Decorating With Class

New Stencil Designs

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website today for exciting new stencil designs, ornamental plaster molds for walls and ceilings and great ideas that will have your home looking spectacular before holiday guests arrive!

New Stencil Designs

It's October already? REALLY? Typically, this is the time I really deep clean my home and begin to doll it up before the holidays. (Do you realize it's just 6 weeks to Thanksgiving?...YIKES!). I'd better get busy!

I'm in the process of creating brand new designs to help inspire you to do something wonderful in your home to make it special for the upcoming holiday season.

My new Raised Plaster Lady of Hope Stencil is going to be used with glass etching cream on slider doors in my girlfriend's very feminine bath. But I want to use her in my dressing room as a low relief, slightly tinted wallpaper design....how elegant!

For something really cheery and exciting, imagine using my new Oriental Poppies Stencil to do brilliant poppies over softly faux finished walls. Then add it as a central design on cabinet doors. Don't forget that stencils can be used on matching towels and area rugs as well for a truly "designer" room to be proud of.

Create Antique Patterned Fabrics Easily

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for Ornamental Plaster Molds, Raised Plaster and Painting Stencils and scads of ideas, techniques and inspiration.

Create Antique Patterned Fabrics Easily

Don't you love antique fabrics? Those you find in antique stores draping the backs of fine furniture, used as window coverings or table coverings. Those elegant patterned, light color fabrics, lightly tinged with age.

You can create the look of beautiful antique fabrics yourself with a stencil, fabric resist and darkly brewed tea. What you wind up with is a piece of fabric with a white patterned design that takes on the look of slightly discolored, aged fabric.

Any white or off-white fabric makes beautiful "antiqued" look fabric. My favorite to use is muslin because it's durable enough to make pillows, recover chairs or create beautiful table coverings with. Not only that, it's very inexpensive!

Silk is also great choice, especially if you would like to adapt this idea to a scarf. You just want to make sure that the fabric is very light in color and will absorb dye.

Step 1: Choose a single stencil pattern that you love. Any of our Raised Plaster Stencils works well for this since they have no overlays.

Step 2: Pre-wash the fabric in warm water and do not use fabric softener. This removes any sizing that might interfere with the process.

Iron the fabric to remove any wrinkles.

Step 3: Tape the stencil to the fabric and stencil with fabric resist and allow it to dry completely. We found a great source at Dickblick.com or check your local craft store. Repeat the stencil as many times as it takes to cover the entire piece of material.

Step 4: Brew very strong black tea. (Allowing the tea bags to sit in the boiling water for an hour or so or even overnight ensures a strong solution). This dark solution acts as your dye. You can also use any color fabric dye of your choice.

Step 5: Once the stencil resist has dried, soak the fabric in the tea solution until the desired depth of color is achieved.

Step 6: Wash the fabric in clean, warm (not hot), soapy water. This will remove the fabric resist, revealing your stenciled design in white (or the original color of the material). Allow to dry.

The fabric is now ready for use.

This is a fabulous project for kids since the fabric resist I recommend is water based. Do however, check for any label warnings.

The cool thing about fabric resist is that it can also be painted on with a brush. You can create your own beautiful designs or your children can draw flowers, geometric shapes or pictures with the resist for very unique, one of a kind material designs.

What a great gift to give to a grandparent at the holidays. Try framing your child's fabric artwork for a true keepsake.

Layering a Stencil in Different Colors

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for more great decorating ideas, fabulous stencils and ornamental wall molds to make your home simply spectacular with little expense and NO experience!

LAYERING A STENCIL DESIGN IN DIFFERENT COLORS

There are many techniques to make your walls unusual and beautiful but one of my favorites is layering a stencil design in different colors.

Johanna Annable (one of my favorite and most creative artists) has a knack of creating unusual finishes. Her high end customers benefit from her skills and imagination through her Portland, Oregon faux painting business:Johanna's Design Studio


As an example, Johanna used the branch stencil only from our Raised Plaster Tree Stencil and layered it in silver and gold tones on a beige faux finished wall. The results were amazing and softly elegant.



