I’ve decided to enter HGTV’s Design Star this year. I just happened to catch a commercial for it yesterday, looked it up, and found the deadline for entry is October 10th. Today’s the second, plenty of time. :-O
The thing that has me the most worried (I mean, I am a design star, right, so what’s to worry?) is the format of the challenges. One of my design philosophies has always been to think, then design. I believe that design should be functional as well as beautiful, and that requires some thought. All of the challenges are timed challenges, with many of them very short times. So that will be a stretch for me, although the fact that I am very deadline driven will be to my benefit.
So, I’m thinking, what can I do to set myself apart, to truly show my talents. I don’t have a lot of good photos of my designs (do I have any? I’ll have to look…). They require three photos (Is that three photos of three different designs, or can it be three photos of the same design? I’ll have to look…). And can the 5-minute video be edited, or does it have to be one shot? Everybody repeat after me… I’ll have to look.
I have a small project that I’ve been thinking about (so that’s already done, right?) so I have decided to actually quit thinking about it and do it. I will document it here on the web site and then in my 5-minute video.
I live in the country on 3.5+ acres that has lots of ramshackle farm buildings on it. Our house is an old farmhouse that has been added on to and reworked over its 150-year life, and needs to be reworked again. Everything that needs to be done in it is too big a project to take on for this. However, immediately across the yard is a lean-to built up against a machine shed. I think maybe it was a wood shed at one time – when we moved in it had fuel oil tanks in it. It opens to the area where we park our cars, where everyone who comes to our house can see, that I can see from the kitchen window. You’ll notice I’m not saying its in the backyard or the side yard. Our house is a little confused (hey, that tends to happen when we get older) – it doesn’t really have a front door or a front yard, so I guess that means it also doesn’t have a backyard. All of its doors are what I would call back doors, opening into family areas, not company areas. As a matter of fact, there are no “company” areas in our house. But I digress…
I’ve been thinking this little area would make a nice sitting area, a little reading nook, a place to relax and enjoy the Minnesota outdoors, storing up all that nature for the winter when its harder to find below freezing temperatures and under the snow.
Today is a beautiful fall day, and its supposed to be nice all week, so I figure four days for working and documenting, then on Thursday we’ll film. I took a picture of it in its current state. Its serving as a catch-all, a place for things that need to be out of the rain, a place for things that no longer have a use, to live. Yep, that’s a possum cage and accoutrements, a different story that I’ll tell at a different time ;-P
So a couple of hours of sorting, moving, throwing out and its ready to be cleaned. Time for lunch, and to catch the second half of the ball game. But first, maybe I’ll take a few measurements…
SUNDAY PM
Raked and swept, ready for whatever’s coming next. I did take some measurements. Here it is in AutoCad:
As I began to redraw the plan in AutoCad, I realized I didn’t really know exactly where those trees are. Does it make a difference? Possibly, so I better remeasure…
We were taught in school that every project needs to go through a specified set of design phases. I agree, but the formality and length of each phase depends on the size of the project. Even for this small project with myself as the client, I still like to do some analysis before design.
PURPOSE:
This small sheltered area across from the house should provide a comfortable space for reading and quiet time. On occasion, there may be more than 1 or 2 people, but the main function of this area is an intimate relaxation area. It also needs to look nice, since it is highly visible from driveway, parking area, and house. The budget is non-existent – let’s do this with what we have on hand!
REQUIREMENTS:
Primary seating for 2 people.
Secondary seating for 4-5 people.
Occasional tables (need a place to put a drink!).
Lighting for evening gatherings.
A fire pit.
Although somewhat sheltered from the weather, make sure all furnishings and materials used are still somewhat weather-resistant and will hold up in the outdoors.
There may be some storage requirements (cushions, throw, lighter for candles, etc), depending on the final design plan.
DESIGN CONCEPT:
I want this to be a reflection of my design style. Although I always say my design style is whatever my client wants, I do have certain things that I always bring – a certain sophisticated sense of style, and fun. I am also going to do this with things I already have. Not all old or re-purposed, I do have a few new things from the shop available. But I believe that the “greenest” design you can do is to reuse the things you already have.
