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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 wanted to give 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 gave our…
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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…
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One Room Challenge Week 5 ~ DIY Outdoor Projects
When we decided to makeover our backyard in week 1 of the One Room Challenge, the plans included several DIY outdoor projects. Here’s a recap of a what we wanted to accomplish: Create a garden with seating Build a mobile bar table Outdoor projector screen Build a mobile enclosure for the fire pit (not started) Bonus: Grill tool holder (not in original plan) Reclaimed DIY Bench There were 2 existing benches from the previous deck. We wanted to use 1 in the garden and 1 on the patio but it turns out that 1 was not salvageable as a bench. So those 2 benches became 1 bench, 1 small backless…
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DIY Abstract Art & The Truth About Printables
This has been small project week for me. Even though we are working on the backyard for the One Room Challenge, the weather has been a huge factor. So I shifted gears & decided to work on some unfinished art projects. Since moving a year & a half ago, we have been slowly (and randomly) decorating our home. Most of the major things are taken care of – until I decide I don’t like where a door/light switch/cabinet/anything else is located – and with the exception of the kid’s media room, all the major furniture pieces are accounted for. It’s all the little things that are all the difference in making…
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DIY Marble Tile Tabletop
When I decided to remix our master bedroom for the ORC, I wanted to use an antique vanity that I got at a community garage sale. The table had no top and I really wanted to top it with a marble slab. Time & cost didn’t let me do that so instead I decided to create my own tabletop. I wanted to share with you how to tile a tabletop, my way. This is for square or rectangular tables that will not require any special tools or cutting. Supplies: Tile of choice. For my 16″ x 33″ table top, I used 1 12″x 24″ white marble tile, 1 sheet of white…
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Refinished Dining Table and Chairs
Last year, I refinished 2 of 6 rush cane chairs I got from a resale shop. I was using them in my breakfast room mixed with 4 chairs of a different style. I loved the finished chairs but keeping them clean was a beast. And that led me to refinishing the remaining 4 chairs and my newly refinished dining table. We bought our solid wood dining table from my sister/buyer and loved the size, shape, & functionality of it. I loved that it was 2 toned with an inlay pattern on top and black turned legs. It was perfect for our mostly traditional home at the time. The original dining table in…
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DIY Console/Bar Table – Total Cost $20
Since we moved last August, we’ve been entertaining a lot more than we could have imagined. I’m grateful for that because we really enjoy having friends & family over. And because we love to eat & drink. Having all these parties and get togethers made me realize that something was missing in our dining room. At first I couldn’t quite put my finger on it; not until things died down a little after the holidays, then it hit me. I need something to put things on in there. Okay that sounds a little… off. But it’s literally what was missing. I was either always setting the table for family style…
