What's New

What’s New

How to Add Panels to Flat Hollow Core Door | Pretty Handy Girl

Beach, Before and After, Build It, creating moulding, Door, Door Hardware, moulding, Popular, ReNew, renovation, Trash to Treasure, Tutorial, Upcycling, wood putty

How to Add Molding Panels to a Flat Door

When my sister brought me on to the Topsail Beach condo renovation, she had a laundry list of DIY projects she wanted me to complete. One of them was dressing up the hollow flat doors with moulding panels. She showed me a pin that led to…

accessories, Beach, Before and After, dark wood, decor, Decorating, Home Decor, renovation

Topsail Beach Condo Renovation

Take a tour of this Topsail Beach Condo with a top to bottom makeover including new flooring, paint, and bathroom fixtures. Topsail Beach Condo Renovation My stepmom, Diane Chamberlain (the famous author), purchased a fixer-upper beach condo…

Before and After, Build It, built-in window seat, cabinet, demolition, desk, DIY, Do It Yourself, flooring, framing, habitat ReStore, hole filling, hole repair, Home Tour, kitchen, Kitchen Renovation

The Kitchen Renovation of 2013 – 1 Leak. 1 Year. 1 Woman.

2013 Could be called the year of the kitchen renovation in our house. Or the year that nearly killed me. Or the luckiest year of our lives. I'm still debating the title. What I do know is that, I decided to take on my biggest DIY project…

DIY Aged Chippy Paint Technique | Pretty Handy Girl

Aged, decor, Decorating, distressing, DIY, drill, hanging shelves, Home Decor, kitchen, Kitchen Renovation, mantles, Tutorial

How to Install Shelves (using Corbels) on a Tile Wall

After painstakingly tiling my backsplash, I was more than a bit hesitant to drill holes into the tiles to hang the corbels and open shelving. But, I convinced myself to stop being a wussy procrastinating and just do it. I'm so pleased…

accessories, Aged, antiques, arts and craft, Before and After, chalk paint, crackle, Crafts, dark wood, decor, distressing, DIY, Glaze, Home Decor, kitchen, Kitchen Renovation, mantles, milk paint, Mix Paint, moulding, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, ReNew, renovation, Tutorial, Valspar Asphaltum

DIY Aged Chippy Paint Technique

This is another one of those tutorials that I've been dying to share with you! Like sitting on my hands and anxiously waiting to type it out. But after taking 2 weeks off from blogging, I'm back and ready to give you this fabulous tutorial…

Decorating, Destinations, Tours, Uncategorized

The Denali Dream Drive tour of the 2014 HGTV Dream Home

Can I tell you about my dream home? Well, it would be in a gorgeous natural location with an amazing view out the back door: And maybe a beautiful body of water nearby to witness jaw dropping sunsets. And the house would be wrapped…

Boy's Red, White & Blue Themed Room | Pretty Handy Girl

Aged, bucket, Build It, clamps, crackle, cutting foam with an electric carving knife, de-clutter, decor, drill, elmer's glue, fabric, Furniture, Home Decor, Kids Room, Lowe's Creative Idea, milk paint, organizational tips, pail, Paintbrushes, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, power tools, re-upholster, re-upholster seat cushion, sander, Seat Cushion, slipcover, staple gun, storage, Trash to Treasure, Tutorial, Upholster Chair, upholstering bench

Galvanized Tub Storage Bench with Furry Upholstered Lid {Lowe’s Creator Idea}

Every month Lowe's challenges me to create another unique project to share with you. This month's challenge was creative storage ideas. Have kids? This is a unique storage solution using a galvanized tub and a furry upholstered lid. It's…

cleaning, Home & Auto Maintenance, kitchen

How to Clean INSIDE Your Oven Door

Okay, it's a New Year and many of us are cleaning up after the holidays and the baking frenzy. Do you have some random drips that somehow made their way inside your oven door? That impossible to reach location sandwiched between the…

book, Decor Adventures, Home & Auto Maintenance, organizational tips

How to Organize Home Manuals

Happy 2014! I hope you are still enjoying a wonderful holiday season and are excited to see what we have in store for you here at Pretty Handy Girl. It is going to be an amazing year! Since you might be recovering from the fun last night…

