The Latest: Dec 19, 2019

For the times that you just can’t find that perfect drawer pull (or the times that you can, but don’t feel like dishing out the $$), knowing how to make your own is a great skill to have. So round up the troops, (seriously, how cool would army people drawer pulls be!?), gather your supplies and get to work! Plastic toys from the dollar store or thrift shop are great pieces to start with.

Project by: Christina of andchristina Location: Philadelphia, PA Last year my boyfriend (now fiance 🙂 and I bought our first house (a rowhome in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia) and we’ve spent the last few months transforming the first floor, mainly the kitchen (check it out here!), and also building this breakfast nook in the main living area.

Every so often, someone sends in a project that 100% reaffirms my belief in the power of paint along with good diy and decorating skills. This is one of them. Take it away (and OMG, amazing job!

Bring a slice of coveted MCM home decor right to your desktop with these miniature bullet planters. Made from upcycled plastic Easter eggs and a few pieces of wire, this simple DIY will make your cute cubicle the envy of the office. 20 gauge jewelry wire Plastic easter eggs Tape Scissors or wire cutters Needle nose pliers Nylon jaw pliers (optional) 1. Cut three 6″ pieces of wire. Straighten as much as you can with needle nose and nylon pliers. 2.

Project by: Erin’s Mom and Dad Location: Wilamette Valley, Oregon My parents live in a small rural town in Oregon Willamette Valley. My younger brother and his wife live nearby, but my sisters and I are all spread across the country. We try to visit as often as we can, but it’s quite a journey with little ones, so we manage to make one trip a year.

Project by: June Location: Hertfordshire, UK Our hallway was dark and dull, looking grubby and tired.

Project by: Ana Location: Seattle, WA The one thing I love and appreciate most in life, besides my baby son Magnus and awesome husband Jordan, is working with my hands. The process of creation amazes me every time, and I look down at my hands and thank them for being healthy and strong, then I realize I should thank my eyes, brain and heart for caring on an artistic drive in me year after year.

Project by: Katherine Location: Wichita, KS When we moved into our almost century-old house five years ago we were in the throes of planning a wedding (in the backyard of that house) and so a lot of things got the quick and dirty treatment. The dining room was one of those things. A coat of paint on the walls, a craigslist table and chairs, and a CB2 light fixture and call it good! This past fall, my father-in-law gave us a massive amount of books and along with them, several shelves.

Project by: Karen We just moved into a 1929 Tudor bungalow. The kitchen is small and has only one window. The upper cabinets made the room seem darker. In addition, they were hard for me to reach (I’m 5’2″). So I took them out and replaced them with open shelving in gloss white. The room was instantly brighter. I added storage in the pantry to make up for the lost cabinet space. So I took out the upper cabinets and replaced them with open shelving in gloss white.

Project by: Taylor Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Just days before my scheduled c-section, we were finally finishing our daughter’s nursery. We wanted a room with lots of contrast, personality and DIY touches. We also knew we were working with a small space and so we wanted our choices to be high-impact and make a smart use of our limited floor space.

Project by: Negar of Space Harmony Location: Vancouver, Canada This is an interior design and renovation we did for a client, a professional and avid skier who wanted his 1600 three-level town house to feel like a chalet. Because of the space limitation and ceiling height, we couldn’t use the real bold and robust materials used in chalets so we created an “modern chalet” instead! Our goal was to create the same cozy and comfortable ambiance on a smaller scale.

Project by: Molly of Awfully Big Adventure Location: Austin, TX This project focused on taking my tiny, boring, popcorn-ceilinged living room and turning it into a cheery, comfortable place to come home to- all on a serious budget. Using mainly Ikea, Craigslist, hand-me-downs, and tchotchkes galore, the living room came together and is now a colorful, eclectic space far from the oatmeal box it once was.

Project by: Samantha Location: New York, NY It was actually my boyfriend who picked out our temporary apartment in midtown Manhattan – at the time I was still living in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to fly to New York by the time he moved in, in order to help him out. Hence, I had to order most of the necessary furniture online and have it delivered to an apartment I hadn’t even seen yet which was a bit of a challenge and risk.

Renovation by: Wendy Location: Nevada City We wanted the look of a stacked stone accent wall in our bathroom. However, we were unable to find a stone veneer that would fit behind our toilet. We decided to use reclaimed pine which we got from used pallets. We cut approximately 350 pieces of wood into different lengths and depths all with the same height (2.5 inches). We used a very strong floor glue to adhere the pieces of wood to the wall. After the wall was complete, we painted it a light gray.

Renovation by: Courtney and Brent Location: Houston, Texas When we moved into our house there was one thing about our living room that bugged us. It was the inset in the wall next to the fireplace. It was intended for the TV but we knew how we wanted the room to “flow” and found it awkward to have the TV off center and next to the fireplace. So we set up the living room how we wanted it with the TV on the long wall and left that space empty.

Project by: Emily and Erica Refinishing the main stairwell was just one small component of the year-log, full scale, gut-renovation of our 1900’s Greek Revival house in Providence, RI—but as the staircase is the first thing you see when you come in our front door, we wanted it to be a striking feature.

Project by: Kelly Location: Athens, GA I recently became obsessed with this wallpaper pattern called “Cuben” made by Flavor Paper. I saw a photo online of how someone had used it in a kitchen. Unfortunately the wallpaper is a little out of my budget so I decided to attempt to recreate it in my own kitchen with paint. I measured my walls and plotted out the design on graph paper. I used a yard stick and a level to get all the lines penciled onto the wall.

