Tanglewood Homes

27 February 202127 February 2021

Lounge Room Makeover (Sneak Peek)

I am excited to share a sneak peek of my plan for the Lounge Room makeover. I’ll be sharing all the process for this lounge room on my Instagram.

I have a love hate relationship with our dining room. It is too small for a dining table, sideboard, and chairs ( just under 11 ft x 11 ft). This room has served as everything…BUT a dining room….a playroom/junk room/games room for 12 of our 15 years we’ve been in our home. After our main floor renovation a few years ago, we got rid of the toys and junk and added some armchairs, a sideboard and a floor lamp and called it a day. That wasn’t what I envisioned for this space though.

When we saw the builder plans for our home, we knew this would be a small dining room, and so we started calling it our “Cigar Lounge” room ( we don’t smoke cigars, nor would we want anyone to in our home, but the idea of that style of room was what we wanted it to look and feel like. Then we added a gallery wall (see below)

The cigar lounge we wanted was now the gallery wall room. A black shiplap gallery wall. 4 giant rows of poplar shelves and large framed pictures of our family. This gallery wall blew it out the park, and it has become a follower favourite on my Instagram. Although I really love this gallery wall, furniture placement became an isuue. The best place for a small sofa is against the gallery . I can’t cover the gallery wall with a sofa, it’s just to pretty. So, we had the armchairs facing each other without a coffee table or rug. It still wasn’t cozy enough for us and in no way did it resemble a cool cigar lounge …LOL

You’re the first to see the design for my Cigar Lounge Room here. Let’s start with the feature wall, because if you know me, every room in my home has a feature wall. I will be making a feature wall using 1/4 ” maple plywood. It will be 3 simple panels, with clean lines and I will put the panels up right over top of the black shiplap. I’ve talked about this on my Instagram stories, and many followers are even shocked that my gallery wall is going bye bye. But, we really need that wall space for furniture,

I haven’t figured out the stain yet, but it will be very light and natural looking (keep watching my Instagram stories. I will be sharing all of the process there

Modern Lounge Room — Modern Cigar Lounge Room

Modern Lounge Lighting Plan

I currently have the Ikea Knixhult Pendant Light but I’ll be changing that for a more modern LED matte black pendant light.

LED Matte Black Pendant Light

LED Black Matte Pendant Light by Dainolite

armless loveseat and carrera marble side table — Cigar Loveseat and Narro Sidetable from Article

Picking out new furniture is not always as fun as one would think. I want to make this room feel more Lounge-y ( I know, it isn’t a word, but it sounds cool). This Cigar Armless Loveseat from Article was meant to be….can you believe it is called, “Cigar”, just what we’ve been calling this room for the last 15 years. It was meant for this room! With modern design and not to mention how comfortable it is. Next to it, I will be theNarro Sidetable, also from Article. I love the carrera marble base and want to incorporate more marble into my space. (side note: I ripped out marble flooring 3 years ago when I did our renovation, and I miss it alot).

Modern and Cozy Area Rug

Holy moly!!! Did it EVER take me long to choose an area rug for this room. Once again, this awkward sized room left me with slim pickings for an area rug. Everything I liked was either too small, or too big. The room is square shape and let me tell you…it is hard to find a nice area rug that is square. I ended up going with a 6×9 rectangle ( see my Instagram stories for a peek of the rug I chose). Head over to my Instagram, under my highlight bubble called, “Cigar Lounge Room”, to see the rug.

Modern Lounge Room Furniture

I am still undecided about the sideboard for this room. There is a possibility that I may be refinishing one, but I haven’t committed to one yet. That goes the same for my coffee table, also found one I am in love with on FBM, but it sold so fast and it was exactly what I am looking for. I will be sharing progress over on my Instagram, so come see my stories.

So…..what do you think of this design plan? It is very different than anything I have done before. That makes me so excited. Please head over to my Instagram @tanglewood_homes and let me know if you saw this sneak peek of the Cigar Lounge Room. Send me a message and tell me what you think. I really want to hear from you and appreciate you stopping in.

Until next time friends,

Sindy @tanglewood_homes

29 July 202027 February 2021

How I Added LED Modern Mood Lighting to a Room

modern concrete base floor lamp, with LED lighting — LED Floor Light with Concrete Base

LED Floor Lamp with Concrete Base — Modern Floor Light

Use LED lighting to achieve a modern vibe in any room.

LED Floor Lamps

I am adding LED mood lighting in my basement for a modern vibe . We will be spending more time indoors soon with the weather changing. I recently added some great LED lighting to my home, which will make for great movie nights, work from home, reading corners and possibly online learning for my kids.

This floor lamp is made of black metal that has a modern design. It provides enough lighting for us when we are watching a movie, reading a book or sitting with a glass of wine. I might need to take this up to the master en suite for a relaxing bath too.

” A room is like a stage. If you see it without lighting, it can be the coldest place in the world”

~ Paul Lynde

Task Lighting

Task lighting may be in more demand with the possibilities of many people working and learning from home. Having a desk lamp not only looks great, but it takes the need out of the overhead lighting, which I personally do not prefer when doing work at a desk.

