• About

The Perks of Being an Artist

~ Because demented people need love, too.

The Perks of Being an Artist

Tag Archives: home renovation

How I DIY’ed a Tattoo Studio

12 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by emilypageart in art, DIY, tattooing, Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

commercial renovation, DIY, DIY countertop makeover, DIY stucco, DIY wall treatment, faux concrete wall, giani countertops, home makeover, home renovation, how to make a wall look like concrete, renovation, studio makeover, tattoo studio, tattoo studio renovation, vasari plaster

I realized that, after months worth of renovation work, I never posted pictures of the inside of the studio. I managed to do a lot of the work myself, but did have to hire contractors for some stuff like the floors and some electrical work. Anyway, here are some transformation pics for your viewing pleasure.

Here are a few before pics of the lobby:

1016171415

Note the strange carpet and tile combo.

1016171415b

The space was weirdly divided down the center because the previous owner had taken 2 spaces and combined them into one.

1016171416

After tearing out the non-rated wall splitting up the room, we put down vinyl flooring, and used a product called marmarino that’s kind of like an interior stucco treatment. It makes the walls feel like concrete and can be done in just about any color. Applying it for the texture I wanted took a little getting used to, and I learned that you have to mix huge batches if you want the colors to be consistent throughout the room. Were I to do it again, I might just go with white plaster and then do a lime wash over it. I didn’t want the walls to be uniform, so I’m okay with the color transitions, but I do wish the first layer had been consistently one color instead of some ending up dark and some ending up light. Luckily, I figured that out for the 2nd coat, so it looks pretty matched. Still, the overall effect is great and I’m a little in love with them.

lobby

lobby 3lobby 2lobby 1

The countertop for the check-in desk is really just plywood that I painted using a countertop faux finish. It’s the second time I’ve used their products, and overall, I like them. Just be aware that essential oils can strip the paint. Found that out the hard way in our half bath at home. Luckily, I had leftover paint (it really goes a long way) and was able to repair it.

We got the barnwood for the check-in desk and the coffee table from a guy we know who deals antiques. I love the barnwood because it’s real, not uniform faux finished wood like you find at Lowe’s or Home Depot. The coffee table is an old tool chest that we attached some legs to.

We changed out the solid white doors and installed glass doors that we stained to match the floors and the shelving we put in each studio room. The shelves are just 1″x6″ boards that I stained with a walnut color and attached with brackets.

There are 4 studio rooms that we’re letting the artists decorate themselves. Here’s what I did with mine:

my-room-2.jpg

Yes, those are hundreds of handmade butterflies on my ceiling.

my-room.jpg

And yes, that is a tree in the corner of the room.

my room 5.jpg

I made the tree out of leftover styrofoam from the haunt.

my room 3

my-room-4.jpg

And that’s that!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Master Bathroom Makeover

27 Wednesday Jan 2016

Posted by emilypageart in DIY, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

bathroom, bathroom makeover, DIY, home makeover, home renovation

I realized yesterday that back when I was posting all the photos from renovating my house this summer (pics here, here, here, here, and here), that I never posted pics of the master bath. I’d still like to frame out the mirrors, and I ran out of steam before I got to the bathroom, so I haven’t yet scraped and painted the popcorn ceilings, but the rest I’m happy with. I painted the walls and cabinets, and added faux wainscotting. Pretty simple, really. Here’s the before and after:

Master bath makeover

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Bedroom Makeover

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by emilypageart in DIY

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bedroom makeover, before and after, home makeover, home renovation, moulding

I’m finally getting around to posting the before and after photos for the bedroom makeover that I completed when I was renovating the house we bought. Do a search for DIY or home makeover on the blog here and you can see the other rooms I completed. For the bedroom, I wanted to include a soft lavender because…wait for it…it’s my husband’s favorite color. I know. Don’t get me started. But I also know that we’ll be most likely selling the house within the next 10 years and I didn’t want to have to repaint the whole room, so I decided to put up some moulding and just paint lavender inside the boxes, keeping the rest a nice, light, neutral gray.

