Category: DIY

  • A book that every DIYer, remodeler, and frugalista must check out!

    A book that every DIYer, remodeler, and frugalista must check out!

    HGTV’s Design on a Dime Host Frank Fontana’s Dirty Little Secrets of Design; I have to say I was very impressed by this book when I received it. Lots of decorating books have inspiring and pretty images, but this is one of the few rare ones that you actually want to read. It is packed with great tips – and not just how to make your house a better place to live, but how to live in your house better.

    Is this not a home office/studio to die for? It’s home office heaven! Tons of surface space, storage space, and natural light.

    Some of Frank’s home office dos and Don’ts:

    Don’t:
    • Locate your office area where it can interfere with social spaces in your home.
    • Keep a cluttered, messy desk for all your guests to observe.
    • Us overbearing decor that will distract more than soothe and motivate. Keep the TV in the other room, unless it’s part of your job requirement.
    • Make your office at home feel too much like your other office. Leave harsh lights and sterilizing styling for the hospitals.

    Do:
    •Provide yourself with basic office supplies to keep the work flowing.
    •Find a quiet space for your office that will allow you to forget about it when you only want to relax. Conversely, put the dog in the kennel when serious work needs to be completed.
    • Use closed-storage, multi-functional, and organizational furniture to keep the things you need easily in reach but not constantly exposed.
    • Use items like privacy screens, curtains, and solid dividers to separate your focus from the rest of the house (if you don’t have a dedicated room).
    •Add personal style to your office furnishings that inspire creativity and success

    A lovely restful bedroom.
    Bedroom dos and dont’s from Dirty Little Secrets of Design

    Don’t:
    •Bring the drama of our day into the bedroom. Change your design to help change your attitude.
    •Use bright hues of color that make you feel a sense of urgency. (Of course, these colors will vary depending on your personal taste.}
    •Overdo your design to the point where you feel as if you are sleeping in a museum. Like color, decor should lend itself to subtlety instead of intensity.

    Do:
    •Create a destination out of your bedroom that carries you to a calm, peaceful place. Seek inspiration from your favorite vacations.
    • Work with earthy colors, and don’t be afraid of dark colors, as they will aid in letting you sleep later in the morning. Keep an equal balance of design, high style, and downright warm cozy comfort.
    • Include decorative pillow, but use the rule of three for this one. Two matching Euro-sized pillows with shams and one funky pillow that makes a statement.

    A fun and chic entryway.

    A tip I was so happy to see – Frank’s tip on how to work with wood
    “Many design styles will call for lots of wood furnishings. Avoiding buying a set of furniture or decor is a great way to save money and stay original, but that means you need to have an eye for matching distinct items. When purchasing wood furnishings, a good rule of thumb is to not have the color of all the wooden items in a space differ by more than three shades. If you absolutely love a piece but it is too dark or light, you can always sand it and add a new finish”

    A super chic reading nook in my fav. colors at the moment – grays.

    Well…have I whetted your appetite? This book is definitely a great addition to the library of a big do-it-yourselfer. It can be purchased at Amazon , or from the publisher, Abrams.

    I received this book as a sample

  • DIY headboard makeover

    DIY headboard makeover

    So, reader Teresa posed a good question to me at the end of September: How to revamp an old wood headboard. I always feel like the end of the week is a good time to feature DIYs and tutorials because the weekend beckons and everybody loves a fun little house project. Okay, not always, but this one is fun – and super rewarding.

    Anyway, back to the old wood headboard. Teresa was lucky enough to snag a whole antique bedroom set for $100. She loved the wood frame of the headboard, so she doesn’t want to cover the wood. She does, however, HATE the wicker. And I agree, it’s got to go.

    My recommendation is to cut out the wicker, create an upholstered panel, and insert it into the space where the wicker once was. I’ve compiled a few really great tutorials on how to create an upholstered panel below.

    Here are the photos of the headboard as is:


    And below, I worked a little photoshop magic to illustrate what I mean by creating upholstered panels.

    Here I just chose a fabric to serve as an example. You’ll also notice I bordered it with an upholstery ribbon adorned with upholstery tacks, because the wicker is overlaid a bit on the wood frame, and I’m not sure if that will be easy to remove from the wood. The ribbon and tacks serve as a nice way to cover up any marks left by the wicker.

    fabric via Warm Biscuit
    Below I chose a different fabric just to change it up and show 3 panels in place of the wicker.

    fabric from Cloud9

    Attaching the panels to the frame could be done in a few ways, and depends a bit on how the headboard is constructed. Wood staples could work, though you might have to do a little research.

    Now for all the tutorials I promised. Visit the sites below to get step by step directions on creating upholstered panels.

    A.

    For some really great instructions on how to make panels similar to these above, go to “How to make a Fabric Headboard” on All Things Thrifty.

    B.


    For how to make separate upholstered panels like these above, go to Denver Post, which features the tutorial from Mark Montano’s “Big Ass Book of Decorating Ideas.” I especially like this version because it’s easy to swap fabrics depending on the season, you bedding, mood, etc.

    C.Here’s a great tutorial from Instructables.

    I hope this helps! Does anyone else have any tips or ideas? Has anyone made an upholstered headboard and have any words of wisdom?

  • Gorgeous images from my favorite blogs

    Gorgeous images from my favorite blogs

    Hope this is a nice way to end your week!
    Blogs in no particular order –



    Images above via To-Be-Charmed. This is a great blog if you love DIYs.



    From Happy Mundane – if you’re tired of the same-old, same-old, this is your blog.

    What a nice place to eat blueberry pancakes on a Saturday morning.

    I really like the industrial edge brought in by the filing cabinet as the end table!

