Comments on: Ten bucks of Sharpie to a whole! new! room!

Ten bucks of Sharpie to a whole! new! room!

sugarfish — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:04:16 -0800

Think it costs a fortune to redecorate your basement? Not anymore -- you can do it for ten bucks worth of permanent marker.

By: nitsuj

nitsuj — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:08:53 -0800

See also: the Sharpie Lamborghini Gallardo.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:09:00 -0800

Very cool and really gives dimensions to that basement. I keep wondering how he did it with no mistakes, which could not have been erased. Do you suppose he did it in pencil first, and then drew over it with Sharpies? Also, I would have put flames in the fireplace, rather than just logs;-)

By: jimmythefish

jimmythefish — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:11:05 -0800

His pool table rendering is very realistic.

By: sararah

sararah — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:11:47 -0800

Maybe he can draw himself some cardboard flames and slap them up over the fireplace when he wants a good blaze. Very cool!

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:12:43 -0800

Neat. Somewhat related, Wired magazine has a profile this month of the most incredible personal library I've ever seen. Mr. Walker's Library of Incredible Collectibles.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:13:40 -0800

He could hang some venetian blinds that he's drawn flaming logs on already, and then just Let Down The Fire whenever it gets too cold.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:14:46 -0800

how he did it with no mistakes Probably a projector.

By: DU

DU — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:17:36 -0800

how he did it with no mistakes Probably redefined as success.

By: jeffkramer

jeffkramer — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:22:45 -0800

That's pretty awesome. The Wired article on the library was so lust inducing I was in physical pain reading it.

By: knile

knile — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:23:39 -0800

The link provided in within sugarfish's link didn't work for me. This is a copy of the story on the same site..

By: Fuzzy Skinner

Fuzzy Skinner — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:24:11 -0800

you can do it for ten bucks worth of permanent marker No I can't. He can. Ten bucks worth of permanent marker and craploads more artistic talent and ability than most of us will ever have. VERY cool though! Sharpies are the wonder tool of modern life. I was once hired to restore the harp on a vintage piano. The original gold paint and black filligree work were wearing off and fading. The smaller curlicues were impossible to paint, no matter how small the brush (by me anyway) so I used a fine point permanent marker. With his permission of course. It worked fine, although I was concerned about interaction with the paint.

By: sugarfish

sugarfish — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:26:12 -0800

Oh, thanks knile. Does a mod want to replace my link with that one?

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:29:08 -0800

Sharpies are fucking awesome.

By: DU

DU — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:29:45 -0800

No I can't. He can. Ten bucks worth of permanent marker and craploads more artistic talent and ability than most of us will ever have. And time. You actually could get a basement exactly like this, but you'd have to pay an artist thou$and$ for it. That's the reason redecorating takes so much money. You are purchasing other people's time. Either the time to the redecorating or the time to make the materials (furniture and so forth). If you don't need either of those things, and you have the spare time, of course it's cheap.

By: Nattie

Nattie — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:31:44 -0800

That's so cool. It really makes the basement look bigger, too.

By: hallowdmachine

hallowdmachine — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:32:25 -0800

I saw this a few days ago and was very impressed. I also wondered how he did it without any errors. Maybe he painted over them? I wonder how my landlord would feel if I sharpied my apartment.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:34:52 -0800

stbalbach: that library is awesome. Thanks for that. The Sharpie room is nice. I was expecting something silly.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:47:14 -0800

What's an error really when you're doing a loose drawing?

By: Uppity Pigeon #2

Uppity Pigeon #2 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:47:48 -0800

No I can't. He can. Tell me about it. With ten dollars worth of sharpies, I could maybe get together the artistic wherewithal of a high school metal kid drawing on his backpack. Sure, nice pool table and all, but what about this awesome anarchy symbol?

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:48:59 -0800

Does a mod want to replace my link with that one? Done.

By: JBennett

JBennett — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:59:58 -0800

Very well done. So, at night do black lights reveal an entirely different environment?

By: xthlc

xthlc — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:03:05 -0800

A few years ago, my friend and I lived in a big loft apartment. The interior walls were 16-foot-high drywall, painted white. So we had a "paint our walls" party, and the result -- ah, the result. One example: two cartoonist friends of ours did a massive mural on one large, curving wall: a robot and monkey war (back when that monkey vs. robot video was viral). It was frigging brilliant. Done in pencil with minor corrections; we then traced it with sharpie over the course of the next few weeks. It was Boschian in its scope, drama and, yes, moral instruction. You can indeed paint over that sort of thing -- you use a king-hell primer like Glidden Gripper and give it two coats before you apply your color.

By: Eekacat

Eekacat — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:07:25 -0800

That Lamborghini was pretty cool. 20 years ago or so I was thinking about buying this 1955 Chevy pickup truck from the original owner. My goal was to paint it in leopard print, and have teeth up front like those flying tigers planes. Still wish I had done that...

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:10:59 -0800

I'm amazed at how, despite the obvious fakeness of it, there's still enough trompe l'oeil-ness to it that it really makes the room look bigger than it is. Very cool.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:12:28 -0800

Very well done. So, at night do black lights reveal an entirely different environment? Back in grad school, we had a wall-painting party at my place with yellow hi-liter markers. The drawings covered most of two walls, but were pretty much invisible against the lemon-yellow paint. Under blacklight, though, the place came alive.

