Modern Interiors, decorating, etc.» Do-it-yourself (DIY)

DIY Wall Hook

Pete — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:42:02 +0000

Like the rest of you, I’m always on the lookout for something interesting (especially when I want to kill some time) online and while I don’t always find what I’m looking for, this time I got lucky.

While browsing the Internet earlier, I came across one of the more interesting DIY projects I’ve seen in a while, and relevant to interior decorating and home improvement. Specifically, it’s a DIY concrete wall hook… made from LIGHT BULBS! Well, the light bulb acts as the mould, and it actually turned out pretty damn nice!

Take a few minutes to check it out if you’re in the mood for a simple DIY project or need a wall hook to hang your winter coat on. This could be just the thing to add a little pop-culture/industrial touch to your interior and help you kill some time if you’ve got nothing better to do!

Photo credit: click here

Marble and Walnut Media Unit

Pete — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:34:08 +0000

Stone and wood, what a nice combination… especially when the materials and proportions are just right.

After buying a new HiFi system, I needed an equally beautiful place to keep it! My old melamine (ikea-style) media cabinet just wasn’t cutting it anymore so I decided to have a furniture builder friend of mine build me this unit.

The unit is made of walnut and walnut veneer on plywood with 3 extra thick marble tiles on top (I bought the marble at the flea market last year so that turned out to be a good buy after all). :)

The design is my own, or at least I think it is… when you look at as many design books/websites as I do (and I’m sure you DO!) it gets hard to tell when ideas are your own or if you’re just pulling things from memory!

Well, here are a few more pics, enjoy!

Light up your life (or at least your home)

Pete — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:26:40 +0000

It’s been talked about before, nothing can set the mood and add impact to your interior like good lighting. Whether you’re looking to create a moody atmosphere or add adequate task lighting in the kitchen, choosing the right lighting fixtures is key.

It’s important to figure out what type of lighting you need in a room and go from there. It’s kind of like dressing for the cold weather, it’s better to do it in layers instead of an all-in-one solution. With all the different lighting fixtures, lamps, dimmers, light modifiers and so on available, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t experiment with your light setup!

A good rule of thumb for non invasive light in the living area is to opt for a few lamps and have your main lights on a dimmer so you can control their intensity… the dimmer is also useful in the bedroom and bathroom (assuming you have more than just a single light source)… experiment, you’ll be glad you did.

Eric and Ammo’s Pad

Pete — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:20:04 +0000

I’ve got a real treat for you today… a look at Eric Meeks’ very stylish, very modern place. For those who aren’t sure where they’ve heard that name before, just think AT’s Smallest Coolest Semi-finalist and Modern Self.

Eric kindly agreed to let us in for a closer look and shared some info and a few tips that help make his home a stunning and stylin’ retreat. Come take a look.

Eric’s place is not only full of style, it’s full of DIY knowledge since many of its most striking features are built by hand. A true DIY guru, Eric has successfully built the following features in his apartment:

hanging light panel
LED Light Box
Bathroom wall painting (must see)
Accent wall
Ikea Hacks
Clear Frosted Kitchen Cabinets
Handmade Curtains and Button Tufted Valances

There’s more but these are truly inspiring and definitely worth a closer look.

What has Eric got to say?

Me: Hi Eric, glad you could make some time to share your place and ideas with the readers of Modern Flat!

Thank you, I really appreciate the opportunity to share my space with more people.

Me: I’ve already mentioned some of the fantastic DIY projects you’ve done, mind telling us which one was your favorite and why?

Particularly I liked making the Curtains and Valances. I consider myself to be very “handy” but anything with fabric I don’t have a clue where to begin.

When my girlfriend Amber-Morning (Ammo) suggested we make our own curtains I didn’t think it could be done with any real results. I wanted big thick valances with button tufts on them to match my mid-century furniture. We took a piece of paper and painted our wall colors on to it and took it to the downtown Los Angeles Fashion District.

This place is a pretty seedy area of downtown but it is known to have the best deals on
fabric anywhere. This was really an adventure to hunt through piles of bolts of fabric and then to wheel and deal with the shop owners. Eventually we found a fabric that matched the color we were looking for perfectly.

We also picked up some cotton batting and a couple of button making kits. Who knew there was such a thing as a button making kit!? We got all the wood from the hardware store and put it all together. Ammo did all of the sewing and my job was to put the wood together for the
valances.

Of course after she saw how I was cutting the wood (not straight enough I guess) she had to take over the hand saw and show me how to cut the wood properly. Then she later revealed to me that she had won a wood cutting contest when she was younger. She is a Southern girl, and you can never make assumptions about what skills a Southern girl has. Of course later that day she was showing me how to use a curved needle to sew on the buttons. I learned a lot from that DIY project and it was a great adventure.

Me: I found your Ikea Hack (Pendant lights) to be a particularly cool idea, where did you get the inspiration for that, or was it just a spur of the moment thing?

It started because I knew I wanted to have two mid-century style pendants hanging above that particular counter. I had been looking everywhere for the right lamps for weeks. I found many things that I liked but nothing anywhere near my budget range. I think that anyone who has tried to put lighting in their home has found it to be quite possibly the most expensive part of decorating.

I was honestly stumped. When I began working on my apartment I wanted to avoid using anything from IKEA. My biggest fear was that someone would walk into my place and say, “Oh, I have that same exact [thing] from IKEA”. IKEA is hugely popular here in Los Angeles as I am sure it is almost anywhere now and that makes it hard to be unique when buying from IKEA.