Modern Task Light LED Floor Lamp

1LT Incandescent Table Lamp

” To see beauty is to see light”

~ Victor Hugo

LED Strip Lights

I have had so much fun adding LED strip/rope lighting to my accent walls. It adds such a cool modern look to any room. You can add it around a mirror, in shelving, under cabinets, behind a fireplace or a bump out wall. I recently add this Minger Flexible Strip Lighting around my fireplace and feature wood wall. Now I want to add it everywhere. There was no hard wiring involved in this at all. It simple plugs into an outlet and and has a cool white glow accenting the fireplace, setting a great mood for chilling. It looks great next to the concrete walls I did in this basement too.

Adding Strip Lighting around a wall feature — Strip Lighting Around Wall Feature

fireplace wood wall feature with strip lighting — Adding that strip lighting for a modern vibe

That rounds up some easy ways to add modern and fun lighting to any room. I will be adding some more LED lighting in my Lounge Room upstairs in the future. Can’t wait to share that with you soon. To see more of this room, check out my post about How I Created a Faux Concrete Wall.

Until next time my friends,

Sindy

21 April 202027 February 2021

Tips For Buying The Right Throw Pillow Covers

It hasn’t been the greatest Spring weather here in Ontario, and I’m dreading the wait. Plus, we’ve been social distancing, so I’m just looking for something to do. Spring is my favourite season, so I am updating my current pillow situation to get that spring feel.

I don’t know about you, but my home is being invaded with throw pillows. It’s a bit of a problem.🙈 They’re currently being stored in all my closets, laundry room, linen closet, master closet, and…. even my kids’ bedroom closets.

One of the things I like to consider is using pillow covers. If you’re like me, there’s the right pillow for every season. Throw pillows with texture, colour and pattern add to the look and feel of a room. But, there isn’t any room to keep them all.

Well, I’ve got you “covered” (no pun intended) I’ve got a solution to the pillow madness. BUY PILLOW COVERS! Yes, I know, clever solution right? Imagine having only a number of pillows, and plenty of pillow covers to change them up? That is a total space saving win!

I’ve bought pillow covers and made some mistakes. Nothing is that easy. So, I’m sharing tips for purchasing the right pillow covers and why you should make that change.

Pillow Covers Save Space

Instead of having many pillows (that take up space), consider pillow covers instead. You will save space and they tend to be cheaper in price. It’s much easier to store pillow covers than actual pillows. Having pillow covers allows me to keep the pillows I have and to change them up for the seasons. I’m currently in the market and I found some really nice pillow covers on Amazon.

Measure

Make sure to measure the pillows you already have. If you have an arrangement of pillow, make sure to purchase pillow covers that match your varying sizes. Take good inventory of what you already have, and what size pillow covers you need.

Product Care

Make sure to read the washing instructions, and consider purchasing pillow covers that are easy to wash.

Just like curtains, bed linens or clothing, every fabric has different care instructions. There are pillow covers that are machine washable, hand wash or dry clean only. Also consider that certain materials may bleed colour when washing, so test out a small corner to make sure. Or, if you’re worried about this, wash by hand.

Sizing

I suggest buying them a couple of inches bigger than the size you need. I’ve bought pillow covers that were the same size of my pillow, and it was a wrestling match trying to get them on. If you have an 18×18 pillow, go for a 20×20, and save your pride winning the wrestling match with your pillow.

Here are some of my faves:

And my personal fave from Instagram @xasmin_interiors

Hand woven, hand made from Xasmin Interiors
http://www.xasmininteriors.com

Hope you enjoyed those few simple tips for choosing the right throw pillow cover. Have a great week, stay safe.

Take care everyone,

Sindy @tanglewood_homes

9 April 202027 February 2021

How I Created a Faux Concrete Wall

Lately I have been eyeing a lot of beautiful homes with gorgeous concrete walls. So, I decided to create some as part of the Better Homes and Gardens One Room Challenge.

I’ve learned to use what I have on hand. Today, I’m sharing how I created these concrete walls in my basement.

DIY Faux Concrete Wall

Our basement is mainly used by our children. They play Lego, electronic games, and when friends come over that’s where they hang out. It’s fully finished, with a beautiful fireplace, a dance corner for my daughter, a wet bar and of course a tv. But, truth be told, it’s really just a dumping ground for unused, furniture, like old sofas, mirrors or coffee tables.

I was a guest participant again up for the Better Homes and Garden Spring 2020 One Room Challenge, and the basement was the room I worked on. But because of Covid-19, the challenge was delayed to begin. I was bored in the house and really needing to do something.

Here is the ‘BEFORE” of my basement. As you can see, there was no plan and it really was just a dumping ground. Our basement inherits everything we don’t use anymore.

Basement Walls “before”

Complete mess…all the time

Creating the Faux Concrete Effect

The walls were already painted gray, which was where I had the idea that if I just added white over it….it could look like concrete. TBH, I had no technique in the beginning, I was just winging it. I applied white paint with a small roller and spread to see what happened.

My technique was to roll white paint over top of the gray paint until it looked the way I wanted it. I applied white paint randomly in different areas, spreading it around with a roller. That is all really.

