DIY

A Possible DIY…Painted Inlay Vanity?

If you didn’t follow my bathroom re-do last summer, you might want to read this post, before starting this one. As a quick recap, my master bathroom at the shore went from this to this…

…and this to this, for almost no money and a just lot of sweat equity, including me personally hand stamping an Indian block print for what felt like a million times.

The thing that didn’t get finished and thus does not appear in the photos is the vanity which was not changed out. One of the choices I was really interested in was using some kind of mother of pearl or bone inlaid chest or table as the sink vanity. It was complicated, because I couldn’t find one the right height or size and many were absolute budget busters anyway. After I left at the end of the summer, it went on the back burner, but still simmered all year. Well, in this month’s House Beautiful, Rebecca Minkoff did just what I was talking about, converting an inlaid dresser to a vanity by adding a sink. It got me to thinking…

A number of favorite bloggers – all master DIYers, though, unlike me – have painted the most extraordinary trompe l’oeil inlaid pieces lately using either stencil kits or in some cases painting free hand. Camille at The Vintique Object painted and stencilled this small chest after practicing on a small stool first. She used a stencil kit from Cutting Edge Stencils, designed by Kim Myles, who also has a great how-to on her blog. Would you ever believe this piece wasn’t actually inlaid?

Jenny over at Little Green Notebook free-hand painted this dresser for her girls room. It has a more relaxed look, but still that great Moroccan vibe. Visually, she used the same technique, with scrolling floral pattern inside borders.

Marian at Miss Mustard Seed goes even more free form with this hand painted art deco era dresser (you would never believe the before photo!). If she can convert that dresser, then I have to be able to do something with my vanity!

So I am wondering if I might accomplish a few things at once if I try this on my vanity. One, I won’t have to look at its ugliness anymore until I find the right thing to change it to, and two, I can check out and “practice” having an inlaid piece in the space to see if it is worth the splurge to get a real one. Now, mine has more of a bombé shape, but I am thinking there is potential!

What say you all?

Master Bathroom Related Posts:

Renovation Report…The Finished Master Bathroom (Almost)
Renovation Report…Vanity Dreams or Vanity Reality?
Renovation Report and a DIY…Using Indian Wood Blocks to Create “Wallpaper” in the Master Bath
Renovation Report…Do You Throw Good Money After Bad? Thoughts on Fixing My Master Bathroom
A Day Too Late…One Perfect Bathroom Photo
Renovation Report…Pocket Door Progress

Apr 3, 2013 By tokyojinja in DIY, Renovation and Decoration Report Tags: beach house, DIY, inlay, master bathroom, mother of pearl, vanity

Quick and Easy DIY…Trimming a Lamp Shade with Ribbon

Before…

After…

Details really do matter. One of the quickest ways to bring a little pizzaz to an ordinary plain lamp shade is to trim it with ribbon, beads, tassels, you name it. I was quite happy with our sweetly gathered shades on our night table lamps, that is, back when I lived in New York and had gorgeous grey walls to set them off. Here in Tokyo, all the housing geared towards expatriates has this horrible textured white(ish) wallpaper and the idea that you might want to paint is greeted with horror and quite a bit of “air through the teeth sucking” by the landlord. So my off-white lampshades were left to blend into the off-white wall and I lived with them like that for quite sometime, being unable to find just the right trim.

Unlike America, craft stores are difficult to find in Japan and require travel out of central Tokyo. The mother lode of all craft stores is Yuzawaya, which stocks everything from knitting supplies, to fabric, to fake flowers, to jewelry kits, to you name it. I tend to visit the store in Kamata, but there is also a popular one in Kichijoji and others elsewhere. You can see the directory in English here. On one of our last quilting supply runs this winter I stumbled across the perfect grey grosgrain ribbon, with a small dash pattern in white. Best of all it came in multiple widths, so I was able to purchase a narrower ribbon for the top of the shade. Since the shades are small, I didn’t want them to feel top-heavy.

The rest of the materials were easy to get. I bought some spray adhesive at Yuzawaya too and everything else was basic supplies. I think the entire project took less than half an hour.

My big news is I have filmed a brief how-to video and uploaded it to YouTube. A first for me! Unfortunately, the camera didn’t finish recording the entire project, and once it was done, there was no do-over. But it gives a basic idea of how it is done.

The ribbon makes a big difference at night too.

Choosing the right style trim is a large part of making a project like this successful. Do you want a lot of contrast or a little? Is there an accent color elsewhere in the room that you want to highlight? In my case, I wanted the dark punctuation of the grey ribbon and I needed a classic material like the grosgrain to work with all the French furniture. Here are some other examples of ribbon trim on lamp shades.