Craftmeister Etsy Shop

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Captain's Quarters - Adjusting The Sails


Painting a room can be so rejuvenating. There's nothing like covering up the old dingy color that I really didn't like with a nice, smooth, rich color that I absolutely love.  Let's take a brief look back at the yucky before pictures, shall we? 





The colors I picked were specially matched to the colors I had in mind.  The grey was called Milestone, and the blue was Award Blue.  For the white paint, I chose a white called Swan Wing. I figured white is a pretty basic color, so I chose that one based on the name.  I always see swans in Greenwood Lake, and anything that makes me think of the lake is perfect for my nautically themed bathroom.  

Are you ready for the after pictures??  




Pink ceiling, dried white. And no crack!





.... But the transformation is not complete!  Stay tuned to see how I transformed lots of my old bathroom accessories to match the new theme. 


Stay crafty! 

~The Craftmeister

Saturday, April 26, 2014

The Zoomer

>^..^<

My kitty cats love their Friskies.  In the evening for dinner, they both split a Friskies can.  I usually purchase the boxes of cans, and there's always this puzzle thing on the back of the box.  I've never really looked at it, until yesterday.   Enter: The Zoomer



I figured, why not?  I'm just going to throw it out anyway.  So I grabbed my scizors and I cut The Zoomer out according to the instructions.  I had to use an exacto knife to cut out the windows, but otherwise it was not hard to do.  

Folding the thing was not easy because it wasn't perforated at all.  I made the folds using my countertop to keep it flat and straight. But it's small, so it came together quickly.   The cardboard was stiff enough that it didn't get destroyed while folding and figuring out which tab goes where, but soft enough to maneuver it.

The box suggest to fill the toy with Friskies kibble, but we use very small kibble for Gordo's lack of teeth.  But I did have some treats on hand from their Easter baskets, so I filled it with that.


The verdict?  They loved it!  They liked knocking it around and getting the treats out of it.  Here's a video of Puffin's reaction to the toy


Shortly after Puffin was done with the toy, I found Gordo on top of the china cabinet with the toy next to him keeping a look out for toy thieves.


Enjoy the weekend everybody! 
~The Craftmeister



Thursday, April 17, 2014

Captain's Quarters - Repairing the Hull

Ahoy!  Are you ready for the most dramatic, dynamic, and aquatic part of the sorta-master-bathroom makeover?!

A hull in a nautical setting is the watertight body of a ship; so in this bathroom makeover, the hull is the large watertight body of the tub.  I've mentioned in my previous post that I really don't care for the look of tub surrounds.  But that's what we have and I love having a tub, especially with the dog and the possibility of kids someday.  It's just... soo ugly.  It would be too expensive to replace the whole thing right now, so instead my husband and I (mostly my husband) gave it a facelift!  I found the inspiration and tutorial online, Dan did the heavy duty stuff and we together we put it together.  

We followed the design and instructions from InMyOwnStyle.com.  Her starting tub was almost the same as ours, and the steps seemed pretty clear.  I like that she did this facade without damaging the tub.  More than likely, we'll replace the tub before we move out of the house, but it's nice to know that if I change my mind in a few years (HA!) I can take it off and you'd never know it was there.

That's my husband!  Prepping the work area.

Basically we built a frame for the front if the tub and covered it with beadboard wainscoting and MDF moldings (a plastic, waterproof, rot proof version of the classic wood moldings).  On the top edge of the tub we placed a board made from PVC to finish off the built-in look.  We also added MDF boards on the side of the tub going up the wall to further anchor it in place.  


While building it I was wondering if it would hold okay, if it would shift or move in the years to come. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to lean on the new top if the tub. If I have to stand on the edge of the tub to change the shower curtain, or to clean, will it move and all fall apart?  How well will it stand the test of time? The dramatic, dynamic, aquatic project was becoming enigmatic.  

But after we were done and it dried I discovered that I totally could stand on the ledge if I needed to.  It's not something I'm going to do everyday, but it's good to know that if I have to lean over the tub I can do so without worry.  And after reading comments in the blog where I found the tutorial, I've found that the tub is standing their test of time just fine.  They've had it installed for over a year, and the original author has daughters and large dogs that she bathes in the tub.  

I'm really happy with how it turned out, and it matches so much better with the rest of the bathroom now!



Ain't she a beauty?

The drain stop in the tub wasn't working properly, it would always drain out.  So we couldn't take baths and it made bathing Henrik a project and a half (we basically have to shower the dog).  Dan did some research and found that the type of drain stops that have the lever one flips up and down don't last as well as other ones.  So we decided that the old fashioned drain stop would work well for us.  When he replaced the drain piece, I was surprised at what it looked like when it came out! 


But take a look at it all shiney and new!  A great improvement! 

Now to make the tub fill, we PUSH the button on the drain to plug it
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to christen the new hull with some suds and aromatherapy.....

TTFN!
~The Craftmeister



Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Captain's Quarters - Pink Sky

"Pink sky in morning, sailors take warning.
 Pink sky at night, sailor's delight."

Remember that old saying? Well, sailors would panic than rejoice with my not-really-a-master-bathroom-but-I'm-calling-it-that-anyway master-bathroom makeover.

That's a mouthful. 

The ceiling is the first step in the redo of the master bath, but it took longer than my husband and I originally thought.  We figured we'd just slap a coat or two of ceiling paint on it and be done.  But then we noticed a pretty long crack where the slope of the ceiling meets the top flat ceiling (kinda like in an attic).  Rather than just spackle it just to have it come back in a month or so, we repaired it for real.  I'm so glad that I learned how to do this, because it will come in handy when we redo other rooms in the house. 

