SANDRA’S NOTEBOOK

Posted on

Designing a Custom Range Hood

custom range hood finished cover

This custom range hood was a beautiful finishing touch to these cement tiles. The range hood in combination with the backsplash often acts as a focal point to the entire kitchen.

Taking great care in its design can make or break a kitchen design.  Here I chose to build a box to add to the traditional aesthetic but a modern touch with the addition of a walnut shelf to compliment the rich walnut flooring.

unfinished stove hood

What Size Should a Range Hood Be?

To Determine the Proper Width for Your Custom Range Hood

Width:  It is recommended to have your range hood protrude 3” beyond each side of your range.  This allows the ability to capture the particulates coming up from your pans that naturally spread out a bit before reaching the hood. The width should not be narrower than your actual range measurement width.

To Determine the Proper Distance from the Cooktop

Height:  Typically, the common installation height or distance from the cooktop to the base of your custom range hood is 24”-36” from a gas cooktop and “ – 24” for an electric cooktop.  

Considerations: Take into consideration your tile size and whether you want to have your tile cut.  If you install your range hood before designing your tile placement, you may end up having to cut a row at either the top or bottom to fit.  Don’t forget to consider the space the grout will take up as well as the height of your tile.

My range was a 48” wide range and the burners measured 44”.  The recommended size of range hood was this 52 1/2” which was a bit shy of the recommended 6” wider.  To accommodate the 4 ½” tile and bullnose, the distance from the cooktop ended up being 30” which is appropriate for a gas cooktop. 

To Determine the Proper Depth of a Custom Range Hood

Depth:  For a standard 30” range, the hood should be 6” to 9” less in depth.  If you have ever hit your head on a range hood, you will understand the reason for this. 

We chose a Vent-A-Hood Liner Insert so we could cover it with a wooden frame to give it a more traditional look.

custom range hood frame

Lighting

Before we closed up the box frame it was important to add the wiring to the planned lighting strip for the front of the hood.  Since we added a 12V LED dimmable strip along the front shelf, a 12V Magnitude Dimmable Power Supply had to be installed along with a switch.  

building the stove hood

Design Considerations

When designing a custom range hood, it is all about style and proportion.  Now it was important to make it beautiful and in keeping with the rest of the kitchen.  We were working with simple Shaker door panel styles on the white cabinets so we wanted to stay with that look.  There is walnut floors and a planned walnut island.  The cover extended all the way to the ceiling. 

custom range hood finished cover

The Design Materials

To break up that height, I chose to create a 2 step look.  We also choose to extend the box another 4 ½” on each side beyond the vent liner We choose 3 repeating rectangles on the bottom shelf front and 1 large rectangles on the top face.  Each topped off with a beautifully finished walnut wood board. This gave a modern clean look combined with the European pattern tile in the backsplash.  This is truly the focal point to the kitchen. 

Now, A trip to the lumber yard to decide what wood widths were available to accomplish the modern European look we were going for. We chose natural walnut and apainted white wood cabinet.

custom range hood detail

Attention to Details

This is an example of a detail involved in a beautifully executed design.  Here the edge tile lined up with the edge of the range hood cover.  A skilled tradesman in combination with a beautiful design can accomplish this level of detail. Notice that Steve didn’t just cut off the tile trim when it hit the wood trim detail of the hood but notched out the tile to fit snugly around the hood trim.   

You can have your kitchen designed by Sandra Forbes Interiors.  It will be custom designed to your style, needs and desires.  Learn more about Sandra Forbes Interiors at SandraForbesInteriors.com.

Posted on

Updating My Dining Room Chairs

Reupholstered Chair

Updating my dining room chairs was the right solution since they were still in good condition.

Since we are holding up in our house more right nowbecause of COVID, I decided to finish an ongoing project. I have been updating my dining room tables and chairs.

I am happy to say that I am done!  It has been a long project.

It all started because our tables and chairs were bar height and the wrong wood tone.  We found that the tall height was hard on some of our backs and this height was a less formal look than what I was looking for.

The first thing we did was to cut our table legs down and the chair legs down.  As you can see from this picture, the cross bar ended up to be pretty low to the floor but we were willing to live with that.  It was far easier (we thought) to refinish the chairs and to use what we had rather than buying a new table and chairs.

Updating my dining room chairs - Comparing bar height and regular height chairs

Updating my Dining Room Chairs to Compliment My Existing Furniture

I have a large buffet piece that we love has moved along with us from home to home.  It has found a home in 5 houses including a trip across the country from Virginia to Minnesota.  It was important to me that the dining room table and chairs coordinate with this piece.  The table and chairs were blonde wood which didn’t compliment the buffet or our walnut floors.  The buffet is a painted piece with a distressed finish.

