We recently came across a leather mid century recliner in need of resuscitation. Since we don’t have the slightest upholstery skills with fabric, no less leather, we’re trying to come up with options. Duct tape immediately came to mind.

Check out some of these duct tape creations. It’s not your parent’s duct tape anymore!

Do you ever wish there was something more interesting than sheetrock? Well, of course there is, sillies! You can cover existing sheetrock or crackling plaster with fun panels, but if you are down to the studs and want to use a sheetrock alternative, you would want to make sure that 1), you can insulate without it poking through and 2), you have enough studs to support each panel.

OMG, I love the paneling in the top photo. Do you know what that is? Just some crappy new wall paneling. Hung sideways. Painted and distressed. Yup.

To be honest, I’m not sure how this was done as the website isn’t working and I was only able to pull the Pinterest photo. What would I do to recreate this look? I’d start with the painted sheetrock and then unless I had several frames, I would do a cheater version and just run some furring strips across the entire wall to create the boxes. Or you can just create lines. Or you can use frames with varying sizes and shapes. Go ahead and miter every frame if you want. But me? I’d be too lazy to do that.

This is an easier way of sectioning off the wall instead of frames and it’s lovely how they used wallpaper inside each frame.

There’s a DIY tutorial for this veneer panel wall on the BHG site. Click on image.

What about just stapling some fabric to a board and hanging it? Bam! Done!

Gee, ya think that would take too long to do? 

A few weeks ago we did a consultation/estimate for painted parquet floors. It was a piece of cake for us to go over some designs with the prospective client. Oddly enough, now that it’s time to think about the Reclaimed Home store floors, we haven’t got a clue what we want!

Since this is for a high traffic (hopefully!!!) retail shop and not a home, we want to follow certain self inflicted guidelines.

1. Less waste. Keep the nasty commercial tiles that are there and replace/patch as needed.

2. Quick and easy. We want to bring in some inventory ASAP!

3. Inexpensive. It’s a 2 year lease. We need to make money, not blow it all on renovations.

4. Durable. See high traffic above.

So, we are painting the tile. Sand it, clean it, prime, paint, seal. Sounds like a hassle but less so than removing all the tile and installing new flooring.

A solid floor would be easy, but we’re concerned that it won’t hide dirt well enough and who the F wants to mop every day? So we need a dirt distraction. Stencils are wonderful, but a pattern on the entire floor would be too time consuming. Same with faux wood grain. We need the fastest faux way out. So, what are our options?

No really, I’m asking you….know of any options?

Love the patina on this bathroom floor but concerned about the cost of the specialized paint for such a large area.

Although not completely crazy about this technique, it does look like a quick solution.

Faux stained and polished concrete. Definitely not these colors. We want to keep it light and happy.

In honor of Mr. Kincaid’s recent demise, we would like to share some groovy Partridge Family paint colors. The photo above is a room at the Roxbury Motel. Yes, you can stay there!