I started by scraping and painting the popcorn ceiling:

20150709_161140

Then I taped off and painted lavender in the squares and grey everywhere else:

20150723_142202

Next, I put up the moulding around the squares:

20150729_135237

I also added crown moulding, which nearly killed me. Lastly, we changed out the light fixture and put in bamboo flooring, then decorated. I still want to frame the painting over the bed, and I need to make a piece of art for the wall you can’t see, but the rest I’m pretty happy with:

Master bedroom makeover

One more shot:

master bedroom 3

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Dining Room Makeover

22 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by emilypageart in DIY

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

art, dining room makeover, DIY, home makeover, home renovation, how to make artwork match, removing wallpaper

More of the renovation pics for your viewing pleasure. The dining room had really hideous faux red marble wallpaper below the chair rail, which was already peeling a little, so it came off easily. Then I discovered that there was another layer of wallpaper underneath that one, and this layer was adhered directly onto the sheetrock without priming it first, so trying to get it off resulted in major damage to the walls. After a small section I opted to just prime over the bastard. Then I installed faux wainscoting and painted everything below the chair rail white.

20150622_201848

Next, I had someone close up the wall behind the kitchen cabinets. While I liked the little bit of extra light that it let into the kitchen, it was pretty minimal and I hated seeing the back of the cabinets. It was just weird. So I had drywall put in to just make it a normal wall (which also allowed me to hang more art – a major priority for me, obviously):

Dining room makeover 2

I went for a slightly darker, bluer grey for this room and the kitchen than the living room. The contrast with the white wainscoting and the dark frames works nicely. I really like all the textures in this room. It took forever to find chairs that I both liked and could afford. I had the table in storage and really wanted to make it work even though it’s so different from the floors, but finding the chairs we did kept things light and helped the table and floors work together. Plus, they’re super comfy. We’ll change out the light fixture eventually.

Dining room makeover 1

I rematted some artwork and photography to keep everything clean and white, which allowed me to hang a bunch of different pieces and still make them look good together:

Dining Room 3

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Living Room Makeover

17 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by emilypageart in DIY

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

DIY, grey walls, home makeover, home renovation, living room makeover

As promised, here are more pictures of the home renovation now that we’ve moved our furniture in. You can see others by doing a search for DIY on this blog. For the living room, I actually had to hire someone to help scrape and paint the popcorn ceilings, because even on a 16′ ladder, I wasn’t able to reach the cathedral ceilings at the top. Then I painted the walls a light grey above the chair rail, and installed faux wainscoting and painted all the moulding and bookshelves white (it was closer to a cream color before). We installed a new light and ceiling fan, ripped the carpet up, and put down bamboo flooring. Then we got to do the fun stuff: hanging art. I still need to create a piece to go over the bookshelves and fireplace, but I’m waiting for inspiration to hit. Here are the before and afters:

Living room makeover 2

Living room makeover 1

See the chair with the butterflies and moths on the right? We found that chair about a minute before we found the penny that made me cry, so it makes me extra happy to have it because it’s a reminder of my dad.

I also refinished the railings to match the floors using the Cabinet Transformations kit that I used on the cabinets:

Living Room 7

The last couple shots didn’t show the ceiling fan, which I’m in love with, or the new painting I created for the wall up high, so here’s one more shot:

????????????????????????????????????

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

DIY: Faux Wainscoting

16 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by emilypageart in DIY

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

dining room makeover, DIY, faux wainscoting, home makeover, home renovation, living room makeover, wainscoting

As you know, I renovated the house we bought in June, and part of that renovation involved putting up crown moulding and faux wainscoting. I’m not going to do a tutorial on crown moulding, because I was spectacularly bad at it and have managed already to completely block out any memory of how I accomplished what I did. Plus, I’m pretty sure I did everything wrong anyway. Mostly, I just caulked the shit out of everything. The only tip I’ll give is that I cut several small pieces and labeled them as to whether it was an inside left 90 degree angle or outside one or outside 22.5 degree angle, etc. That way I didn’t have to think quite so much when figuring out which way to turn the miter saw and cut the angles:

20150802_142924 20150802_142917

  1.  As for the faux wainscoting, that actually went fairly well. Here are my tips: Draw your squares/rectangles on the wall first to make sure the spacing is right. There weren’t any walls that were the same length in the 2 rooms I did this in, so I had to get creative. Drawing it on paper was one thing, but actually drawing it on the wall after I’d mostly figured out what I thought would work really helped to visualize it and see if it worked. Luckily, there was already chair rail installed, so I just used a 3″ wide level to draw lines under the chair rail and above the floor boards to get my top and bottom edges. Then I actually measured to get the 3″ in from the sides of the wall and between squares.