Updating my dining room chairs - distressed finish
Distressed finish
closeup of buffet door pull

My table and chairs, on the other hand, were not very expensive but they serve us well.  We love their versalit! Depending on how we arrange them, we can accomodate groups of all different sizes.  We have two 5′ square tables that allow us to sit up to 16 people when set apart.  Each has a leaf that can change the table size to seat either 6 or 8 people.  When we put them together we can seat 12 all around one large table.   We rearrange them depending on the number of people we are hosting.

So, I decided to first refinish and update the table first.  I don’t have any pictures of this process but it is pretty much what I did on the chairs. I primed and painted the table legs and apron the same color as the buffet.  Then proceeded to distress them by hammering small indentations with a tip of a nail and sanding them a bit.  I finished with a glaze.

I then sanded and stained the tabletop to compliment the walnut floors. In the picture on the left of my son’s birthday, you can see when the table top was blonde compared to the picture on the right after I stained it a darker color to compliment the floors in our new house.

Blonde Wood Table Top
Blonde wood tabletop
stained table top
Tabletop stained and finished with polyeurethane
painted table leg and apron
Painted blonde wood legs

Whew!  That was fun but I was not looking forward to finishing the chairs.  THERE ARE 16 OF THEM!

Updating My Dining Room Chairs

I started by sanding off the polyeurethane finish and then staining them just like I did the table top.  I was hoping to match the table top.  The soft wood soaked up the stain unevenly though.

Ultimately, I didn’t like the finished look.

closeup of unfinished chair
chair being stained
Wiping on stain

PLAN B… I decided to paint them instead.

Lots of chairs
Updating dining room chairs - spray painting

I spent several days priming and painting the chairs.

Thankfully, I had a hand-held sprayer that I bought for a client project.  Each was lightly sanded and then primed and painted.

The painted chairs looked great but they looked too new when compared to the distressed finish on the buffet and newly refinished table.  Each chair needed to be glazed to create a more antique look.

I was able to achieve this by wiping a glaze on each and then wiping it back off with a damp cloth leaving a small residue in grain lines.

chair being glazed
Painted glaze on with a brush
closeup of glazed chair leg
glaze remained in the wood grain
closeup of chair leg

Recovering the Dining Room Chair Pads

Lastly, each chair seat needed to be recovered.  The pads that came with the chairs were not very comfortable. They were not very dense and not very thick.  The fabric was very stained as well from many years of use.

I took this opportunity to take apart the covers and replace the pads with a more dense and thick foam to help cushion. To do this, I needed to remove all the staples from the cover fabric so I could get at the padding.  First there were approximately 20 staples on the facing fabric and then over a hundred staples holding the fabric on each cushion!

Updating my dining room chairs - underside of seat cushion
100 staples on back of cushion

It was just too difficult to remove them so I ended up cutting away the fabric around the staples and just leaving the staples in the base board.  It was taking me 15 minutes to remove just 8-10 staples.  The staples were so flush with the board that I couldn’t get under them to pull them out.  I ended up just turning over the board and placing the staples on the top side under the padding.  Sometimes we just got to do what we got to do:)

Updating my dining room chairs - laying out chair seat cushion

I then stretched the new fabric cover over the padding and base board.  Then stapled it tight making sure the corners were smooth.  I was able to achieve this by creating small folds on the underside gathering up the excess fabric.

Updating my dining room chairs - stapling seat cushion fabric

Ta Da! Finished!

As all projects go… there is always more to do…

On to the walls!

My style is a mix of traditional and modern, otherwise known as Modern European.  I plan on painting them with a specialty limewash paint from Portola Paints.  This will create a mottled finish similar to suede.  I think it will look fantastic as a textured finish next to my buffet and modern accents.

Stay tuned for a how-to post on that.

Finished chair
Posted on

Traditional and Vintage Nursery Design

images of shopping items
images of shopping items

This chair was my inspiration.  I love this chair made from a Kilim rug fabric.  It is traditional with a fun twist.  Just what I like in a statement piece.

Kilim Chair

I love to put a statement piece in every room and this fits the bill.

I decided to design a nursery using this chair as a stepping off point.  Stay tuned to see another design using this chair in a sitting room in a more traditional design. This is the style I really enjoy.  A mix of traditional and contemporary.  

I don’t know about you but I am tiring of white.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love white. In fact, it has always been my favorite color!  I know – weird.  Right?!