First we need to consider the structure itself, along with the condition of the walls, floor, and ceiling. We are not doing any structural improvements. The side walls are unfinished batten boards which are a beautiful weathered gray, the back wall is barn boards that were red a million years ago (OK, 75 years ago…), and the roof is tin. No improvements needed for any of those.
The floor is dirt…there is no floor. Several years ago when I first had the idea of converting this into a seating nook, I put a sort of a deck floor in. In Farmington every year, we have clean-up days where people can put things they don’t want out on the curb and garbage collectors come through and take them to a landfill. We try to keep as much out of the landfills as possible – no, actually we do find some very cool stuff. We picked up what must have been pieces of a small stage floor that had been cut into small sections. These sections fit in the little shed. I sat them on blocks on top of the ground. The flooring is actually particle board – not great for outdoors but it is fairly well protected from the weather. I think a couple of coats of paint will protect it just fine. Tomorrow I will wander around and see what I can find that I might be able to use, decide what to do with the floor, and get that painted.
MONDAY AM
After looking at the space again this morning, I think I will do a little “structural” work. The deck floor looks like its sagging where the two pieces meet. The concrete edging pieces were put there to keep critters from living under the deck – I may rethink these as well. I’m also thinking about color. It’s a fairly dim space, so I need something to brighten it up.
I’ve been through my paint collection – you know, those leftover bits of paint from painting the bedroom (or wherever), too much to throw away, so you wind up with a collection of partially full gallon cans in the utility room. I have a brown and an olive green floor paint. I bet I have some chartreuse leftover from the bathroom that would brighten it up. I’m thinking I might do a stripe across the width to make it look a little wider.
I found a few treasures on my hunt around the farm. I have an old pew from a remodeled church that will fit the space perfectly. A couple of options for occasional tables: a beautiful wooden box that held some type of musical instrument – with some legs (?) it could make a nice coffee table, and provide some storage. I have a small concrete table that I made that is only 12x12 – another option (I do need to include some concrete art in the space). Some old chandeliers could become candeliers. I found 5 (!) plus a few old floor lamps. A small enamel cabinet that held a roaster at one point could provide more storage. Several other odds and ends (an old window frame might make a nice frame for some type of art, old farming implements, rusty pieces of machinery) could all become art. But I think I’m getting too much weathered wood and rusty metal – I need to find a way to brighten the space up some and introduce some other textures. I’m also kind of leaning in the direction of creating some type of “cabinet of curiosities” – a place to collect tidbits found on my daily walks that would change as new treasures were found…
THURSDAY AM
Well, its now Thursday, the day I wanted to film. However (isn’t there always a “however”?), I spent the last two days a different project that had an even tighter deadline. So here I am, on the 6th, and all I really have done is the clean-up and the base coat of paint on the floor.
I have been thinking about this project though, and I’m struggling a bit with color. The space is dark, so I need something to lighten it up a bit. The back wall is a faded red, so we need to work with that. And I’m limited to the colors that I have on-hand.
I’ve decided to do a stripe on the floor, perpendicular to the width of the space. That will make the space seem a little larger – your eye will naturally follow the stripe into the space. I’m using the two floor enamels that I have, a sort of olive or army green and a brown that reminds me of chocolate bars. I’m looking for two other colors to add interest – I’m thinking a lighter color and a metallic. I have a beautiful green-bronze that goes perfectly with the green base coat (I used these two together in another project – that’s why I have the partial cans).
The other limitation as far as color goes is the type of paint. The green and brown were great for the floor – they were a floor enamel. To cover the lighting fixtures, I need a paint that is made to cover metal, and a spray paint will be so much easier to get a nice finish with. I found 4 bentwood chairs that could be used for secondary seating, and since they have a really hard finish of indeterminate origin, an all-purpose spray paint would work great here. The existing finish on the chairs is good, but they are a bright yellow. While that would lighten up the space and cut down on the amount of work to be done, I’m not sure the shade of yellow harmonizes with the walls and the floor. But it is a possibility. I have them sitting in the space to see if the idea grows on me…
But, I really want something lighter so I think that’s going to be silver. The concrete items will look nice with silver, as well. And I just happen to have a couple of cans of silver spray paint. The chairs are metal so spray paint is a great choice.
