Easy DIY Rescue of a Damaged Side Table

A Simple Solution for a Damaged Side Table What do you do with a side table that has a damaged surface? Years ago I bought this blonde side table at a garage sale for a few dollars and put it beside our bed when we moved to Wausau, on my husband’s side. It was in a hallway for years, but I thought it would be nice from my DH to have it since I gave away his Aunt Emily’s table to my daughter to refinish. See her project here. Guess what? The top of the table developed some mysterious white rings and most of the top was water damaged. Don’t worry my DH, I won’t tell anyone it was you. Besides, you did me a favor! Read on… I had thought for a year that I would have to sand it down and restain it, but really didn’t like the … Read more

Before and After Kitchen

Our Kitchen Before and After

We vacated our tiny rental house in old people’s land, downtown Wausau, and began our much sought after fairy tale a year ago. Our new Hobbit House was a foreclosure that had been vacated for a year – Hobbitless, you might say. There is something to be said for the hominess of a Hobbit Hole. I wanted my home to be cozy and homey like Bilbo’s. source Fortunately the structure the house was decent – it just needed a little TLC and I had to get my vision. (No, the picture above isn’t my house – it’s a Hobbit-Hole.) Here are before pictures. Not bad, but not what I call home. And certainly not fit for a Hobbit. NOTHING short of fairy tale is good enough. My home is where my grandkids and I were going to snuggle and read stories and have adventures. This is where my family and … Read more

Top of the Kitchen Cupboard DIY Deco | Love My DIY Home

10 Steps to Decorating Your Home on a Tight Budget

I’ve given a lot of thought to my DIY projects. I search the Internet for ideas. The thing I enjoy the most is looking at other blogs that focus on home decor. But they can be my worst enemy at times too. Why? Because I don’t always feel I can measure up. The problem with looking at what other people do is I tend to compare myself with them – oh boy, that can be a big mistake if I’m not careful I can become discouraged. We will always find someone who can do it better than us. The key is to realize that and use their example as inspiration rather than let it defeat or discourage us. Some of the home decor blogs are amazing! They have perfect houses and perfect photography to share their home decor. Oh, and let’s not forget, they have perfect writing styles, and even … Read more

Gold and silver metallic spray painted leaves {Love My DIY Home}

DIY Metalic Leaves

My DH brought me home some gold and silver metallic spray paint because I mentioned it would look cool to paint maple leaves silver or gold. A couple of days ago I asked him to buy some blackboard paint and he came home with 2 cans of the gold and metallic paint. Here is the gold spray paint at Amazon (afflink) – Rust-Oleum Metallic Color Spray Paint. You know, it’s like when you ask them to buy milk and bread and they come home with a grocery bag full of other stuff. Except my good doobie hubby thought of me and bought me something that thought would make me happy. I had a friend tell me recently that her favorite Mother’s Day gift was a truck load of manure for the garden. Different strokes for different folks, for sure. He said he wanted to get me a DIY craft that … Read more

Canning Tomatoes for the First Time – DIY Fun!

Canning Tomatoes for the First Time   ~ with Mom ~ I honestly didn’t want to garden. I told my family I would watch with a lemonade in my hand while sitting in a lawn chair as they worked the garden. But I actually enjoyed the planting and working with the flowers and vegis. It was a bit disappointing when the surprise frost took the lives of half of our tomatoes, but you know what they say, as long as you learn from your mistakes… Now my kitchen table is full of tomatoes in various stages, waiting for them to ripen so we can can them. So I will be canning only a few at at time over the next couple of weeks. I’ll keep you posted. Of course I will have to show you a picture of all my filled mason jars when I’m done. We had a dozen or … Read more

Printable Labels for Your Foodie Fall Gifts from Lia Griffith

  I came across these beautiful foodie labels this morning and just had to share. Lia Griffith from Handcraft Your Life designed them and is giving them away FREE! Hop on over there and take a look. She has other interesting items you might like as well. I can see these on all sorts of projects for Christmas…combined with either spray adhesive on the back to fix it to the gift jar or basket or Mod Podged! Oh how I love Mod Podge! Or, you could print them right onto a sticker sheet and then cut them to the size you need. Here are some close-ups of her beautiful gift jars and baskets. They inspire me! So cute! Have you ever given food gifts for Christmas? I just canned some grape jam today and it turned out great. I’m thinkin’ that might just be the ticket! Or maybe homemade candy … Read more

DIY Family Cookbook

A DIY Family Cookbook “Mom, what was that recipe for that stuff Grandpa Woodward brought home from the shop?” “Doesn’t Aunt Penny make that Broccoli Cauliflower salad? Do you know how to make it, Mom?” “My chili doesn’t taste like yours, what type of beans do you use?” I had three teen boys our last two years of homeschooling and the last year we spent a lot of time in the kitchen. We put together a family cookbook and updated it several times. Here are a few shots of our 2010 cookbook. We have gifted it to our kids for Christmas many times over the years as each of them moved out into their own homes. Here is the cover and a few shots of some of the pages. I ordered this book from Picaboo. They had a deal at the time – buy one and get two free. If … Read more

Simple DIY – Repurposed Deco

Simple DIY – Repurposed Decor   DO YOU REPURPOSE OR DO YOU JUST TOSS?   A little bit of money, a little bit of time and a little bit of ingenuity… I’ve added a few little things to welcome fall into my home. I bought on clearance a bulletin board that a graduate would use at an open house and changed it into a jewelry holder. Simple changes can easily repurpose items. Ever heard the expression, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure”? It’s true! The graduate bulletin board was originally $35.00 at Kohls and I got it for $3.50 on clearance. Don’t ya just love Kohls? At the time I wasn’t sure what I would use them for; I thought I could give one or two to someone for Christmas, and maybe use one in the church office. But now that I’ve discovered another use for them (I bought … Read more

Take a walk and look around for the beauty of the outdoors - Love My DIY Home

Fall Splendor – Canvasing the Neighborhood

There are times when you find the unexpected all around you and are forced to pause for a moment and take it all in. I know I drove my husband crazy today, but I just couldn’t help it. He’s the quiet unassuming humble, let’s think about it a while and don’t be too hasty kinda guy. We’re a good fit, but I didn’t always see it that way. Funny how life can change your perspective. Anyway, back to my driving him crazy today. We went out canvasing today for our church, Northside Baptist of Wausau. I was uber tired, having been up half the night working on printing a trifold for today’s event. Long story, but basically, our printer guy failed to deliver our flyers on time so I was spending oodles of time printing them on an office inkjet so we’d have them in time for this morning’s event. … Read more

DIY Chalkboard Cabinet Doors {Love My DiY Home}

DIY Kitchen Cabinet Makeover – Chalkboard Paint!

This kitchen is just so adorable. While sitting in church I had a thought…Brad and Jen just re-did their kitchen, maybe they would like it featured. Now, now, it wasn’t during preaching, so don’t think I was playing mental hookey! Grass certainly doesn’t grow under their feet. As I’m printing church tri-folds after church, the pictures are rolling in… I’ve not seen this in person, so just I’m lovin’ what they’ve done. Their space isn’t big, but their ideas certianly are. This just makes me want to grab a cup of coffee and sit down at their table – well, it’s after five p.m., so I suppose it had better be decaffeinated… Enjoy your tour – I sure am! Can you tell Brad and Jen like coffee? They attached rope lights around the window above the sink.    Here is a DIY canvas art that Brad created. I explain the … Read more

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