Simple Solution

It's amazing what a coat of paint can do, and we put that to the test recently with these patio chairs! We are staging a clients home, and we all know that with staging, finding an inexpensive way to make a space look great is very important. Our client had these adirondack chairs which were a little beat up and worn from the weather. His patio needed a little sprucing up, so with a coat of some red semi gloss paint and an exterior toss pillow we made the patio look bright and fresh for the remainder of summer!

"Green" Project - Update

The renovation is getting close to being complete. The new shower tile, tub, and shower head has been installed, with the bathroom now being complete! The tile is a simple cream subway tile, detailed with a green glass mosaic. The green is close in color to the feature wall done in American Clay which we wrote about earlier.

New cork flooring is in throughout the remainder of the condo. We are just waiting on the new concrete countertops to be installed so the kitchen backsplash can go in, which will be the same as the tile used in the shower. This will create flow throughout the entire home. After this is complete we can begin the furnishing portion of our staging/renovation.

"Green" Project - American Clay

Earlier we wrote about some eco friendly finds that we discovered at a great little store in Inglewood, Riva's Eco Store. This inspired us to create a "green" home for a renovation we had just begun. New flooring, countertops, backsplash, and paint are going into the condo renovation. We made it our goal to make all of our finishes eco friendly.

As you enter the condo, a plastered feature wall was already there. Instead of trying to strip this wall and paint over it, we thought we would use American Clay, a natural earth plaster that is non toxic and uses natural dyes in their product. In our previous entry about these finds we also mentioned that American Clay actually takes toxins out of the air, making your home that much more fresh.

It was a product we had never worked with before, and wanted to give it a try ourselves to see if it is something we would use again. It was definitely a new experience, and once at the job site, we realized it wasn't as simple as we expected.

A sanded primer is required. Which is basically a "green" primer, also from Riva's Eco store, mixed with a sand. This allows for the plaster to have something to hang onto once applied to the wall. Next we had to mix the first coat, "Loma" to apply once the primer was dry. In order to mix the clay itself a drill with a long attachment to stir it was required. We weren't sure at first we would need that, and while at Home Depot we were just going to get a large stick to stir it, but these men overheard us and strongly recommended we rent a drill to do this. Good thing too! It saved us a lot of time. So once that was mixed we let it set for about half an hour and began to apply it with a trowel. The application itself wasn't difficult, just messy so it is a good idea to lay a drop cloth on the floor underneath the wall you are applying this too.

We let the first coat set over night, and the next day mixed the "Porcelina" coat, which requires the tint. Two coats of the Porcelina are required, then smoothing with a spray bottle of water and a trowel once dry to seal the American Clay.

Loma Coat Mixed 

Beginning of application on top of sanded primer

First coat complete

2nd coat complete

(Photos of the complete renovation to come!)