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Retro Renovation

Remodel & decorate in Mid Century Style

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Home / What to Collect / happiness

[Entries now closed] Win a “Love the House You’re In” collage — featuring your home

pam kueber - Updated: April 13, 2020

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

Update: We have a winner, who has been notified. Tune in again next month! ENTRIES NOW CLOSED. Lugine was the winner of last month’s  “Love The House You’re In” custom collage made by our collage artist laureate Mel Kolstad. That’s Lugine’s house … and her son and his dog … all interpreted by Mel. Oh my, Mel’s artistry just keeps getting better and better. And, it is SO COOL to feature readers’ homes.  If you would like enter our July contest and win a  custom collage featuring your house and photos, read on….

To enter, complete these two steps:

  1. Leave a comment on this post answering the question: What is your #1 project to get completed this summer?
  2. And, subscribe to my newsletter. Yes, this helps me build my newsletter list… I send ’em out just once a week, usually.

Please read all the rules here before entering, they all apply. I’ll pick a reader next Friday morning.
.
Meanwhile — thanks again to Mel for a fabulous collage! You can find Mel’s collage works on flickr and her blog, Much Ado About Stuff.

CATEGORIES:
happiness

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Reader Interactions

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39 comments

Comments

  1. Kelly says

    July 22, 2010 at 10:31 am

    I’m curious as to what the collage is made from? Very nicely done.

    • Mel says

      July 22, 2010 at 11:26 am

      Oh, thanks so much, Kelly! 😀 I really appreciate that.

      This particular collage is constructed entirely out of paper except for the lettering and the windows, which are done with transparencies. I made the bricks out of a variegated commerical paper and a punchy (so the bricks would be uniform!). The rest of the house is high-quality cardstock. The background is all unryu (a lighter version of handmade mulberry paper) and the trees are another handmade paper that I rubber stamped with a “shrub” stamp. Austin and Dudley were printed on Canson Infinity Fine Art & Photo paper, in which the ink literally becomes part of the paper itself (you can paint on it!). Oh, and the steps are done with cardstock and “cement” embossing powder, for added realistic quality. 😀

  2. Kelly says

    July 22, 2010 at 10:29 am

    …..Is to start reusing the items I all ready have. I have some great stuff, old stuff, but it’s tucked away in cabinets or on shelves. Time to stop buying and start to restyle and reuse! What’s old is new again!

    • MaryE says

      July 22, 2010 at 7:23 pm

      Thje first rule of redecorating is to use what you have.

  3. Michelle says

    July 22, 2010 at 10:16 am

    To scrape and repaint the exterior trim on my 1941 cottage.

  4. Lovely Mrs E says

    July 22, 2010 at 10:15 am

    oh, Mel…. I just love your collages!
    My summer goals have been to be creative – and so far it’s going well. Doing lots of mini decoupage projects. Cleaned the basement – and turned it into a guest room – and actually entertained guests in it!
    The next huge project I want to complete is to paint and decoupage a 50’s cabinet I bought from Goodwill. It was made for holding records – you know vinyl LPs! So cool … thinking about painting it TURQUOISE – my favorite color!

    • Mel says

      July 22, 2010 at 11:28 am

      Oh, thank you Mrs. E – you are so “lovely” for saying such nice things about my collage! 😀

  5. Tamara Babbitt says

    July 20, 2010 at 9:13 am

    We need to finish the half-bath we started in the basement. When we bought the house last summer, we thought it was odd that there was a toilet sitting next to the washer and dryer. So we figured we’d just build a wall around it, add a sink, and be done! Then we decided to tile it to match our original 1952 bathrooms upstairs. We are hoping to finish before October, when our Japanese exchange student shows up. Wish us luck!

  6. Josh Loves His House says

    July 20, 2010 at 12:22 am

    build a mid-century nursery for our first baby!

  7. The Jenny says

    July 19, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    To add some built-in shelving in my bedroom to house my ceramic owl collection.

    • Michelle says

      July 22, 2010 at 10:17 am

      I love ceramic owls!

  8. MaryE says

    July 19, 2010 at 12:02 am

    I want to ‘do something’ with a wonderful child’s chiffarobe that was left in my house when I bought it. Currently, it’s painted all white, including over all the cool original hardware. I just can’t decide what colors yet… I’m leaning toward a tri-color scheme of a neutral, white, and apple green. The green is the color I just painted a really cool wrought iron washstand that I use has a coat tree. Aside from that, I’m trying to figure out how to lighten up my fence and deck, which are currently very dark stain.

  9. Heather says

    July 18, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    To finish off the 1970’s enclosed patio as my Tiki Bar!! Can’t wait to enjoy it and sit back with an umbrella drink.

  10. Erica Sternin says

    July 18, 2010 at 1:01 pm

    Stain the deck on our wonderful Rambler on a Hill so that we can spend the rest of the summer sleeping under the stars.

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