Jim and I are thrilled that our entry was chosen as one of 20 semi-finalists in the True Value D.I.Y. All-Star Contest! We entered Jim's ManSpace, AKA "Our DIY Den & Wine Bar," shown above (DIY details in my blog post here; see more photos and rate it on HGTV's Rate My Space website here).
The prize is a 2-hour in-person project consultation from Steve Watson, host of HGTV's "Don’t Sweat It," and up to $5,000 to spend at a True Value store. After the Atlantic hurricanes coming our way this weekend, we may need a lot of stuff and some repair advice!
Online voting will select the 4 Finalists. So today, I humbly ask for your vote. Thanks in advance for your support!
UPDATE: Thank you, friends! I appreciate your support and kind comments. We didn't win, but a young RMS-er with a great kitchen redo did!
My friend Patty actually watches more HGTV than I do. She saw this amazing DIY product, Flatwire, on "I Want That!"
Flatwire solves the problem of exposed cords or hard-wiring electrical sconces and A/V components. Especially if you live in a home or apartment with concrete walls. All you need is an accessible electrical outlet.
From Flatwire's website: With FlatWire, home theater installations are easily completed by professionals and do-it-yourselfers alike! Installing flat wire uses no special tools, because the wire is bendable, paintable, and paper-thin.
Gizmodo and Lifehacker have more details, plus pros & cons from actual users.
Here are photos of actual installations.
Flatwire sells a variety of sconces in kits.
Seamless installations for lighting and home theater
Not exactly the most stylish photos, but you get the idea. Be sure to watch the video, above.
Here's my builder's basic breakfast bar, between the kitchen, great room and breakfast nook (photos taken in different light). "Before," it was nondescript beige drywall with some white woodwork. Very nice corbels, but it was just plain...plain!
It didn't go with the rest of the kitchen, or the great room, for that matter. The cabinet people wanted over $1,200 for real wood panels. So for less than $50 in paint and trim, I created faux panels in a day. Here's how to do it...
supplies
Paint & primer, brushes
Dropcloth
Miter box and saw
Level
Straight edge, square or long ruler
Molding, amount determined after measuring, below
Hammer & finishing nails, or better yet, a nail gun
Carpenter's glue
Caulk or spackle
Clear faux glaze (I use Behr)
Acrylic colorant to tint the glaze (I used burnt umber)
Rags for removing glaze, old t-shirt pieces work well
choose your finish & color I wanted to coordinate with my living area's creamy white cabinetry, so I used Sherwin Williams Alabaster gloss latex. (happens to be the color of all my woodwork). Don't worry about too much shine because the glaze takes care of that. I prefer the scrubbable gloss finish in this area because people unconsiously kick your bar (I know because I'm doing it right now as I type).
measure Plan your panel widths. I did several different widths because of the corbel placement. Otherwise, you can space them evenly. But I think the different widths add interest.
For the height, use the same spacing at the top and the bottom of the panels. Using a level and straight edge, pencil your panels on the wall. The level is your best friend in this task. Now you know how much molding to buy (+ some extra for boo boos).
miter cut & apply molding I used shelf edging from Home Depot for my molding. It looks like 1 1/4" wide mini chair rail and has nice contours that catch the glaze. Make sure you "measure twice - cut once." When all your pieces are cut, apply glue to the back and nail them in place at your pencil lines. You don't need a lot of nails because the glue will do the job. Wipe off excess glue with a damp rag - it drys FAST.
prime & paint You'll need to prime you moldings if they weren't pre-primed. Then paint the entire area with a brush. Paint a second coat 4 hours later if needed. Let dry 4 hours, and get ready for the fun!
glazing Mix a small amount of faux glaze plus a little water, tinted with a very small amount of burnt umber acrylic colorant. You will have to play with it until you get the darkness you like. A little glaze goes a long way. When you have a batch you like, WRITE DOWN THE RECIPE.
Brush on lightly in and around the crevices of the molding. Remove most of glaze with rags until you have the definition you want. You can always add more. I went for a slightly distressed look because my drywall has orange peel texture and my barstools are very distressed. You'll get the feel of glazing quickly and you can always remove it and start over. After all, it's just paint!
you're done! Your finished wall should look something like this. If you're really daring, make it look like stained wood. There are some fairly easy faux techniques for simulating real wood with just paint color and glaze.
If you'd like to see more, here's a video tour of my kitchen. Go here for a great example of how you can transform a stock bathroom vanity.
If you try this, I'd love to see your before and after photos!
DH Jim's dream had always been to have a simple ManCave with a big screen TV, thick green shag carpeting, a Lazy-Z-Boy recliner, and two lowboy refrigerators for end tables.
Designing women would not be welcome. I would not be allowed in there to do any decorating whatsoever. To clean? Maybe.
Well it's still just a dream, because the den space in our new house is just off the foyer, completely visible from the living area - so we compromised :)
Jim's James Bond 007 photo provided inspiration for a more sophisticated space and he suggested we create the wine bar.
Here's how we did it...
details First, I want to make this perfectly clear: The man is blessed to be married to a woman who's a TV freak, ok? Most women hate big TVs...but I digress.