Tips: *Remember, you want to spread the white paint, but not to cover up over all the gray, or you’ll just end up panting the wall white, which is not what we’re trying to do here.

* Take a step back after each small area, to see which spots needed more white.

*It doesn’t matter if you miss some areas, because that left some gray, creating the look of concrete.

*You could go with a darker concrete look too.

Watch the video for How to Create a Concrete Wall

So what do you think? I CAN’T wait to show you more, but for now, it’s a One Room Challenge secret.

Let me know if you try this concrete wall, I would love to see it and share it on my Instagram @tanglewood_homes

Next on the blog: How I Organized My Kitchen Drawers While we Quarantined

27 March 202016 July 2020

Large Gallery Wall for the Win

black shiplap wall, gallery wall, photo wall, shelving — large gallery family wall

Our gallery wall is one my fave DIYs. Before this wall, I didn’t have any photos of our family, not on the walls or the fridge. Mostly because I wanted a minimal clean look on my walls, end tables, consoles and refrigerator. I have been wanting a gallery wall for a long time. So, I put all my eggs in one basket and went big by creating this large statement feature wall.

Below is the “before” picture of our gather room. No, that’s not an actual name of a type of room. But we had this enormous “gather” sign I made, so that is what we all called it.

the before pic of the white shiplap wall — Before

before pic of a large sign that says "gather" — Before

This room is already the darkest room in the house. Although there are two windows, it sits on the side of our house, between the neighbours’ house, and gets such little light. Since lighting is limited in this room, I chose a semi gloss so the light would hit the black wall.

I started by painting in between the shiplap first. At first, I tried to use a roller, but it was just skimming over the cracks of the slats and it wasn’t getting in between. Then I painted the whole wall in two coats of Black Pepper by Sico paints. I’ve listed the paint colour in my materials used.

Once I painted the shiplap, the next step was to stain the shelves. I used Minwax Stain & Polyurethane in Classic Oak. It is a very light stain, but would look different on various wood.

stain that was used for the wood shelves

For the shelves, I used 2×8 poplar and had it cut 6 feet in length. The poplar is a bit pricier, but I really fell in love with it. We used Ikea shelf brackets, and I gave those the same stain as the shelves. I used a total of 12, 3 on each shelf. I bought the shelf brackets at Ikea Sandshult.

We spaced the shelving 18″ apart, knowing already that my frames were 8×10.

shelves complete and put on the wall — Shelves spaced 18″ apart

gallery wall complete with 16, 8x10 frames on the shelves — Huge Wall to Wall Style (Photo frames, Ikea Ribba)

4 shelves with 4, 8x10 photo frames on each shelve, gallery wall is complete — Huge Wall to Wall Style (Photo frames, Ikea Ribba)

The wall turned out great, and makes a real nice statement for an otherwise boring room, and we now have pictures of my family all in one space. As usual, if you have any questions, send me a message on Instagram. I’d be happy to help. And if you try this project, I would love to see it, tag me on Instagram

Next on the blog, I am creating a concrete wall for my basement @tanglewood_homes

20 March 202016 July 2020

PAINT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

limestone wall gets a new look with white paint

fireplace wall gets a new colour paint — Changing the look of a room, using only paint.

You’ve browsed social media, magazines and watched home shows, and then you can’t help but think, “I want to change my kitchen, I wish I coukd change my backsplash, I want to paint my walls”. We’ve all been there, you’re not alone!

If You Want to Change it, Just Paint It

You can get a totally new look by only painting your walls. Paint a feature wall, an entryway, or a bathroom, wherever you decide, that room is SURE to get an INSTANT update. A painted wall is so noticeable, everyone who walks into your home notices it….why? Because it makes a HUGE impact.

Easiest Way To Transform a Space

Now, we know that painting is by no means a huge DIY, but for anyone out there that wants to change your decor, changing the colour of your walls is THE ONE EASIEST and cheapest way to get that new look.

limestone wall before white paint — Limestone wall before

limestone wall before — Limestone wall before

So above is the “greige” wall I’m referring to. Not bad, just not bright enough.

Watch How This Room Gets Transformed

Step 1: Tape Your Area Off

Using painter’s tape, cover the area you don’t want to get on. This includes covering the floors, surrounding walls, and in my case, around the fireplace mantle.

prepping the wall using painters tape to protect the ceiling — Make sure to protect your ceiling and surrounding walls
https://www.lowes.ca/product/painters-tape/painters-mate-green-painters-tape-green-188-in-x-60-yd-172920

Step 2: If You’re Painting Tile, Paint In The Grout Lines First, Otherwise Go Straight To Painting

painting the grout first on the limestone tile — Painting grout lines for tile first

I painted 2 coats over the grout lines, once they dried, I went straight to the entire wall. I did 2 coats altogether.

Well, that was easy. I can’t get over the look of the room now. White paint for the win my friends. Next on the blog, I will be sharing how I made my large picture gallery wall and it will be so easy.

Show me your painted transformation. Tag me on Instagram @tanglewood_homes

See you soon,

SINDY