Archive for the ‘links’ Category

DIY CEILING MEDALLION

Thursday, September 26th, 2013

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One problematic quirk of this ‘ol brick house which isn’t always apparent despite some bold ugliness and a real talent for causing deep boiling frustration inside me. Hey wait, is it that awkward looking ceiling medallion?

Nope.

Well, sort of.

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Nightmare. Electrical. Ceiling. Boxes.

Roughly carved into every ceiling, these 14″ square holes of wires and chaos forever need to be concealed when installing any hardwired light fixture around the house. Lacking any sort of clever or modern option to cover these monster holes, I’ve always grabbed the cheapest and least gaudy ceiling medallion available. Afterwards I’ve tried to ignore how much I hate them and the way they look. Stupid medallions.

So, after five years of endless light fixture swapping, hoarding and medallion tolerating all I wanted was to be free of clutter and simplify down to the basics. This need to minimize down to the simplest base of form and function was how I eventually built the Simple Light. So now that the simple light is being installed throughout the house We need a simple medallion to match. So?

DIY TIME.

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DIY MINIMALIST CEILING MEDALLION

Simply a minimal plywood circle for covering up your holes, you know, modernly.

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MATERIALS

Drill + Wood Drill Bit
Tape Measure
Pen / Pencil
16″ Birch Plywood Disc
ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape

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HOW TO

1. Find and mark the center of the circle. (Here is a guide)

* I used 12″ strips of ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tapeto figure out the center points (aka 6″) of the two sides of the circle. Using that 6″ mark as a guide, I taped two straight lines across the middle of the circle. Where the two tape lines cross is the center point!

2. Drill a center hole through the plywood disc that is large enough to easily accommodate lamp wire or your particular light fixture.

* TIP: apply ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape over the spot you plan to drill through and then drill through the tape. The tape makes it easy to drill a clean smooth edge hole and will stop any splintering.

3. Depending on how your fixture installs, thread the lamp wire or fixture body through the new smooth drilled hole.

4. Install it all up!

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I ended up taking the white lamp down and installed a brass one. Why? ‘Cause I’m fickle. I don’t know.

Depending on your fixture and how it installs, you can attach this medallion like most others. I installed these lights per their normal method, but added the medallion by threading the pipe nipple through the center hole and then twisting it into the fixture bracket until everything was tight and flush.

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Overall? DIY Medallion? Success.

Modern, minimal, easy and super cheap to do. Simplify covering up ugly holes without making a big fuss about it. So, heads up other lamps around the house, looks like its updated medallion time for you crazy weirdos.

 

 

scotchblue, scotchblue painter's tape, painter's tape, tape

 

This post is a collaboration with ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape. To join the creative community, visit the ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape Facebook Page, tweet us via th ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape Twitter Page or get inspired by the ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape Pinterest Page.

 

DESIGNING | NEW NURSERY PROJECT

Monday, June 17th, 2013

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

I recently got to team back up with The Animal Print Shop to design a bright and cozy nursery for photographers Max and Margaux Wanger and their adorably spunky new baby boy Dash. This marks the second addition to The Animal Print Nursery Project (previous nursery is right over here) and was inspired by this equally spunky and newly released Baby Elephant print as well as the Wanger’s modern style and charming vintage Los Angeles home.

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

I bet a pretty cool baby kicks it here.

Design-wise, this wee little room had a bit of a quirky layout that was super tight on space but packed full of great vintage architectural details. I wanted the nurseries layout to be functional for the family and baby Dash’s day to day baby needs, but also adaptable enough to eventually smoothly transition as Dash gets older and his needs change. Big basics like the changing table / floating dresser, beautiful rocker and wall shelving are minimally modern enough to remain looking stylishly age appropriate for years to come but are currently a perfect and functional backdrop for the rest of the rooms cheeky and unexpectedly colorful accessories that any baby, that enjoys style and bright unique handmade things, thoroughly adores.

Speaking of.

Perhaps you’d like to know what’s what and where to get some of the pieces seen here in this nursery for your own stylish baby? Well, lucky duck, look below for sources on the pieces I picked up to design out Dash’s stylish digs:

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SOURCES

1. Crib and Changing Tray: Ouef
2.Chartreuse Tassel Garland: The Minimalist
3. Baby Elephant Art (available in 5 sizes–here in 30″x40″): The Animal Print Shop
4. Neon Edge Blanket: The Minimalist 
5. Circle Pillow: The Minimalist
6. Brass Swing Arm Lamp: OneFortyThree
7. Whale Pillow: Ferm Living
8. Rocking Chair: OneFortyThree
9. Floating Storage: See Fauxdenza DIY here (we used 24″ depth)
10. Sheets: Little Auggie
11. Curtains (hand stamped with black triangle pattern): Ikea 
12. Eames hang-it-all with a yellow paint update.

*Other accessories include a custom made wood facet mobile by OneFortyThree, leather and brass cabinet pulls from CAMP, Ikea picture ledges, white MODIKIN eames elephant and faux sheepskin rug via ebay.

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

BABY ELEPHANT, yo.

Extra thanks abound to Max and Margaux for trusting me with the design of someplace special for such an important little guy, The MinimalistOeufOneFortyThree for their incredible product contributions and endless support, but especially to Sharon Montrose and The Animal Print Shop for always making magic happen.

RENOVATE IT (INTERNATIONAL EDITION)

Wednesday, June 5th, 2013

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Hey there. What. Up.

Short story? Things got busy and the house and blog suffered some major neglect. Hiatuses happen or whatever. Now slowly I’m reintegrating into interwebbing and thought a nice way to kick off and refresh some of my old time renovation vigor and determination was to show off a smattering of this incredible renovation project & blog happening in Finland.

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I mean.

Quit it now with all your modernist architecture and good things.

Anyways, a few weeks back I received a super sweet and undeservedly flattering email from longtime Brick House reader Pekka Kumpula (Finnish industrial designer/modernism fan/vintage collector) and his partner Minna (plus their adorable dachshund and baby girl) that included a few teaser images of their 1960’s modernist home renovation project and a link to Olive Green Window, their blog that chronicles it all. The blog also has a few great vintage restoration tips and tutorials along with all sorts of modernist furniture eye candy. So obviously go check it out to see more of this sassy home and then quickly mark their blog as one of your new go-to favorite things.

Oh, and all the Cherner. Come to me.