Here are the details of just about everything that went into the space. Scroll down the page for info on how we "built" it.
color The faux suede walls are the most popular feature of the room with our female guests. Ralph Lauren Suede paint, 2 coats applied exactly according to Ralph's instructions.
Pioneer's Mesa (SU82) on the walls
Faux panels colors are Plaza Blanca (SU 51) and Cordova Cream (SU 59); one shade as the base and the other as the second coat
Anyone, with time and patience, can do this faux finish - one of the simplest I've done
Other surfaces: Sherwin Williams paint
Trim & cabinetry, Alabaster, latex semi gloss (SW 7008)
Ceiling and inside of closet painted by builder: Navajo White, flat (SW6126)
EasyClosets.com DIY closet system (melamine, ivory)
Target baskets
Steinmart poker set
Office Depot file cabinet
Bed Bath & Beyond wireless closet lights, plexiglass picture frames
Photo with Tiger Woods after a round with him - priceless
"before" This photo shows the basic layout of the den space during construction 3 years ago, viewed from our foyer. It's 12 1/2' x 14' with a useless 13" bumpout along half of the left wall.
Before the transformation, two sets of big white doors, at the entry and closet, dominated the space.
My plan was to use more white woodwork to unify the space with the doors, running it around the room. This also allowed me to drop simple rope lighting behind the crown molding for a beautiful effect at night.
I'm still amazed at how closely the project followed my original drawing, with only a few modifications done on the fly, out of necessity...or was it design inspiration (of course!)
construction zone On day 1, we hit Home Depot and then Jim started building the "boxes" that form the "guts" of the cabinetry on the floor in our great room. This was our second project doing built-ins. (See our first, the great room media wall, here).
On day 2, we went granite remnant shopping, just like they do on Designer's Challenge on HGTV. We found this small slab at our second stop, Continental Granite & Marble in Bunnell, FL. Their crew came out to make templates and later delivered and installed the two countertops for us. We got a much more exotic granite for 40% less than the builders' standard varieties offered by the big box home center chains, and we still got the dealer's full service.
there's a reason people hire TV installers Jim hung the TV before the wine bar was anchored permanently in place by the granite installers. We never anticipated how hard it would be. It took him half a day to get the TV hung, perfectly centered inside the panel (that one semester of engineering at Rutgers must have been beneficial after all.)
I ran all the cables behind the wall to the cable box hidden in the lower left display cabinet. Wine fridge slides out for cord access. The TV works perfectly and I love how it seems to float over the bar. But then again, I'm a flat panel TV junkie (catch video of my DIY mirror TV in action here).
finishing touches If there was one thing we'd do differently, it would be the way we installed the mirrors. But they look fine now - the one on the right took over an hour just to fit it in the space, due to my slight measuring error (memo to self: measure twice, cut once is especially important when it comes to mirrors).
Finishing the space after all the construction took much more time than I thought it would. Just touching up white after painting brown was a big job.
under cover office The final area in need of a woman's touch was the closet. We love EasyClosets.com and did all our closets ourselves using their high quality closet organizer products. I designed the system for the office to be flexible: We can convert the right side to double hanging space in the event we need to use the room for guests.
When the shelving was in, Jim's stuff still got piled up haphazardly. So I went to work organizing one day after a trip to Target and Staples. While he was out playing golf, his clutter miraculously came under control, and he has maintained the neatness. Thank you, Mission Organization, for the inspiration.
the reveal It's fun to see the reactions of friends who saw the room before and now see it finished, kind of like on HGTV when you can tell the homeowners never peaked. It's not exactly Queen for a Day excitment (dating myself), but people are pretty amazed.
I have to say it turned out just as I envisioned it back when I did the drawing. I know we saved a ton of money and got exactly what we wanted. And the satisfaction of doing it ourselves is priceless!
Next on the project calendar: the WomanSpace, which is our upstairs bonus room where I do all my geek stuff, computer, sewing, crafts, cool stuff like that. I'd like to go contemporary since the rest of the house is very traditional. Ikea, here I come!
There are a lot more photos of the finished ManSpace here on HGTV's Rate My Space website, and if you like it, please rate it!
Traditional Home’s September issue has a great article, “Setting the Scene” p. 106, on how to handle your big TV (or, more likely, your man’s big TV). Well I love TVs, especially flat-screen high definition TVs. We had seven as of the last time I counted. (I know, I know...women are supposed to HATE them...But I’m a geek).
My favorite is the 32” LCD on the lanai. But where is it, you ask?
In the mirror, of course!
Men love this TV. In 2005, I did one in my master bath with a 15" LCD, even before HGTV's Candice Olson.
See my DIY Mirror TV in action in this 33 second video (apologies, Favre fans):
On the lanai, it's the perfect solution for a big flat panel outside in the salty sea air (700 yards from the ocean). It also provides some security because when the TV's off, it looks like just a big mirror. Only downside - you can't watch it in bright daylight, but we use it for viewing in the evening anyway.
