DIY
Cabinet Door Utensil Caddy
I swear it is the simple things in life, isn’t it? One of my favorite things you can’t even see in our “let’s make this kitchen less soul shriveling” makeover is the cabinet door utensil caddy that holds our cooking utensils. I don’t know why we’ve never incorporated something like this into any of our other kitchens because I can think of at least three where it would have worked. I may be slow to join the party, but at least I showed up. That’s a metaphorical party, by the way. My inner introvert is busy for the next million years if there’s an actual party. During our kitchen mini…
Wood Planter with Leather Handles
Sometimes I need a quick win on the home improvement front. Scratch that. I always need a quick win on the home improvement front. How often does that happen? Not as often as always. Today’s project – a wood planter with leather handles – was my version of ‘make a quick win happen’ or go back to painting an endless amount of baseboard trim. And I was desperate to have a break from painting trim. Here’s what I started with. It’s a wood box. It was left here when we moved in. It was shaped like a birdhouse. Handy Husband cut off the roof peaks and the perch. I don’t…
Kitchen Mini Makeover Reveal
Who is ready for our kitchen mini makeover reveal? This will be awkward if you say you aren’t ready because that’s all I’ve got for you today! I’ve been thinking about the tone I want to set with this kitchen mini makeover reveal. When I last wrote about this space I mentioned that my new standard for design, as it relates to THIS kitchen, is a place that doesn’t make my soul shrivel up. If that doesn’t set the tone for this post, I don’t know what will. This is not an “I have the most amazing kitchen ever” kind of reveal. This is more of a “we’re on a…
Kitchen Mini Makeover Progress
If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for some sort of progress since I shared the before photos of our Colonial Farmhouse kitchen, well, today is your day. I told you that we weren’t doing a major renovation on our kitchen, but I did want to make it easier on the eyes. However, I needed to do a mini makeover on the cheap. Elbow grease and paint kind of cheap. I was also going to take my time with this project because this is not HGTV. This is real-life and, frankly, I’m not the Energizer Bunny. Shocking, I know. Here’s the timeline of my kitchen mini makeover progress. KITCHEN MINI…
Built-In Computer Desk Reveal
I love typing the word “reveal” into a blog post title. It makes it sound like I’ve really got things dialed in on the home front, doesn’t it? So, let’s run with that utter nonsense sentiment and talk about our built-in computer desk. THE DESIGN DILEMMA We live in a colonial era farmhouse that has plenty of weird spaces character. Case in point? There is a narrow, awkward space on our second floor that is a real head scratcher. It’s bigger than a hallway, but not big enough for a bedroom. It is more like a landing. I’ve come to realize ‘landing’ is just a nice word for “you have to…
Easily Turn an Accent Table into a Decorative Tray
This easy DIY project to turn an accent table into a decorative tray only took me ten years to finish. Ten. Years. If I don’t win the procrastination prize of the day, I’m going to get around to feeling sad later. Don’t overlook old, wobbly accent tables because they no longer function well as accent tables. You know, because of the wobbly part. All you have to do is cut the legs off of the accent table and use the top of the table as a decorative tray. Seriously! A little chip, a little chop. Boom! It is that easy to turn an accent table into a decorative tray. I…
Magic Light Trick
Have you heard of the Magic Light Trick from Brooke at Nesting With Grace? It! Is! GENIUS! Almost every person has, at some point, a need or want for a light in a certain place in their home where they can’t have a light. At least, not without getting an electrician involved. Maybe there is no outlet. Maybe the light needs to be hard-wired in an area where there are no wires. In the case of my Colonial Farmhouse, both of those options are true – at the same time. Throw in some stone walls and it becomes the trifecta of major lighting headaches. Ibuprofen can’t solve this problem, but the…
Piano Harp Art
Every once in awhile an idea in my head, a wild hair, really, turns out even better than I hoped it would. And I’m SO EXCITED ABOUT IT going to play it cool and tell you how my idea to make piano harp art came to fruition. When we took apart the upright piano that had been left in our house when we moved in, I knew I could use the parts of the piano to make unique, statement-making art for our home. Of course, the pièce de résistance of piano parts is the harp and that was the hardest part to extract. Murphy’s Law. The piano harp is the part of…
Taking Apart a Piano is Hard
Taking apart a piano is hard. Really hard. Can you believe that me, of all people, even uttered those words “taking apart a piano”? It sounds blasphemous. I assure you I have not abandoned my decades-long love of the piano. Nor did I take apart my baby piano. Heaven forbid! I took apart a piano to which I have no emotional attachment. Because that makes it better? Here’s what happened… Please note this is not a tutorial. There are plenty of those on the internet. This is more of a cautionary tale should you decide to embark on this journey. A piano was left in our house when we moved…
When DIY Equals True Love
A friend messaged me last weekend and asked if I was doing anything fun. Well… I guess that depends on your definition of fun. If fun means taking down the ugliest fluorescent lights in your kitchen before they actually fall out of the ceiling, then it’s practically been a party at our house. And I’m not joking about the part where one of them was falling out of the ceiling. Taking down the lights meant that we had to deal with the world’s worst drywall job and, honestly, that hasn’t been so fun. Of all the home improvement jobs, drywall sanding is the thing I enjoy the least. “No, kids.…
