Creating an Interior Wood Patterned Wall

Gene and I are still working on our stone cottage...well, mostly Gene. But I did take off a week to work on the living room fireplace wall with him. Here are some pictures of the left side of the wall.

Facci-Designed, Gene-Built wood wall.

I took a picture of the wall and I mocked up 11 different designs. See 4 of them below.

4 of the 11 designs I came up with.

We decided to go with 10ft pine boards in 2 in, 4 in and 6 inch widths. We tried out a few stains and settled on Dark Walnut, Early American and Ebony, with some mixing of each on some of the boards. I sanded and stained about 100 boards for this project. What a way to spend a vacation...

I also distressed 2 larger pieces of wood by torching, hammering, chiseling and poking it with a screwdriver to create an aged look.

Prepping for the pine boards

Gene prepped the stone wall by installing plywood and then black paper on top of that (just in case the seams weren't that tight or the wood shifts a bit.) Once the boards were dry, we started our pattern.  I chose the colors and lengths and Gene measured, cut and installed. For the boards that butt up to the fireplace, Gene painstakingly cut each one to fit tightly in around the stone.

Before and after of our wood wall project

Now onto the right side of the wall...where there's a door that leads to the bedroom...what will we do...stay tuned!

Creating Images within Your DIY Paper Snowflakes

Here are the steps to creating your own paper snowflakes, which are great to use to decorate a dessert table or just add some wintery fun to your home.

 Below are the basic folding steps to create any snowflake.

Now that you have your basic shape, it's time to draw your design. For the first snowflake, I chose a cupcake pattern. Remember, anything you draw on the folded edge will be mirrored. So if you draw half a cupcake, you’ll get a whole cupcake when you unfold your snowflake.

Cut out your shapes. A sharp scissor and lightweight paper work great. You could also use a craft knife to get more detailed.

 Notice the cupcakes?

Above I show you how to create a heart and a tree within your snowflake.

Let it snow! Start with some simple designs and see where the scissors take you.