Are you an older, younger or an in-betweener? On my way to work I was thinking about a comment made on my guest post about making your home Alzheimer's ready. For some reason this has overshadowed my thinking lately and I have to address it. The comment was that we should always hire a professional in home updates. I asked my Facebook followers on Love My DIY Home page if they agreed with him and several didn't. Now that's not to say that there aren't jobs we shouldn't tackle. That goes without saying. Last July we had a problem with our well that had to be addressed immediately because we had several back to back family activities with a full out of people. So yes, there are times where we have to hire someone else to take care of a problem. BUT, I think we do it too often. I think we just accept the Continue reading
Hobby Lobby Hack – or so I thought!
I thought I was going to do a candle holder Hobby Lobby hack... I've been admiring a few pieces of decor in a friend's house and finally asked if I could do some hacks on her home decor. Check out a picture of my friend's candle holder - I thought it was from Hobby Lobby but when I asked if I could do a (afflink) Hobby Lobby Hack of her candle holder, she told me it was her own DIY project! I was surprised (not because she I didn't think she had it in her, but because it was so Hobby Lobby-ish). I actually had looked around (afflink) Hobby Lobby to see if I could find it in the store to see how expensive it was so I could do a cost comparison of "Store vs. DIY!" Here is her candle holder Hobby Lobby look alike: This is what she said when I Continue reading
10 DIY Projects to Upcycle Old Picture Frames + A FREE Printable!
We downsized recently and have 4 boxes of old picture frames filled with my kid's pictures. I don't have much wall space in this new house, so I needed to figure out what to do with all the frames. Boxes and boxes of frames... Not only am I a Mom of Many; I am also a photographer. 15 8x10 frames of school pictures on one wall from my old house... various framed candids, family pictures, sports pictures, baby pictures etc. all over the other walls. That's a lot of frames! After a bit of research online I have come up with some fab ideas to share with you. Actually I did this for me, but you are free to join the party. I encourage you to click on each original source to see the ones with tutorials and if you pin any projects, please do it from the original source (as in, click on Continue reading
From Trash to Treasure – Update old brass decor, don’t toss it!
I told you about the cast off treasures I got from a friend in my first From Trash to Treasure post here. Here are brass pieces that NO ONE wants. After painting the brass finishes with my dark walnut satin Rust-Oleum spraypaint, I decided to mix and match the parts to make new pieces. Brass decor isn't very popular these days, but there is no reason we can't update. When I painted this one, (pic above) the paint didn't settle in the grooves, giving it dimension. (It's OK to go ahead and think I planned this.) I put the painted brass on my kitchen island to dry in the warm kitchen (negative 10 degrees in my garage where I painted it). Each time I passed by them, I thought about how they would look once I put them together. I don't wait very Continue reading
DIY Chunky Photo Frame – Re-purpose Old Picture Frames Part 3
I have picture frames up the wazoo! Seriously, I must have more than three or four dozen wood frames packed in boxes… In the garage, In the basement, In my craft closet, In my blanket chest… Nope. There aren’t any blankets in it. Just picture frames. Some day I will paint that blanket chest with chalk paint and actually use it for blankets. When you raise 15 kids like we did and tote a camera around with you 24/7, your house easily turns into a virtual scrapbook. Now we are empty nesters (yay for us!) and have downsized. So I have to justify keeping all my frames and not just “Give them all away to Goodwill to be rid of them.” (That solution was courtesy of my DH.) I’ve been on a mission to Continue reading
Cabinet Door Chalkboard – EASY DIY
Chalkboard DIY - Crazy Easy Here is the promised cabinet door chalkboard easy DIY from my fall porch. Seriously, this took me less than 5 minutes. Not everything you see is a difficult to achieve as it seems. Sometimes it's crazy easy. This is one of those. Here it is on my porch: I started with a clearanced kitchen cabinet from Menards. I paid $3. I bought three of them all in different colors. I would have painted it using chalky paint, but it was already painted! I can deal with that... I pryed out the little plastic hinge thingys and used that spot to hang it from my ladder by nails. I had planned to paint the inside part of the door with chalkboard paint like my Continue reading
Do It Yourself Photo Session – NEWBORN BABY!
My daughter Jillian and I recently did a newborn baby girl photo shoot for my new granddaughter, Madison Grace. Have you priced photo shoots lately? I have and it's not pretty. There is no reason you can't do your own and do it well. The background in the above picture was the Jones' living room curtains. Maddie is laying on her crib quilt atop my DVD basket from my livingroom propped on my bigger basket that we use to store winter gloves and scarves that sits in my entry way. There is nothing more fun than taking pictures of our new baby and being able to say, "I took that." Our oldest daughter, April, had Madison a week ago. It's her home that I followed during their remodel Continue reading
Upcycling Trash? Repurposing? Double Duty-ing? Thrifting?
It's a way of life. Or, maybe it's an obsession. I suppose it depends on who's describing it. Upcycling trash isn't as bad as it sounds. We throw away so much trash. We can't upcycle it all, but why not some? Good for the environment (I'm not a tree hugger, just responsible.) Good for the pocketbook (It's rewarding to save a buck!) Good for you (It's fun to own original creative works of art and one of a kind decor!) Here are some examples from my recent post Craft Room Closet Makeover. Old Box Springs - cut them off and use to hang projects on a wall. (I've seen them hold candles too.) Ningxia Red packing materials turned paint supplies - use to hold up your painting project or as a spray paint caddy, brush holder or paint stick Continue reading
How to Upcycle an Antique Door – Part 2
In How to Upcycle an Antique Door Part 1, I showed you how I had painted brown on one side. Now I will show you what I did to the other side. I kid you not - this is by far the coolest project I've done and you could for sure do this yourself. Now you'll see what I did to the other side and the end product. Here are the two sides... IN THE RAW This is the one side that I painted brown that you read about last week. Now let's look at side two. MATERIALS (Affiliate Links) Sanding Sponge Rust-Oleum 2x Painters Touch Spray Paint American Decor Creme Wax Hobby Lobby Hardware 1 " Corner Brackets Step One – Side Two: Clean and Continue reading
How to Upcycle an Antique Door – Part 1
This is my favorite DIY thus far, an upcycled antique door turned into a trendy piece of home decor for just pennies. My DH and I found some old doors at an auction - about two years ago. They've been sitting out under our lean-to since, just calling to me, "Paint me, Paint me..." Here are the before pictures - side one. Here are the before pictures - side two. They're pretty cool in the raw, but I had other plans. This will turn into a series because there were many steps to the project. Step One: Clean and sand both sides, but not so much that you lose the textured layers of old paint. I used a Sanding Continue reading
