DIY
A green Design & Sustainable lifestyle blog. At the intersection of home, well-being, & sustainability. Going green with DIY projects
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DIY No-Sew Upholstery & the BIG Reveal – ORC Spring 2020 Week 8
Last week I was supposed to work on the the all important DIY no-sew upholstery project for the my cousin’s loveseat. Naturally, it just wouldn’t have been right if there were no issues AT ALL with that process. All I was able to do is remove the old upholstery at that time. Thank goodness for the extra weeks AND that we have until July 5 for “The Big Reveal”! I’m taking full advantage of the time so that when I present this gift to my cousin, it is everything she could have imagined & more! Let me just give you a run down on what didn’t go quite as planned:…
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DIY Kitchen Cleaners Without Borax
Hi friend! If you’ve been here before welcome back! If you’re new here, thanks so much for stopping by! Today I’m talking about DIY kitchen cleaners. If you’ve been here before, you already know that I am a natural purist (mostly). It all started with my natural hair & it’s love affair with castile soap. And has since morphed into everything from personal care to all things home & garden. I have shared a lot of DIY cleaning recipes here on the blog, but most have them have changed over the years. I’ve learned more, gotten a little lazy on some things, & started doing new things. Note:**This post may…
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How & Why I Made a DIY Compost Sifter
I grew up in an extended family home where my grandparents grew their own food & cooked everyday. They loved gardening, so – surprise surprise – they had a compost pile too. I DID NOT like the compost pile & just really hated when it was my turn to take out the scraps. I never thought I’d come to love gardening as much as I do now. And I definitely never thought I’d start composting. But all these years later, here I am with a veggie garden AND a compost bin. It’s amazing stuff really & pretty magical – there’s something so satisfying about growing your own food & turning…
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How To Make A Reversible Headboard Slipcover
Hey y’all! A couple of years ago I made a custom reversible headboard slipcover for the wood bed in our master bedroom. The project was part of the One Room Challenge & I promised a fellow blogger friend that I would share how I made it. That was 2 years ago & I have finally just gotten around to documenting it. Sorry Mari. 🙁 But… better late than never. Since I was washing my slipcover, I thought it would be a lot easier to show you how I made it by video instead of just telling you about it. So have a look at the video below – I put…
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DIY Custom Storage Boxes
How often have you made a mental or written note to get {more} storage boxes or containers? And how many of those times have you wanted a nicely matched or coordinated “set”? Maybe with handles, unique patterns or colors? Yah me too. But then I think about how much all those nice boxes & containers might completely blow my budget. No thanks, no es bueno. 1 more question… if you’ve paid attention, have you ever noticed that most storage boxes are truly just that? Boxes! Sometimes chipboard boxes, sometimes thick cardboard boxes. Both are pretty dern cheap so why not make your own pretty storage boxes? They’ll be unique, inexpensive…
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DIY Faux Fur Trimmed Christmas Stockings
Every year I end up buying something new to decorate for Christmas. New things come to stores, new trends emerge & I love all things Christmas so I get pulled in just like everyone else. This year I decided it was time for me to put my money where my mouth is & live my sustainable life even through the holidays. I committed to using items I already had form previous years, fixing or re-purposing things, & updating others. Since I don’t really follow trends, it was much easier than I thought it would be. Turns out, there wasn’t much that needed changing except… our Christmas Stockings. We’ve have had…
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DIY Custom Serving Tray
Hey y’all! I know I haven’t been posting much over the summer but… Today I’m excited because it’s been a while since I’ve been able to “build” something or use any power tools. This is the day that I get back to it! I love the smell of sawdust in the morning (or any other time of day). This one is a simple, long overdue project. It’s a custom serving tray. You might be wondering why I would build a serving tray when I could just buy 1 for any given budget. Couple of reasons: Speaking of budgets, I built this 1 for free*. Did I mention I love power tools? …
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DIY Wine Bottle Tiki Torches
Hey there friend! I have a treat for you today. Anything that involves wine, recycling, & a DIY project is gonna be right up my alley. I’m sure you’ve seen these tiki torches done so many ways all across the web, but I’m going to show you the quickest, easiest, cheapest version of a DIY wine bottle tiki torch any wine lover could ever ask for. You can make these in just 5 easy steps – and in less than 5 minutes, not including the time needed for step 1. Step 1: Buy the wine, drink the wine & save the cork for another project on another day. Step 2…
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My Grandmother’s Mahogany Veneer Dresser Makeover
Several years ago my grandmother gave me her old high boy. She was running out of space but didn’t want to get rid of it & knew that I would keep it & take care of it. She’s had this with a full bedroom set for at least 50 years – AND she bought it 2nd hand back in the 1960’s! It’s a mahogany veneer dresser that needed a makeover to fit in with my style. I have wanted to give it a little face lift for a while, but didn’t want Grandmother upset with any changes I might make. Finally, when we moved into our current home & I…
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DIY Customized Grill Tool Holder
When we decided to makeover our backyard, there were several projects that I knew I wanted to do. This is not one of those projects. Along the way we had so many delays and so many “a-ha” moments that led to completely fun & practical projects like this grill tool holder. I have to say that this was absolutely NOT my original idea. We looked at so many grill tool holders at high & low price points and even considered trying to clean up & modify the 1 that comes attached to the actual grill (which turned out to be too much trouble, especially since we planned to build a…
