic gold paint to the design and a coat of exterior varnish over the metallic completed the sign.


It now hangs lovingly outside my back door (the main entrance to the house). Always a reminder of how I love my oasis in the forest. How grateful I am to have the opportunity to add to the history and beauty of this home.


See the cute floral etched glass design on the door glass? That's from my new Etched Glass Vinyl Window Collection! See it on my website: Etched Glass Vinyl Window Decal Designs




The way I see it, we never truly "own" our homes. We are simply care takers. Placed here to add to the longevity, the history, the beauty and love of these structures; these properties. We have the honor of adding to their character and just a little bit of us stays with the property forever.....our "foot print". What a cool thought.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

How to Give Old Doors New Life

Visit my website at VictoriaLarsen.com for many easy, fun, elegant projects for making your home the home you always wanted! Find painting and plaster stencils and ornamental molds to give your home a uniqueness that is totally YOU!

How to Give Old Doors New Life

Having a home in the high mountains of northern Idaho has it's drawbacks. The climate, both winter and summer, can be absolutely brutal on a home.

Though I've owned the home for 6 years, it mainly served as a vacation home and got neglected, simply because I was rarely here to do common maintenance.

Now that I live here permanently, I find many chores that needed to be done simply to prepare for the pending hard winter snows.


The exterior doors were cracked, dry and badly in need of repair. But you know me, I had to go one step beyond and make them look elegant as well!

After patching the cracks and sanding the doors, I added my English Traditional Raised Plaster Stencil to the bottom of the doors using wood patch (instead of joint compound) and then gave the doors two coats of exterior paint in a custom color I mixed myself.


The final step was to add that "Ooohhh LaLa" look by painting just the design with pewter metallic paint. A quick coat of exterior sealer will protect it from the harsh winter.



All of my exterior doors have now been embellished with the same treatment, giving my exterior a uniform appearance. The house trim was painted the same color, bringing a charming look to my new home!

Ah, the plans I have for this place....I'll keep you posted!



Saturday, October 1, 2011

New Stainless Steel Paint for Tired and Outdated Appliances!

It's fun being a global moderator for the TalkFaux.com website. I get to connect with some of the world's top faux finish artists and beginners alike. The cool thing is, there is always something new to tickle my fancy and set my brain on fire.
This morning, there was a post about a new stainless steel paint for appliances.

Rima Bechara tested the process on her own refrigerator with amazing results! The cool part was that she used one of my stencil designs in the center of the freezer door with glass beads and the result was so "designer"! Check it out!

Stainless Steel Refrigerator Make Over.