Small, Rustic Touches In Our Tiny Powder Room Add Up To Fabulous!

We are sharing this post by blogger Debbie Hayes of MyPatchOfBlueSky.com
 

I’m pretty sure that we have the weirdest, smallest powder room in existence. It is not prominently featured somewhere near the entrance of our home, where guests can discover it. It is hidden at the back door, within the laundry room.

Blah! When we first moved here I’m not sure we knew it existed for a month. Until we had a gaggle of little girls over for a deck party. Then the magic location revealed itself as nothing short of brilliant.




Recently I got in the mood to repaint the ceiling and trim and trowel some pearl-color plaster on the walls that were once layered in painted tissue paper. The room had been a warm brown, with a stenciled copper foil ceiling. It was pretty glam, but in my current mood to lighten up, and of course, change something, it was time for a facelift.

Now, with the grey-white lustrous walls, the room seems so much bigger! The rusty, crusty custom-made mirror and sconces show up beautifully, instead of fading into the background.

I am dying laughing trying to show you how tiny this room is. I had to squat on the john and duck down to get the back wall in this shot. Love how a simple paisley scarf from my collection turned out as art.

 

 

I used one of my fav products, Wood Icing® White Furniture Glaze to whitewash a stick I cut that had fallen in our yard.

This glaze is so nice to use for lots of DIY reasons. It has an acrylic water base that cleans up with soap and water. It is durable for projects like mine, or it can be sealed with Wood Icing’s PolyAcrylic Sealers that come in Dull, Satin and Gloss.

I like how fast it dries and that I can water it down for a wash, like I did on my branch, or apply it full strength. There is also a Clear Glaze you can mix with it if you want to add open time on a large project.

 

A quick jute wrap was all that was needed to hang this very light piece.

 

Two cup hooks and a hammer made quick work of hanging. Knowing me, I will change out what’s hanging on this wall often, based on current treasures found.

 

You can see that I have a thing for “shopping” for tree branches in the yard.



Ages ago, I wound some green raffia around old hardware to make this towel bar.




Handmade rock soap is so pretty, hubby Steve was looking everywhere for the soap bar when I added this cool, jewel-like chunk. It seems men don’t like pretty when it comes to washing up after mowing the lawn.



A short sugar mold is the perfect opportunity to add roses from our tiny garden, or anything we pick up that is intriguing.



Another favorite focal point in this truly tiny bathroom is the cabinet doors, which were a great project that I did for Paint + Pattern.


You don’t have to use much imagination to guess where the best vantage point is, LOL!


Overall, I couldn’t be happier with this little project. The perfect mixture of rust, patina, texture, glam, and um, facilities.



What do you think? Do you have a weird powder room project? Love for you to share it on the Wood Icing Facebook page!


{This post is sponsored by my wonderful client, Wood Icing®. They allow me to experiment with their cool products, and the ideas and comments are my own.}

Create A Faux-Bark Finish Using Wood Icing Products!

Posted by Debbie Dion Hayes on MyPatchOfBlueSky.com on September 2, 2014

 

{Although this post is sponsored by Wood Icing™, the idea and comments are my own.}



I think my mind is on fall. Just a few leaves drop and crunch underfoot but I am so ready for fall colors, boots and campfires with my family.

With that in mind, I have been playing with – I swear I am not crazy – fallen branches from our back yard. While picking them up the other day I was struck by the wonderful texture and earth tones. And by the idea of trying to duplicate the look with Wood Icing™ products.

I am so excited about this finish that I came up with – you can hardly tell it apart from the real branch, and I swear I did not really work at it. Here, I just created it on a piece of black polystyrene since I was in design mode. But picture a huge canvas or a focus wall, or drawer fronts on a rustic furniture piece!

Want to try it?

SUPPLIES

 

• tree branch at least 3″ diameter
• Wood Icing™ Textura Paste, Licorice, Tree Bark(!) and Mud Pie Furniture Glazing colors
• Paris Grey Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan
• rags, spray bottle, paint brushes, putty knife or some kind of spreader

STEP ONE
Find a branch and cut it or break it to about two feet long to make it easy to handle. Mine was pretty dead. Basecoat your surface with one or two coats of Chalk Paint® and let dry.

