Lemonade and silver linings

A while back my home was damaged in a hurricane, specifically my bedroom ceiling came in on me while I lay in bed!   Not the entire thing, but enough to make me wonder if I should evacuate my bedroom. In any case the hole in my ceiling left me with an insurance payment and with an opportunity :)

I see opportunity!!!!

I interviewed a few 'contractors' because I needed professional help and fast! One such man told me flat out 'no'. He would not pull the ceiling down, because that was a ridiculous idea.  After all, sand would fall continuously and then I would be begging him to come back and do it properly!

Can you say 'next'? In any case I found a  good contractor that took the rest of the ceiling down and removed the old lathe and plaster and a few of the -now extra- beams, leaving behind a beautiful exposed beam ceiling.  Sand and all :)

 One of the workers told me he didn't like the open beam look and that he was glad I wasn't his wife! Nerve! Who do you think is happier??

I had the stone treated to prevent it from dropping sandy dust. Basically a spray glue to affix it. Next I had to get the holes between the beams in the ceiling leading to other rooms sealed. A concrete board with a rough plaster coat did the trick and finally... the piece de resistance!

Molded trim angled outward around the entire perimeter of the ceiling... Why? So I could install low lights ... Say Christmas or rope LED type lights. Bam! Instant ambiance...   What do you think?

  

Moral of the story,  my way or the highway!  Not really, but you get the point... Bad situation turned absolutely fabulous!

Tool Diva

Overnight success!

Life is funny,  some things seem to take forever  while others happen so fast -- like my little vase.   One evening I had a bit of cement left over from another project and decided I didn't want to waste it.   I found a pretty plastic container left over from some liquid soap in the bathroom and decided that that shape was perfect for a vase. I quickly poured the left over mix into the container.   It  filled to the top -- too much. Next I needed to make the 'well' to hold the water for the flowers.  I had some leftover water pics from the last floral arrangement so decided to use them.  They slid into the mix easily. They were perfect,  the test tube like pic had a rubber lip that stopped it from falling completely in the soap container.  Voila!

Similar plastic container and floral pic used

I let them set overnight and in the morning pulled the pic out of the centre. I  needed to twist it a bit to get it out, but it came out whole.   (TIP:  use plastics with cement, ceramic and glass are too difficult and often break.  Plastic comes out easier.)

Then I carefully ripped the plastic off  the hardened cement.  This was a bit tricky, I used a carpet knife to score the plastic and peel it away-- not without a few dings in the vase but those you can sand away if you want.
Immediately I wanted to put flowers in it.  So I  filled the cavity with water, some spilled on the vase causing an interesting colour change.  Not sure I wanted that look, even if it was sort of mod looking.  I  grabbed the water pic,  put it back in the cavity and marked the height.  I used that same carpet knife to cut it down so it fit perfectly into the vase.

 This enabled me to lift it out and  fill it apart from the vase and insert it when filled... better option.  COMPLETE! I positioned it next to the piece of art my daughter brought back home from her travels... instant success!

Hope you like it!


Tool Diva

spring thrills

Thank God Spring has arrived. I was ready to give up! I was going nuts dragging the outdoor cushions in and out every other day:)  but now that the weather has improved my thoughts have turned back to my patio. I wanted to create a some additional mood lighting out there ... Candles would do the trick I thought.  I went to purchase 5 pillar candles and was shocked at the cost, between  $25-35 per CANDLE... $125 for candles seemed extreme. No freaking way!!!

After catching my breath I though -- I can beat that.  I went to the hardware store and purchased a $2 bag of concrete and went to work. My plan was to make fake pillars with indents for tea light candles and voila instant mood, and  waaaaay better price!

mixed right in the container

Too easy.  I took a few empty plastic cylindrical bottles and mixed the concrete right in them.  I used the plastic Niagara spray starch containers. (Ignore why I had so many, I keep  cool shaped plastic for potential projects)

Anyway, I added enough water to make it look like cake batter or peanut butter.  It's hard to get this wrong, even if it's a tad watery it will still work. It will just take longer to dry out.  Then I grabbed  a smaller plastic container, roughly the same size as the tea lights.  I sprayed this with PAM cooking spray so it would release easier when almost set.



Then I inserted that small one into the mixture.  To weigh it down a bit I added some rice, anything will do really.  Lastly I lay something flat over the top of the entire pillar-- to keep it set lower.
Otherwise it might float to the surface and not give me the depth I needed.



Practically done.  Now just let time do its magic.  About 6 hours later I removed the small plastic insert from the centre and left the rest to continue drying.   The next day I peeled the plastic off the concrete pillar and BAM! there it was.

Note the concrete will still be dark not fully dry and soft.  This is good because if you get any dings cutting it out you can just use your fingers or some sand paper to smooth the ding out, depending on how dry it is.

If you really wanted to be frugal you could PAM the big container and reuse it, but trying to save the container makes the release harder, up to you. I didn't bother this time.  Depending on your container you can get interesting patterns and very smooth, almost glass like pillars.  Too cool and all for just a few dollars.  Tea candles I had on hand so no $$ outlay there :). 

Here they are :
Yaaaay, can't wait till dark!

Tool Diva