20150731_150652

2.  Once I had my measurements, I started cutting. You’re cutting each at a 45 degree angle, and measuring from the longer side of each strip. The two ends will be cut in towards each other, like a picture frame.

20150731_143913 20150731_143846

With the exception of the rectangles under the windows, I knew that the height of all of the rectangles would be the same, so I cut those first and laid them out where they’d be hung. I did the left hand side for a bunch of them, then moved the miter saw to do the right side going the opposite way. Then I started cutting the different lengths for the tops and bottoms of each section, again laying them out where they’d be hung to help me keep track.

3.  At first, I tried just placing each strip on the wall and using the nail gun to attach it directly to the wall. Without someone to help hold the strips in place, this did not go well. They moved each and every time, so things aren’t entirely square in my dining room. Thank god for caulk to fill in the gaps and make the corners look better.

4.  In the living room, I changed tactics and decided to put the rectangles together before mounting them on the wall. This went much better. I used a speed square both to brace the pieces I was attaching together with the nail gun and to ensure that I was staying at a 90 degree angle.

20150731_144850

20150731_150923

5.  Once I had the rectangles assembled, I mounted them onto the wall with the nail gun. Then, I caulked the corners and the nail holes before painting everything. Again, there was a little bowing because I didn’t have a second pair of hands to hold things in place, but overall, they look damn good. And it really improves the look of the house in general. Now we look all fancypants, and the moulding (including both the crown moulding and the pvc wainscoting moulding) cost under $300 for 4 rooms (crown moulding in 4 rooms, wainscoting in 2). It’s a great way to really improve the wow factor of your house for a minimal amount of money and a boatload of swearing and throwing things.

20150802_115911 20150731_151051 20150730_143207

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Kitchen Makeover

15 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by emilypageart in DIY

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

DIY, home makeover, home renovation, kitchen makeover, resurfacing cabinets

If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a minute, you know that I’ve been renovating the home we bought at the end of June. We finally moved in this week, so I’ll be posting about the makeovers of each room. There are still a few finishing touches to happen, like creating and hanging some more art, getting new throw pillows, etc., but they’re close enough to “done” to post pictures.

Today, I’m sharing the kitchen renovation. Luckily, the last owner had updated the countertops with a nice quartz, so that saved us a ton of money. I resurfaced all the cabinets and put in new hardware, scraped and painted the popcorn ceilings, painted the walls grey, and then S installed new light fixtures. We added little lights underneath the cabinets, too, to brighten things up a bit more. Next, we sold the old white appliances and put in stainless steel ones. The fridge is enormous, and honestly, a little too large for the space (we ended up having to raise the cabinets above it to fit it in), but we were so tired of not having enough room in our previous freezers and refrigerators that we said screw it and went for big. We also had bamboo flooring installed throughout the first level of the house. Not counting the appliances and the floors, the total cost for this room was about $200 and a crapton of labor. Were I to do it again, I might go with white cabinets instead because the space is pretty small, but overall, I’m happy with it.

Here are the before and after shots:

Kitchen makeover 1 Kitchen makeover 2

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

DIY: Refinishing Cabinets

19 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by emilypageart in DIY

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

cabinet refinishing, cabinet resurfacing, cabinet transformation, DIY, home makeover, home renovation, kitchen makeover

The new house had bland oak cabinets that dated the look of the kitchen and bathrooms.

