DIY
DIY Charging Bench for Electronic Devices
If charging all the electronic devices in your home has become a chaotic nightmare of jumbled cords, let me introduce you to my DIY charging bench for electronic devices. It’s a way to hide all of your charging cables and devices in plain sight. It’s my answer to the kitchen charging drawer because I’ve always wanted one of those, but we’ve never had a spare kitchen drawer with outlets in the back. I won’t promise this charging bench will eliminate all the cord chaos, but it can help you hide it. That’s half the battle! A charging bench can be made from any bench that has a hidden storage compartment. The…
How to Paint Metal Pool Coping with Marine Paint
This post is for a super small percentage of the population who have a really old pool with metal coping and are wondering if they can paint that metal pool coping. Yes! You can! (Editor’s Note: I wrote a blog post with an honest assessment about how the paint is holding up after 2 years. You can read that here. To find out how we painted the coping and the paint we used, continue reading this blog post.) If you aren’t familiar with the term, pool coping is what caps the edge of a pool. Modern pools are built with pool coping made out of concrete or stone, but some…
In Praise of the Mansard Roof
Do you follow the Mansard Monday hashtag on Instagram? It’s a good one if you are as smitten with Mansard roofs as I am. What’s a Mansard roof? Glad you asked. Even if you don’t recognize the name, I know you’ve seen the style. Remember, I’m a fan girl, not an architect, but here’s my amateur explanation. A Mansard roof is a 4-sided gambrel-style hip roof. Woo! That’s a mouthful. What’s a gambrel? Think of a classic barn roof like that Fisher Price barn toy your kid had growing up. It has two symmetrical sides and each side has two slopes. What about a hip roof? With a hip roof,…
DIY Cabinet Door Tray
I am so happy to share a DIY Cabinet Door Tray project with you today because it’s not mine! No work was involved on my part. I just get to look at fun pictures, be inspired, and share them with you. It’s a good feeling. There’s even a twist in this project that I didn’t see coming. I love a good twist. Today’s DIY Cabinet Door Tray project comes from someone I affectionately refer to as The Junk Whisperer. Seeing what she’s created out of actual junk over the years has inspired me to take a second look at everyday objects and reimagine them in a new light. Ready to…
Shed Makeover and Tip for Picking Black Paint
I have the most satisfying shed makeover to share with you today. It is satisfying because nothing fancy happened. All we did was finish someone else’s project (it happens) and address the neglect that had occurred over time. The makeover occurred on the little shed that houses our pool pump and equipment. It’s tiny. We can’t even stand up fully inside of it. We aren’t sure when the shed was built, but the back side of it and the cupola were missing the cedar shake siding. Our best guess is the previous owner ran out of supplies and never finished the project. The last 5% of any project is the…
How to Add a Console Sink to a Vanity
Is it possible to add a console sink to a vanity? Yes it is! By doing so you get the style of a console sink or other wall-mounted sink without sacrificing storage. Whether you build a custom vanity like we did or retrofit an existing vanity, we will show you how to attach a console sink to a vanity so that it looks good. Spoiler: It’s all in the transition from sink to vanity. Add a Console Sink to a Vanity Step #1: Figure out what you are working with. Carefully flip the console sink or wall-mounted sink over so you can see the underside of the sink. We set…
3 Mirror Makeovers to Try
Mirror, mirror on the wall, which of these three mirror makeovers is the fairest of them all? That’s right! I have 3 mirror makeovers to fuel your creative juices today. All my hopes and dreams would be fulfilled if you take one of my ideas and make it your own! Here are 3 mirror makeovers to get your ideas flowing: MIRROR MAKEOVER #1: DIY ROPE MIRROR If you can use hot glue, you can make a rope mirror. All you need is a round mirror, rope, and hot glue. I’m using 3/8-inch sisal rope for this project and 100-feet of it should cost less than $12. That’s WAY more rope…
Wood Flag Painted on an Old Door
Our Colonial Farmhouse dates back to the 1780s. The small barn on our property isn’t quite that old, but we know it is over 100 years old. On the side of our barn hung a wood flag. Well, what was left of it. The American flag was only recognizable on that strip of wood because that symbol is imprinted on our subconscious. I didn’t hang the wood flag there. I don’t know how long it had been hanging there. Suffice to say, that poor wood flag had seen a storm or two. We actually didn’t realize the American flag was on a wood door until we took the flag down.…
How to Fill Gaps in Wood Floors with Oakum
For the small percentage of you living in really old houses (bless you!), let me share one of the more historically accurate ways to fill gaps in wood floors with oakum. This is the information I needed when we bought our Colonial Farmhouse and didn’t know what to do about the gaps between the original wood floorboards. I had to comb through the internet to find bits and pieces of information, so I’m combining what I learned all in one place with links out to the information that helped me. If the gaps in your wood floors don’t bother you, leave them. But if your kids can push things through…
No Sew DIY Privacy Liner for Woven Shades
Today I’m going to show you how to make a No Sew Privacy Liner for Woven Shades. If I can do this – a gal who doesn’t own a sewing machine – you can do this! I’m defining ‘no sew’ as not using a sewing machine. My DIY does include a needle and thread. If you are really opposed to that, I have an alternative that is truly no-sew. It gets the job done. However, in my experience, it is more expensive, doesn’t look as good, and it won’t last as long. Yep! I tried ALL the techniques I could think of in my desperation the process of figuring out this No Sew Privacy…
