Inspiration, Plywood Style
Posted by Erin | Filed under Design Tips, DIY Projects, Inspiration, Musings
Inspiration boards are such a vital part of my daily surroundings, whether they be in the form of a kitchen cork board full of recipes or an office collage complete with beautiful photographs. Yet surprisingly, I’ve never seen one quite like this gorgeous plywood version above. I love the natural background of the wood, and it puts such a creative spin on traditional framing. Plus, you can arrange and rearrange the artwork to your heart’s content – without tape marks, pins or thumbtacks in your wall!
Tell me, do you guys keep up-to-date inspiration boards with positive affirmations or dreamy images? And would you give this plywood version a go in your own home? What other surprising inspiration boards have you seen? I’d love to hear!
Image: Mirva Kakko via Scandinavian Deko
Tags: diy projects, inspiration boards, plywood diy project
DIY – Sand and Water table
Posted by Miriam | Filed under Musings, Solutions
My husband is an accountant. I love him dearly, but it isn’t a stretch to say that I am the more creative one in our relationship. So when he took me aside a couple of weeks ago and stated that he wanted to build a sand and water table for our son, I thought I would be helpful and send him some plans that I found online for DIY sand and water tables like this perfectly simple one from Cara75 that I found on flickr:
…or this slightly more complex one from Handyman Wire…
…or this one over at Bumble and Bean that I thought was the perfect combination of the two ideas:
My husband was patient with me while I sent him email after email of what I deemed ‘doable’ DIY sand and water table plans and then promptly explained to me that he wanted to make his own plans. I TRIED to explain to him that was a bit like being a novice knitter and deciding to create a knitting pattern for a sweater….or being a new sewer and trying to make a new pattern for overalls…but in the end, his persistence paid off.
This past weekend, we debuted our son’s new, custom DESIGNED and MADE-by-daddy sand and water table complete with storage compartment for toys:
My husband DID decide to keep one element that I had suggested to him and used plastic bins for the actual sand and water:
…see…nothing fancy here, just a good ole’ under-the-bed storage container from the Container Store!
The corner of the unit has a toy bin on hinges for easy access. We’re thinking we might add a hydraulic lift option to keep fingers from getting squashed.
Of course, all this beauty took a bit longer than ONE weekend to build, so our son got to try it out before it was finished. It was definitely a hit!! In the end, I have to say, I am super impressed with not-so-handy-hubby’s skillz and I have promised never to doubt him again. Ok…maybe not never, but not as often, I pinky swear.
Have you seen any other DIY’d kids stuff out there you care to share with the crowd?
Tags: Bumble & Bean, Container Store, diy projects, DIY sand, kids sandbox, sand and water table, storage containers, water tables for kids
Two Twig Crafts
Posted by Erin | Filed under Design Tips, Inspiration
With fall right around the corner, it’s time to bring the outdoors in and embrace the new season. Here are two lovely twig crafts that I can’t wait to try over the next few days!
1. Starburst Twig Wreath
So, you love the starburst mirror look, but hate the price tag (me, too!). DIY a replica using little more than sticks and twine. It makes such a lovely welcome wreath for your front door, yes?
2. Stick Art Frame
Need a last minute piece of art or party decor? Gather some sticks and frame them — it truly is that easy. I love the silver frame, but think white would be smashing, as well!
Feeling inspired yet? Time to go outside and explore your own DIY ideas! Happy hunting!
Tags: art, autumn, decor, diy, diy projects, diy-art, fall, nature ideas, sticks, twigs
Decorate With… Flatware!
Posted by Erin | Filed under Musings
Life is indeed in the details, and I love the idea of re-purposing everyday objects to make a larger impact throughout your home. Case in point? The sudden surge of knives, forks and spoons serving (literally!) double duty in today’s modern home:
1. The Fork as a Cabinet Pull
After spotting this image, I was inspired to find something similar. Turns out you can store-bought fork pulls, or DIY a similar look with your favorite flatware piece (check out the spoons in this kitchen!).