White is a combination of all colors in light so it isn’t surprising that I love all design styles too.  That’s why I love design.  There are so many different directions to go.

So many of us have furniture that has been passed down to us from our family members and we want to incorporate those pieces but want to have a more up to date look.  White is more difficult to blend with traditional dark wood pieces and still create a muted, understated and mellow environment in a bedroom.

This one fits the bill.  It is a combination of traditional with 70s boho.  Here’s what I came up with… Let me know what you think and comment below.

Shopping Images
Collage of room elements

Here’s everything with a link if you find something you like.

Happy Shopping!

numbered shopping list
  1.  Passion Flower Kilim Club Chair – Sundance
My inspiration.  Great for a contemporary nursery and move into any room when it is no longer needed in the nursery.

2.  Japanese Textile Design Print on Paper – Perigold

The gold frame pulls in the warm tones in the drapery rod and table and the print brings in the tones from the chair.

3.  Simmons Kids Tivoli Pine Wood Convertible Crib – Amazon (White or Chestnut)

Both the chestnut and white should work with this design.  It also converts to a bed as they grow.
  1. Spiral Felt Ball Mobile – Neutral – Etsy MatthewAndMae
I love how this mobile brings in the neutral and muted colors.
  1. Authentic Vintage Brick Mold Bookshelf – Farmhouse Fresh

Incorporate tall shelving with this vintage bookshelf or with something like this, which has a similar look but with soft curves to match the desk and chair.

  1. Hemp Woven Rug Color: Sage – Sundance
Can’t lose with a neutral rug.
  1. Bumblebee End Table – Anthropologie (Love the bee accents!)
The bumble bee accents will be loved by the kids and it brings a contemporary feel to the nursery.
  1. Brushed Brass Bernie Series LED Floor Lamp – Lamps Plus
This floor lamps brings a contemporary feel to an otherwise traditional space.
  1. A Most Unusual Old Teak Floor Desk with 3 Drawers – Jugs Furniture
I love this idea of a low desk with a vintage vibe.
  1. Belgian Linen Curtain, Natural – West Elm
Stay with a soft white curtains
  1. Monkey Bookends – Grace Hill Design
Choose décor to accent the colors in the chair and you can’t lose!
  1. Antique Brass French Curtain Rod – Target
Hint:  Use a French curtain rod to close that gap on the sides in combination with a black out shade to minimize light during nap times!

Remember that you can still get the look with expensive and less expensive pieces.  You just have to look around.  Let me know if you have any questions or if you have a piece you want to build around.

If you like this kind of post, leave a comment and I will do more!

* post contains affiliate links – at least I hope to😊

Posted on

Easy Spring Flower Arrangement

forsythia in a vase
Easy DIY flower arrangement

Gathering materials for your spring floral arrangement

This easy spring floral arrangement of artifical forsythia blooms is a delightful addition to a coffee table.

Forsythia was abundant on the east coast in Virginia and I absolutely loved seeing it burst forth every spring.  It was one of the first signs of spring along with the crocus and dogwoods. If you aren’t familiar with this spectacular bush here is a link to a collection of google search images. I wanted to capture that feeling in that moment of Springtime by putting some forsythia in my family room. Today, I am going to show you how you can too.

I got these artifical stems at Jo-Ann fabrics for about $2 a piece on sale.  Two branches came on one stem so I cut many of them apart.  It’s always nice to use at least two different size blooms to create interest and texture, especially if you’re making a flower arrangement with only one color like this one.  I thought these would be a nice combination.

 

2 kinds of yellow artificial flowers for this easy DIY flower arrangement

I also grabbed some Birch branches from my backyard. Your yard can be a wealth of possible material for a DIY flower arrangement.  I’m going to use some of that for that natural look.  If you don’t want it look all twiggy it’s nice to have a little bit of greenery at the base to hide some of those gaps between the stems. 

Birch tree branches for this easy DIY flower arrangement

You will also need Spanish moss.  The Spanish moss is for the base to cover the foam.

Spanish moss for easy DIY flower arrangement

This is artificial foam.  There is a darker green foam that you can use for fresh flowers.  Since I am using artificial flowers and an open-topped vase, I’m using this foam. The vase came from my inventory of decor items I bought for decorating a hair salon each Christmas.  So I thought I would use this for my base for my flowers.

To begin, take some artificial foam and cut it with a bread knife or a serrated edge knife to fit into my vase.  It’s easy.  

foam for artificial flowers in this easy DIY flower arrangement

The Vase for your Arrangement

You can use almost anything for a vase of a flower arrangement.  Today I’m making a large and easy DIY flower arrangement.   

