Love My DIY Home

Dramatic Kitchen Makeover

I found this dramatic makeover of a kitchen that went from drab to amazing on Designed with Carla Aston. Her story originally appeared several years ago in the Kitchens and Baths magazine. Her challenge was to take builder standard oak cabinets and make them look good. Well, let me tell you, she did more than make them look good! Homeowners who are searching for Roanoke kitchebn cabinets may contact Roanoke River Cabinetry. Check out https://peelandstickwallmurals.com/ for a wide range of themes and styles to transform any room. Since I like to work with what I already have because I am frugal and try to be a good steward, I see this as a great example of how you can make drastic changes without ripping everything out and starting over. But, on the other hand, if your space needs that major makeover, you can put your trust on companies like the … Read more

Old Baby Dresser into Master Bedroom Lingerie Chest & Matching Desk DIY

OLD BABY DRESSER TRANSFORMS INTO MASTER BEDROOM LINGERIE CHEST Get Creative With That Old Unused Furniture Don’t give that old crummy dresser away! A couple of years ago just after my daughter was married, she called me up and said, “What are you going to do with that old baby dresser I used to have in my room?” Translated, that means, “I need a dresser and I can’t afford to buy one. Can I have your old junky one?” As a mom, you need to learn to read between the lines when you get those calls. Since I have an emotional attachment to that old thing, I told her, “Umm, I don’t think so.” She of course knows how to read in between my lines as well. She knew it meant, “I’m attached; I have no idea why I’d like to keep it, but you can’t have it.” … Read more

From Wine Rack to Towel Holder

Do you re-purpose? I saw on Pinterest a wine rack that was re-purposed into a towel holder. Here is the post from Ashley at Rustic Living, who had the original idea. Ashley has a lot of neat ideas about decorating in a rustic look. She got her wine rack very cheaply at a consignment shop, but I searched online for the rack and found it but it was super expensive at retail price. So I spent the past year looking for a wine rack that I liked, but it also had to be affordable and fit into my planned decor for my master bath. I finally found the one I now use at a consignment shop in Rib Mountain. I bought it for $15.00 and I didn’t even have to paint it! Here it is with my new towels from Kohls, of course! What have you re-purposed?

Before and After Half Bath

BEFORE & AFTER HALF BATH We Moved into our house October of 2012. It was a foreclosure that had sat for a year unoccupied. The story of how we found it was quite miraculous. We had moved from the Kalamazoo area in Michigan to Wausau, Wisconsin about 2 1/2 years ago into a tiny rental house. We didn’t want to rush into a new house, partly because we had some pretty specific needs in our next house, and partly because we wanted to get a good deal. Hiring a professional moving company such as https://threemovers.com/germany-international-moving-companies/ made the transition smoother. We must have looked at 100 houses over the two year span…but that’s another story for another day. But today, I’m sharing our little half-bath redesign. It is simple – just a bit of painting made all the difference. I’ve had a lot of requests to show before and after … Read more

Use Old Stumps for Tables and Seats

Do You Re-purpose? Our neighbor kindly cut up a fallen tree for us a couple of months after a storm with high winds hit us in the middle of the night. While my grandson, Isaac, and I were picking up the wood and stacking it, I had a thought, “Why not use the thicker stump part as a chair for the grandkids at our s’mores roast?” So we dragged them over to the fire pit and placed them around in a circle. They work great for little end tables too. Fortunately our neighbor cut them to the perfect height and very level. I wonder if he thought of using them this way as he was cutting them up? Here’s a picture of a family cook out that I snatched from my daughter’s facebook page showing our stumps in use. Cost for tables and chairs: one dead tree, sitting around the … Read more

Old Watering Can Turned Decor

Porch Decor Series Here’s an old watering can that was dented and scratched up that we got at an auction as part of another lot of “junk”. Just remember, “One man’s junk is another DIYer’s treasure.” I had Mark bang out the dents and I sanded out some of the flaking metal. I gave into my spray paint obsession once again and turned it into another porch decor piece. I love saying, “piece.” Sounds so artsy doesn’t it? Repurpose! Sometimes simple is good.

Re-purpose Old Chairs

Re-purposing Old Chairs More on my Porch Decor series… Often when you buy things at auctions they offer a smattering of this and that hoping to snag you on one item just to get rid of a dozen others. Some days my husband announces he won an auction and lists the different things in the grouping. It’s not uncommon for him to submit a low ball bid just to see if he can win. (I think it’s a sickness we’ve both contracted!) There is usually only one thing he wants in the group. If he wins, he brings the whole lot home and asks me if I want any of the extra stuff. Recently he won an auction that had 3 old chairs – dusty grimy old chairs that would only be valuable to someone wanting to have a bon fire… or a DH DIYer (die hard do it … Read more

Spray Painting Old Decor – A Quick Fix

We recently moved from a larger house in Michigan that housed all 17 of us – yes, I said 17. I have 15 children. If you want to do a little reading on our family and my life these past few years, visit my family blog at: Mom of Many. Below you can see a picture of the last time we were all together in 2004. We weren’t able to downsize when our last 3 children moved out, or to put it less graciously, get rid of all the junk, because we had our house on the market for nearly 3 years. All our stuff we needed to get out of the house to improve the look while it was on the market went into boxes and were piled up in the garage. We had to put on the “face.” You know the, “Come look at our house – we … Read more

Welcome to LMDH!

Hi there, Because we love our DIY home, I am here to share with you some of the things we’ve learned along the way. I’m married to Mark, nicknamed DH (Darling Hubby). We’re just normal people trying to be good stewards of our money while we create a home that not only is comfortable, and inviting, but affordable as well. We raised 15 kids – 13 special needs adopted, 2 homemade We are retired from full-time ministry where I taught for 9 years in the church school I homeschooled for a few years We live in Wisconsin, transplanted from Michigan I now teach furniture flipping online There is no reason to re-invent the wheel if someone else has already done it – so I share with you what I’ve learned here on LMDH. Sharing ideas is how many of us improve our homes and enjoy some of the better … Read more