Karen Carver

We are creating a synagogue in one of our rooms and want to add some columns using carpet rolls. I'v seen them in several churches and wondered if anyone has tips for installing, painting, making tops/bottoms to help make them realistic. Thanks Karen Smile

JCarey

You can use either carpet tubes or for wider columns use concrete forms from home depot (very cheap). Now you have a few options. One would be to use corrugated paper ( available from art/school supply catalogues and some teacher stores) and cover the rolls.

You can use cut styrofoam or wall insulation foam sheets to make decorative tops or even pizza boxes work. If a plain column is the look you would like to achieve then try the marble look paints that are available. If you are still looking for another method, rolls of contact tape can be purchased in marble look and it looks very effective.

Use liquid nails or else a 3M spray glue formulated for styrofoam (either 77 or maybe 78). I have a photo of our temple if you are interested email me.

Have fun with it - they make a great impact and are reusable and easily stored.

julie burton

We used carpet rolls to make columns.

Some we painted with the "stone" spray paint (that got very expensive) and some we covered with the marble-look contact paper. For the tops we used plastic urn-type flower pots painted with the stone paint. The bottoms were plastic bases that matched the flower pots. It took some work to attach them to the posts. We took a block of wood and inserted it into the column, then screwed it to the sides. A hole was drilled into the bottom of the wood block and the saucer, then a large bolt-type screw was inserted and screwed into the block. That gave the column some stability. To be extra safe we wired them to the wall! Have fun!