    These beauties via CreamyLife

    Hope you like! Have a great weekend!

  • Great Giveaway! No Decorator? No problem – an easy way to get a decorator look.

    Great Giveaway! No Decorator? No problem – an easy way to get a decorator look.

    This awesome giveaway is provided by Design in a Bag. Just to introduce Design in a Bag, here’s a bit about their services:

    “Prêt-à-porter for your kitchen and bath projects, Design In A Bag introduces collections of professionally coordinated and proven kitchen and bath design recipes, offering the expertise, access and eye of an interior designer without the price tag. Unlike other prêt interior design services, Design In A Bag allows you to browse online galleries of coordinated kitchen and bath looks – each carefully designed and crafted by Rebekah Zaveloff, an HGTV contributor and the creative force behind Chicago’s preeminent kitchen and bath interior design firm KitchenLab – and delivers selected complete concepts including cabinet, countertop, tile and paint samples, shopping list and hand-drawn renderings direct to your door. Taking the guesswork out of putting together a cohesive look for your kitchen or bath project, consumers can touch, see and experience the materials in their home, bringing the showroom and interior designer directly to you.”

    You can search concepts by Modern, Vintage, or Classic styles, and by palette: warm, cool, or neutral. To enter the giveaway – leave a comment below or email me at
    ashley[at]decorologyblog[dot]com saying what style or palette you think you’d choose. A winner will be picked via a random draw on Monday the 27th at 5pm EST. You can find out what’s included in the bag by reading this page “What’s in a Bag.”

    Here are some great kitchen transformations from Design in a Bag where the bag materials and concept were followed to a ‘T’. They are both examples of the “Vintage” style.


    Kitchen before

    Materials/samples provided in the “Burgoyne” bag

    The amazing transformation!

    The next is using the “La Motte” bag.

    Kitchen before

    La Motte bag materials

    Kitchen after – so much better. I really like the tiles used for the oven backsplash

    Check out the Design In A Bag site for more info and photos. Don’t forget to comment or email me by Monday the 27th 5pm EST for your chance to win this awesome giveaway!

    To comment, scroll to the bottom of this post, and directly above the word “Labels” click on the # Comments link. Or scroll to the bottom of the comments and click “Post a Comment”

  • A fun new book to check out

    A fun new book to check out

    I was lucky enough to be able to review “The Big-Ass Book of Home Decor” by Mark Montano. The decorating projects are modern, always budget conscious, and I think easy enough for most of us to do. I also liked that he has a list at the end of decorating project “basics” that he always keeps around the house to have on hand as needed. Here are a few of my favorites.

    A wall finish done with a rolling pin

    Each project has an instruction page.

    Love the sketch look of this butterfly pillow




    And a super cute birdcage pillow

    The book also includes templates for the projects in the back so you can photocopy them and use them as stencils. You can buy it online at places like Amazon.

  • One of the best lampshade refab how-tos ever

    One of the best lampshade refab how-tos ever

    Need a spring spruce up but no budget whatsoever? I found this how to and thought it might make a nice weekend project. I’d love to see before and after pics if anyone decides to give this a go!


    In order to read the directions – click on each image for a larger, legible view. Or, go to Nesting Newbies Winter 2010 issue, pg. 118 to see the article in it’s original form

  • A great spring project that’s super easy and pretty!

    A great spring project that’s super easy and pretty!

    For this great idea (and gorgeous photos), I thank Elizabeth Goodman, creator of the very pretty “To Be Charmed” blog.

    The project’s star component is Japanese Washi tape, which is like a decorative masking tape. The tape is a fabric-like masking tape that comes in dozens of patterns, colors, and widths.




    Some of these vases she’s created are actually paper cups!
    Read her post for all the how-to details –

    Some places to purchase the tape:

    www.etsy.com/shop/PrettyTape

    www.happytape.bigcartel.com/
    www.etsy.com/shop/downtownfabrics
    www.cutetape.com/

    Some pretty spring flowers on my desk would really brighten my day! (hint to boyfriend)

  • Got a small kitchen in which to prepare Thanksgiving?  Here are some really great ideas!

    Got a small kitchen in which to prepare Thanksgiving? Here are some really great ideas!

    I found this gallery on Better Homes and Gardens, and I wanted to share with you my favorite ideas! Hope you see something inspiring!

    I always have lots of hooks on hand because they are a life saver in kitchens. NYC apartments have maybe 4 cabinets on average, though I’ve dealt with less, and having items hanging from the walls is VERY handy, and makes for a nice cottage look.


    Flea market finds like the section of iron fence, or the grate as a pot rack, make for inexpensive DIY projects.

    Instructions for the image above – I’m a huge fan of using jars (after all – you buy the spaghetti sauce, eat-it, and then your left with a handy organizational system)

    -“Adapt an idea from the garage workbench, but instead of storing nails, nuts, and bolts, store coffee beans or other goodies. Collect identical glass jars with screw-top lids (spaghetti sauce jars, for example) and screw the lids to the underside of a wood shelf. Allow enough space between the jars for easy access.

    To keep track of a variety of coffee beans, use your computer to print labels on white paper and have them laminated at a print shop. Or use purchased tags and write the variety names by hand. Tie the tags to the jars with twine.”

    A great solution to a common problem, (too many cookbooks, not enough book shelves in the kitchen). Bring in a small bookshelf and top with stone (this you may need to make a trip to the hardware store to purchase and cut) – so now you have storage and more work surface.

    Making a caddy (this one was a tool box given a new paint job), keeps things you use everyday handy and portable while cooking.

    So, could any of these ideas work for you? Any ideas on how to adapt them for other uses around the house?