clevermanka | Decor and exercise

This morning I was walking up to work, and waved to an aquaintance driving by. She was going the opposite direction as me, so I didn't see that she'd stopped her car. When I heard the honk, I turned around and noticed her window rolling down.

"Oh, did you hear about S?" she called through the passenger side.
No, I hadn't.
"She passed on the 12th of July. She didn't survive the liver transplant," and she drove off.

Seeing as I hadn't even known S was ill, this came as a bit of shock. I hadn't ever been close to S, and I hadn't seen her in years, but still. Just a little social tip: Leaning out your window, addressing someone standing on the sidewalk, is not the most appropriate method for informing someone of a death. I appreciated that she stopped to give the information, but I mean, geez.

Anyway.

Two questions:

1) Does anyone have tips or information on doing various faux-finishes on less-than-perfect walls? My Google search results were less than helpful.

2) Does swimming laps count as weight-bearing/resistance exercise?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1) Yes, I have oodles of books and experience, just not the time. Lowe's has occasional classes in various types of faux finishes that are wonderful. The easiest thing is to get texturing paint and slather it on, smoothing it out in any fashion you desire and then painting over that. That's not a whole lot of detailed explanation but that's probably where I'd start.

Books here:
http://www.amazon.com/Decorative-Paint-Finishes-Sunset-Books/dp/0376013885
The top one and this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Painting-Techniques-Finishes-Louise-Hennings/dp/086573
are very good.

But so far as what to do before you paint, I'd go to Lowe's. Their prices may sometimes be a bit higher but they hire knowledgeable and friendly folk who tend to be very helpful...I don't mind paying a bit more when I know that I'll get really good constructive help from clerks.

Alas, we only have a Home Depot here. But thank you for the book tips! I'll see if the library has them.

Oh pooh! I mistrust Home Despot...

But look what I found, this should help, too.

http://www.onthehouse.com/wp/19940509

I googled 'texture painting walls' and found several good things. Me, I just bought the stuff and learned the hard way...I don't recommend that. But when I was first doing this stuff, there wasn't a google. Scary thought.

I'll try googling without the "faux finish" perhaps. And the library does have the first book, so I'll take a look at it. My biggest concern is the reason I want to do texture is the walls are not in the best shape...and you know walls don't get less cracked as they age! And everything I'm reading says things like "make sure you're starting with a smooth, clean wall." Well if my walls were smooth, I wouldn't be applying a textured surface!!!

No kidding! As if everybody lives in a brand new house.

I first texture painted a basement apartment I had in a house. The wall was cement blocks, no joke! And they had some cracks. So I bought a couple gallons of texture paint (it's not cheap but very easy to work with) and then bought a wide putty knife and trowel. I just slathered the stuff on and spread it about with the putty knife, filling in the cracks and the spaces between the blocks to smooth them out. You don't want to apply it too thickly but rather in layers so it'll dry thoroughly.

And you want to leave plenty of time for it to dry before you paint...unless you add the color to the texture paint and just do it all in one. That works too.

I was thinking about doing this, and tell me if I'm nuts:

1) Apply an untinted plaster base
2) Paint it the base color (reddish orange)
3) Apply the second plaster layer, tinted a dark yellow
4) Sponge a slightly metallic glaze over all

Am I going to want to kill myself halfway through? It's a fairly small room, thank gods.

No, I don't think you're crazy. However, I'd not use a metallic glaze the first time out. Those rarely turn out the way you think they will. If anything, I'd apply a metallic glaze in small amounts when you're done with the other layers and see what you think then.

Yes, it's a lot of work, but fun and so satisfying afterwards. 'Course, I may have an odd idea of fun.

OK. Thanks for the tip on the metallic glaze. Maybe I'll skip that and save the time and $$$. Or maybe I'll do a really light yellow colorwash. The room is so small, and I'd like to do something that adds depth.

You should check out the place where Natalie and I got the paint for our house. We were completely satisfied. It's over by Target... Lawrence something... Natalie will remember. ;)

Our realtor said, "Only the rich can afford to buy cheap paint." She was a huge fan of faux-finish paint, too.

Lawrence Decorating Center--that's the Benjamin Moore store in town. Yup. That's the ONLY place in Lawrence that I buy paint. They are the bomb! I never thought about asking them about texture techniques. Duh.

If you have a day off from Fest, there's this at HomeDepot:

Decorative Paint Techniques: Sponging, Ragging, Dragging

Saturday, September 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29, 2007

10 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Learn how to apply three different Ralph Lauren paint effects to any room in your house: a Suede finish, a Candlelight finish and a Regent Metallic finish.

oh and swimming? I'd say no, but ... the jury's still out on that one:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0887/is_n12_v8/ai_8353197

answer to 2:
Bad news: Laps (and cycling) are not weight bearing.
---------------------
Individuals who participate in activities without high impact
forces, e.g., swimming, have lower bone mass than those engaged in weight-bearing activities. See study below:
-
Taafe DR et al. Differential effects of swimming versus weight bearing activity on bone mineral status of eumenorrheic athletes.
J Bone Miner Res 10:586-593, 1995.
more:
https://apfri.carlisle.army.mil/web/Publications/May%20Newsletter%202007.pdf

AND GOOD SITE on bone building:
http://ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/fcs/bb/index.htm

Rats. So I wonder how I'm going to fit lifting into my schedule? Dammit I wish Robinson's good weight room opened early enough. I wonder if I should just buy a membership at the Student Rec Center....*groan*

oof, how much does that cost?

$250/year. Not bad compared to a membership at LAC, but still. I wish I could exercise at home in the mornings...bah for conflicting schedules.

If you want to exercise at home, a good set of resistance bands can make it possible. There are a ton of exercises you can do with them. If you incorporate a balance ball with that, you can do a ton of resistance training with the minimum ammount of equipment. If you later wanted to add in some light handweights (to use in conjunction with the resistance bands, not by themselves) that is easily doable and fairly inexpensive, too!

Swimming laps as resistance exercise? Hell yes. Swim, swim, swim. (I will note that two women that have caught significant interest in my life were swimmers, which contributed to their having great bodies. I'm with one of these women now, while thankfully not with the other.)

Also, I take back the Labor Day idea - 'tis sooner than I expected. And we still have projects, projects, projects. (Though new doorknobs are done.)

I know it's good exercise, but I need serious weight-bearing resistance training. My mom's got advanced osteoporosis and I want to avoid it, myself. I'm still going to try to get to the pool three times a week (providing I can work out the lunch break issues) but it looks like I'm still going to have to find time for weight training.

Decor and exercise

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject