DIY Archives - Page 25 of 53 - Pretty Handy Girl

art, arts and craft, decor, Decorating, DIY, Door, gifts

Home is Where the Heart Is – Door Decor

How about an unusual front door decor idea today? Jaime from That’s My Letter here to share this house shape door decor project with free plans to make your own.

A little play on “home is where the heart is,” this door decor is definitely different and not your typical wreath. I used 1×3 pine boards to make the house shape then added the cut out hearts to hang in the middle. (Yes the house shape does look like an arrow. If you want to make an arrow shape, those plans are below as well.)

This would also make great indoor wall art. Imagine all the paint color possibilities!

Supplies:

1 – 1″ x 3″ x 6′ pine board
1/4″ plywood scraps
miter saw
measuring tape
pencil
wood glue
finish nailer
1 1/4″ finish nails
3/4″ finish nails
scroll saw or jigsaw
sandpaper
wire hanger
drill
1/8″ drill bit
wood putty
white spray paint
red acrylic craft paint
paintbrush
clear exterior grade polyurethane spray

Below are the step-by-step instructions to make your own wood house shape door decor. Always follow all precautions and safety rules when using power tools.

Cut List:

1 – 1×3 @ 12 3/4″, one end 45 degree miter (roof)
1 – 1×3 @ 12″, one end 45 degree miter (roof)
2 – 1×3 @ 2 1/2″, one end 45 degree miter (roof overhang)
2 – 1×3 @ 13″ (sides)
1 – 1×3 @ 9 1/2″ (base)

Step 1: Assemble roof. Attach long side to short side using glue and 1 1/4″ finish nails.

Step 2: Add roof overhang pieces to mitered ends of roof. Use glue and 3/4″ finish nails here. Below demonstrates how to cut these super short mitered pieces. Read more

July 15, 2015/6 Comments/by Jaime Costiglio

Build It, circular saw, Decor Adventures, DIY

How to Make an Ottoman Table

Design inspiration can often come in the least-expected places. It can happen when you are in an airport or at the farmers market or just plain window shopping in your home town. Last year when I was at the Haven blog conference, I fell in love with this table I saw in the hotel restaurant.

But want is it called? An ottoman tray, a side table, a bridge? Turns out it is all those things. Today I’m going to teach you how to make one. This simple piece of furniture is not only easy to make, but very functional too. It can fit perfectly over an ottoman in your home and give you a steady place for a book or your favorite drink. Or if you don’t have an ottoman, it makes a nice side table too.

Materials:

MDF board – These come in many sizes at the home improvement store. For this project I used a piece that was 1 x 10 x 72″.
L-brackets
Wood screws
Primer
Paint
Drill and drill bits
Circular saw (optional)

Instructions:

First, measure the size of the ottoman you want to slide the ottoman table over. Make sure you have enough clearance for it to fit the width and the height of the ottoman. You will have three boards total. Two that will serve as the “legs” and one that will be the top.

Transfer your measurements to the board. Using a circular saw, cut the board in two places according to your measurements, giving you three boards.

You can have the board cut for you at the home improvement store and save yourself a step. (This works for me a lot since I have a small car, then it easily fits inside on the way home.)

Wipe of any sawdust with a rag.

Prime and paint the boards. It’s a good idea to use a “gripping” primer so that your table will be stand up to frequent use. There are also enamel paints that are meant for furniture that you can use as the color. If you have paint on hand, use what you got! Or, sample cans are only around $4 and should cover your entire piece, depending on the size.

After the boards are dry, you can assemble the table. Take the top piece and turn it upside down on a soft surface. Place a “leg” board perpendicular next to it and mark where to place the L-bracket. Read more

July 1, 2015/6 Comments/by Decor Adventures

accessories, DIY, Do It Yourself, Electrical, Furniture, Giveaway, living room, Tutorial

Wall Mounted TV with Hidden Wires Tutorial

Installing a Wall Mount Flat Screen TV + Hiding Cords | PrettyHandyGirl

Do you have a flat screen TV? Do you have children? Wish you could mount your TV on the wall for space and safety? Or have you already mounted your TV, but the wires are visible and hang below your screen? GASP—not the dreaded visible wires syndrome!