2. The Spoon as a Decorative Wall Hanging System
Genius. Mugs and spoons working together to perform a beautiful storage solution. Why didn’t I think of that? (pictured above from Re-Nest)
3. The Knife as a Coat Hook
Equal parts quirky and unexpected, this cheeky knife coat hook made me smile.
How have you seen flatware re-purposed lately? Share below in the comments!
Tags: decor, diy projects, flatware, flatware decor, flatware theme, ideas, wall art
Wainscoting wishes
Posted by Miriam | Filed under Musings
An amazing, beautiful, fantastic thing has happened around my home recently. Remember how I was pining away for wainscoting up my stairwell….well…finally, FINALLY, after almost five years of living in our home, my wainscoting wish has come true.
First, let’s take a look back at what we started with.
When we first moved in, the front hallway and stairs had dark trim and industrial, grayish-white on the walls. Dreary, dreary, dreary.
Then, a couple of years later, my color-fearing husband decided he wanted to go bold or go home in the foyer so I took him up on his offer and painted it the deepest, most delicious red I could find, offset by white trim. (pay no attention to the man in the closet…he’s just building shelves and this is apparently the only picture I have of our stairwell pre-wainscoting.)
Now, let’s take one more look at my inspiration photo. This is a scan of a page ripped out of a Pottery Barn catalog year ago that I have kept in a home folder ever since. I used it many times to show exactly what I wanted to multiple people who came through my front door. You would be surprised how many people equate wainscoting with beadboard…which could look nice in some foyers, but is decidedly too rustic a look for our home.
Probably the most important feature to me in the picture above is the chair rail cap along the top of the wainscoting. Since our stairs go around a corner and the banister only goes half way up, we’ve needed something to hold onto for fear for hurtling down the stairs for a long time now.
So how did my wainscoting wish come true? After hemming and hawing over it for years and finally deciding to nix the DIY route for fear or truly messing it up, we decided to go the professional route. Well it turns out our neighbor across the street is a fine carpenter and it turns out that he finally didn’t have a better paying job (bad for him, good for us) and so he finally had some time to come over and do some fine wood working. First, he pulled off the existing molding – you can see what I mean in the pictures below.
Then he mapped out exactly where the panels would go so that he had a better idea of what materials he needed to purchase.
After mapping everything out, my neighbor got 1/4 inch plywood and cut it to match the guidelines he had put up the stairs. Then installed 1/2 inch plywood stiles. Of course our walls are 100+ years old a a fair bit wonky, so there was some wood shaving going on as well to make sure everything fit well.
Of course, I failed to get ANY more in progress pictures which is a shame but I can at least explain it to you all, so not a total loss…and who are we kidding here…what you REALLY want to see is the final result, right? Right??
Ok…without further ado…here is the final result:
Um. Hellllooooo G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!! So how did he do it? After installing the plywood backing and the stiles, he went about cutting and installing a bazillion pieces of trim along the inside of each of the sections. After that, he added the chair rail to the top and then as a final touch (that we certainly wouldn’t have done were this a DIY project and which totally makes the whole thing amazing) he added trim along the bottom of the chair rail.
Below is a detail shot (albeit blurry) of the trim he added below the chair rail. Can you see the itty-bitty, teeny-tiny piece he did to wrap around the corner? I mean really!! This is an expert job, people!!
Another detail we were the beneficiaries of since we didn’t go the DIY route was that he shaved the existing window sill down to exactly match the chair rail and look like one seamless piece heading up the stairs.
I can not even begin to express to our neighbor my gratitude for this amazing transformation. It is everything I ever thought it would be and more and there is NO WAY we would have come up with the same result on our own.
So…what potential DIY projects have you passed off to a professional and was it worth it?
Tags: decorative staircases, design, diy projects, frames, Inspiration, wainscoting