STEP TWO

 
Spread a coat of Textura Paste on the surface, skipping a few areas. Do not let dry. Using the branch, roll it over the surface and drag it up and down to make texture. Mine left some bits on the surface and, loving it, I left them in. The Paste layer will tear and get crusty, which is a good thing. Let dry completely.

STEP THREE
 
Brush on one layer of Paris Grey, leaving a few areas open and let dry.

STEP FOUR
 

STEP FIVE
 

 
Brush on one coat of the Mud Pie glaze and let dry a bit, then brush on a coat of Tree Bark and let dry a bit. Brush on a random layer of Licorice, scrubbing it into the cracks. Use a mist of water from the spray bottle if you like. While wet, drag a dry rag vertically over the surface until you like the look. This will pull color off the tops of the texture. Let dry.

And you have faux bark – made with Wood Icing™ – how cool is that?

 

You’ll notice I did not seal it. If you are doing this on a wall or a piece of furniture, I suggest Wood Icing™ Dull Poly Acrylic Top Coat. For art hanging on the wall, I would not seal it.

{Disclosure: This is a paid featured post in conjunction with Wood Icing™. All opinions, projects, and ideas are based on my own experience.}

Debbie Dion Hayes: A Rustic Vase Project Using Wood Icing™ and Chalk Paint®

Here is a fun recent post from MyPatchOfBlueSky.com.

Posted on February 27, 2014

Want a fun, easy, almost-anything-goes project? Let’s have a blast delving into Rose Wilde’s cool Wood Icing™ products! Having a bit of a reputation for using products in funky ways, I decided to use some of my favorite products in conjunction with the basic Textura Paste on a hunk of fallen teak from Indonesia that an artist turned into a gorgeous vase. Here is my finished project!

I can hear you saying, “Debbie I do not have one of those laying around my house, nor do I have a clue as to where to buy one.” I know. But somewhere you do have something made of wood that you can use right? A candlestick, maybe a lamp base or go crazy and do the inside panels of doors on a chest of drawers. This post is all about getting creative with Wood Icing™, Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan and a gorgeous stencil – getting out of our comfort zone called Perfection – and getting into Fabulous, Rustic and Imperfect.

SUPPLIES: Use the colors and stencil listed or try your own

• Wood Icing™ Textura Paste, “Tree Bark” Furniture Glazing Color, Off-Set Knife

• Chalk Paint® in Graphite, Annie Sloan Clear Soft Wax

• Stencil – I used Royal Design Studio Large Allover Brocade

• Water, containers, brushes, rags, paper towels, 220-grit sandpaper

 STEP ONE  Clean your piece with a damp cloth if necessary. STEP TWO  Arrange the stencil in an artful way. (This stencil was chosen because perfection is not necessary and it can be turned to accommodate the odd shape of the piece.) Hold the stencil in place and dip the Off-Set knife into the Textura Paste. Trowel it over the stencil.  Let dry. Repeat until the item is completely stenciled. Wash the stencil with water in between uses. STEP THREE  Lightly sand. STEP FOUR  Wipe.

 STEP FIVE  Add about 40% water to a container with Graphite Chalk Paint® and stir. Paint the surface. Let dry. STEP SIX  Sand. STEP SEVEN  Dip a brush into the Tree Bark Glazing Color and cover the surface. Let dry. STEP EIGHT  Dip a clean cloth into the Clear Soft Wax and wipe over the entire exterior surface. Turn the cloth to a clean spot as needed and wipe off any excess wax. After about five minutes, buff to a lovely sheen.

 Voila! A gorgeous piece to enjoy indoors – numerous ways. Add a glass full of flowers, turn it into a lamp with a string of white lights inside, or love it on its own!

