Faux-Finish a Concrete Carpet

If you hate the look of a bare concrete floor, no matter how practical it might be, here’s an idea — why not stencil the concrete to look like a luxurious carpet?

Perhaps not as comfy as a fine oriental rug, but certainly more durable, is this concrete “carpet” created by faux finisher Kim Longo. Inspired by an aged tile look she saw in villas and palazzos in Italy, Longo has used templates and trowels to create unique patterns in concrete surfaces.

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Real-World Renovation: 1920s Prairie Box: Painting the Living Room

Renovation adventures make for lively reading — it’s all the fun of a full-blown home makeover, only someone else does the work and pays the bills!

1920s house living room paint color scheme Somewhere out there in rural Indiana, USA, a 1920s foursquare house is getting a major makeover.

Although is is in very good shape structurally, the previous previous owners (PPOs) had very bad taste and strange ways of making improvements. The last owners started to straighten things out, but were forced to relocate before they got very far. My husband and I are working on finishing the job and restoring our home to as much of its original appearance as is possible and practical.

The homeowners are DIYers with ambition, fair skillls, and a good sense of personal style — but even with a clear idea of what you like, aesthetically, and what you want to achieve with your home… sometimes it just comes down to trial and error.

Case in point, redecorating the living room.

Here, the planned colour scheme is just lovely — rich and home-feeling and appropriate to the vintage and character of this old house. But when the gorgeous copper-red paint paint went on the walls, something just didn’t feel quite right about it.
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