"Topper" Secret

For going on almost two years now, IDM has been making these really cool, one-of-a-kind Wine Toppers!  We have gotten a lot of positive feedback about them and are selling them on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/IdeaDesignMake along with having a few local shops in the area requesting to carry them! 

It's really funny when we show people these Wine Toppers for the first time.  They always seem to be amazed by asking "How did you make that?"  Well my very smart partner in life has a few tricks up his sleeve and in fact, is in the process of making a few as I write.  We thought it might be interesting to others to share a little bit of what goes into the handmade (and a bit tedious) process of one of our newest topper favorites, the Cross-Hatch Tapered Topper in Maple.

 

 

As with everything, the making-process takes place in the shop! This image shows the "Blanks" that have been started in the early phase of product development.  There still needs to be boring, sanding, corking, and a 2 to 3-part finishing process, which will go into these toppers before they are completed!

 

The next two images show the "Blocking" and "Gluing" of the Cross-Hatch Tapered Topper "Blank".

 

 

Clamps, of course are some of Adam's best friends in the shop! And as a side note:  You can never go wrong with giving him more clamps for any occasion!

 

 

This is what it looks like after Toppers have been shaped and what they look like during the finishing process!  Adam devised a keen way to address the finishing of multiple Toppers at once!  This custom stand does a nice job of holding the Toppers in place, so that they can be stained and allowed to dry.

 

 

Dry Baby Dry!  As you may have noticed, these Toppers are stained with a walnut finish and are made in a "Hatch" style rather than the newer "Cross-Hatch" style.  These Toppers should be ready for shipment in about 24 hours! 

 

 

And here you go!  The end product ~ Voila! 

They really do make great gifts to wine-enthusiast friends or as "selfie"-gifts for the wine lover in you!  Visit them on Etsy before the holidays!

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/IdeaDesignMake 

 

 

 



Green Gray Aqua Dining Room

The Dining Room is a room that we actually use more than twice a year.  So yet again, this is a space that we felt needed to be transformed into a more comfortable and enjoyable space for our family to have our evening dinners.  The room of course, was pretty sparse before; completely neutralized by the former owners.  My guess is that the realtor recommended the neutralization in order to have a better chance of appealing to the masses that toured the home while it was on the market for nearly two years...

Anyway, getting back to the rather boring dining room that only had one really cool element, the homes original and only crystal chandelier (a beautiful lighting fixture that we re-located into our foyer; where the scale fit into that smaller space a wee-bit better).  Other than that, we dared ourselves with paint and used a really funky paint by Sherwin Williams called Antiquity and another Paint that would act as a "tempering agent" called Adaptive Shade.  

To keep things really simple, we left the trim paint alone and resisted the urge to give ourselves any more to do!  However, we did do something a little unorthodox by extending the funky paint color to our ceiling.  Yeah, by doing that, the ceiling actually grew and feels a lot higher...(an experiment that fortunately worked!)

Of course, like every room in this house, nothing is 100% complete.  But rather, just the gesture of one wide brush stroke~

What We Did:

• Re-painted walls / ceiling
• Replace the light fixture
• Purchased and installed new window treatment
• Re-designed our IDM custom dining table, (i.e., raised the leg height to accommodate normal-sized chairs)
• Purchase new dining room chairs (re-located to breakfast nook)
• Design and build a new IDM credenza
• Create "focal" piece of IDM artwork
• Select and purchase a dining room rug (re-located to screen porch)

What We Still Need:

• (2) buffet lamps
• Table Top accessories for table and credenza
• One more wall hanging of some form or fashion (i.e., shelving, mirrors, complementing art piece, etc.)  (decided on a plate collage that picks up colors in the painting)
• To replace carpeting with either hardwood or a dark cork flooring......
• Current Flooring Solution (until we are $aved up) - Bamboo Rug (which gives us the wood look, minus the wood price!)

Always open to suggestions or feedback! 


January 2014 
Hello "Almost- Completed Dining Room"!  Here is an updated shot showing how our Dining Rooms looks now (with baby Hayes in the background).

I think it is safe to say that we have come a long way from where we started!  The changes that we have made may not be for everybody, but at least they reflect who we are!  These updates to our 1960s brick rancher are giving us the chance to add a healthy heap of 'chic' to the 'granny' decor!  

Until next time,

A + B

Our "Retro-Modern" Bathroom Makeover Part 1 of Phase I

Well the time has finally come to address our mid-century powder-blue hallway bathroom...  I'm not sure if it is that inexplicable "nesting urge" that pregnant women have when they're just a couple of weeks away from their delivery date that causes them to feel the need to re-vamp things around the house or if I have simply had enough of the day-in and day-out of another area in this house that reminds me that we have not officially moved in yet! 

