linbo's Profile

What is it about the tile that you object to? The glossiness or the beige-ness? The expanse of so much of it?

Painting probably won't make you happy unless you want white or more beige. Hire a professional bathroom resurfacing company and leave the house for a couple of days to air the fumes out. It helps if you do this during the months where you can leave your windows open.

If it's the sheer vastness of so much beige tile try replacing just a few of the tiles. Find same size compatible but contrasting tiles, hammer out (with appropriate safety precautions) the planned replacements, thoroughly scrape leftover bits of grout, cement your new tiles in place (use spacers) and regrout using the same color. You could also do mosaics of broken tiles, glass squares, stones, coins, or tumbled patterned ceramic pieces depending on your style. You can do a patterned grid, a stripe, edge, or random. Make sure to seal with appropriate product. Not that big of a project and certainly better than replacing the entire wall of tiles.

You could also hire a grouting company to regrout--they'll take out all the old grout and replace it--Replace with a contrasting color, subtle or bold.

Do a web search for "fabric stripper." It's a handy tool for slicing fabric into strips for rug hooking or rug braiding. Just get one with small spacing, say 3/8". Comes in several spacings with sharp vertical "blades." You pull the fabric thru and it slices it into strips. Should be under $20.

There is no such thing as "earthquake safe hanging methods" for over the bed or other resting place. This phrase is used when the object is to protect the artwork.

Imagine yourself, in the wee morning hours, awakened by rumbling, crashing noises, perhaps cars wrecking outside your window on the street; glass shattering. Inside your apartment your bookshelves are falling over, and then, a big, heavy, textile (like a rug, or in my case an antique quilt), landing on your face and smothering you. Disoriented, you scramble with the quilt and can't get free for a few seconds. Now imagine a big, heavy mirror in place of the quilt...

Earthquakes can and do happen. Building foundations, storey location, and age of the wall all contribute to the soundness of the hanging as well as the severity of the quake. Play it safe and hang very lightweight textiles or draw/paint on the wall or do nothing.

Keep it simple. One color stucco, one color trim, one special color for the door. More than this only works for eclectic houses or really large houses. Dark colors fade in the sun quite quickly and can look funky long before you're ready to paint again; you may wish to choose a lighter version of the color you're considering.

There should be some good no VOC "stains" out there. You might try a not-quite-white shade rather than stark white. You should also consider whitewashing the ceiling/beams area.

You will probably need to sand quite a bit. Alternatively you could paint the floors. Another option is to lightly sand, then stain, and let the unevenness be part of the design; "real" whitewash would probably be a little less than pristine. Is there a hidden location that you could sand and stain before tackling the entire floor?

Personally I would love to have a whitewashed wood floor and/or painted floor but you do need to consider re-sale value, How long are you planning on staying in your place? If it's only one-two years then I'd say leave the floors alone for the next person. 5-10 years then go for it.

Are there any park areas near where you live? Go for a walk after a windy day and look for downed branches. Take the leaves off, clean them up and douse with a mild solution of bleach or vinegar. "Plant" them in a decorative pot of sand or use Quickcrete to cement them in. Decorate. You can leave au naturel or paint.

Alternatively you could make a tree from discarded copper wire and a broad tipped soldering iron, pliers, and wire nips.

Old cardboard boxes and an exacto knife could yield some tree shapes. Glue together and paint. Or go the the craft store and get papier mache glue mix and cover with old newspaper strips. If you don't want to paint make the last few layers colored tissue paper.

Once in a while thing or a prevalent recurring feeling?

If it's once in awhile perhaps creating something, like a piece of art or knitting a sweater--buy your yarn or paints from a local shop--just go thru the process and express your frustration in a positive way.

If you find yourself feeling more than a little crispy you may wish to change your life and start planning a move to a less crowded locale. I too, like urbancricket, used to live in the Bay Area; thought I could never leave the culture and refinement or the ocean but I couldn't stand the issues that come with an overcrowded place...I've been happy in Austin for over 10 years; I visit friends and get my urban "fix" every so often.

Miss Tess, if you're posting this you may wish to re-evaluate.

I'm in the process of selling my home. The master bath has old and stained "cultured marble" for countertops and shower enclosure. I had always intended to replace with something better but wound up needing to move prematurely.

So that the house shows well, I've hired a bath and countertop refinishing crew. For under $600 they are patching and coating both surfaces with a hard, plastic epoxy stuff. It's fantastic and looks like it was built that way. And the price is right--the shower is huge, probably as much square footage as an average kitchen.

You may wish to go a similar route with a plain white/light solid color. They even have stone look (not veined like marble but pebbly). The coating will seal any cracks and be durable for quite a few years. Not perfect but better and livable until you can afford to put in your dream counters.

Search online for "bath refinishing" or "bath resurfacing" and check the company's bbb rating.

Brown especially makes small rooms dark and cave-like. Is this your main bathroom? Do you use makeup? Ever go out at night to a club or get ready for work in this bathroom? You'll hate the problems of illuminating your face or dropping a bar of soap with the shower curtain drawn.

Then, when you've finally had it and decide to paint white, you'll spend a fortune and hours priming and re-painting to cover the dark color.

Match your decorating ideas to the house you're living in. Try white or light first with all the other colors that you've picked out. Want to test? Buy el cheapo flat sheets from IKEA in dark or a dark brown returnable shower curtain and pin up to the walls near the mirror and behind.

Buy a couple of cans of Ozium and spray the walls, ceilings, rugs. Leave the house for a couple of hours. Get the A/C ductwork cleaned, shouldn't be more than $200-$300 unless the house is huge.