Tutorials – Page 7 – Love My DIY Home

DIY Tomato Cages and Gardening Tips {Love My DIY Home}

DIY Tomato Cages – Save the Maters!

It’s TOMATO GROWING TIME! We made our own tomato cages …because those tomato cages you buy at Menards are so stinkin’ expensive! We started out with the skinny wire ones that were left in the garden by the previous owners. FAIL. Then we graduated on to the heavy duty ones – but only bought two – $8 each is crazy, don’t you think? In my uber-frugal mind that is a FAIL. When you have 50+ tomato plants there is no way you can justify $400 for cages. No way. We’d already put a grand into our new garden so there was no way we would put out another $400 for cages. If you want to hire mailbox posts, you can check it out here! So we made our own…out of concrete reinforcing mesh. We cut up a big roll of the mesh and made about 35 of them. … Read more

A Furniture Artisan and Videographer in the Making – 12 Year Old Isaac

A Furniture Artisan in the Making – 12 Year Old Isaac Does that sound like a title full of hype? It's all true and I'm as amazed as I promise you will be. Just keep reading… My 12 year old grandson, Isaac, helped me put together a furniture re-design video course for kids, Creative Kids Furniture Art, by demonstrating each step – all by himself – and he did a mighty fine job to boot. Let's Start at the Very Beginning, a Very Nice Place to Start… We set up my tripod, added my IPhone to record, and I told him what to do and he did it – start to finish. What did he do? I had a set of matching accent tables that we bought off a FB BST site. I told him how to prep, paint and create art on the top to flip … Read more

Antique Door Hall Tree Part 2 – The Seat

#sponsored The Second Part of My Upcycled Hall Tree Project. First I painted a door for the back drop of my hall tree. See it here: Antique Door Hall Tree Part 1. Now I’m showing you the seat part I’ve attached. It was an antique radio base that I found at an antiques estate sale. The Before MATERIALS (RED indicates affiliate links for your convenience) Old Fashioned Milk Paint Snow White Old Fashioned Milk Paint Marigold Yellow Old Fashioned Milk Paint Salem Red Scotts Rags General Finishes Gray Gel Stain General Finishes Gel Top Coat – Wipe On Polyvine Wax Finish Flat Varnish Renaissance Innovations Paint Brush Thinking Outside the Box Since it has a flat back, there are few uses it could be upcycled for – it’s a perfect fit for a hall tree. I cleaned and sanded it, then white washed it with Snow White Old … Read more

Antique Door Hall Tree Part 1 – THE DOOR

#sponsored post About 4 years ago… We bought several doors at an auction house that had been stripped off a house that was being torn down. The house was over 100 years old and falling apart. Here is one, How to Upcycle an Antique Door Part One and How to Upcycle an Antique Door Part Two that I upcycled a while ago with spray paint and regular paint, making it into a hall tree that now sits in my entry way. It’s one of my favorite project to date. Today I show you another project with another door from that house, but upcycled differently – different paint, different techniques, different colors. THE BEFORE MATERIALS (RED indicates affiliate links for your convenience) Old Fashioned Milk Paint Snow White Old Fashioned Milk Paint Marigold Yellow Old Fashioned Milk Paint Salem Red Scotts Rags Polyvine Wax Finish Flat Varnish Robe … Read more

A Shiny New Dresser for our Master

Sponsored Post Some would correct my title and say I should use the term “chest of drawers” but I’ll stick with how I was raised and use the word “dresser” – since that is what I’ve always heard and said. I still say “pop” instead of “soda” much to the chagrin of my grandsons too. We transplanted from Michigan to Wisconsin but I still proudly carry my roots to this new soil without regret. (No mixed metaphors here) So “dresser” it is. I discovered a new product recently – Retique It. Michele, the owner of Retique It, had mentioned the product a couple of times on our Facebook Forum, Furniture Flipping Forum, so I struck up a conversation with her to find out more. She ended up sending me a whole kit to try out. I looked around my stash of furniture for just the right project on which … Read more

“From Messed Up to Dressed Up” An Accent Table Update

“Clarissa” Just before I opened up my new membership site, Furniture Flipping Forum, I put together a three day course showing how to take an all wood accent table “From messed Up to Dressed Up.” It was a big challenge because it was in very rough shape to begin with and took longer to prep this piece than anticipated. The old varnish was thick and all crackled with parts falling off because it was so old and dried out. Pieces were falling off and there were gouges and loose veneer. Every time I look at it I stare in wonder how something so unattractive can be turned into a masterpiece. But when you learn the steps, it can be done with a bit of elbow grease and know how…with lots of patience. If I hadn’t planned on providing this three day course to those interested in Furniture Flipping … Read more

“Augusta” Coffee Table Opts for an Old-World Style

#sponsored Different Products, Different Techniques, Same Old-World Look Augusta, a long coffee table, was originally part of a trio – her children were refinished in an old world style but with different products. See Cora and Nora’s transformation here. I only have one before picture and it’s of Nora, the matching end table: Augusta and her 2 matching pieces came home with us from an estate sale two summers ago. They were crammed into our van, taken home and sat in our basement for more than a year waiting to be given new life. No one else wanted the three pieces. I set my price, made my bid and got them easier than I expected. I had no problem envisioning how I wanted them to look. From the start knew I would split them up and do some experimenting. The first set, the end tables, Cora … Read more

Steam Punk Mixed Media Nightstand for DH

#sponsored While shopping at a Restore in MI We happened upon their 50% off furniture day. I found a three drawer nightstand that would be perfect for my DH’s (darling hubby) side of the bed. I already had one that I had repainted for my side of the bed and he had my mom’s little antique table that wasn’t nearly big enough for him and all his junk…all his precious possessions. He needed drawers to hide all his stuff, so this at $20 fit the bill. And of course I have to start with the before: There is so much to tell about about this one. Lot’s of improvisation, creativity, and experimentation was called for, and I’m glad it turned out well because it was for my DH’s Christmas gift. I used a ton of resources for this project – I’ll list links below, … Read more

A Christmas Gift for Jillian

My DD, Jillian, is my Social Media Specialist for my furniture flipping business and is way under paid. Picture her holding up a sign that says, “I work for paint.” Not to mention the patience her DH, Taylor, has shown in regard to her time spent on the forum. So I figured I’d grab one of the pieces she’s hinted that she’d like to have one day with a, “So…what do you plan to do with that piece?” We find so many cool pieces, and she spends so much time on my social media accounts, how could I not paint her something for Christmas? So here is the “before.” Nothing special, just an old outdated three tiered plant stand. BUT, “nothing special” can be so easily turned into, “This is amazing,” with a little paint and creativity. BEFORE I never did get any ideas out of her … Read more

An MCM Road Rescue by the DH

#sponsored DH brought home a side of the road freebie last summer. 14 months ago I cleaned and sanded it. A few months ago I primed it. Just yesterday I finally got to painting it. Go Bold or Go home, right? So here it is in the raw…sad and unwanted, tossed out for the garbage truck. It’s a Mersman MCM. And it was Uggg-Lee. Here is my disclaimer regarding the MCM label in case anyone cares: When researching this table, we could find nothing that placed it into the mid-century or mid-century modern category. Though Mersman tables are plenteous, there aren’t any out there like this one. So who knows? Mid-Century…Mid-Century Modern? Vintage? Antique? Either way, it’s old and not from this era. The store closed down in the mid 90s and produced more than their share of tables for around 100 years. … Read more