Questions & Answers You asked, I answered. Everyday questions pour in and I try to answer them all quickly. Here are some of your questions regarding projects I have made on Trading Spaces and While You Were Out. Keep sending your questions, I love to hear what you are working on and lend a helping hand when I can. Hi Leslie, Let me tell you how wonderfully entertaining and talented you were on While You Were Out and Trading Spaces. I envy your talents, as I'm sure many women (and men) do. I am writing with two questions. First, I want to find out what the best way to paint wood is without leaving any brush or roller marks is. Is there a certain type of roller or brush that wil not leave marks and should I be using a certain type of paint? My second question, as while as the first question, involves a built -in entertainment center, besides painting it without leaving any marks, I want to add a topcoat of glaze (a medium brown glaze over a basecoat of off white like you see in the home improvement center's cabinet departments). What is the proper formula for a glaze topcoat and how do you apply it? Thank you for your time and I wish you all the best in life, you deserve a new show, just for you on HGTV. Sincerely, Marilyn Palmdale, CA Hi Marilyn, Thanks for the great note. Ok, for brush marks there is an additive you put into the paint, I think it is called Floetrol, yeah that is exactly what it is here is a link. Follow the manufacturers directions and that will eliminate brush and roller marks. For aging, Ralph Lauren makes an aging glaze that I like a lot. You mix in a brownish color and can be mixed into small containers with a variety of hues and just brush it into the areas that would show ages, in decorative edges, corners, anywhere you like. I hope this helped! Have a fun day. Leslie Segrete Leslie, I admire your work a lot!! Do you have suggestions for measuring the yardage needed for upholstering a sofa? I have never attempted to do upholstery but I would love to try. I want to get your new book when it comes out. My sofa has attached cushions and I am not quite sure how to do these. Thanks for your answer. -Annette http://www.interiormall.com/cat/fabric/upholstery_yardage_chart.htm Hi Annette, The above link is a great chart to give you an idea of how much fabric you need for a piece of furniture. They pretty much tell you exactly how much you need so give yourself an extra few yards just to be safe. I did a couch recently and followed their yardage selection and had about 1/4 of a yard left when finished, talk about cutting it close, hehehe. My book, "Fear Not; You Can Reupholster Anything" will be out around November of this year and will give you the exact how to steps you are looking for, if you cannot wait until then.... with attached cushions you will want to do the seating area before you recover the deck face, sides, and roll of the arms, this way you can staple into those areas and then cover them up with the mentioned areas new fabric and you will never know how that piece got secure. Happy Recovering! Leslie Segrete Dear Leslie: My younger sister Shirley was very young when she had twins, she knew she couldn't give them the life they deserved so she gave them up for adoption 28 years ago. Four years ago one of them found her and she got to meet her son Jonathan for the first time on July 15, 2001. He was born blind and she was wondering if by any chance you could send us the directions of making the photo's you did for the blind couple on WHILE YOU WERE OUT which aired (Feb 4, 2006 pacific coast). Her son's Guide dog is getting old and she would like Jonathan to have a photo of Ivor (his guide dog) before something happens to him. This would touch Jonathan heart and my sisters so much if you could do this for us. We really enjoyed the show and wished there was more shows to show what people can do for the unsighted. God Bless you and PLEASE CONTACT me so my sister can give this wonderful gift to her son. Thank you, Barb, Shirley's Sister who really loves her. Hi Barb, I hope that I can help you and your sister. We started with two enlarged photocopies of the picture. Then we had carbon paper and our textured paper for the image itself. We mixed different textures of paper to represent the different areas of the picture, for example one for the hair, one for the skin, one for the fabric, etc...... this way when the person touches the photo they can tell the difference between areas of the photo by touch. Using the carbon paper under the photocopy and over the texture paper you wish to use for that area trace over the outline of the area and any other areas you may want out of that texture paper. Be careful not to move the sandwich of paper around to much so your lines will be clear. When done tracing cut out the areas you traced with an exacto knife and then use a glue stick or double stick tape to secure those texture pieces to the other photocopy of the photo. You are using the second copy as the background so you know exactly where each cut out piece goes. Continue to do this for the whole photo, if the section you are working on has lines on the face or whiskers trace those as well. When you have all pieces in place, use a black liquid leading, like a slick puffy paint, remember those?, to go over all of the outline this will create a barrier between each texture and provide and place for the hands to differentiate the areas in addition to the texture of the paper. Does this make sense?? I hope so. Good Luck, Leslie Segrete Hi Leslie, You were recently on the weekend today show and discussed how to make an inexpensive shower curtain out of a flat sheet and grommets. I was curious as to what size flat sheet works the best. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, Jen H. Hi Jennifer, A full flat sheet works the best. Use it so the 83" side runs from floor to rod so the longer side covers the width, does that make sense. On the top edge of the sheet, the side that will be the top, fold over 3" so the right side of the fabric is facing the back, use your iron to hold this fold in place, steam it so it really stays because we are not sewing the sheet, and then fold it another 3", you need the fabric to have triple thickness so the grommet stays, steam and press this fold in place. Use grommets or eyelets, same basic thing, and place them 1.5" from the top edge and start 2" from the side edges, then place them every 6.5", it takes about 15 grommets per sheet. You really have to hammer these suckers in place, get all of your aggressions out. Does this make sense? If it doesn't just ask. Keep an eye out on the website for the Today show segment and write ups on each topic. Thanks! Leslie Segrete Dear Leslie, On one of your shows you showed how to make a pillow from a button front shirt with a t-shirt beneath it. My 21 year old son was killed in an auto accident 2 1/2 years ago and I would like to make some pillows from some of his button down shirts which he always wore. Would you please share with me how the pillow was made? I enjoy watching the show and am looking forward to your new book. Thank you. Vicki H. Hi Vicki, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your son. I am sure this project will help you heal. I lost my dad almost 2 years ago and I have the baseball cap he wore all the time. I smell it and it makes me feel a bit better, it is amazing how the scent can bring you right back together. Well for the pillows, the buttons will be how you get the pillow form in and out, and you need some fabric to lay into the neck area and sew in place all around the collar so the opening is closed. Cut the shirt 1" larger on all sides than the pillow form so if the pillow is 18 x 18 cut the shirt 19 x 19 this gives you 1/2" seam allowance and will make a great fit. Keep the shirt connected at the shoulder, cut to size flip over at the shoulder so you can sew it with wrongs side out. Be sure to undo a button before sewing so you do not have any difficulty opening the shirt once it is sewn closed. I hope this makes sense. I have attached a photo from the episode. Have a great day! Leslie Segrete Leslie, My name is Armeda and I am a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador. I recently saw an episode while recovering from Dengue Fever that caught my eye. It was a remodeling of a Harvard professor's study and you created some beautiful old looking maps using crayons. I would love to do this with the children in the schools here. Please send me whatever information you can on how to do this technique. Thanks, Armeda C. V. Peace Corps El Salvador Hi Armeda, The maps we made were from photo copies of historical maps from the New York Public Library. We made black and white copies and then colored them in with colored pastels. These work so well because you can use your hands to blend the colors and give it a very aged look. They last for a long time and the kids can have a good time and get really messy working on them. They works best if you blend the lighter colors on top of the darker colors they tend to layer better that way and it gives the colors some nice highlights. Have fun with them, if you want there to be a more precise use of color do that with colored pencils. Happy New Year Leslie Segrete

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