About Me

Merry Christmas to You

(Image Source: The Graphic Fairy) Thank you for yet another wonderful year of blogging. Thank you for visiting my blog from time to time. Thank you for your comments. Thank you for your emails. They truly make my time spent blogging worth…

arts and craft, Gift Ideas, gifts

How to Decorate a Candle with Tissue Paper

One of my favorite and most versatile DIY gifts to make are decorated candles: they are inexpensive and easy to personalize! Today I'm going to share a basic tutorial for how you can use tissue paper to decorate a candle for your home or as…

DIY, DIY tools, Gift Ideas, gifts, Toolbox

10 DIY Gift Ideas for the Rock Star DIYer

Christmas is next week? Christmas is next week! Who else is still running around buying those last minute gifts? {Me raising my hand.} If you have someone on your list who is an avid DIYer, I have a new list of the Top 10 Gift Ideas for…

Contributor, Crafts, decoupage, DIY, Gift Ideas, gift wrapping, gifts, mod podge, Tutorial, Uncategorized

DIY Christmas Journal

Need an easy DIY gift idea that any kid will love? Jaime from That's My Letter here to share DIY Christmas journals made from inexpensive kids composition books. There's still time to make this Christmas journal gift for all those kids…

School Library Painted with Montpelier Wedgewood | Pretty Handy Girl

Before and After, Decorating, kids art, Kids Room, painting, renovation

School Library Reveal

Remember last week when we were picking colors for the school library? Well, I'm back to show you how everything came together! But first, I'd like to announce the winners of the Valspar paint samples: Congrats to Bonnie,…

accessories, Chalkboard paint, chandeliers, Christmas Card Display, decor, Decorating, Holiday decorating, Home Decor, Home Tour, Uncategorized

Pretty Handy Girl’s Christmas Home Tour 2013

Welcome, welcome! I see you made it here from Songbird's beautiful home. If you are coming here first, be sure to check out Marianne's home: I can not tell you how excited I am to have you in for the tour. Last Christmas we were living…

Tips for Choosing Paint Colors | Pretty Handy Girl

adfree, book, bookshelves facelift, Decorating, kids art, Kids Room, Paintbrushes, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, renovation

Tips for Choosing Paint Colors in the School Library

Choosing paint colors can be a daunting task. Looking at small paint chips at your local Lowe's Home Improvement store can be a bit overwhelming. Especially because there are so many colors to choose from! (That can be a good thing too ;-).) Luckily…

Chalkboard Painted Mugs | Pretty Handy Girl

arts and craft, Chalk marker, Chalkboard paint, Crafts, Gift Ideas, gifts, Très Frugal

DIY Chalkboard Painted Mugs

The holidays are fast approaching and the last thing I want to do is wander through the stores aimlessly looking for gifts for my friends or for the service providers in my life. Instead, I came up with the perfect gift idea: DIY Chalkboard…

accomplishment, Decorating, Holiday decorating, Home Tour, Kitchen Renovation

Holiday Home Tour & A Big Accomplishment

Guess what! BIG NEWS!!! I FINALLY finished our kitchen remodel. I completed most of the work over the summer, but had two key components that I had to install. They are big, chunky and I am truly in love with them. I've been waiting…

DIY Rosemary Wreath & Juniper Garland | Pretty Handy Girl

arts and craft, Crafts, decor, Decorating, Health, Holiday decorating, Home Safety

Rosemary Wreath, Juniper Garland Tutorial

Winter is upon us and with the temperatures dropping we have our windows closed and doors shut. Thus sealing in the stale air and odors. Not to mention cold and flu viruses. Ugh. But, I have a few easy and inexpensive tips to give your home…

Giant Lighted Christmas Ball Tutorial | Pretty Handy Girl

accessories, arts and craft, Crafts, decor, Decorating, Holiday decorating, Home Decor

How to Make Giant Lighted Ornament Balls

A few years ago we discovered a street in our city that is lit with giant hanging lighted ornament balls. We drove down the street with our low beams on and were truly speechless. It was magical, ethereal and beautiful seeing giant orbs…

accessories, arts and craft, Decor Adventures, Decorating, DIY, Holiday decorating, Home Decor, mantles

How to Make Pine Cone Garland

Happy December! The holidays are such a wonderful time of year and an opportunity to get creative with entertaining, cooking and decorating. Mostly, I love to make things simple and today's lesson on how to make a pine cone garland will be…