Home Decor Archives - Page 16 of 42

book, Books as decor, bookshelves facelift, Crafts, Gift Ideas, gifts, Home Decor, inspiration, kids art

3 DIY Books for Holiday Gifts

I’m thrilled to share with you a selection of 3 DIY books this holiday season. If you are looking for ideas for someone on your gift list who: has children who love to create; loves rustic metal decor; or wants some simple ideas to love the home they are living in…I have the book for you!

Let’s start with C.R.A.F.T – Creating REALLY Awesome Free Things (affiliate link). This book by Jamie Dorobek was not a book I had originally planned on reviewing. But, when I opened the envelope and set the book on the counter it was instantly whisked away from me. My boys took the book and read it from front to back!

Within 30 minutes, my oldest (a middle schooler) had already cut up a cereal box and was working on his own puzzle.

The next day, my 3rd grader had a playdate at our house. He and his friend asked for the materials to make their own Emoji masks. Read more

November 30, 2015/6 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

accessories, Aged, antiques, autumn fall decor, Books as decor, decor, Decorating, Fall Leaves, Holiday decorating, Home Decor, Home Tour, mantles, tablescape, thrifting, vignettes

Fall Home Tour 2015

When I got back from my extended stay in Houston (after my sinus surgery), I was so anxious to decorate for fall. All those magazines I’d been perusing and all the beautiful Instagram photos had me craving some beautiful autumn decor. It took me a few days to get my energy back after I got home. In fact, I was still feeling a little worn out when I spotted this post on Facebook about a local multi-family yard sale that ran Monday – Saturday.

I thought it was a joke or a dream. But, something told me (more like fifty of my fans on Facebook) that I should get off the couch and high tail it to this sale. My sweet friend Candace from Rusted Roots Blog was easily persuaded to meet me there, so I wouldn’t be the only fool who fell for a yard sale mid-week.

We both filled our cars with some great finds! I got home and quickly put together a little pumpkin and rustic relics display by our side door.

Halloween Canvas Door Decor

Today I have a special guest rockstar for you! Kim is here to show you how to whip up the quickest Canvas Halloween Door Decor.

Kim is the creative goddess behind Today’s Creative Life. She truly has an eye for the awesome. I mean have you seen her bathroom makeover for $110?

She effortlessly pairs colors and textures together in the blink of an eye. Get ready to learn how to make holiday decor as quick as a guitar riff.

Welcome Kim, our next Rockstar to take the stage!

Hello Pretty Handy Girl readers! I’m thrilled to be hanging out at Brittany’s place today sharing a quick and original way to decorate for Halloween with this DIY Halloween Canvas Door Decor.

DIY Halloween Canvas Door Decor

If you follow Today’s Creative Life (formally Today’s Creative Blog), then you know I’m not talented like Brittany in the ways of building, but I sure do love me some quick and easy ways to bring more creativity to my home!

I share DIY Decor, DIY Projects and Recipes for families. You’ll find easy to follow tutorials for bringing creativity to your home and a lot more for holidays!

I’m always looking for something a little out of the ordinary for decorating my door for Halloween. Sure, I could just slap a wreath on the door and call it good, but that would be way to sensible.

Last year, I created a fun Halloween wreath from a ceiling medallion.

I love the way it turned out and may use it for my Halloween mantel this year.

This year, my ideas kept coming back to using fabric or canvas somehow. My first idea was to use Iron On Transfers with the fabric from a drop cloth and then, I remembered I had some printable cotton canvas that was printer ready.

Materials:

Printable Graphic (I used The Graphics Fairy)
Printable Cotton Canvas
Ribbon
Stick
Paper hole punch
Paper Trimmer

Instructions:

1. I found and downloaded the image I wanted from The Graphics Fairy, as I do for all my iron on transfer projects. She has just about any image you’d ever want for any time of year. Such a great resource.

2. I used PicMonkey to create the text and frame, but any photo editing tool would work. Of course you could just print the image only and keep it really simple.

3. I printed it on printable cotton canvas. This particular paper ended up having a self adhesive backing, so I just left the protective paper backing in place.

4. Using a paper trimmer, I trimmed the bottom.

5. I punched a hole in each upper corner with a paper hole punch.

6. I tied a coordinating ribbon to a stick from the yard (actually I broke it off my lilac bush) and called it good!

After I got it hung up and looked at it for a day or so, I think I may try to age it a bit for an older distressed look. You can do that easily by brushing on brewed tea and lying it out to dry.

I like the way it looks. It’s original and can be used anywhere in the house. The possibilities are plenty!

Here’s more creative Halloween ideas from Today’s Creative Life.

