Home Decor: Painted Floors Tired of the same old flooring options? Well here's an idea that you may not have seen or thought of before... Painted floors! I'll admit, when I first heard of this concept it seemed a little crazy. But, I have come across some beautiful painted floor designs that have really blown me away. What a unique and creative way to add a bit of character and color to your space! I'm not sure exactly how to process works, but fortunately Design Sponge has provided a great tutorial for all who are interested to learn! Photo Credit: 1.Design Sponge, 2. 100 Ways to Repurpose Everything Think this title is a tall order? Well, you’re in for a post of epic eco-tastic proportions. So epic that you may need to give your computer or mobile device an extra moment to load all of our pretty pictures. Seeing as we love to repurpose just about anything under the sun, we’re celebrating Earth Day by serving up 100 of our favorite ways to upcycle, reuse, and transform everyday materials into creative new things to wear, hang on the wall, and give to friends. 1. Newspaper Party Hats: We’ll kick things off with a must for any celebration: party hats! 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61.
Homemade Citrus Vinegar Cleaner A pretty picture of a jar of oranges flew around facebook a few months back. With it were directions to make an orange vinegar cleaner. Of course I had to try. Citrus works great as a degreaser, stain remover and freshener. This cleaner is eco-friendly not only because it is biodegradable and safe to use, but because it is making use of products that would otherwise be thrown in the trash. Squeeze the juice out of 6 grapefruits or 8 oranges (or 12 lemons or limes). Did you like this? blog: { DIY: New trendy dining table in 1-2-3! } It seems that we have to wait quite some time for all our belongings that we have shipped from Los Angeles, so this weekend I had to be creative and handy(!), so we can have a “home” while we are waiting… One of the things that I made this weekend was this dining table inspired by the lovely blog “Helt Enkelt”, and I´m very happy with the result. I got exactly the look that I wanted -rustic and cosy! I got some old chairs from my mom, that I painted white. Cool, right? Here is how our dining table looked like before when we lived in LA.So what do you think? //Images: Nina Holst//
30 Creative Ways To Repurpose & Reuse Old Stuff We all have stuff that no longer serves any purpose around the house, but we still have trouble getting rid of it. Either it’s “still OK”, or “might come in handy” or just holds some sentimental value to it. In extreme cases, this might lead to hoarding, but if you’re creative enough, you can solve the problem by repurposing, upcycling and reusing your old things. Besides serving a purpose (again), repurposed items add this lovely touch of creativity and coziness to the space. Heck, most of the time, upcycled things become even cooler than they originally were. [Read more...] In order to help you get started, we made a selection of 30 creative repurposing, upcycling and reuse ideas. 1. (link) 2. (link) 3. (link) 4. (link) 5. (link) 6. (link) 7. (link) 8. (link) 9. (link) 10. 11. (link) 12. 13. (link) 14. (link) 15. (link) 16. (link) 17. (link) 18. (link) 19. Toasted bagel + avocado in a CD spindle. 20. (link) 21. (link) 22. (link) 23. (Buy: here or here) 24. (link) 25. (link) 26. (link) 27. (link) 28. (link)
Homemade Deodorant (That Works!) « Probably the best way to introduce yourself via guest post is to make sure that the first sentence references your arm pits. My name is Jesyka. And this is a post about my arm pits. And it could be about your arm pits too. Kindness dictates that I also extend a “head’s up” of sorts: this is a LONG post. So, to summarize now and allow you to skip the long parts: Once upon a time there was a girl who couldn’t find a deodorant that worked for longer than a month or so. But for those of you who haven’t scrolled down to the bottom of the post by now or completely closed this window in your browser, below is the unabridged version. I began my journey into womanhood with a backpack full of unwrapped Always brand pads and arm pits slathered in Teen Spirit. I had arrived. I mean, I felt like I could legitimately read SEVENTEEN magazine with that stuff sprucing up my adolescent arm pits even though I was barely a teenager. But Teen Spirit didn’t work for very long. Recipe { source } 1/4 C baking soda
The Brick House May 5th, 2011 I’ve been helping out Shelly Leer – aka ModHomeEc – with the design of her brand new upholstery workshop in Indianapolis. Shelly is a fantastic upholster and hosts classes to teach folks the ins and outs of fixing up and reupholstering their old forlorn stuff (a skill I can really appreciate). With this open warehouse space, one big design issue Shelly needed help with was figuring out how to layout and define areas for various work and private “zones”. She needed areas for tools, areas for storage, an area for a personal office, a waiting area, an area to teach and work with students and so on and so forth. Functionally, this one big room had to be used for many many purposes and still be open, accessible and of course look awesome. Since cost is always an issue (and this space is a rental), it wasn’t prudent to dump a bunch of cash into building traditional solid walls that would split up the space and make it feel smaller and darker. Come on.
