The DIY thread

[aliantha]

Modern tapestries Ali, which are proving hard to locate in the UK at least - quality woven ones at least!

Go to a fabric store and pick out something you like. Then have your local craft store mount the fabric on stretcher bars -- or buy the stretcher bars and do it yourself, if you're handy with a staple gun. [/diy]

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Madness. That sounds like the sorta thing that would happen here. The pre-paid tax I mean, not the tapestry.

--A

[Sorus]

I like that tapestry idea. DIY FTW. I have one blank wall that I've been staring at for the past 5 years, thinking I should do something with it. What I really want to do is put up shelving so my cats can play 'the floor is lava' on that side of the room too, but then I look for ideas and everything is either out of my budget or above my very limited artistic skills. I should break down and get some basic shelves at the hardware store and just do it.

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Yeah, I know that feeling...I really struggle to just do stuff though. Meh.

--A

[aliantha]

Me too -- but it's repairs that really stymie me. After we moved, I pulled out a wall hanging that I made *years* ago, but that's been rolled up and stuck in a closet for the past couple of years. It's decorated with a few feathers, and most of the feathers had disintegrated in storage. So first I had to find the bag of craft-store feathers, then figure out where I'd stashed the glue, and then affix the new feathers to the wall hanging. We moved at the end of March; I finally got it done Sunday.

[Sorus]

I've been on a repair binge lately. On my 5th bucket of spackle this month. Been having a bit of a spatter problem lately, hoping this will help.

Spatter = past tense of spider, usually the bits deemed inedible by cats.

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Everything stymies me. I just hate getting around to stuff. A few weeks ago, one of my bathroom cupboard doors came off the hinges. Ever since, its just been leaning up against the cupboard, because it's going to be a fiddly job to repair it, and I can't be bothered.

--A

[Sorus]

I get that way too, but once I get started...

My place flooded last October. Through the ceiling. Neighbor's water heater broke, they weren't home, it was 2am and it all came through the ceiling directly over my bed. It left a fair amount of damage, and attracted spiders and other creepy crawlies. I looked at the cracks in the walls every day and thought 'I should get around to fixing that one of these days'. The spiders added a sense of urgency. But now that's fixed, and I'm doing the cracks in the outer hallway and repainting and my landlord suggested I repaint the floor next. I don't know what this guy's obsession with painting concrete floors is, but now it's in my head because I've got the walls looking good but the floor looks like crap. So that's next. He did tell me he didn't care about the color, and he should know by now that's a dangerous thing to say to me. Metallic silver? Rainbow stripes? Metallic rainbow stripes?

Maybe we need a DIY thread, since this one is getting hijacked.

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Ali can split it off for us.

Silver is probably a bit harsh. My favourite for concrete is polishing it though.

--A

[aliantha]

Ali can split it off for us.

And she did.

Sorus, when I was into painting concrete floors, there weren't a whole lot of color choices in paint specifically designed for the purpose -- usually a dark green, a dark red, and battleship gray (which may be the silver you're talking about). You could do a sort of tromp l'oeil, though, with various colors of other types of paint, and make a "rug" or whatever you want. It probably wouldn't wear as well as the regular concrete paint, though.

[JIkj fjds j]

My place flooded last October. Through the ceiling.

These top flats where I live have had some major floods. My ceilings and walls still show some water damage. I've been told it's best to use PVA glue to coat the area before painting. If not, no matter how many coats of paint the stains will always be seen.
I have the PVA glue, the roller and tray, the brushes and paint thinner, sand paper, an old bed sheet, steps, (and a massive DIY book that weighs half a ton). Now all I need is the paint ... and the motivation

The Landlords decided to rejuvinate all the tower blocks around the town centre. It took a little over a year for the work on this block (which happens to be 30+yrs old) to be completed. A godawful hassle. But well worth it in the end. Among the many jobs done the roof was re-tarred and any open areas were sealed. There have been no more floods no matter how hard it rains.

[Sorus]

Ali can split it off for us.

And she did.

Sorus, when I was into painting concrete floors, there weren't a whole lot of color choices in paint specifically designed for the purpose -- usually a dark green, a dark red, and battleship gray (which may be the silver you're talking about). You could do a sort of tromp l'oeil, though, with various colors of other types of paint, and make a "rug" or whatever you want. It probably wouldn't wear as well as the regular concrete paint, though.

I'd be okay with battleship gray. Probably shouldn't attempt anything too artistic anyway. I suspect that the original paint (an increasingly manky shade of beige) was not specifically intended for the purpose. I should probably strip the old stuff off first, but that's not gonna happen.

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Yeah, I know that one too...just paint over it.

--A