Do you have any furniture that is truly awful, but you just can't seem to get rid of it? Well, that is my old leather ottoman. I bought it originally with a great Pottery Barn-ish knock off chair that I still use and love, but this ottoman has taken a real bruising over the years. The real kicker is all the black sharpie art on the top created by one of my lovely children. At first I was devastated with the graffiti, then it became a reminder of what is really important and ironically is one of … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2013
Apartment Make Over In A Day, For less than $450
I own a college student rental condo. It was built in the 80's, but I have had fun staying on top of updates. The last few years have drained me however: replacing carpet, fridge, furnace, washer/dryer, water heater, and dishwasher are not the kind of upgrades that are fun. With the expense of all the appliances and behind the wall stuff the general look of the place deteriorated... and the condo wasn't renting. So, it was time to overhaul. We don't live in the same town so we had one … [Read more...]
How to hang something with pre-determined holes
Have you ever tried to hang something with pre-determined hanging holes only to end up with it not level, making a million nail holes in your wall, or just frustrated and unsuccessful? Or is it just me? Here is my fool-proof way to hang stuff... without going insane: Happy Creating! … [Read more...]
How to fix a toilet paper holder or towel rod
Hands up if you love when your in-laws visit. My cyber hand is totally raised. My in-laws are fantastic. One of the things I love is that they are productively busy, busy people and they love projects almost as much as I do! They are masters at finding what needs to be done and getting it done. When they came to help me with baby girl last fall they showed up with a stapler, automatic pencil sharpener and a pack of rubber bands because they had noticed the last time they were in town my stapler … [Read more...]
Honeycomb Hexagon Shelves Tutorial
Before watching this tutorial, check out this 9/11 tribute. Today is an unusually rainy, mopey, melancholy day in my beautiful desert town. It seems fitting for today as we remember twelve years ago. This tutorial pales in comparison, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Try not to envy my awesome workshop or sweet skills: … [Read more...]
Honeycomb, Hexagon Wall Shelves. Land of Nod Inspired.
Land of Nod has great kids stuff. I hover over each page of their catalog wondering how awesome it would be to just buy one of everything. For a while I have been feeling the need to update my son's bedroom. He is four and the poor guy still has baby hand prints on his wall. I debated buying honeycomb wall shelves, but where is the fun in that? Besides, two units would cost 120 smackers. No thank you, I like the sound of $16 much better! Here is an after shot: A friend suggested I do a … [Read more...]
Design Help, bringing in the big guns
My birthday came early this year. I had a very talented designer and long-time friend Kasi walk with me room to room and talk about layout, colors, diy ideas, and furniture woes. She was awesome. By the time she left I had some great ideas (yes, even beyond the gagillion floating in my brain) and felt so validated in so many, "what I really want to do in this room..." comments. Have you ever consulted a designer? It was a first for me. Sometimes after staring at a space for a long time you stop … [Read more...]
How to build a slide
I have had a few questions about how I built the slide for the tree house. I have worked on this post for a while but still feel like it only makes sense in my head, because that's where it came from. I will work and tweak this post, but here is the best I've got for right now... I'm not gonna lie, the slide wasn't the easiest part of the tree house. In part because I had no plans that fit what I was trying to do, also because I didn't have the tools I needed to cut angles on a wide board and … [Read more...]
Forgive me…
I promised a few people I would post on the slide today. Well, good thing I didn't make it a pinky promise! I think this is my most involved post yet, all for a spilt second of speeding joy down a slide. Although the post is nearly done, it's just not quite up to snuff with diagrams and pictures. So, check in tomorrow for a killer post on slide building, you won't be sorry, I'll make it worth the wait! … [Read more...]