 MORE ABOUT WOOD ICING™ TEXTURA PASTE:

A water-based product the consistency of peanut butter. Spread it with a trowel or spatula, then use objects or tools to make impressions. Foam rubber stamps, mesh, lace, stencils and more are perfect. Stain, glaze or paint it. Oil or water-based products can be used with it. Normally 2 or 3 coats of Wood Icing PolyAcrylic is used for protection, but this project needed only a pretty sheen so Annie Sloan Clear Soft Wax was used.

One Gallon covers 64 square feet, One Quart covers 16 square feet

Wood Icing/Compass Stencil Project

Mary Nasser, a very talented artist friend, has created this amazing "Compass" stencil for Stencil Girl Stencils and to celebrate with her she invited me to participate in her blog hop. 

 

As the inventor of  the Wood Icing I thought it would be best to use the Wood Icing Textura Paste to showcase how easy it is to create the appearance of carved wood with a simple overlay stencil.  If you have never seen or heard of Wood Icing this is just the tip of the iceberg for our super versatile product.  We have so much more in store to share with you at www.woodicing.com. 



I decided to makeover an unfinished wood frame.  We use these frames in our Wood Icing Studio in some of our workshops for beginners.  They are something everyone enjoys working with and they allow the students to learn the techniques while creating something that fits their personal style.

 

I spray a little repositionable adhesive on the back  of my stencil to keep it in place.

 

Spread the paste evenly over the top of the stencil.  The thickness will depend on how high you want your raised relief to be.  For the more detailed and intricate cut stencils you will need to spread the paste a little thinner to avoid the paste coming up when the stencil is lifted off.

 

Remove the stencil immediately after spreading the paste over the top. Allow the paste to dry.  Drying time depends on the humidity and how thick the paste is applied. You can speed up things with a hair dryer.

 

Sand all the bumps and harsh edges with a higher grit sandpaper (160). Take care not to create scratches which will show up later when the glazing color is applied.

 

Using our Wood Icing Glazing Color "Mud Pie" brush it on all over in a generous amount.  Blot away the excess without removing too much.  Our glazing colors are semi-transparent, unlike semi-opaque stains, allowing the wood gran to show through more readily.

 

Use a dry brush to manipulate the glazing color for the desired shade. Keep in mind when working with unfinished wood, you will want to see the wood grain showing through.

 

While the Glazing Color "Mud Pie" is still wet apply a thin line of Wood Icing Glazing Color "Licorice".

 

Blot back the excess "Licorice" glazing color then blend with a soft cloth to create a shaded effect.

Once you have your shading perfected on the entire frame, and in order to apply a lighter shade to the raised relief, sand the glazing color off the top edge of the raised relief.

 

Apply Wood Icing Glazing Color "Rusty Nails" using the same method of a generous amount of glazing color, then blot back the excess color. Dry brush to the desired shade.

 

Once you have the Wood Icing Glazing Color "Rusty Nails" shaded then add some depth using the Wood Icing Glazing Color "Licorice". 

 

Allow everything to dry then apply the Wood Icing PolyAcrylic Top Coat.  We have three choices Dull, Satin and Gloss.  I have used the Satin for this project.

 

What do you think?  Doesn't this photo of Mary Nasser look pretty inside this frame embellished with her "Compass" stencil? 

 

Thank you Mary for inviting me to participate in your blog hop. I enjoyed my journey with this project and I love the "Compass" stencil you have created.  I cannot wait to try more of your creative stencil designs.

 

To see the beautiful and inspiring work of Mary Nasser please visit http://www.marycnasser.com/ 

 

*Mary Beth Shaw is a distributor of the Wood Icing product 8oz. Textura Paste. Please visit http://stencilgirlproducts.com/ for more information.

 

StencilGirl Talk
Mary C. Nasser
Mary Beth Shaw
Jessica Sporn
Janet Joehlin
Heather Haymart
Judy Shea
Pam Carriker
Nancy Wethington
Talk2TheTrees
Corrine Gilman
Rose Wilde
Nancy Curry
Kristen Powers
Carolyn Dube
Maria McGuire

 

 

 

 

 

 



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