Complicated ceiling facelift = blogpost! ;) 

First we cleaned out the crack, removed any loose pieces but we were careful not to make it larger than it was.  This was harder than it sounds. Afterwards it looked worse than when we started, but we soon repaired it with heavy duty spackle.  We used DAP Crack Shot brand.  

Then we used fiberglass netting to cover the seam where the crack existed.  We used that instead of drywall joint tape because it should hold better.  It reminded me of paper mâché; use the spackle as glue to hold it to the ceiling.  It was a pain in the butt, but after we got a groove going it got easier.  After that dried Dan sanded and we added another coat of spackle to cover parts where you could still see the net.  

It's very hard to take pics upwards while on a ladder, but I just had to get a picture of it for the blog!  Your welcome, readers

After that dried, Dan sanded again. Now you'd never know there was a crack there at all!  Well... besides the different ceiling color on the seam and the hand and palm prints all over the ceiling.... 
But we're painting, so it's okay to have a mess there. I feel much better painting knowing that the crack shouldn't come back on the ceiling.  :-)

Now to paint!  

When we purchased the paint at Home Depot, I went to the counter to get the special colors mixed while Dan grabbed the things we needed from the isle shelves (ceiling paint and supplies).  When we get home Dan told me that the ceiling paint he got was pink.  We joke around a lot so I figured he was messing with me.  But he assured me, seriously it's pink.  I've heard of accent ceilings before, but pink? Yuck!  After he had a good laugh, he explained that it's a special kind of ceiling paint that goes on pink while it's wet, and dries white.  It's especially helpful if you're painting white on white.   I've never seen anything like it and it was really fun to use....

#GliddenGetsYouGoing



 




















...Except for the fact that it matched with the purple walls too much.  Talk about pastel in your face, yuck. I got some paint on my arm (inevitable) and when it was drying it was white on the outside, but still pink in the center.  It looked so freaky! Like a crazy flesh eating zombie virus was on my arm. Pictures didn't come out right, but trust me, it was freaky!  Soon enough it dried.  White.  And the bathroom is that much closer to becoming the master bathroom I know it can be! 

And I got the paint off my arm. 

More to come! 
~The Craftmeister


Sunday, April 13, 2014

Captain's Quarters - A Brainstorm

We've been in our house for almost three years and we haven't yet tackled the master bathroom.

Until now.

When I first saw this bathroom on the realty listing of the house, I laughed out loud.  It's not really a master bathroom, I just call it that because it's right outside the master bedroom. And despite it's ugly appearance it's quite large and has lots of potential. 

Potential that I'm going to uncover!  Well, not uncover. That sounds out of budget.  Potential that I'm going to makeover! 

It has lavender walls that have streaks of pale blue creeping through.  The light switch covers were a nice unfinished wood, but the previous owners decided it would look better painted a butter yellow.  The tile floor is actually really nice.  Large grey/blue tiles, and they're in pretty good shape.  So for this makeover, the floor can stay.


 The cabinets are in pretty good shape too, and I like the wainscoting inset.  Funny, I never liked wainscoting or wood paneling until I moved into the country.  Must be the mountain air....  I can clean the larger cabinets with Mr Clean's Magic Eraser, and the corner cabinet I'll have to paint.  The previous homeowners thought it would look good with the colors of the bathroom.  Nothing looks good with these colors, especially one cabinet with all three colors!

Notice more blue streaks over the toilet
The tub is a tub and shower surround.  Personally I hate the look of these things, I much prefer a tile wall and a tub. This one especially looks dated, and the drain plug doesn't stay up so we can't fill the tub.  No baths for us :( As much as I'd love to rip it out and put in a jetted tub and a tile wall, it's just not in the budget.  But I have a few ideas that I think may work to update it. 

This mirror came with the house, and I kinda like it. I say kinda because it's beautiful and ornate and in good shape, but the color is dingy. I think a little paint may go a long way and bring out the beauty in this ugly duckling.
It looks weird because I edited myself out, haha!

I'd like to adopt a more neutral color pallet for the make over.  Since the bathroom is so big I can put a darkish color on the walls and not feel too claustrophobic.  Our halls are already beige, so I decided to pick grey for the natural overall color for the walls in the bathroom.  Behind the sink I'm going to add a navy accent wall to hopefully bring out the blue in the tile. 

A nautical theme would really tie these colors together.  But I have to watch it, too much nautical stuff could start looking campy.  I've seen lots of kids bathrooms that have "Poop Deck" signs.  I admit, I chuckled when I first saw that, but it's not something I'd like to see everyday.   I want classy nautucal.  Adult nautical.  More cruise ship than pirate ship.  And then I came up with the perfect name for a mature nautical themed sort-of-master-bathroom... Captain's Quarters. 

The neutral pallet will make it easy to keep the nautical theme on the mature side.  I'm going to add a few nautical decorations in the room, and I'm looking forward to making a few things for it too.   I purchased anchor wall decals to put up the navy accent wall, I have twisted rope that I could wrap around my garbage can, I have lots and lots of sea glass from my trips to Veiques, and I could add a piece of driftwood as easy decor too!  There's lot of ideas flowing in my head!

I edited one of my pictures so I could have a visual to see how it'd all look.  I think that's a GREAT improvement, it'll look better once it's done for real! 
That's more like it!

If you haven't already, please follow me on Pinterest, you can see what sparks my ideas and have a Sneak peak at upcoming posts!
http://www.pinterest.com/yodameister/


TTFN ;)
~The Craftmeister