Here’s how I did it…
We added the fireplace wall after house was built
Builder had already installed electrical and cable outlets on the wall
Carpenter built a niche about 20" deep above the no-vent fireplace
There are holes in the niche's ceiling to disperse heat buildup
I added an MDF shelf in the niche above the TV that holds cable box
I painted the inside of the niche and the shelf black
Added 1x4 pine vertical supports inside the niche opening for the mirror to rest against
Had a 1/4" one-way mirror cut to just under the actual measurements of the niche opening
I attached super velcro to the supports and back of mirror
Mirror's weight is supported because it sits on floor of niche
I velcroed on a removeable “frame” of stained poly trim (Home Depot) to hide the edges
TV remote works thru the mirror
Audio from the TV speakers comes through the mirror perfectly
DH can take the mirror down when we need access to the TV or cable box
Cost: about $200, excluding building the fireplace wall and buying the TV
Ready-made Mirror TVs sell for thousands
Now I have to get busy and finish off the fireplace and wall. Any ideas?
Here's how we created our great room's media wall featuring a "faux fireplace," featured in HGTV Ideas magazine.
Hanging a 50" TV above a fireplace was not an option - we'd have to crane our necks to see it from the sofa only 9 feet away. So we made the TV look like a fireplace in a mantel instead of hiding it in a cabinet. My inspiration was a very realistic fireplace DVD online ($14.95) from plasmawindow.com.
Here's how we did it...
Our builder built the arched niches from my drawing above. Jim and I did the rest in about 3 weeks using economical paint-grade poplar, pine and MDF from Home Depot.
We installed the Fairfield mantel in poplar from Premier Mantles, custom sized for the 24" deep niche. Then we built the removeable frame above that fits inside the mantel and around the TV. That was the hardest part of the entire project.
Our first-ever woodworking project (winter 2006). I did the miter cutting, trim and finish work. Jim handled the table saw and router. We now have a garage full of power tools. Our favorite is the Paslode nail gun. Everyone should have one.
BTW, I never knew DH had these skills until he retired from the business world and started watching HGTV with me.
Jim built the cabinet boxes out of sandeply plywood. Shelves are MDF. TV is a 50" Samsung DLP HDTV. The arched plantation shutters were custom made to fit the back of the niches by Blinds4Less, St Augustine.
The mitered doors with euro hinges were not quite so easy. I applied the trim and stapled on the speaker fabric from Acoustical Solutions, Inc.. after Jim assembled them. Hanging them was frustrating, but we had patience and got it right.
Cabinet painting, wall colors and painting, and other room details are here. If you want to try this and need more info, please let me know.
Ever wished you could press a button and turn on, off, or dim ALL your lights? Well you can with Z-Wave technology. I've retrofitted most of my wall switches and all my lamps and uplights. Girls, if you can flip a breaker and install a simple dimmer switch, you can have a smart home without the huge expense. It's the coolest thing, EVEN if you're not a geek like me.
I get a lot of comments online and from friends on my accent lighting which is PC-controlled by Z-Wave devices and Homeseer software.
Here's what happens 1 hour before sundown at my house: 11 lights above or in kitchen cabinets turn on dimmed 50%; all under cabinet lights come on, the nook pendant comes on at 70%; 6 cans in the living & dining rooms come on; dining room's buffet lamps and chandelier come on and dim to 30%; bookcase and cove lighting in the den comes on; and the garage lights turn off (if they were on); 2 table lamps in the living room turn on and 2 uplights stuck in silk trees turn on; then at sundown the 6 front coachlights come on at 40%.
At bedtime I push one button on my 7" Samsung Q1 touchscreen UMPC in the kitchen and everything that's on turns off, including any lights left on upstairs in my office; Even DH can handle it. Get the idea? See the kitchen lighting and PC in my video kitchen tour. If you want more info, I'll be happy to expand on this. Lamps are easy - just use the plug-in style unit shown above.
Cool, huh?
If you're a design geek (and you must be if you're still reading this), check out my post on Flatwire, the amazing DIY solution for hiding your wires without calling an electrician.
My Fellow Decorating Americans,
The prize is a 2-hour in-person project consultation from Steve Watson, host of HGTV's "Don’t Sweat It," and up to $5,000 to spend at a True Value store. After the Atlantic hurricanes coming our way this weekend, we may need a lot of stuff and some repair advice!
choose your finish & color
glazing
Our builder built the arched niches from my drawing above. Jim and I did the rest in about 3 weeks using economical paint-grade poplar, pine and MDF from Home Depot.
We installed the Fairfield mantel in poplar from 
Our first-ever woodworking project (winter 2006). I did the miter cutting, trim and finish work. Jim handled the table saw and router. We now have a garage full of power tools. Our favorite is the Paslode nail gun. Everyone should have one.
Jim built the cabinet boxes out of sandeply plywood. Shelves are MDF. TV is a 50" Samsung DLP HDTV. The arched plantation shutters were custom made to fit the back of the niches by Blinds4Less, St Augustine.
The mitered doors with euro hinges were not quite so easy. I applied the trim and stapled on the speaker fabric from 