Regardless of whatever the cause is, I have urged Adam to begin this bathroom project with me.  We concluded that because our timeframe is short before the baby arrives, and the funds are short because, ...well, the baby will be arriving, we will be breaking up this project into Phases.

Phase I of the Bathroom Project Makeover will consist of:

• Removing Granny-Style wall border(s) ...Yes, there are (2) wall borders in this room!
• Sanding and painting over all blue trim work.
• Re-painting existing doors and off-white trim.
• Painting Walls.  Going with the "retro idea" of Color-Blocking.
• Re-placing the Ballerina-Style vanity lights with new ones.
• Re-placing the vanity mirror.
• Removing the dated shower doors and re-placing them with a custom shower curtain made from a fabric that will (hopefully) pull it all together!
• Cladding the existing double vanity with a new "skin" having Shaker-Styling with new hardware and a new countertop.



With all of that said, have you noticed that I did not mention, removing the blue plumbing fixtures???  

Actually, we are considering an eventual overhaul (Phase II) of the plumbing fixtures and all of the tile work at a later date (Phase II), but for now nothing is really wrong with the major equipment in the room.  To our surprise, the faucets are by Kohler, the toilet works great, and the tub is cast-iron - Top quality for the 1960s.

So, we have decided to just keep what we like and replace what we absolutely can't stand and just see what happens with our "Retro-Modern Makeover". ~

Let the transformation begin...... Part 1 of Phase I

By the way, the mirror was only clipped on to some fasteners, so we didn't have to pop it off, but it was very heavy to remove.

This is the fabric that we will be making our custom shower curtain out of.  I thought that the ikat print is perfectly on-trend along with the powder-blue background in the cloth which matches our fixtures to a tee!  I found it at a local fabric store here in Kernersville, NC called Luxury Fabrics.

http://www.luxuryfabricsnc.com/index.html

This store racks up on name brand fabrics at wholesale prices!

We re-painted the doors in a very similar color that matched the existing.  The paint we used was Sherwin Williams 7011, Natural Choice, Semi-gloss.  http://www.sherwin-williams.com/

Unfortunately, the blue trim bled through, so we had to give the trim a second coat.

Color Blocking...

And here is what we have so far -

Part 2 of Phase I

All that is left: 

[1] Re-facing the vanity cabinet, doors, countertop. Also, Adam is adding a long open built-in underneath the mirror for more storage (so that we can keep clutter on the counter at a minimum).

[2] Re-moving the shower doors and re-placing with a custom shower curtain

[3] Accessorizing the space with accoutrements and artwork!

Anyone else working on their own "Retro-Modern" Makeovers?

JANUARY 2015 UPDATE SHOTS

FROM THIS:

TO THIS:

And yes, we still have a BLUE toilet, sinks, and tub!!!  But hey, this is only Phase I folks!!!

Until next time,

A + B 

A Llittle" Make-Up for the Front of Our House

Did I ever mention that we moved into a previously owned, Granny home?  It's really a cool brick ranch that was built in 1968, maintaining elements of that mid-century vibe (even if it is the later part).  All it really needed to start off with, was a little "lipstick" that would brighten up it's tired appearance from the street.

I guess you could say, that even though we are both designers, we really are very subtle people.  Therefore, we didn't want to rock it out with crazy, highly-saturated colors on the exterior of our classically-inspired house.  Just a clean, high-gloss, dark-black accent is all that those tired granny shutters really needed.  

This was a seriously easy project because we only have (5) windows on the front of our house!  We opted to keep things clean and even paint the front door the same dark-black since we added a nice storm door with a sophisticated black frame. 

The steps were easy:  Wipe, Sand, Wipe, Paint.

We didn't even remove the shutters from the façade.  Instead, we painted them while directly attached to the house.

 

 

As you can see, our little man, Ryles, wanted to help Daddy with the sanding.

 

 

We used a medium-grain sandpaper to "rough-up" the shutters so that the paint would have something to "grab onto".

 

 

The metamorphosis is beginning to take shape!

 

 

Notice that we have added the original window mullions or grids if you like, back in.  We both agreed that the mullions helped add a bit more of that classical architectural interest to the façade of the home.

 

Now the front door seems to "pop" by sheer virtue of high contrast.

 

The outcome...a bit more Stately!

 

Stay tuned, because there are many more improvements to come!