Project by: Kate Location: Des Moines, Iowa My husband and I moved into our little house in Des Moines (in a historic area called Beaverdale, full of houses from the ’30s) in July, and were very excited to start bringing some personality into the place! We liked the olive green walls of the living room and dining room, but realized shortly after hanging stuff up that we needed more color in the space.

Chris and Julia’s daughter was growing up fast, and they needed a baby gate for their soon-to-be-mobile child. Not thrilled with the readymade options they saw in stores, they devised this custom option for the top of their stairs. The plexiglass makes it less conspicuous than others out there, and the special size works nicely for their extra-wide staircase.

Alison Dahl Kelly shared photos and the story of her amazing kitchen and dining room makeover with us. Take it away, Alison: Purchased in 2009, our artfully restored 1880’s townhouse has been taken apart and put back together again, restoring some old and adding some new. What attracted us to buy this house were the still-intact original details—parquet flooring, tin ceilings, marble fireplaces, built-in cabinetry, his and hers vanities.

Renovation by: Sofia Location: Toronto, Ontario When we purchased our house 4.5 years ago, our basement had a lot of potential with large windows and a beautiful backyard view. The operative word here is “potential” as the space was completely unlivable at the time. The primary objective of the entire basement renovation — and especially this bathroom — was to do it stylishly on a budget.

Renovation by: Alicia Location: Orem, Utah This project was such a drastic change and so much fun! This was months in the making – between backorders and busy summers, we were finally able to finish my friend’s master bedroom! From basic and drab to classy and chic, it was a fun and drastic reveal! When I did the first initial consult, my friend said she never really thought to decorate her master. It’s a HUGE master bedroom and had so much potential!

Makeover by: Wendi Location: Seattle, Washington The room had looked the same (horrible) for 18 years. After my divorce, I decided it was time for a change. The project was done over the course of the summer this year, with the main costs being paint and trim. Though I did not set a budget or keep track of the total, the project was relatively inexpensive.

Renovation by: Douglas Huebner Location: South Orange, New Jersey I’m a Realtor in South Orange, NJ and I have an investor client. I’ve helped him buy a couple of houses in the area for him to restore and resell. On this particular project he let my wife and I do the renovation. I became the General Contractor / Project Manager and my wife did all the design work. We did a complete renovation.

I am such a sucker for vintage scarves. I cannot resist them. They are little pieces of wearable art that can also look great around your home. For just a few bucks you can transform your throw pillows by adding unexpected pops of color and texture — and there is absolutely no sewing involved at all so you won’t have to ruin your lovely scarf! Vintage scarves Throw pillows Rubber bands or ribbon 1. Gather a few small throw pillows from around your home.

Project by: Louise Location: Utica, New York We live in a 1930’s Dutch Colonial house in Central NY. The second-floor bathroom (the only one with a bathtub) was a disaster when we bought the house and stayed that way for several years. The room is extremely narrow. And to make things worse, the previous owner installed a vanity so large that there was no space to move around in there. The renovation had to be affordable, so the toilet, tub and sink had to remain in the same spots.

Project by: Kara and Matt Location: Charlotte, NC This past spring we purchased a 1960’s style brick ranch that aesthetically was still stuck in that decade. The home had great bones, but like most houses built at that time, contained lots of tiny “living” spaces, like a small L shaped kitchen, a super dark paneled den and a long, narrow living room.

Renovation by: Oneiric Projects Location: Los Angeles, CA This developer redo of a house is worth a peek for your own potential projects. It’s fully updated but still charming, especially when it comes to not only preserving but improving upon its major vintage curb appeal. Details about the renovation from Oneiric: New energy efficient windows preserves the 1919 style while providing ample natural light into the home. Original front door and peephole provides a warm welcome to visitors.

Makeover by: Paige Location: Naperville, Illinois My husband and I just finished our latest project: updating our main bathroom for under $250. We went back and forth about doing a larger renovation in here, but in the end we decided to work with what we had first. If we could get it to look great with minimal labor for us, then why not try it? We replaced the counter top (which was veined with purple!

Project by: Sarah & Chad Location: Montreal, Canada We thought we were going to take a break from renovating our 1950s attached house in Montreal after completely gutting the kitchen and updating the whole main level but a leaky toilet derailed our plans.

Justin sent us before, during and after photos of his recent bathroom makeover: I bought my condo 2.5 years ago and the upstairs half bath was pretty awful. My girlfriend and I did a ton of research on materials since we wanted to go with a more modern renovation. No timeframe, but we needed it done sooner than later considering we’re talking about cohabitation.

When faced with an outdated kitchen, it’s a natural reaction to want to go for the gut and simply start with a clean slate. It takes a a good eye and plenty of design confidence to recognize a situation where not everything has to go and instead, successfully build on the old, seen-better-days bones of the room.

I’m on a DIY framing kick right now, and dealing with all the artwork I’ve accumulated in the past year. I’ve also discovered rare earth magnets, which are proving very handy for various projects (like this wall organizer). Put the two together and you get a cheap and custom way to temporarily hang artwork that’s easy to swap out when you’re ready to display something else.

As renters, we take what we can get, and what we often get are miniscule (or non-existent) entryways and a lack of built-in storage. This multi-faceted organizer has a variety of ways to hang your stuff — coats, bags, and umbrellas — so they are at your fingertips as you head out the door, and stay tidy when you come back in. As a neat bonus, it also has a magnetized area for keys. You can learn how to make one yourself, right after the jump!

This inexpensive painting ($40 on eBay) needed a frame, but I didn’t want to invest the money in an expensive custom job. After doing a little research, I came up with a DIY floating frame that’s simple and modern, and very easy to make. This particular painting was done on a masonite board, but the plan can be modified for wrapped canvas as well. 1″ x 2″ lengths of wood (in actuality they are about .75″ x 1.