Glass Vase for easy DIY flower arrangement

If you have a narrow topped vase…. My son made this. You don’t need anything but a couple stems.  It’s a sweet little thing that we put by our sink.

So If you have a vase with a narrow neck you can just put a couple stems in it. But if you have something like the glass vase I am using which is larger, you are going to need some kind of a foam to hold the stems. Otherwise the stems would to just flop over

Sandra Forbes holding bud vase

Because it’s a glass vase I don’t want the foam to be seen and have it touching the vase. I am going to put Spanish moss between the foam and the glass.  Cut off the corners so it is not touching the vase. Then put some spanish moss at the bottom of the vase because  there’s going to be a gap between the foam and the bottom of the curved vase.   Fill in around the foam with the moss.  Simple as that.  Making sure that, as you go, that you’re pushing the moss down to cover the foam so you don’t see the foam.  I use a long knife to get down to the bottom because my fingers aren’t long enough.  It doesn’t look very natural when you see the foam.  Right?   Making sure that you can’t see the foam and there’s no gaps.  

Placing moss around foam

Preparing the Spring Flower Arrangement Base

Before I can put the stems in, I want to put some greenery in the base here.  Grab your wire cutters.  You’re tempted to just cut at the bottom where the side stems meet the main stem but that’s a little bit too long for what I’m intending. It’s okay to go ahead and cut it even shorter than that if that’s what you need. The key to flower arranging is balance. So if I’m going to put a little bit on one side, I am going to put one on the other side so there is a balance and a symmetry to your floral arrangement. And put those on the other two sides so that there’s four or more coming from center.  Those are going to be the base. 

Preparingn the base for the DIY flower arrangement

Arranging the Stems of a Easy Spring Flower Arrangement

So we have laid in the foundation greenery to create the base.  The next part is to create the height.  The height of the flowers should be about one and a half times the height of your of the vase. My vase is seven and a half inches so we want to shoot for around 10 to 12 inches more for the flowers. I created height with those branches and a piece of  the same greenery that I used for the base placed in the center.  I want to bring the greenery from the base up into the inside of the floral arrangement to create cohesivity. You don’t want all the green on the bottom and the yellow on top.  You want the green to be mixed up so I’m going to put that piece of greenery in the center. 

Sandra working on floral arrangement

Take the yellow… your main pieces and start working from the outside of the circle in rotating as you go.  We are going to go around the outside first.  Always fluff up your pieces as well  so you don’t just keep them all together. What’s nice about artificial flowers is that they can be fluffed up a little bit. 

Use rotational symmetry

Insert one stem on the right side and I turn it around and put another stem on the opposite side working and rotating as you go. As I put a piece on one side, I turn it around and put another piece equal on the other side.  So now it’s all balanced and even.  You don’t want to have more flowers on one side than the opposite side. There will be empty spaces in between and that is ok for now. I’m going to go ahead and fill in some of those spaces.  One on this side and another on the opposite side, sticking each into that foam.  Now, I am going to grab my smaller flowers. I place one in between the two and flip it and go to the other side.   Continuing to do that all the way around, filling in the spaces.  Looking at where there are holes.  Just making sure that you’re symmetrical as you go along.  Put one on this side and I want to put one on the opposite side. Keep working until you feel like it’s the full enough that you’re happy with it.

Work from the outside toward the middle

Work around and toward the inside increasing the height of the pieces as you get closer to the center. Here is a link to a video explanation if this helps to see the process visually.

Stand back and look at your arrangement and see what you think. Look at it and see if you’re happy with the way it has turned out.  If there are any holes and if you need to add more  You can always edit and take out.  If you aren’t happy with it, you can always take things out.  It is very forgiving to do floral arrangements.  It is very subjective.  Don’t be scared of them.  It’s basically all about balance.  Put one on one side, the other on the other and just keep rotating.  If you only have 3 of something, make them equal distance apart instead of four. You don’t have to have to be equal in number but they do need to be balanced.

Sandra working on adding flowers

And there you have it.  An easy spring flower arrangement. It is as easy as that.  That’s going to be sitting on my coffee table for the rest of the summer and it will be reminding me of the forsythia of Virginia.

Sandra and finished flower arrangement
Posted on

How to Make Small Christmas Tree Decorations

Easy and Inexpensive

Here is a quick tutorial on how I made these Christmas Trees. I needed 50! It wasn’t in the budget to buy 50 bristle brush trees. Even at $5 each, I would have had to spend $250! Here is how I made 50 trees for ZERO DOLLARS.