Lots to do today. I need to finish the floor, paint the light fixtures and make sure I have a way to hang them, decide on the rest of the furnishings and make sure they are ready to go, and think about accessories. I also need to write a sort of “script” for the audition tape.
FRIDAY AM
The wind outside is gusting up to 40 MPH today, so not sure how much I’ll get done. ..
Yesterday, I finished up the floor. The stripes had to be done in two stages, then I got a coat of polyurethane on top. I would love to get a second coat on, but don’t know if I’ll have time. I may have to add this to the “next year” list. October so far has been beautiful – we’ve set a record for the number of 80+ degree days in a row, but I think it is about to come to an end.
Tim helped me pull the church pew out of the barn. It will fit perfectly. I cleaned and waxed it. I decided to paint the metal chairs silver, so I took the seats off (the seats are vinyl – great for outdoors – and they are shades of green, so they will work as is), cleaned the chairs, and spray painted them.
Here’s what I have left:
SAT
Tim helped me build a sort of “frame” for the mirror – two pieces of old barn wood that will screw to the wall. Each has a routed groove that will hold the mirror securely. The mirror is a dresser mirror with a chip on one side that we found during clean-up days. The frame almost completely covers the chip, and it will bring a lot of light into this dark little space. Oh, and if you want to get technical about it, I helped Tim ;-P
I sorted through the light fixtures, looking for three (using items in odd numbers makes the arrangement more interesting) that had some features in common. I finally decided on three that had turned bases. I took the wiring out of these three and took them apart. I painted the arms of two silver, the third was white and the finish was good so I left it white. I painted the bases chartreuse. After they dried, we hung them from a rafter, and they look great!
Tim pounded out the dent in the fire pit and it looks perfect. I can’t believe someone threw away a copper fire pit :-O
I decide not to hang the chairs. At the height that they would have hung from, the unfinished bottom is visible when you are seated on the pew. They stack better than I originally thought and I really don’t want to look at the bottoms of the chairs when I’m enjoying my new outdoor space, so I’ll just stack them when they are not in use. Flexibility is important – there are a lot of times when things just don’t look the same in the space as they did in your head.
I chose several of my favorite concrete pieces and cleaned up the coffee table. I have reinstalled the concrete pieces. Now all that is left is the art piece. I wanted to use black on the frame, to carry the black from the coffee table into the space. Unfortunately, I don’t have any black. So I used a hammered iron finish, which is silver on top of a really dark charcoal gray. I just used a light spray – you can see the wooden box through the finish on the coffee table, so this makes them similar. There are 20 openings in the frame, but I don’t think I have to fill them all.
SUN
Now for another fun project – the art piece. I have collected on my walks all kinds of natural treasures, and I’m envisioning a “cabinet of curiosities” hanging on the wall. I sorted through my treasures, looking for similarities in shape or color or theme. Then I had to decide how to hang these items. I considered hot glue, spray adhesive – nothing seemed right. Then I remembered that I had some small glass vials with cork tops. They kind of remind me of test tubes so will be perfect for this. Plus they will somewhat protect the items and can be easily dusted. I put the smaller items in these vials. I used wire and duct tape to make a kind of sling for the vials to fit in, so they can be easily removed and examined closer. I decided to mount the items that wouldn’t fit in the tubes on cardboard (8.5”x11” pieces that came as backing in a pack of paper) torn in half (I wanted to keep the rough edge). I used wire and spray adhesive for this, depending on the item. I hung the empty frame, then just nailed everything straight to the wall. I LOVE it – I think it turned out fantastic and really fits my personality. Beautiful, but slightly odd when considered closely J
After a couple of takes for the audition video (OK, more like a dozen) the light was going so I had to settle.
MON
The video is uploaded, the 17-page application filled out – now to update the site and then wait. Cross your fingers for me!
My design team
The art project