DIY Cheap 100 Hour Candles I am always on the look-out for homemade counterparts to store bought preparations. These DIY ’100 hour candles’ definitely fit the bill. In less than 5 minutes you have an inexpensive, refillable ’100 hour candle’ that will light up your home in the darkest of times. And for you ladies – these homemade alternatives are far more aesthetically pleasing than the store bought versions. So let’s get started. Supplies The supplies you need are pretty straight forward. Just as a side note, it took me forever to find the liquid paraffin. Step One: Create Opening For Wick I used some grass-trimming shears but you can use a knife or any other sharp tool to create your opening. Step Two: Insert Wick Instead of just putting the wick in like a candle, we’re going to place it so that it is doubled over. After having both ends through, pull down so that only a tiny amount of the folded piece of wick remains. Step Three: Pour Paraffin Into Jar Fill up your 1/2 pint mason jar with the liquid paraffin.
TTT: Turn Baking Soda into Washing Soda Welcome to Week 6 of Tiny Tip Tuesday, and the first week of its incarnation as a blog hop and carnival! I’m really excited to share today’s tip with you, but I’m even more excited to see what kinds of great tips you all have to share with us! Don’t forget to come back throughout the week to check out the new links; and we’ll be sharing our favorites on our Facebook page! EDIT: Before we move on, please let me take this moment to publicly apologize to Penny, from Penniless Parenting for inadvertently not linking back to her post, as she is the original author for the information contained in this post. I had linked back to her site, but because of an error in the html, the link below was rendered un-linkable on the front end of the site. Well, as the title says, we’re turning baking soda into washing soda this week. I know, it sounds weird, but just bear with me. The difference between baking soda and washing soda is water and carbon dioxide. The process is really simple. That’s it!
sewing 101: making a pouf Add a burst of color to your room with this crafty pouf! At 17” wide and 10” deep, it’s large enough to serve as floor seating or a foot stool. (And if you have pets, I have a feeling they may want to make this their new favorite spot!) This project is a little challenging to sew, but it’s not too difficult, so if you’re comfortable with the basics of sewing, give it a try. You can make a colorwheel effect with a range of solid colors, or choose a variety of patterned fabrics for a louder patchwork effect. I love the idea of making a set of these poufs in a range of sizes, for a sculptural stack of cushions that will become a room element in their own right. CLICK HERE for the full how-to after the jump! Finished Dimensions: 17” diameter by 10” tall What You’ll Need ¼ yard each 12 coordinating fabrics (I used quilting cottons) 1 yard muslin 3 pounds fiberfill stuffing 2 large buttons (approximately 1 ½”) 2 flat metal washers, slightly smaller than your buttons fishing line sewing thread iron 1.
Old Bucket. Into Garden Hose Holder Earlier this spring I was on the hunt for a basic utilitarian object that pretty much anyone who owns a house has. Of course I’m talking about a full sized Merry-Go-Round outfitted with genuine Lippizaner stallions with pink feather plumes coming out of their heads. I didn’t have any luck finding one I liked. So I turned my attention to finding something else that pretty much every homeowner has. Again, I had no luck at all finding something that suited my needs, for the price I wanted to pay. I never did find it. Yup. Then this idea hit me out of the blue. Just take a bucket, 4 screws, and screw it to your fence. And then I happened to notice on Remodelista that Martha Stewart has already done the bucket thing. Now granted, it’s not to everyone’s tastes, I know. Either way you’re thinking outside the bucket.