Using a simplistic, single stencil design to do the same with an all over effect in other colors would bring the wall to life in a new and exciting way.

Choose from floral designs, vines or central friezes for the best effects.

Keeping the colors soft and natural keeps the layered effect from becoming too overwhelming yet maximizing the intense detail of overlaying colors.

Consider tones of sage green and pale gray over a cream colored wall, soft browns and cream over a gold painted wall or pale peach and iridescent pearl over a pale brown wall.

Using paint chip test strips from your local paint store will help you to coordinate paint colors that will soothe the eye while allowing you to demonstrate your creative abilities with layering.

Always do a test board of your idea before applying to the wall. This saves time and effort and allows you to get colors and layering just right for the exact results you were looking for.

Paint and Plaster Your Ugly Tiles

Paint and Plaster Your Ugly Tiles

Boy, have I seen a lot of homes with out dated, poorly done or simply ugly tile back splashes in kitchens or baths.

In my own home, I've hated the little Ivy tiles above my kitchen counters. They were adorned with deep green, hoaky looking Ivy decals that have bugged me since the day I moved in here.

Well, now that we are seriously looking to put our home on the market, it was time to tackle those dreaded little devils!

 

I first ran a line of hot glue in to the joints between tiles to give them a raised grout line instead of an indented one. To me, this would create a bit more interest to what I was planning to do.

I then primed the tiles with Zinser's BIN primer (available at your local home or hardware store). This stuff sticks to anything! It only took 2 coats to completely cover the ivy design.

I applied one of the designs from our Raised Plaster Small Designs #1 Stencil to the center of each of the tiles.

A coat of neutral beige paint came next. You can simply use acrylic paints for this project if you like.

I sponged cream colored paint over the entire tile to give it a bit more interest.

I then diluted brown paint with water and dabbed it over just the raised design, sponging it to blend, to bring out the detail of the design.

Finally, I added metallic gold paint to only the raised design.

The result are fabulous looking tiles that now match my counter tops and give my kitchen a whole new look!

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

You truly do not have to spend a ton of money to give your home a new look. Take it from me, you can do it with little expense, a whole lot of fun and step back with pride at what you accomplished!

Raised Stenciling in the Garden

If you think Raised Stenciling is just for the interior of your home, think again! Add gorgeous raised designs on the outside of your home as easily as on the inside!

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for scads of wonderful, inexpensive and super easy to do ideas to make your home the home of your dreams!

Stenciling doesn't apply to just your home

I love to decorate (anything!) and I love to stencil! It's a quick and easy way to decorate your home. But there are other areas where stenciling can add such incredible beauty!

Take a trip to the VictoriaLarsen.Com website for really different and exciting ideas and products to decorate your home! Raised plaster stencils, wall mural stencils and beautiful cast plaster molds for interiors that are so easy, inexpensive to do and drop dead gorgeous!

How To Make Your Home More Attractive To Buyers

In this difficult real estate market, those of us that are trying to sell our homes are facing steep competition! Take some of these tips to heart when considering something you can do that would be inexpensive to give your home a little design "edge" over the others!

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.Com website for products, information and techniques to create the home of your dreams (or help sell the one you have!).

Something New is about to Explode on The Wall Decor Scene

We're in to FAUX! And "Wood" is the word!

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for innovative products and ideas that will have you turning your home in to your Mansion with little money and no experience!

New Stylish Plaster Stencils

An exiting website leads you to great new products, ideas, walls finishes and all of our new designs sold only to retailers!

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.Com website for products, information and techniques to create the home of your dreams (or help sell the one you have!).

Easy Tile Murals

I love the look of tile murals. I've created a number myself and it's easier and more inexpensive than you think!
Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for the tips, tricks and ideas to creating the home of your dreams!