The blogosphere is really buzzing about a new site...at least I think it's new? Hometalk. Some bloggers are serving as "ambassadors," and a few of them reached out to little old me, asking me to start posting some projects. I did, because I love certain blogs/bloggers and I want their ventures to be successful! But I kinda wasn't feeling it. It seemed like a lot of extra work.
AT FIRST. Now I'm totally hooked.
It's already replaced Pinterest as my go-to site for ideas and inspiration, because it's more substantive, interactive, and useful.
Need advice? This is the place. Need inspiration? Same. I will say that there are a lot of projects which aren't really my thing, probably because they're cutesy and I'm a no-frills type of girl. Which means, if you post about a coffee-can-turned-light-fixture or rubber-boots-turned-planter, I'll probably skip it. But there's a lot of drop-dead gorgeous eye candy too, and it's a great way to discover other blogs.
Regarding advice: You can post questions, and they will be answered by home and design professionals, other bloggers, and regular folks. Houzz.com has a similar feature, but it doesn't seem to be as active as Hometalk.
The question I posed to the Hometalk community was this:
How do you remove paint from window glass?
You may remember this photo of our kitchen. Notice how the shutters are closed?
AT FIRST. Now I'm totally hooked.
It's already replaced Pinterest as my go-to site for ideas and inspiration, because it's more substantive, interactive, and useful.
Need advice? This is the place. Need inspiration? Same. I will say that there are a lot of projects which aren't really my thing, probably because they're cutesy and I'm a no-frills type of girl. Which means, if you post about a coffee-can-turned-light-fixture or rubber-boots-turned-planter, I'll probably skip it. But there's a lot of drop-dead gorgeous eye candy too, and it's a great way to discover other blogs.
Regarding advice: You can post questions, and they will be answered by home and design professionals, other bloggers, and regular folks. Houzz.com has a similar feature, but it doesn't seem to be as active as Hometalk.
The question I posed to the Hometalk community was this:
How do you remove paint from window glass?
You may remember this photo of our kitchen. Notice how the shutters are closed?
It's because the windows have looked like this for months!
So here's what I was told: 1) Make sure the windows are wet before you scrape off the paint, otherwise you'll scratch the glass {didn't know that}. 2) Use a razor blade or paint scraper to remove the paint. 3) Use chemicals to get it off, including: Goof Off, Magic Eraser, denatured alcohol, Jaysco, or acetone.
As it turned out, all I needed to do was spray the glass panes with water, and
use this tool {$7 at Home Depot}. I could see why you might need a stronger chemical if you had multiple layers of paint and primer, but this came off easily
since it was just one layer of paint.
The tool was super sharp {what did I expect from a razor blade, you ask?} which, combined with my tendency to rush and be careless, resulted in a deep cut in my finger. I started to bleed profusely, which almost ruined my little project! But I wrapped my finger in a paper towel and scotch tape until my ER-doctor neighbor came over to make a house call.
Then the power went out for a few hours. But in the end, success was mine, thanks to all the great advice I received from the folks at Hometalk:
As it turned out, all I needed to do was spray the glass panes with water, and
use this tool {$7 at Home Depot}. I could see why you might need a stronger chemical if you had multiple layers of paint and primer, but this came off easily
since it was just one layer of paint.
The tool was super sharp {what did I expect from a razor blade, you ask?} which, combined with my tendency to rush and be careless, resulted in a deep cut in my finger. I started to bleed profusely, which almost ruined my little project! But I wrapped my finger in a paper towel and scotch tape until my ER-doctor neighbor came over to make a house call.
Then the power went out for a few hours. But in the end, success was mine, thanks to all the great advice I received from the folks at Hometalk:
If you hop over to Hometalk, be sure to look me up! I'm Aimee B. from Reston, Virginia...the obsessed fan and incessant question-asker. ;-)
Have a great Monday!
Have a great Monday!
