Tag Archives: DIY project

DIY Plant Stand Makeover

I bought this small table a few years ago. It was meant to be used for drinks and such, but it’s just so small that it makes a much better plant stand. Well, I left it out on our patio over the winter, and this happened:

Oops.

At first, I thought I’d chip out the tile and replace it with a more colorful sheet of the mosaic stuff you find at the hardware stores. Then I realized what a horrendous project that would be. So, I switched to how to cover the problem 😉

Then I remembered the scrap-paper covered coasters I made last year. Mod Podge is a miracle worker, right?

So, I dug out the same items I’d used in the coaster project, selected a piece of scrapbook paper, and got to work!

Like. New.

Create-Your-Own Container Garden

I’ve been a fan of container gardens since we got married and moved into a third-floor condo that had two decks. There’s quite a lot you can do with a few planters! I’ve carried my admiration to our new home, and it’s still proving very handy since we haven’t really touched our backyard yet as far as landscaping is concerned. We have lots of ideas, but those ideas cost money, so for the time being, we’re content with our patio set, grill, and whole bunch of pots full of pretty blooms.

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Progress Is Progress

I don’t have anything exciting to share with you today (cue disappointed “awww”), but I feel I owe you all a post explaining my recent absence. The reason for this absence is twofold: too many projects underway at one time, and limited time to actually make progress on any of them.

This is what I mean:

We purchased crown moulding (yea!) But… we have yet to patch it, paint it, and install it. So now it’s hanging out in our dining room with my makeshift growing table.

We finished painting the small hallway between our kitchen and powder room (yea!) and started on the powder room (another yea!). But… we haven’t even cut in around all the baseboards yet. Last weekend was our anniversary (6 years!), and hanging out together sounded a lot better than painting!

And in the midst of all these started projects, we still have our day jobs, our dog, our somewhat neglected workout schedule, and all the other joys of daily life to juggle.

One step at a time, right?

BUT I did not forget about my blogiversary this week! Please stop back on Thursday for a special post and my first giveaway!

How To: Create a Gallery Wall

Finally! After months and months and months and… you get the picture (ha! pun intended), we finally have a gallery wall in our family room. I thought the hardest part would be arranging the frames, but the hardest part turned out to be selecting what would go up on the wall! And dealing with a certain unruly zebra pencil sketch whose dimensions didn’t want to cooperate with the frames I’d purchased.

Let me give you a breakdown of how to hang it – I found this method to be SUPER helpful, and I would definitely use it again.

Start by tracing your frames onto paper. I’ve seen all kinds of things on Pinterest, like craft paper or newspaper. I started this after Christmas (yes, I realize that was nearly 3 months ago… I am notoriously/embarrassingly slow at completely projects), so I grabbed a pile of used wrapping paper that was, errm, still is, waiting to be recycled.

If possible, employ a frame-tracing helper. An 8-lb puppy is excellent for this task, until she starts shredding all of the paper all over the floor…

Once you’ve got all your templates traced and cut, arrange them on your wall with tape. It was awesome how easy it was to rearrange the layout until I was happy with it. And great to see a “true-to-life” size layout instead of just doing sketches on the backs of junk mail envelopes. I had also arranged the frames & pictures on the floor, but seeing the arrangement up on the wall made it a little easier to evaluate what went next to what, how close/far apart should they be, etc.

From here, you can mark where you want the nails to go, or nail directly through the paper templates. Then get to the good part… hanging!

If you’re curious, here are some details on what I chose to hang. From top left: hummingbird photo by EZ Pudewa (of Creature Comforts fame), which I purchased from her Society6 shop / watercolor tree print by Angie Vandenbogaard / culinary postcard / zebra pencil sketch from my dad’s aunt / leftover suzani fabric from my placemat project.

I like that we still have room to add onto the gallery, especially on the sides, or upward to the ceiling. I don’t feel like it’s quite “finished” yet, but at least it’s a nice little collection to start from!

Have you hung a gallery wall? Have you tried the template method? Or did another tip work really well?

PS – all of the frames came from Michaels. They offer quite a few options in a Gallery collection, and you can even find/buy templates to follow if you don’t want to create one yourself. They weren’t too pricey, but I made sure to stock up when they were on sale, or take my 40%-off coupons with me. Another reason why it took a while to put this together 😉

Pinterest Challenge: Corkboard Jewelry Display

Whew! Well, this Pinterest Challenge really lived up to its name! It was a challenge, not for skills required but in satisfaction with the results. I still don’t know if I love it, but it’s a lot better than where I ended up after the first try! So, like with many things, let’s look at where we started to understand where/how/why things ended up like they did 🙂

A few weeks ago, I saw the pin below from Cutting Edge Stencils, (the original comes from Southern Lovely).

I had an old corkboard lying around so I figured I’d give it a go. I started out by painting the frame a darker coppery color.

I wasn’t in love, but I thought once I added a design on the cork itself, it’d look better.

Not. So. Much. Once again, my crafting impatience struck. Partway through, I decided I wanted a more random pattern than a uniform one. And I was experimenting with different shades of purple. Yea…… not loving it. So, out came the black paint for a frame re-do. Then, I only had the cork to contend with. I was over painting at this point, so I tried craft paper.

Ugh, seriously?

In the end, my fabric scrap bin came in for the win!

And looks much jazzier than craft paper. I like jazzier.

Did you take on the Pinterest Challenge: Winter Edition? Check out more pinspiration in action from Megan, Katie, Sherry and Michelle!