DSC_0013

So, after researching different options for refinishing cabinets, I decided to go with Rustoleum’s Cabinet Transformations kit. They’ve got a huge range of colors, and I went back and forth about whether to go lighter with the kitchen cabinets because it’s a relatively small space (although it’s gargantuan compared to the kitchen in our apartment), or darker because that’s the look I really prefer. In the end, I decided that, since the countertops are white quartz, I’d be okay going darker. Home Depot was the only place I found locally that carried the kit, so I recommend checking there first, though I’m sure you can order it online, too. I just wasn’t patient enough to wait that long. You’ll need to have them tint the paint while you’re still in the store to whatever color you’ve chosen – I went with the Espresso.

The first thing you’ll need to do is take all the doors off of the cabinets.

20150622_200259

Since I knew we were going to ditch the carpet, I didn’t worry about putting down drop cloths – the only down side to this is that there are a few little fuzzles that stuck to the edges while the paint was still tacky (if you buy enough painter’s pyramids, this won’t be an issue). Technically, you could do all of this with the doors still on, but it is a little bit drippy, and you don’t want drips of paint running down the front and drying that way.

20150705_131228

Starting with the backs of the doors, you’ll coat them with the deglosser and scrub off all the built-up gunk you didn’t realize was there. Wipe them down with a damp dust-free rag, and then again with a dry rag. The beauty of this product is that it doesn’t require that you sand or strip the doors, just get all the grease off. Do the front of the doors and the built-in parts of the cabinet next. Let it all dry, then prop the doors up on painter’s pyramids (these are not included in the kit) like this:

20150705_155635

Put your bond coat (this is essentially just a paint and primer in one dealio) on the backs of the doors first. While that’s drying, move on to the cabinet frames themselves. By the time that’s done, you should be able to flip the doors and do the fronts. I let everything dry overnight, then did a second coat on it all. Make sure you’re going in the same direction as the grain of the wood, and watch for drips over the edges. There are little drips here and there that I didn’t catch, which may drive me crazy over time.

Let that dry overnight, and you’re ready to put on the glaze. After reading several reviews that said the glaze and the top coat were a royal pains-in-the-ass, I opted to go with a non-yellowing Polyurethane instead. That ended up being super easy, and the added cost was minimal. Again, you want to apply it in the direction of the wood grain, doing the back of the doors first, then the cabinets, then the front of the doors. Don’t over work this phase. Lay it on and make sure you’re covering completely, but don’t keep brushing back and forth on top repeatedly because it’ll cause little bubbles and streakiness to form. And be extra vigilant about the drips over the edge on this phase, too. Let it all dry overnight, and then rehang the doors.

Voila! This is not the final reveal with the before or after, but I wanted to get the basic tutorial on here for you. One kit was plenty enough paint to do my kitchen, two bathroom vanities, and the railings up our stairwell. It was definitely time consuming, but it was almost no odor, and none of it was particularly difficult, and for only $75, a real deal. I’ll post the before and after once the new appliances are in, the new hardware is on, and the walls have been painted.

20150709_141801

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Drive-through House

15 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by emilypageart in humor

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

drive-through, drive-thru, home makeover, home renovation

While renovating the house, I’m sorely tempted to install and staff a drive-through window for those times when it’s pouring rain, or really hot, or really cold and I don’t want to get out of the car to run in and grab the thing I forgot to grab when I left in the first place. Anyone want to be my live-in drive-through worker?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Before and After, Guest Bathroom

13 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by emilypageart in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bathroom makeover, DIY, home makeover, home renovation

The guest bathroom is just about complete! Phew! I painted the walls, resurfaced the countertop, painted the cabinet, and put down new vinyl flooring. I still need to frame out the mirror and install a nicer faucet, but I’m just about at the top of my budget and we haven’t changed out the lighting in the rest of the house yet, so the frame and faucet will have to wait. Still, I like feeling like I’ve made progress, and posting the before and after makes it more official and makes me feel more accomplished:

Tada!!!

Tada!!!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts
Follow The Perks of Being an Artist on WordPress.com

Emily Page

Emily Page

Check Out the Art

You can view my artwork on Facebook or on my website at http://www.emilypageart.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

Buy Fractured Memories!

Buy the book!

Goodreads – Fractured Memories

Follow The Perks of Being an Artist on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,252 other followers

Buy Fractured Memories!

Buy Fractured Memories!

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • The Perks of Being an Artist
    • Join 2,252 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Perks of Being an Artist
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: