Budget Decorating – Page 9 – Love My DIY Home

A GREAT Hardware Option for DIY’ers – D. Lawless Hardware

CLASS IT UP with D. Lawless Hardware #sponsored post Until now I’ve been limited to local hardware stores and Hobby Lobby. When you redo a piece of furniture, it’s important to update the hardware as well…if needed. Which IMHO, is likely. Flipped furniture looks so fresh with new hardware. I’m turning into a hardware junky! BUT, my new found love can get expensive. My faves range from $4 to $20 EACH, so I’m always on the lookout for a better deal with a quality look. When the Fab Flippin’ Furniture Contest offered to hook me up with England budget garage supplies for some free promo items, I jumped at the chance! My china cabinet turned buffet was needing some new hardware. Not much of a surprise. Most do. Never heard of D.Lawless Hardware? They are an online retailer of cabinet and furniture hardware. Products include knobs, pulls, hinges, slides, hooks, … Read more

Lettuce Flower Arrangement – Use What You Have

The Most Unexpected Flower Arranging Item I grew zinnias and asters and brought them inside with my hydrangias. I planted a bunch of other stuff out in my garden. One of the things that I regrow is lettuce and celery from store bought. The lettuce will regrow once, typically, and the celery will keep growing even when you cut it. I’ve been experimenting. Crazy Lettuce I bought lettuce from Aldis and replanted it once it started regrowing (read details here). Once it was out on my deck and I cut what I wanted, I just let it grow to see what would happen. It kinda went crazy and it grew funny spirals out the top. Cut Here When I cut my flowers to bring inside I just happened to look out and see what had become of that lettuce that was going wild. I went out and cut the spirals … Read more

Weeds for Sale – Dirt Cheap! A Fun Garden Sign

Weeds 4 Sale – Dirt Cheap! DH replaced the steps leading to our basement, so I took the old boards and painted a sign for the garden – my “step garden” behind my garage. I’ll show you the before and afters of that later, but for now, here is how I did my sign (super easy): 1. Grab a board, any board. I used an old one with chippy paint – very rustic and not good for much else. 2. Hand draw your wording – you don’t have to be perfect. Just write it on and paint the letters with black paint and a little paint brush. I saw this saying on Pinterest – by Shelley at Sow and Dipity. She has so many really cute signs. 3. Take some sand paper and rough it up a bit to make it consistently “worn looking.” 4. Add a … Read more

DIY Pot Rack – Pendant Lights or Industrial Wood?

Caution: This is a really looonnng post – first the background story of a win/loss/win, 2 sets of before and afters and a detailed description of the final DIY project! It all started with a giveaway… I Won a Pendant Light! Back in January C.D. Loken at CD’s Country Living had a giveaway and I won: “In honor of CD’s Country Living’s blogging anniversary, Parrot Uncle generously agreed to send one lucky winner this LARGE (18.11 x 9.06) Retro-Industrial Light with Pot cover shade ($45 value)!” Best Laid Plans Today I can finally tell you about it. It was a long time in coming… Parrot Uncle asked me if I’d like to have a second pendant light for my kitchen to go along with the one I won in CD’s giveaway. After a few back and forth emails, we settled on the pair of lights that were just like C.D.s … Read more

Leslie Stocker Fireplace {Love My DIY Home}

Brick Fireplace Update by Leslie Stocker

Does no one know what bricks are? We were looking for bricks at the local home improvement stores and none of the clerks knew what bricks were. They kept sending me to their pile of pavers. Apparently the newest generation of home improvers doesn’t use brick any more. As a matter of fact, if you do an online search for bricks, this is what you come up with: pavers, concrete blocks, bullnoses…Bullnoses? What’s bullnose? I finally found a clerk at Home Depot that knew what an actual brick was (without me having to describe them and getting the blank deer caught in your headlights kind of look). She said you have to order them because no one carries them anymore. Um, OK. I guess the world is changing in many ways, including the most basic ways. A brick? I just can’t believe someone wouldn’t know what a brick is. … Read more

Twin End Tables & Wise Owl Chalk Synthesis Paint

Sponsored Post: I found a pair of end tables at a garage sale – outdated and in need of repair. You see it everywhere. Furniture that is chipped, stained, damaged with water rings, cracks, or maybe they are just plain outdated. Too often folks just go out and buy new when there is a better, cheaper, and easier fix. We can save money and save the the landfill by taking them home and flipping them… BEFORE In this case all they needed was a bit of glue (the center piece had come apart), a bit of patching, and a new finish. Karen at Wise Owl Paint offered to give me paint and glaze for a project to try out and review. The paint is free of harsh chemicals and solvents and is zero VOC – a great way to paint without compromising health or the environment. She also carries other … Read more

DIY Enhancing of a Side Table {Love My DIY Home}

DIY Enhancing of a Chippy Side Table

You can find the most amazing things in the least interesting places… Some guy had a cabinet from a storage auction advertised on Facebook – while my DH and I looking at it in his garage full of “junk” with my DD and SIL, I meandered around and started asking him, “How much for that…how much for that?” We left with 5 pieces of furniture. One was a beat up paint chipped, lonely, begging to be found and fixed, side table. At first we thought to paint and antique it, but after cleaning it up there was no doubt that it already had character. It just needed a little help expressing itself. Ya know…you could go out to Hobby Lobby (I heart Hobby Lobby) and just buy a chippy side table (for a ton of money). They have lots of shabby chic pieces available. But how cool would it be … Read more

Blanket Chest Flip using L'Essentiels Botanics {Love My DIY Home}

Cedar Chest Flip – L’Essentiel Botanics Furniture Paint

I was offered a chance to try out L’Essentiel Botanics furniture paint by Michelle at Serendipity House in New Hampshire. Since I’ve been doing a series on chalk paint products, I was anxious to give it a try in my cedar chest flip. If you are looking to remove the chemicals from your home, look into L’Essentiels Botanics. My family is working on it as well and I was pleasantly surprised to hear of L’Essentiel. I’m no vegan, but I am concerned about the chemicals in EVERYTHING we use and eat! Their furniture paint line is vegan (other than beeswax), all natural, and in biodegradable containers with no masking agents. The chalks, clays, minerals, pigments are made by a small company in Australia in small batches. The wax has no solvents (i.e. drying agents) and is smooth with great coverage. The clear wax, which has no solvents, can be used … Read more

A Family Dresser Rescue – April FFFC

Fab Flippin’ Furniture Contest “Pure Colors, Original Elegance” Preserving Family Memories is a Comfort to the Soul Back in 1978 we bought a set of dressers from my parents for $50 just after we were married. Years later my mom wanted them back so we traded for the set she had at the time. I’ve since given the upright dresser to my DD and kept the other for my walk in closet: Do you have reminders of your parents around the house? Have you considered the FACT that one day your loved ones will move on? Are you preparing to have a piece of them close by for memory sake? My dad passed away when I was 26 (30 years ago) and my mom a year ago. This is the piece I chose to paint using Pure & Original paint in April’s Fab Furniture Flippin’ Contest. Because … Read more

Newsletter Prize – A Mason Jar Planter

On April 1, I offered a prize in my Newsletter to the first person to email me with their fave project from my website with “I Love DIY” in the subject line. Pam said, “My favorite is the rod you put between your kitchen cabinets and hung the bird cage and sign.” She was referring to my OUR KITCHEN BEFORE AND AFTER project. She responded 1 hour and 26 minutes after I sent out my newsletter. Congratulations, Pam! You are the winner! I gave her a choice of colors for her prize: light blue, gray or teal, but didn’t tell her what her prize would be. The project, a painted mason jar planter, is done and I will be sending it out to her this week. A Simple DIY I started with a plain old Empire brand pint mason jar, sponge brush, and Annie Sloan’s Duck Egg Blue chalk paint. … Read more