If you DIY'd your kitchen...
pippiep
8 years ago
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dcward89
8 years agopippiep
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Has anyone DIY'd their cultured stone?
Comments (20)Sorry to OP for hijacking this thread! Gardenchick! Thank you for your advice. Hadn't thought about the ledgestone on the gables. That might be what is making me think twice about it. We will have 2 gables accented with the stone and also a border around the house. DH and I are trying to compromise on this one. As far as the grout, I was thinking that the type used on Limestone makes a big difference in the look. Can't decide which one I like better because they all are very nice. In addition to going to look at the Cultured Stone, there is an area close by that has a lot of very old stone homes and an old farm nearby that has their old home and barn in stone. I'm going to drive through those neighborhoods and examine their type and style. Hope they don't think I'm some crazy lady! We are in the northeast. Building on 21 acres, with pond and some wooded area, not in a housing development. We are placing the home on top of the property, overlooking farmland, woods and our pond. Started the dig for the driveway and gas well awhile back. I guess our style of home is a mix. I jokingly said on another thread that it was old world meets the mountain or something like that. Inspirations came from lots of searching on the net,(this site included), driving around neighborhoods and new construction, from the different style of those to the style of the HGTV 2006 dream home and just recently added to that eclectic mix, the MidWest Living 2007 Idea house. We also want to make sure our home fits the property, but most importantly our family and our lifestyle, (4 young boys.), and yet something different then what is being built all around us, if that makes sense. DH really wanted to do all brick and stone but the cost for both would make us have to cut other things...some that DH didn't want to lose, and I just can't live without the stone, so we are compromising with shakes/board&batten and stone. We are meeting with hopefully what will become asap "the" builder tomorrow. Wish us luck, cross fingers, send prayers...we need it all!! LOL! We just want to start already--UGH!!...See MoreAnyone DIY'd runnels in solid surface countertop?
Comments (4)Davidrol -- that's an interesting suggestion. Am I understanding correctly that you'd take a whole section parallel to the sink and just make that whole section slope down toward the sink's edge? Like a beach I suppose? You wouldn't happen to have photos of such a thing, would you? Boxerpups? (the photo expert) Anyone with experience of this? Thanks! Another thing that sounds good about this is you could maybe make a small lip at the edge of this beach that would contain the water? And although I really haven't the first knowledge of how countertops are made or sanded, it sounds as if it might be easy-ish to do, not requiring special routers and all?...See MoreEnglish pulp paper wallpaper...anyone DIY'd this stuff?
Comments (11)If you are DIY competent, you could give it a shot. Especially if you have paper hanging experience. I don't find it difficult to hang...you just need to use specific measures to get the best result. Use blanklining or blankstock. Mandatory. In large rooms I actually run it horizontal across the walls, which is how I was told to do it years ago. You don't want seams in the blanklining being aligned with the wall paper seams. It can be hung vertically...just watch the seam alignment. After it's up, paste size the blanklining and let it completely dry. This will make the lining very absorbent, which helps when hanging the pulp paper. It prevents soak through and water marks, etc, in the patterned paper. Careful with your seams. Pulp papers can expand more than others when wet, and obviously, shrink when they dry. That's where the lining paper helps too. When hanging the patterned paper, to set and smooth it I use a bristle sweep. Rigid smoothers can burnish the pulp paper and possibly mar the ink pattern. They can smear any errant paste into the pores of the paper. So I use a bristle sweep. If you want to use a rigid smoother, use a scrap piece of paper held over the wall paper, and run your smoother over the scrap paper. That way the friction will occur between the smoother and the scrap paper instead of between the smoother and the patterned face of your pulp paper. Oh, and do not use premixed paste. I won't get into the chemistry of how premixed pastes are processed, but the end result is that premixed pastes can possibly result in bleed-through staining months or years after the pulp paper is installed. Buy powdered starch and mix your own. I use potato starch. I use distilled water as well. Well water can have minerals and iron, city water can have it's own list of secret ingredients. So mix your own potato starch powder with distilled water. So I guess I'd say if you have experience in hanging wall paper, you can hang pulp if you simply add a few methods and techniques to your bag of tricks....See MoreDid you feel like your new kitchen wasn't really ''yours''?
Comments (13)I had kind of the opposite feeling. We have lived in this house 11 years, and that whole time, I felt like I was using someone else's kitchen. Nothing about it was something I would have chosen or placed where it was. I liked the color of the countertop (black), but I hated everything else about it the whole time. I didn't do much of anything to change it because we were always "about to" start the remodel. When my new kitchen was finished (or mostly finished, since we still have a few things to do), I felt like I was walking into my own kitchen for the first time. I still feel so incredibly right at home in there. I did get a tiny bit of the "this is too nice to be mine" feeling you describe, but it was quickly replaced by the "damn it, this is what I deserved all along!" feeling. :)...See MoreRobertson Kitchens
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