Gilded pendulums and spray painted kitchen.

It's been so long since I wrote here again! Lately, a lot has happened. I had some summer vacation from school and then I worked at Colorama here in Skövde. Super fun! When it comes to decorative painting, I feel pretty confident in what products to use but when it comes to house facades and outdoor environments, I am a little more lost. So it has been great! I've learned so much! And everyone who works there are so sweet at proffesional. After that I took three weeks off enjoying the swedish summer with our little family. We built a terrace at home and rented a camper and traveled down through Sweden. And poof, the holiday was over. But it was wonderful!

Now I'm back at Tibro Craft Academy. Term 3 of 4. In august we started the course restoration with a focus on gilding. We got various worn gilded objects that had to be repaired and gilded again. Me and my classmate Lovisa got a pendulum where the gold was loose or gone in several places. So then we had to learn how to rebuild the surface and make it merge with the old gilding that was left.

It looked like this:

And this is how it turned out after we gilded, patinated and put all the parts back together again. I think gilding is super fun! But this particular thing about restoring pendulums, I'm not sure if that's my thing. It's incredibly time consuming! I will not nerd myself and write all the steps that need to be done to gild in this way (Then you will probably fall asleep). But it was very instructive and fun to learn! And I'm impressed by those who work with this type of restoration!

Then it was time for course B in spray painting. We had a few days with theory and then we had to bring our own projects from home to work with. I brought our worn coffee table. And our whole kitchen (haha). So I had my hands full there for a while. But it's sooooo fun with spray painting! It turn out so smooth and nice! Now I'm thinking about where I can build my own spray booth at home. I'll need to buy a bigger houses for all toys!

Here's what it looked like:

This is what our coffee table looked like before. Damaged and worn.

I removed the old paint, grinded the surface and primed it.

Spray painted one of the parts in black again.

And I took the small disc with me home and marbled it (This is the underside). Ebba kept me company :)

And this is how the top turned out.

Tadaa! Finished!

Then it was time for the kitchen! 35 cabinet doors to be precise. Had I known how many times you would need to grind all the cabinets (and that I would get my life's first back shot in the meantime) I would probably have changed my mind and chosen a smaller project. But now that everything is done, I am very happy that I brought the kitchen!

We have lived in our house for 2 years now. The kitchen was nice! But not our style. But at the same time it felt very unnecessary to spend a lot of money on replacing the kitchen when it was in such a good standard. So this was a perfect opportunity for a little refreshment! So we chose to change the color of the doors and plug the holes for the old fittings and change them to something more modern.

This is what it looked like before (a little too rustic and white for our taste).

This is what it looked like without cabinet doors. An absolutely wonderful environment when you have a 2-year-old in the house (haha).

Grinded, primed and made new holes for the handels.

First you grind the doors, then you prime, then you grind them again, then you prim them again, then you grind them again and then! Finally on with some topcoat!

And this is how the kitchen turned out with some new color and handles! (Jotuns "Comfort gray" - gloss 15) I'm so happy with the result!

Now I'll just need to paint the frame as well and possibly change the countertop.Then it's done! :)

New bathroom with micro cement!

We moved to our house in Skövde about 1.5 years ago now. We have repainted almost every room and now it's really starting to feel like home. But we still had one room left that we didn't like at all. The bathroom!

The whole house now goes in the color scale gray and beige with elements of different natural materials. Except from the toilet where there still was a tile floor with a Moroccan (-isch) pattern in the colors red, gray and black. I got really stressed and annoyed every time I spent time in there.

This is what the bathroom looked like before:

We've been thinking for a long time about laying some form of concrete floor (or concrete-like tiles) on that toilet. But for me, it felt like a very big project to renovate a bathroom. There's so much to think about with waterproofing, underfloor heating ect. So we ended up doing nothing at all instead. But then (one year later) we found something called VITRUVIUS microcement at www.designbycement.com. Instead of tearing out the whole floor, you put this on top. And it only builds 2 mm!

All said and done, we ordered a sample kit (it's for free), chose the color we wanted, calculated how much was needed and then just ordered it all home and got started. It took about 4 days for us happy amateurs (and a 2 year old) to finish the floor. And we were sooo happy with the result! When the floor was ready, we also took the opportunity to treat ourselves with a new industrial shower wall that we fell in love with.

This is how it turned out afterwards:

Didn't it turn out nice? Now it feels calm and nice and finally the bathroom fits the rest of the house. It feels extra fun that we could actually do this ourselves without the help of "real" craftsmen. So now I felt that I just have to tip about this if there are more of you out there who share the same thoughts.

