Salvaged Tile Art

Last week when I was brute-forcing the bathroom floor out, I was hit with inspiration in the form of concrete chunks.... that's not too odd is it?

In my demo delirium (I've decided that's a thing) I looked at these pieces and fell in love with the modern art that smashing a floor created.  I thought it might be a bit too crazy to frame a chunk of concrete (not to mention HEAVY), so I salvaged some individual tiles that were intact and had a bit of fun.

The lighting seems to have been a bit funky in my house/I probably had the camera setting wrong while doing this project, but the real color of the tiles is closest to the smashy pictures above.

I got a shadow box frame from Michael's (with a coupon naturally) and started experimenting with tile patterns.  Once I settled on a placement, the tiles got glued directly to the frame's black fabric backing.

The entire project was complete in just a matter of minutes.

Who knew tiles saved from the dumpster could be so pretty?

Before gifting it to our real estate agent for all her hard work in helping us find Frankie (thanks again Amy!), I attempted to get a better picture of the shadow box on the picture ledge in my office.  The colors are better, but it's a bit shadowy.  I guess my photography skills were on vacation during this project.

I don't know about you, but projects like this (even with the bad photography) just make me smile.  What was last week considered ugly and dated in the form of a floor is now an abstract piece of art with a history.

Have you salvaged materials from a renovation and given them a new life?  I'd love to hear about it!

A Little off the Sides

This past week I've had to make the mental shift back to full time flipper in preparation for Frankie.  On this project, I'm attempting to do a little less 'hands on' and hire a bit more out so I can focus more on the project management and the schedule.  Not exactly the fun stuff, but certainly the necessary stuff if I don't want to burn out on flipping after only 2 houses- Don't worry, though I can't help but be hands on and I'm excited to get started!!!!  Hopefully the closing will stay on schedule for Wednesday and we can get started right away.  You know what that means?  Weekly  Flip updates will restart this Friday!!! Until then, I'm still trying to get a few things knocked off my to-do list.  Like trimming down my new dining room table!

If you remember, this is where it was a few days ago.  I didn't actually mind the size too much, but I felt that the large overhang on each end made the legs less of a focal point (detail oriented obsessions of the designer mind).  And since those legs are the best part about the table, I devised a plan.

I feel like I should note- I didn't feel too bad about modifying an antique table since it had already been modified.  It started it's life as a drop-leaf, gate leg table like this one and was modified in recent history to be fixed.  I just wanted to customize it one step further.

The plan was to trim down the table on all 4 sides  (so that there was an even 3" overhang on all sides, unlike previously) and rounded the corners.  As with most of my woodworking projects, I enlisted Handy Dad's help to make sure I didn't screw it up.

We used a circular saw to trim the sides, and clamped on a guide that Dad had created to ensure a straight line.  I swear one of these days I'll have him share the tutorial for the guide- its a simple, but very effective tool.

Taking turns wielding the power tools, Dad and I cut the sides with the circular saw,

rounded the corners carefully with a jig saw, and router-ed the top edge all around with a simple bullnose.

And there was sanding.  Lots and lots of sanding the new edge to make it smooth as a baby's bottom.

I still have to refinish or partially refinish the top and unfinished edges, but until then it's back in place in the dining room.

It's not a drastic change, but it feels right in my opinion.  Before it felt like an oversized top plopped on some really cool legs.  Now it looks like it was always meant to be a table of this size (or at least I think so).  And it's going to look even better once I get the top all refinished!

I'd love to hear what you think- would you have trimmed down the table or left it as is?

Getting Shady

Once upon a time I bought a fun lamp at an estate sale.  (Yes, I'm going with a fairy-tale theme today, go with it.  It'll end up being a choose-your-own-adventure...)

Since "bumble bee" really didn't go with my current decor, I knew it needed to be painted.  At first I was thinking of rub-n-buffing it gold, but after a trial it just wasn't feeling right.  It's actually reading better in the pic than it did in person.  To stick with the fairy-tale thing I apparently started, the slipper didn't fit.

So I tried another color.  And it fit!

I really do love the simple white with the fun shape of the lamp base.  Now to figure out the shade.  Here's where you guys come in hopefully, because I can't decide!  I got a cute shade at Lowe's on clearance for $5.  I'm not in love with the pattern, but figured for the price, it was perfect to paint.

Here's where I'm a little stuck and would love your take on it.

Should I paint the shade a solid punch of color? (not necessarily bright green)

Go with a 2-tone?

Or paint the original metal shade a new color to modernize it and banish the rest of the bumble bee effect?

I'm trying something new here and would love you guys to weigh in with the embedded poll (if you're reading this via e-mail or RSS and the poll isn't showing up, please click through and vote!)

What shade should I go with?

Solid, bright color

2-tone with white band

Paint original shade

Other

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