By: genefinder

genefinder — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:12:38 -0800

This is great, very creative. Anyone know if there are better pictures of the details? I can't even paint a wall without specling the floors and ceiling. I'm very envious of those with artistic talent.

By: soma lkzx

soma lkzx — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:19:15 -0800

craploads more artistic talent and ability than most of us will ever have. ooooor an overhead project, some works of art on transparencies, and a first go-around with a pencil. tip courtesy 10th grade latin convention.

By: soma lkzx

soma lkzx — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:19:39 -0800

cough cough projector cough cough

By: pernoctalian

pernoctalian — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:36:57 -0800

My favorite part is the Sharpie coffered ceiling. So much easier than building box beams!

By: cashman

cashman — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:38:29 -0800

I would have been more impressed if it was done because of necessity. Ugly couch throw that looks possibly crocheted, ok. Elliptical/treadmill, eh, you can get that on craigslist. Pinball machine - could have been a throwaway at a yard sale. Pool table, okay. It was all well and good until I saw the gigantic flat panel TV. I mean it's nice, I just lost a level of amazement after thinking it was some person who couldn't afford to make their broken down Kentucky basement look better that improvised, then finding out it's a lawyer for a nationally known company (Lexmark).

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:47:52 -0800

Dude, everyone has a flat screen TV now.

By: doctorschlock

doctorschlock — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:53:25 -0800

I have a magic Sharpie. It allows me to draw doors that lead to other dimensions.

By: podwarrior

podwarrior — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:10:59 -0800

He got so high on pen fumes doing that he started talking to his R2-D2 trash can. It's well done. I like.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:25:11 -0800

Olle Hemmendorff's kitchen floor.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:30:54 -0800

ooooor an overhead project, some works of art on transparencies, and a first go-around with a pencil. A-ha! I was trying to figure out an hacky way to do it, but never in a million years would I have thought "projector." Thanks!

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:57:24 -0800

"Because it was a 'rich' lawyer who did this, it's nothing great." Truly mind-boggling.

By: tula

tula — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:18:12 -0800

$10 worth of Sharpie and a boatload of creativity + playfulness = ++++Awesome. This makes me very happy. I just realized this makes me think of one of my favorite books when I was a little kid: Harold and the Purple Crayon. Ignore the naysayers. Metafilter is the crotchetiest place on Earth; heaven itself would be get mixed reviews.

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:25:26 -0800

Truly mind-boggling. Bottling. Mind-bottling.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:31:03 -0800

doctorschlock : I have a magic Sharpie. It allows me to draw doors that lead to other dimensions. You aren't supposed to sniff them. It does bad things to your brain after a while.

By: Stewriffic

Stewriffic — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:32:35 -0800

I have a magic Sharpie. It allows me to draw doors that lead to other dimensions. Simon? Is that really YOU???

By: Stewriffic

Stewriffic — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:34:01 -0800

(Better Simon link)

By: Kwine

Kwine — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:55:38 -0800

I don't know anyone with a flat screen tv.

By: misanthropicsarah

misanthropicsarah — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:00:55 -0800

i don't have a flat screen smakfu.

By: flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:35:17 -0800

Ugh, the pictures are simply not working for me. Trying to click on the link at the top-right for the 360 degree picture gives me a 404 page; there's an area that I thought might be a flash ad (but which might be the room?) but is completely black. Most recent flash player installed... Same problem in IE. Well, poop.

By: spamguy

spamguy — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:49:51 -0800

The pictures aren't working? Damn, I thought he just painted the basement black. Very, very well.

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:50:28 -0800

Alas, I had the same frustrating experience as flibbertigibbet. I have a flat computer screen, so I should be among the cool kids.

By: doctorschlock

doctorschlock — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:37:35 -0800

OOOPS! I erased myself.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:10:16 -0800

This is really cool. I wish I had that kind of talent. When I used to live in a warehouse downtown, I covered the walls with newsprint, and left markers and pens and paints and stuff all over the place. As one panel filled up, I'd replace the paper. I have about a dozen art tubes filled with some of the most amazing poetry and art and stuff done by friends and friends of friends at parties. Most of my friends at the time were comic artists and writers...and some of the stuff that got done is awe inspiring. I just wish I could figure out a way to display it all without needing an entire gallery.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:15:53 -0800

those are some greeeeeeeeeeat sharpie fumes!

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:13:33 -0800

it's "boggling" "bottling"? come on.

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:43:09 -0800

I'm pretty sure he meant to write "mind-buttering".

By: benzenedream

benzenedream — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:51:18 -0800

Denatured alcohol will remove sharpie ink before it dries, and acetone will remove it afterwards (might also wipe off the underlying paint).

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:24:27 -0800

"bottling"? come on. Bottling -- you know, when things are so crazy it gets your thoughts all trapped, like in a bottle?

By: showbiz_liz

showbiz_liz — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:23:39 -0800

I have about a dozen art tubes filled with some of the most amazing poetry and art and stuff done by friends and friends of friends at parties. Most of my friends at the time were comic artists and writers...and some of the stuff that got done is awe inspiring. I just wish I could figure out a way to display it all without needing an entire gallery. Maybe you could get one of those poster displays: http://www.mouseplanet.com/merchandise/PosterDisplay.jpg