DIY Home Projects

Heidi is a hoarder. She doesn’t have dusty stacks of newspapers lying around or dozens of cats, she hoards her son’s artwork. And who can blame her! Determined to display his cute scribblings and paintings, she strung a small line of rope and hung his artwork with clothespins. Finding this inadequate, she took a tip from another blogger and went big. Really big. Find out what humble material has solved her problem:Yep, chicken wire!

This family may not have a big entryway but they have a wide staircase which they turned into a mudroom of sorts with tons of storage for every family member. See how great it looks now:Even seeing other people get organized makes me feel good. I imagine these cubbies will fill up a lot more over time and not look quite as pretty, but what a great way to maximize this space along the stairs.

So much of the successful end result of design projects depends on the ability to take risks and think “outside the box” when in the planning stages. Being able to consider the idea of making one big shift opens up many possibilities. This was the case with the story of the redesign of the entrance and facade single family home in Chicago…… featured in the current issue of Chicago Home + Garden.

What happens when water invades your living room and you have to take the carpet out? Well in this case you do great things while staying within a budget. Curious to see what this boring concrete floor looks like now?Over at the blog TwentysixFiftyeight there’s been some serious transformations happening. After having to remove the carpet in their home due to some unforeseen water issues, Merritt and Cris were left with a slightly uneven, yes solid concrete slab.

I recently had the idea to replace the photographs which hung above my couch with several images from one of my favorite picture books, Caps for Sale. Five dollars for the book, a few cuts with an X-ACTO, and I have six beautiful images that add new life to the room.Since I already had the frames, this was a very cheap and easy way to do a quick change to the room.

Do you tend to bring home project pieces from the thrift shop simply because you can’t pass up a good deal? We must be related. I adopt pieces of furniture even if I don’t have space for them. When I saw this unloved little ottoman, I knew I had to bring it home. See how this ottoman went from sad to glad after the jump!A close-up of the ottoman before it’s overhaul.Supplies:1 Old Ottoman-$151 Can of Spray Primer-$2.991 Can of Sunburst Yellow Spray Paint -$3.

Jarret and Catherine of Bungalow Bungahigh had a classic renovation story play out when rehabbing the kitchen in their Chicago home. What could go wrong, did, and the job took much longer than initially expected. But, I’m sure you’ll agree the results are worth it — just check out the after:Here’s the story from Jarrett and Catherine: We bought our 1931 Chicago bungalow knowing that we’d have to do one major renovation project: the kitchen!

In cities that have an IKEA, their furniture is found in many homes. While there’s nothing wrong with this affordable option, that doesn’t mean your pieces have to look like those everywhere else in your city. Check out what these BESTA cabinets after Kris was through with them! Kristina Klarin isn’t one for plain and boring. She is all about making a splash with color and these cabinets were slightly lack luster before she got a hold of them.

Making over an area like the bathroom can seem like a small project. At first it feels as though only a few things will need refreshing or changing out — but often once things get started it seems as though everything must go. In this bathroom highlighted on This Old House, everything received a makeover from hardware and fixtures to lighting and paint — all for $439!

Peter and Molly’s light-flooded West Village studio was perfect for the two of them plus Hugo, their dog. But when they were preparing for a new baby, they successfully reorganized the space and added a sliding door, creating a comfortable and calm one-bedroom. Initially, Peter and Molly used the larger area for their bed, a comfy chair and storage.

Jarrett and Catherine of Bungalow Bungahigh have tackled DIY projects that make mere mortals shy away, like rehabbing an outdated basement bathroom on a super tight budget. They got creative with their choice of materials and were able to get a whole new look for under $200 – $158 to be exact……and the After!Here is what Jarrett and Catherine tell us about the project: We recently rehabbed our tired basement bathroom.

When I was growing up, this glass door bookcase lived in the home of an elderly neighbor housing a collection of beautiful hardcover books. My sister and I always considered Miss Matthews a surrogate grandmother, and I was delighted to inherit this and some other furniture pieces when she passed away a few years ago. Though this bookcase wouldn’t work in my library, I knew it would be perfect to house my DVD collection.

I have always dreamt of having a “couple’s desk”. However, every apartment we’ve had hasn’t given us the proper space for this to happen. Luckily, for Valentine’s Day my guy surprised me with a rearranged space and enough room for my dream double desk to finally happen!In the before photo above, you can see our original desk. It housed his cluttered workstation and was large — but not large enough for two people.

With some white paint, elbow grease, and a few affordable accessories, Noreen and David turned a barely-used storage area in their 180-year-old Florida home into a peaceful and comfortable guest room.When I was visiting my parents Florida home earlier this month, I was so thrilled to see that they were transforming an old storage area at the back of the house into a guest room – and they didn’t even know it was Home Project month here at Apartment Therapy!

We moved into our home four years ago in a flurry of MA thesis writing and job changes. When we had time, we worked on decorating the bedrooms, living room, and dining area — but we pretty much ignored the loft space at the top of the stairs. We eventually bought a rug and our friend Karen kindly built us pine shelves while staying as a houseguest. Sadly, that was about it until last year, when our home office moved there to make way for a nursery.

Whit and Rachael Gardner of Our Mid Century are savvy stylists, whether we are about talking vintage or contemporary furnishings— the post that they shared with us for Home Project month proves it. When the search for an affordable mid century sofa kept coming up dry, they did a complete makeover of an affordable IKEA basic to help it fit in smoothly with their vintage style home. The “after” looks like a totally different sofa!…and the After!

When I moved into my apartment, the built-in cabinet in my bedroom was shoddily painted in yellow and blue with brown “accents.” To make matters worse, there were so many layers of paint that the hinges didn’t work well.Basically, I spent several hours over two weeks chipping away at the old paint — a process I found surprisingly satisfying. Beneath the yellow, blue, and brown, I found pink, gray, and lime green.

Unless you drop your china and it shatters into a million pieces (which is usually my luck), it probably only suffered a small crack from a fall or mishap. Instead of just waiting for the day it inevitably breaks for good, try giving it a milk bath. Yup, your china is getting a day at the spa!Curious about how it works? The idea is simple. You place your cracked piece in a pot and cover it with two cups of milk (or more if needed). Next, heat over low for an hour.

Cold weather is right around the corner and that means the grill will be getting a lot less use. If, like me, you don’t have any place other than the balcony to store the grill over the winter months why not make a DIY cover for it? Oilcloth, which is available in an impressive array of patterns and colors, will make a cute little hideaway for your grill while it’s not in use. And with this how-to, you’ll have it together in no time!

Ashley sent in the results of her just-completed upholstery project &mdash and it’s crazy! This afternoon I re-covered a set of four dining room chairs that my husband and I received from his GREAT grandmother, all the way across the Atlantic from Bermuda. It’s a lovely set — but the fabric in which they arrived was dirtied and dingy and was in desperate need of a change.

We have a sort-of suspicion that, up close, these shelves — made out of actual shelf mushrooms — might be a bit too reminiscent of those clocks made from overly lacquered slices of logs, but this photo gives them such Alice in Wonderland appeal that we kind of love them anyway.

Hi! My husband and I just made a faux fireplace on our new loft. The top piece is sustainable salvaged maple from our local re-use shop. We cut it in half (going to make a coffee table out of the other piece) and stained it with a clear coat for protection.