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by Pam Hartwell My project started with a very tall wall (14’) in the room where people enter my home. My home is a 1906 farmhouse where I grew up, and then it was my mother’s home most of my adult life. In the early 1970s the old farmhouse got an addition and the front room was designed to fit a piece of furniture that my grandfather saved from a home he was working on. The piece was a 9’ tall dark mahogany, carved wood, marble topped, mirrored sideboard with heavy religions themes.  After my mom died, I needed to make the home my own and decided the heavy and very large piece was not my style and put it up for sale. It was clearly a statement piece and I wanted something with similar wow factor, but also more modern. I also knew I wanted a couch on that wall to look out at the wall of windows that it faces. What a great spot for one of those gallery-style arrangements of art! I love eclectic art and working at the ReStore allows me to constantly be building my collection. I also had some posters I had dumpster-dived years ago, some beautiful carvings made by my great grandfather, and art made by my mom. Variety of mediums is the key to a good gallery wall; I had paintings, yarn art, pencil drawings, ceramic pieces, flat and bulky wood and plaster carvings, and lots of different styles of frames. Here are the materials needed to complete this project:
Gather Your Art Pull all your art together and lay it out. Look at how it goes together and think about the pieces that you want to highlight; I chose 4 rectangle pieces for each or the corners to create a sense of order. At this point I curated out some pieces and sought new pieces for a nice balance of shapes, sizes, and a variety of mediums. Make sure each piece is clean and ready to hang with either a wire mount or command strips. Command strips are great for ease of hanging, but if your piece is rough or dirty, it will fall. I knew we would be sitting below these pieces, so I made sure the really heavy carvings were secure with nails in studs (I marked them with pencil lines and the help of a stud finder).
Once you have decided what you want, make paper cutout copies of your art. Transfer the shape of the artwork to newspaper by tracing around the frame and then cut out the shape. I also decided to use fat sharpies to make basic drawings of each item on the newspaper so I would know what it was when I had it hanging on the wall. Plus it was fun! Start hanging the newspaper on the wall using mounting putty. Use 1-2 pieces of putty near the top of the newspaper art and be careful not to rub the newspaper on the wall, especially if your wall is light colored. I decided I wanted 4 square or rectangle larger pieces to anchor my corners, so I started with those and worked my way towards the center. I decided to leave at least 4 inches in-between each piece to help with uniformity. I also decided a few pieces would go outside the blue tape. The great thing about the newspaper art is that I could move things easily. Once you have all the paper shapes on the wall, another set of eyes is good. I had my daughter helping the entire process and my boyfriend chiming in with ideas. Once we had all the newspaper art hung we spent a day looking and adjusting. Hang the Art Use the newspaper as your guide by figuring out where the nail needs to be on the art then mark it on the newspaper. It will often show through because newspaper is thin, or you can lift/fold the newspaper so you can mark the wall before you take the newspaper down.
I hung the art from the outside in, but if I had it to do over, I would recommend hanging from the inside pieces first and move out as you can always expand your space on the outside edge, but not in the middle.
Gallery Wall 2020, Pam Hartwell
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 If you've been shopping at the ReStore in the past year, you've likely seen these wardrobes. This excellent donation from a local business has been a staple on our salesfloor for a while. Now a few of them are playing a role behind-the-scenes! We needed some aesthetically pleasing storage space in our meeting room, and I knew the wardrobes would do the trick. The first thing I did was take the clothing rod out. Then, I had some short pieces of lumber on hand that served perfectly as cleats to hold the shelves. For a more detailed step-by-step on how to install simple closet shelves, here's a nice blog on the subject: https://www.ana-white.com/blog/2014/06/easiest-pantry-or-closet-shelving From there, it was as easy as cutting plywood to size, hauling the wardrobe to its destination, and filling it up!
The room they were going in was not quite big enough for three wardrobes, but by stealing the doors off one, cutting them to size, and attaching them between the other two wardrobes, I solved that conundrum! A plank of plywood topped everything off and gave us some more vertical space.
If you've been looking for some quick, easy storage solutions, these wardrobes are an awesome, sturdy solution. I've also been eyeing them up for potential garden tool storage. I think they might be just the right size to hold dormant rakes, spades, and post-hole-diggers during these cold winter months.