The company is called DESIGN BY CEMENT and the product we used is called VITRUVIUS microcement. This product can also be applied to walls, countertops, etc. and is also available in two other shades of gray. If you are curious and want to know more, I recommend having a look at their website: www.designbycement.com

Right now you also get a 10% discount on all their products until August 1, 2021 if you use the discount code: SW10. You are very welcome! ;)

Here are some pictures and step by step from our renovation:

This is what the floor looked like before.

We started by removing the toilet. Filled all joints with wet room putty and finished by sanding a little lightly to remove the checkerboard pattern and get the base smooth and fine.

Bye bye tiles!

Then we applied a primer all over the floor.The surface now feels almost like sandpaper.Let dry thoroughly.

Then it was time to apply the microcement mixture. We used a wide putty shovel and smaller putty shovels for small angles around the well and corners. We mixed and put out 1 kg at a time as the cement mixture dries quite quickly and becomes difficult to work with once it starts to solidify. It's good to be two who help each other.

I got a nice sweater too! Under the cabinets, I tried to lay out along the edges first. I don't know if a "real" craftsman does like that but it felt easier and turned out well!

Here, the entire floor is covered and are about to dry properly. Since the floor already had the right waterproofing layer and angles since before, we didn't have to think about that when the material only builds 2 mm (the grid pattern seen here disappears when the microcement has hardened properly).

When it has dried properly, polish the surface with a sander. Then you apply several layers of sealer that makes the floor breathable but water-repellent. Then apply a little silicone along the edges. And voila! Done!

What we noticed was that in the places where I "dotted" and didn't make large and soft movements with the wide putty shovel (as you should), the pattern became "livelier and denser" in the concrete. This is not visible until the surface is polished up with a sander. So for those who are good and used to this technique, you can get really smooth pattern if you want it. We got a little more life and movement in our floor. But I think it turned out great too! Regardless, you can influence how "lively" pattern you'd like depending on whether you make large or small movements with the putty spade when the microcement is laid out.

This is what it looked like before:

And this is how it turned out afterwards:

I'm so happy with this bathroom renovation! And it wasn't particularly difficult either! If you have the same thoughts and think this sounds like an exciting alternative, I really recommend going to www.designbycement.se and have a look! (and don't forget the discount code if you're ordering!)

Internship at dekorationsmålarna.

Now I'm home again after two weeks of internship in the capital itself at the awesome decoration painters Veronica and Alexander (www.dekorationsmalarna.se). It's been amaing! Yesterday when I went home I really sat with a huge smile on my face all the way back to Skövde.

I went up to Stockholm two weeks ago and landed with my luggage at my dear friend Amanda (who's also a great jewelry designer who runs the company www.bymindoris.com ). We shared studio together in Gothenburg and she moved there only a few months ago. So I was very happy to get so much quality time together with her again. Then it was time for work! I took the subway to visit Veronica and Alex's cozy workshop in Midsommarkransen. They've been so kind to me from the first day and they have taught me a lot of new things and shown how they work. So exciting, fun and educational!

This dream team works as decorative painters and are mainly engaged in marbling staircases and decorative painting doors. When I was there, we hung out in their workshop where we practiced painting different marbles and woods but I also got to accompany them on several different assignments in stairwells around the city. From simple glazing on exterior doors to more luxurious mahogany imitations on double doors on beautiful Östermalm. It's really amazing how they can make magic with just a little paint and some brushes!

And not only that! I even got to hang out with them at Hantverkargalan (a huge craft gala in Sweden)! Usually this is a big gala with dinner, performances and glitter, but due to the pandemic, it was run via zoom where all nominees were attending through video link. So I went home to Veronica where we blew balloons and had dinner with a live broadcast via TV and computer. And you know what? THEY WON! I'm so happy for them and it was so well deserved! So now I can honestly say that I got to have my internship with Sweden's best decorative painter! How cool is that? ;)

Here are some pictures from the past weeks.

We practice marbling in their creative workshop.

And wood.

We traveled arround in the city and painted new security doors so they would look like wood.

Study visit to Stockholm National Museum (there's very fine marble there, both real and painted).

We paint doors in beautiful staircases on Östermalm. Here, everything on the walls is previously decorative painted (marbled).

Everyone should have ceiling paintings like this in their stairwell or what do you say? (I don't know who made this one unfortunately.)

A double security door who's about to get a new mahogany look by Veronica and Alex. I also got to paint some parts!

Alex and Veronica in action!

I got to paint the right mirror!

The finished result! Doesn't it look real?

I cut together a small video of the process when we (read them) painted the door. (Click on the video to make it bigger)

And here we have two happy winners of the 2020 AND 2021 crafts gala! Thank you so much Veronica and Alex for taking care of me these two weeks! It has been soooo much fun! Especially when we got to end it in a way like this! I really hope to see you guys again soon!<3