Strangest decorating projects?

[Lynzee]

I am notorious for doing things that are totally off the wall in terms of decorating.

When we were living in our beach cottage, I hated the cement shower walls that were painted white because they always looked dirty--even after I'd cleaned them. I asked my husband if we could have the shower stalls tiled, and he said no--that I don't like anything long enough to justify what it would cost.

Soooooooooo...armed with Patio Paints, a sea sponge and 1/4 inch auto detailing tape, I proceeded to paint ceramic tile on the shower walls, floors and ceilings in both shower stalls.

I know I can't be the only one who does stuff like that. :eek: Tell us about your strangest decorating project! :D

[chyna]

In order to close on our house my dad and dh put sheets of plywood down over my wood floors in the bonus room. I hated it to say the least and since the floors need to be refinished we just haven't taken the plywood up. However I can't have that staring at me so I made floor tiles with grey "grout", blue tape and black paint. There are also this funky red painted diamonds. Came out pretty good except it reminds me of the movie Tron.

I do crazy stuff all the time. hard to narrow them all down except the majority of them are floor treatments. Stained the particleboard sub-floor upstairs and then painted "rugs" all over it. I'm eyeing the vinyl slate flooring in my bathroom. If nobody will lay the flooring I like then I'm going to paint it!:mad:

[RoseMary]

I haven't actually done my 'off the wall' project, yet, but this is it~the backsplash behind my sink is only about 5 1/2 inches tall and just a plain pine board with verathane on it. I'd love to have something nice on it right now, but the money's just not in the budget, so. . .I'm going to cover that area with aluminum flashing that has been tin punched. The flashing can't be painted--it won't stick--but if you use a sanding block on it, it takes off a lot of the shine and gives it a brushed look.

I have the metal and need to get it punched. We are going to change the faucet in the next few weeks (nothing fancy, just a plain old faucet) and I want to put on the 'backsplash' at the same time.

I figure if it looks crummy, I haven't lost anything, as the flashing was only a few dollars:).

[RoseMary]

Tanya, I'd love to see your 'rugs'!

[chyna]

I haven't done this one yet but I got some bright idea to decopauge the backsplash under the cupboards in my kitchen. I'm thiking of doing a tear and stick technique to mimic mosaic. Just need to find some interesting wraping paper and tissue paper. Would like the look of broken pieces of china. That's my crazy idea for the year!!!

[Breezy]

My husband's aunt painted her entire living room to look like brick walls and the first time I went in there I thought it was brick - she did such a great job!

RoseMary that's a wonderful idea for your backsplash. Would love to see pics when it's finished.

[Lisa S]

I usually just rip up the stuff I don't like and live with the mess until I can afford to fix it. I'd rather see it all in pieces than live with something I hate. My husband thinks that's crazy!

I too have painted faux rugs before. My kid's closet floor was half wood and half particle board. I can't justify putting wood floor in a closet, so I just laid putty in the gap and painted the whole thing. I painted the faux rugs on top of that.

Let's see... I put an old headboard in the garden this year to trellis cucumbers. I painted the pipes in the basement so they would "disappear"... I sound boring to myself. I guess I'm just not that weird!

[Lynzee]

Wow, Lisa! If I ripped out everything I hated, we wouldn't be able to get in the front door. :D

I would love to see pictures of the "rugs" y'all have painted. Our front porch is painted and I would love to do something creative out there.

The backsplash ideas sound great, too! I am looking for all kinds of neat ideas that will work until I can make the changes I want to make in this house. Right now, my countertops are covered with contac paper and poly because I couldn't decide what I wanted. :o :D

[ThriftShopRomantic]

Tanya is our queen of painting everything under the sun. I would love to see some of these endeavors!!


Me, I have a friend who, when she learned she was going to have a baby, asked me if I knew how to paint bugs....and would I paint some for her in her house.

(I initially thought she was losing it!)

Turns out, she wanted little ladybugs and dragonflies on the walls of the nursery. I'd done a lot of drawing, certainly, and decorative painting on things like wooden boxes, etc. But I was never so terrified as having to paint these bugs on the walls of her beautiful home! I was so afraid I would mess something up!

The bugs ended up being very cute, thankfully. And I didn't mess up her nice walls. But I did have a few, "I can't believe I'm doing this" moments along the way.

[chyna]

Jenn

I helped a friend paint her nursery and we even used stencils of stars and I was stull a nervous wreck so I feel ya on that one. Didn't help that she kept coming in and critiqueing those stupid stars.

Painting the mural on my dd's bedroom wall was a breeze compared to that! And we had hills, trees, bees, flowers and I painted a garden gate with a chalkboard center. I've made the promise of painting an underwater scene on the opposite wall complete with mermaids. I've cheated and printed out Ariel and some fish. Now to find a projector. :D I figure they're only young once and there is this nasty paneling up there right now that will come down hopefully soon.;)

[ThriftShopRomantic]

I would love to do a mural sometime, like that. (Under less stressful conditions, of course.) My friend was very sweet about it, unlike your stars person. My friend had more confidence in the bugs, actually that I did. But her plans were very, very restrained, where if it had been my room, I'd've probably gone very elaborate with it.

I would love to do an Alice in Wonderland themed room at some point. I'm going to have to rent a daughter, I think, in order to accomplish this. But still... :) Would be great fun.

[chyna]

Mine's driving me buggy right now, you want to borrow her for a while? :p

[ThriftShopRomantic]

Absolutely-- pack her up. :) Give her a change of scenery. :)

[Zuzu's Garden]

I think the strangest deco project I did was for a Halloween party. I made a tree from a chicken-wire frame, covered it w/ newspaper & flour paste, painted it, and pasted leaves on it. It filled a corner of the livingroom, which we'd cleared out for a dance floor scattered w/ real leaves.

Glad to see I'm in good company. :p I'm thinking about painting the cement floor. This is a copy of a pic from The Adventures of Elizabeth (http://elizabethhousestlouis.blogspot.com/). Elizabeth Maxon is amazing!

[ThriftShopRomantic]

Zu, the tree sounds like a really nice project.

And definitely let us know what you decide on your floor. I think it has some great potential.

[RoseMary]

I think the strangest deco project I did was for a Halloween party. I made a tree from a chicken-wire frame, covered it w/ newspaper & flour paste, painted it, and pasted leaves on it. It filled a corner of the livingroom, which we'd cleared out for a dance floor scattered w/ real leaves.

Glad to see I'm in good company. :p I'm thinking about painting the cement floor. This is a copy of a pic from The Adventures of Elizabeth (http://elizabethhousestlouis.blogspot.com/). Elizabeth Maxon is amazing!

Zu, my oldest daughter is working on a similar type project, only for Christmas. It's quite an undertaking and is taking up a lot of space in my living room!

[Lynzee]

The tree does sound like a great project, Zu. I'm thinking that would be a great idea for the little one's Christmas tree next year!