I had this 3 foot piece of artificial garland left over from last year. Why not take it apart and make trees out of each branch? That’s what I did. You can do it too.

My garland had 3 wires. 2 made up the base wire and then the third wire wound about the base of each branch tying them all together. I simply unwound the third wire to separate the branches. Then all there was left to do was to cut the small bristles in the shape of a tree. I have to say that they aren’t that beautiful by themselves but they make a nice statement when put together in a grouping.

My wonderful husband braved the cold and cut some 1 by 2 boards into 10-11 inch pieces. I needed 10 because my client was a Hair Salon and they had 10 stations that needed a decoration.

Each board was then stained a nice walnut finish and 5 holes drilled. The holes were drilled unevenly on purpose. I didn’t want the trees to be in a row. I wanted them overlapping a bit to help the look be more natural. Then each tree base was dipped in glue and one was put in each hole. All that was needed was a simple spray of snow. Voila! The only thing left was to print out a beautiful Christmas message to put under each piece.

Merry Christmas Salon Oriana!

Salon Oriana Christmas Tree
Posted on

The Woodbury Retreat – Creating a Curated Home

retreat statue

A Private Place to Reflect

She wanted to rest and retreat from the stress in her life. This focal wall as you entered her apartment set the stage to what you would experience throughout her home. A restful retreat. This statue was purchased at one of St. Thomas Academy’s annual auctions. It is now a comforting feature in my client’s home.

After selling her long time home in St. Paul which I helped her stage, she asked me to help turn her new apartment into a home.

She needed a place to get away and reflect. She was entering a new stage in life.

Feature Wall

The first thing she asked me to do was to help with this feature wall that greeted you as you first entered her new apartment retreat. She wanted the statue of the Blessed Mother here but the statue seemed to fade into the white wall behind. We need it to be a focal point.

retreat entrance
Statue needed to be featured

In response, I decided to raise it up and center it more in the space and create a faux painted wood panel to be installed behind it. This helped the statue of The Blessed Mother become a prominant feature without making it look “churchy”. I pulled the colors from the Blessed Mother and layered them when staining the wood panel.

retreat statue
Layering paint creates this beautiful faux wood panel to bring out the colors in the statue.

Hiding Wires

Then, there was the challenge of hiding the modem wires and finding a place for the grandchildren’s toys. She loved the modern touch that this buffet and the additional needed storage it provided.

Build in storage

A simple solution to hiding the TV and modem wires was these covers from the local hardware store. They worked wonderfully.

Hidden wires can help make a room feel less cluttered.

Paying attention to sight lines added to the Retreat Atmosphere

As a matter of fact, the living room wall happened to be the wall she saw from her bed. Therefore it needed to be addressed with a focal point. If you want to learn more about “sight lines” and “focal points” I talk more about them in the Love Your Layout Workshop. What you see from other rooms is important to consider when curating your home.

sight line in retreat
The placement of pictures can inspire!

Subsequently, she bought this print by Steve Henderson entitled “Ocean Breeze” [from greatbigcanvas.com]. Simply put, it was a delightful find that was an emotional lift at the start of each new day.

Uplifting painting added to the retreat atmosphere
A Fresh New Day!

Additionally, she wanted to feature another inspiring painting that was created by her nephew when he was, also, going through a traumatic time in his life. The painting, entitled “Eternal Hunger”, represented a nursing child finding solice in his mother’s arms.

Retreat Image of mother and child
Mother and Child

And then it was just a matter of tying together her existing decor to create a cohesive color scheme that was calm and relaxing.

Retreat Guest Room Color Scheme

In the guest room, using the colors in a picture she treasured from a friend, we then took the soft teal from the ocean in the picture and repeated it throughout the room by painting the oak frame and hand painting the pillow to coordinate.

Working from things she loves
Retreat Guest room Pillow

Focal Point for Dining Room

Lastly, we needed to create a focal point behind the dining room table. Since, it was an open floor plan with the living room, the colors needed to be cohesive. And due to the muted colors of soft greys and cream throughout these rooms , she found delight in the colors in this grouping. We centered them over the dining room table to draw the eye as if to call you to sit down.

Dining Room
Dining Room

A home is all about surrounding yourself with things that you love and inspire you.

It was, indeed, an honor to be a part of her journey to help her create a retreat to refresh and reflect and rejoice in God’s love for her.

Nancy and Sandra in retreat
Love her!
Verified by ExactMetrics