Today I have a tutorial to show you How to Install a Wall Mount for your TV AND How to Hide those Unsightly Wires in a cable management system. SANUS sent me their Full-Motion TV Wall Mount and In-Wall Cable Management to use for this tutorial. Before you start thinking that you can’t do this, or that you have to hire an electrician to run power behind the TV, you don’t! And this is a very easy DIY project! The SANUS In-Wall Cable Management System is the coolest product. It allows you to hook up to an existing outlet elsewhere (within 60″ horizontally from your TV)! (Per FTC regulations, you should know that this is a sponsored post for SANUS, but I approached them after researching TV mounts and cable management systems. )

Genevieve Gorder has some good information about why you want to use a SANUS mount in this short video:

Why did I want to use the SANUS mount? Here’s just a few reasons:

You can pull your screen out from the wall or press it back to just a few inches away. (The arms extend a full 20″. Further than shown, because our cables are too short to fully extend.)

The power cord plugs into an ultra low profile in wall cable system. All wires are hidden behind the TV.

The TV can also extend and swivel from left to right. This allows us to be able to watch TV from the adjacent room! Which means the kids can eat pizza AND watch a movie because they can safely sit at the kitchen table and view the movie in the living room. Score one for Mom! No more pizza stains on the rug or sofa.

Ready to learn how you can easily mount your flat-screen TV on the wall AND hide the wires? Let’s get to it! Read more

June 22, 2015/59 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

art, arts and craft, Crafts, DIY, game, Gardening, gifts, glass bead magnets, kids art

Boredom Buster DIY Projects for Kids

If you’re on a quest to keep the kids entertained, I have several Boredom Buster DIY craft projects for you and your kids that will keep you busy over the next few weeks or so.

Summer Calendar & Bucket List

Kids’ Thumbprint Envelope Pillows

Melted Heart Crayons

Sunprints (frame-worthy art)

DIY Character Magnets

Summer Garden Flag

Planning a beach vacation? Why not bring a few craft supplies to create some beach-themed crafts!

Writing in the Sand Art

Sea Shell Memory Game

DIY Dragonfly from a Whisk and Skewer

Potato Block Print Tea Towels

Easy Washi Tape Vases

DIY Yardstick Star

Spray-dyed Shirts

Decorative Chalkboard Clipboards

Kid Designed Monster Dolls

Indoor Hopscotch with Painter’s Tape

Wine Cork Animals

Doodle Shirts

Decorated Glass Jar Votives

Custom Painted Magnetic Mailbox Covers

Those ought to keep your kids busy for a little while and let you make summer memories that last forever. Happy Summer!

Pin for later!

June 15, 2015/3 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

Build It, Decor Adventures, DIY, Gardening, Plants

Scrap Wood Planter Box

Hi, it’s Jessica from Decor Adventures, back this month with an outdoor project that’s perfect for summer. You know how your garage is filled with scrap pieces of wood from other projects you’ve done? Today you get to put those scraps to good use and make a planter box for plants or herbs. It’s very easy to use what you have and it won’t cost you much at all. Here’s how to make a scrap wood planter box.

The main box is made from 2″ x 8″ boards. You can make this box whatever size works for your space, or based on how much wood you have in your scrap pile!

Materials

The idea for this project is to use what you have on hand, so some of the sizes of your wood may vary. Here are the materials I used for this planter box.

2×8″ pressure-treated wood for box and legs (or 2″x4″ pressure treated wood for the legs)
ChoiceDek composite deck material for bottom of box
2″ x 2″ wood for bottom of box
Scrap triangles cut from 2″ x 4″ boards (Triangles can be cut out of 2″ x 4″s on a miter saw set at 45° degrees.)
Miter saw
Safety glasses
Drill
Screws
Potting soil
Plants or herbs

Instructions

The width of the three deck material pieces I used were 6 3/4″ each. This material was used to build our deck, so we had leftovers on hand and it’s great to use for plants since it won’t rot. The composite deck material is sold at home improvement stores and comes in different lengths and widths.

For the box and legs, you can use pressure treated lumber since it also resists rot and insects. The long sides of the box measure 19 3/4″ and the shorter end pieces measure 12 1/2″.

Cut your wood to size with a miter saw. Using your drill and screws, assemble the box into a rectangle. Place the ends on each side of the longer boards as shown below:

Screw the 4 triangles to the bottom of your box, into the corners, with your screws. Attach the 2″ x 2″s along each long side of the box also lined up with the bottom of the box. This should give support on the underside so you can rest the composite pieces inside to make the bottom.