You could probably hang clothes in them too, I suppose. -Kali Lisa Jacobson Lisa Jacobson is the founder and owner of Now to Wow LLC. Now to Wow focuses on enhancing homes inside and out. Family:
Married to Timothy Jacobson, have 3 adult children and 2 grandchildren. Career: Landscaper for 15 years. My biggest project was a 125’ by 12’ hillside filled with beautiful plants, shrubbery and landscape accents. Kindergarten teacher for 30 years. I have taught over 600 children and led the building project of developing 3 playgrounds; including designing, fundraising and organizing a team of volunteers. Passion: Educating children and adults to be life-long learners who give back to their communities. Hobbies: Pottery, kayaking, biking, golf, ukulele, reading, upcycling, and hiking. Friendship: Lily and I met when she started teaching at Boscobel Elementary School. We became fast work friends and even closer friends outside of school. We share many interests and love helping others. We decided to volunteer at Habitat, we’re enjoying spending time together while giving back in our community. Watch our DIY videos….and you will see :) Funny Story: I helped friends with their landscape free of charge for over 10 years before starting my own business. I was training for a half marathon and passed a neighbors house and she asked if I happened to know anything about bushes. I told her I’d come chat after my run. After a free consultation, they asked if I was for hire and I decided to go for it! Fun Fact: I appear in the highly awarded science documentary Decoding the Driftless, which my husband co-produced. Dream: Help people realize their dreams and visions for their home, inside and out. Social Media: Now-to-Wow.com and Facebook coming soon! My company, Now-to-Wow LLC serves southeastern Minnesota, La Crosse, Wisconsin and the surrounding areas. Lily Rider Lily started volunteering at the ReStore in 2019, and as soon as I realized she was a well of creativity and passion, I let her know about our goal of growing the How-To side of things at Habitat. She grabbed the idea and ran with it! Between Lily and her volunteering partner-in-crime, Lisa Jacobson, this dream for a Habitat How-To blog and YouTube channel is finally underway! Read on to learn a bit about Lily and stay tuned for more How-To videos and insights from her in the future! ABOUT LILY Family: Married to Dennis Rider for 46 years. We have 3 children and 7 grandchildren. Career: Itinerant Services Director currently employed with Cooperative Educational Service Agency #4 (CESA 4) located in West Salem WI. My educational background is in the area of Speech Language Pathology working with children ages birth to 21 years of age. Passion: Learning about and working with individuals who live with autism. Hobbies: Upcycling furniture, scrapbooking, long walks, cooking, outside activities and spending time with family and friends. Friendship: Lisa and I have been best friends for 24 wonderful years. We worked together as teachers at Boscobel Schools and always had each other's backs. We love to spend time together, working, playing, and just hanging out. Volunteering together for Habitat just made sense. Habitat for Humanity is a great organization that gives back to their communities and I am proud to be a volunteer. Fun Fact: Honored to be invited by Jesse Horn, a wonderful young man who lives with autism, to proofread his book, Stacked Against the Odds, and add my comments. Very surprised when my comments were added to the book. “Jesse not only tells his personal story but the story of thousands of individuals who live with autism.” -Lily Rider, Stacked Against the Odds by Jesse Horn Funny Story: Crafty as I am, one Christmas I decided to make an advent wreath for the centerpiece of my kitchen table. On Christmas day, we all lit the candles, ham went in the oven, and the family went to watch a Christmas movie. A little while later my husband got up for a drink of water and yelled, "OPEN THE DOOR! OPEN THE DOOR! THE ADVENT WREATH IS UP IN FLAMES!" And to think, I was going to make one for everyone in the family! Dream: To retire and spend more time with my family. Social Media: Facebook: Rider Re-Creations - "Make Old New Again"  Lily Rider is founder and owner of Rider Re-Creations. Rider Re-Creations is a passion turned business that takes something old and makes it new. Furniture, metal work, garden... she does it all! Above is an example of her furniture refinishing - these pieces were actually designed to go into gardens as planters!
When Pam, Kari, and I started talking about this blog/video project about a year ago, we never imagined it could manifest so beautifully! Here we are, though, ready to launch! We are so excited to share our vision with you. Credit and kudos are due to the stars of the show, Lily and Lisa. These two amazing volunteers actually approached us with their own DIY ambitions. They had the resources, time, and willingness to create How-To videos. They did just that, and we are honored to share the fruits of their labor. Check out their first project below. Hopefully it is the first of many wonderful videos to come! Be sure to like and subscribe on YouTube :) Happy DIYing! -Kali |
AuthorKali Brokaw, Kari Siverhus, and Pam Hartwell. We love to repurpose, upcycle, and breathe new life into things. Our focus is on the sustainable and artistic aspect of things at the Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area ReStore. Archives
November 2020
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HABITAT FOR HUMANITY - LA CROSSE AREA
Providing Families with a Place to Call Home
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit founded on the conviction that every family should have a decent, safe, and affordable place to live. We partner with homeowners and the community to build decent, safe, and affordable housing.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit founded on the conviction that every family should have a decent, safe, and affordable place to live. We partner with homeowners and the community to build decent, safe, and affordable housing.
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