However because I couldn’t find a pendant anywhere near my budget range I resigned myself to buying an IKEA pendant. When I looked at all the pendants I was sorely disappointed by the selection until I came across these table lamps with the perfect shades. I said to my girlfriend (Ammo), “Now these are the perfect shades too bad they aren’t pendants.” She was the one who suggested that we could “make” them pendants.

Luckily I have a cursory knowledge of electricity so wiring them into the ceiling is no problem. There was a point though where you are sitting there about to cut and strip the wires off of a perfectly good table lamp and you think…hmm what if this doesn’t work and we just ruined two perfectly good lamps.

Well suffice to say, it worked great. So far nobody has told me that they have the same lamps and because of that success I have decided that I can use anything from IKEA as long as I hack it.

Me: How about telling us a little bit about your home (and yourself if you’re not too shy) and your sources of inspiration when it comes to decorating.

The apartment is located between Sunset Blvd and Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood CA. Finding an apartment in this area is very difficult because there is so much demand and very little supply. I actually had to offer to pay more than the advertised rent to secure the apartment. Many people are surprised to see my apartment because from the outside it looks very run down and I even have bars on my windows. Which is one reason I keep the curtains shut when I photograph it. Not to mention the view is of a concrete wall. It really isn’t glamorous at all.

The inside started as just a plain white box and my goal was to make people feel that when they walked into the unit they were transported away, like possibly upward into the Hollywood Hills somewhere. I wanted people to be astonished by what could possibly be behind the door of a standard issue grungy Hollywood apartment.

As for myself, I moved to Hollywood to pursue working in the movie industry and I began making my living as an Electrician which could be more accurately called a Set Lighting Technician. I really enjoyed the work (I am now a business consultant) and found a particular beauty in lighting that before I would have never even noticed or thought twice about.

Since I had no formal movie education, I gained experience in the field and that is what inspired me to take that knowledge and apply it to interiors. I wanted my apartment to be a lighting masterpiece more than anything else. I think I use 22 light bulbs in total to light my 390sq ft apartment, all of them on dimmers.

My main goal was to incorporate what is called “mixed color temperatures” into one space. Basically it’s the mixing of warm colored lights with cool color lights. To do that I
used reveal bulbs in the bathroom and kitchen and lower watt warm bulbs in the living room to give an inviting sense of comfort and to separate the areas. Even though my apartment’s style is minimalistic people continually tell me how warm and inviting the space is. The trick is all
in the lighting.

p.s. I wrote a lengthy article about lighting your own interiors. You can
read it here: http://modernself.com/design/how-to-light-your-bachelor-pad/

Many thanks to Eric for sharing his beautiful apartment and a little bit about himself with us!

There is a lot of great stuff to see here and Eric’s successful decorating and DIY experiments have certainly inspired me, how about you?

Summer decorating tips – Part 2

Pete — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:50:19 +0000

notNeutral Apples Pillow

As promised, I’m continuing on the earlier post…

The first post suggested adding flowers to brighten up a space and ad fragrance. Another way to help set the mood of a room or bump up energy levels is to add a splash of color or a funky graphic detail to steer your eye to a particular area of the room.

One great way to accomplish this is with small accessories. Throw pillows are perfect for this! They’re small enough to not dominate the room (individually or in small groups), substantial enough to be seen and not very expensive. The nice thing about using small pillows to inject color or a graphic detail is the fact that you can literally “throw” them into any spot you want!

They’re useful as well. Let’s face it; a small pillow is always a handy object. Whether you want to lay down for an afternoon nap or just like having one around to hug when you’re watching a movie… throw pillows are just as practical as they are decorative.

What’s more, they can (and should) become a permanent part of your decorating arsenal. Since they’re small they can be changed often to reflect your mood and the season. Changing around your throw pillows takes all of 2 minutes and just about zero storage space, especially if you have changeable pillowcases (which can also save you money).

So… next time you’re out and about, take a minute to wander through your local fabric store and check out what is usually a HUGE selection of fabrics. They’ll probably even provide sewing services to those who can’t do it themselves.

Summer decorating tips

Pete — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:51:22 +0000

Photographer link

Just like Spring, Summer brings it’s own weather, colors, smells and mood. So it’s only natural that you’d feel the urge to do something to compliment the new season… decor wise.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Who’s got the time and cash to redecorate every season”? Well it doesn’t have to be as difficult or expensive as most of you might think. There’s no need to make big changes to your decor in order to get a new vibe or mood from a room.

A favorite summer accessory of mine is a nice bright bouquet of fresh flowers (my wife likes them even more). Now I’ll admit, I wasn’t always a fan of flowers, probably because most people I know always go overboard, but if you keep it simple and clean they can really brighten and open up a room.

Since it’s summer time, I prefer light and brightly colored flowers… a small bouquet of wildflowers perhaps. They’re not too expensive and can last for quite a while if you take care to change their water regularly.

Some great ideas on placement:

If you have a fireplace, try cleaning it out and placing a nice bouquet of wildflowers in the firebox. This will brighten and lighten that area and give it a summery feel.

Do you have a shoe cabinet, dresser or small table in your foyer? If you do, it’s the perfect place for displaying fresh flowers. Their fragrance will fill the entryway and lift your spirits every time you walk through the front door.

Of course the bathroom is a perfect spot for a single perfect rose in a slim, modern vase… maybe on the vanity or washing machine? It takes up a minimum of countertop space and provides a great focal piece in a room that is usually very utilitarian.

Be careful not to buy any types that you may be allergic too though, it defeats the purpose.

Also, if you plan on decorating your bedroom with a nice bouquet of flowers, be aware that some species may give off more scent (and pollen) at different times of the day… although I’m not sure how much this applies to cut flowers, better check with your local florist.

I’ll be posting more on low cost summer decorating tips later.