DIY Halloween Table Decor

DIY Halloween Terrarium

Simple Halloween Decor

Are you running off to make your own Halloween decor now? Me too! I hope you are enjoying the Rockstar DIY series and are ready for more talent next week.

October 9, 2015/4 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

art, arts and craft, Crafts, decor, framing, Home Decor

Pottery Barn Blue Textile Knockoff Art

Wall Art Pottery Barn Knock Off

Today we have Roxanne taking over the Rockstar DIY stage! Roxanne is the knock off queen. She will be showing us how to create these beautiful knock off Pottery Barn Blue Textile prints for much less. If Roxanne sees something from a high end store, she has the super power to create a knock off for 1/10th the price or less! She recently knocked off a $695 Restoration Hardware capiz chandelier for only $52!

You can do the math, but I know that’s a real steal.

Roxanne, is the talented DIYer behind The Honeycomb Home blog. She can frequently be found turning her cookie cutter home into a beautiful home on a budget. Please welcome the dynamic Roxanne to the stage!

I was recently browsing my favorite website, Pottery Barn, and noticed this set of beautiful Framed Blue Textile Art. I loved the wooden frames and the blue fabrics, but not the price! They sell for $169 for one, or $334 for the pair! I realized this would be very easy to knock-off for a fraction of that price.

To re-create this look, I ordered fabric samples from Calico Corners. To make this work, you will need the larger sized samples. Average size samples are usually around 5.5″ squared. The larger versions at Calico are 27″ X 18″. I always prefer to order the larger size because its hard to get a good sense of how it will look in the room from the small size. Here is a picture of the small sample versus the large.

I found two beautiful wood frames at Michael’s, which are normally priced $29.99, I scored them on sale for $10 each, it was a steal! I bought them in size 16″ X 20″, which is a little smaller than the Pottery Barn frames. Read more

September 25, 2015/25 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

Before and After, Furniture, Guests, Home & Auto Maintenance, Home Decor, ReNew, renovation, repair, sander

Refinishing a Mid-Century Sideboard

Have you ever turned down a piece of furniture that looks ruined? Aha, today’s rocker is Emily and she has the superpower to make furniture look brand new again! On the Rockstar DIY stage today is a performance you won’t forget. Emily will single-handedly take you through the steps of Refinishing a Mid-Century Sideboard.

If you haven’t met Emily yet, she is truly a Rockstar! Emily lives in Rochester, NY and is ALWAYS working on an amazing home improvement project.

Emily can be found with a hammer, saw or drill in her hands at MerryPad. She has painstakingly renovated two homes. And, as if she wasn’t busy enough with home projects (and taking care of a baby and her step-daughter), she can also be found blogging at DIYNetwork’s Made + Remade. That girl is a machine!

Oh, I hear the sound of a sander, so put your hands together and give it up for Emily!

Hey guys! Super nice to meet you. If we haven’t already met, I figured there’s one thing you should know about me: I really like getting my hands dirty. Building furniture can be fun, and learning how to maintain my home has brought me a lot of pleasure, but if you see me and you notice my hands and arms are coated by stain? Well, you’ll know that I’ve been having a really good time (and I’ve probably run out of mineral spirits, again). Refinishing and restoring furniture–and cabinets, and floors, among other things–is one of my favorite DIY endeavors, always a fun learning experience, and always an opportunity to bring new life into an item that was once beautiful. I’ve had some lucky secondhand finds over the years, from bedside tables to chairs, but one of my favorite transformations was this Bassett Sideboard that I scored from a garage sale for $15.

T’was one of my first refinishing projects, swoon.

If you’re tackling your first refinishing project (or just looking for tips), here are the products and tools I used for this makeover:

Detail palm sander and normal sandpaper to get into small crevices
Rags (general clean up cloths, and old rags or socks for applying the stain)
Tack cloths (the tack cloths are wonderful for cleaning all evidence of sanding dust before staining)
A paint brush and high-density foam roller (for application of the conditioner and polyurethane topcoat)
Pre-stain wood conditioner
Oil-based stain (for this piece I chose English Chestnut by Minwax)
Gloss polyurethane

An extraordinary amount of sanding went into eliminating the damage that had existed in the top surface. Scratches are relatively easy to cure, but you never know how bad the water damage is until you start sanding deep, as evidenced by this progress photo:

Elbow grease and a few more courses of low-grit sandpaper (80-120) helped to transform the surface of the sideboard into a raw wood state and eliminate the visible water rings. You might find that your water damage runs deeper – every case is different. Read more

September 21, 2015/6 Comments/by Brittany Bailey