Browsing "Recycle & Reuse"
I can't wait to share my DIY Suitcase Dog Bed with you! Okay, this post is really just a way for me to introduce you to my adorable new puppy! We got him just in time for Easter and the whole family is in love with this little fluff ball. His name is Chancho, as in "I would never leave you Chancho" from the great "Nacho Libre". Can you tell I have all boys and a 13-year-old named him? Oh well, I love it too. Now for the dog bed.
My awesome father in law found this old suitcase for me. When he gave it to me we didn't have a pup yet so I imagined it sitting on a shelf somewhere adding charm to my house. But, once Chancho came in to our lives (literally later that day), I knew it would make the perfect dog bed. This is not a new idea, but new for someone like me with my first dog ever. The sandy colored exterior Read more [...]
I know I say this a lot, but, this is one of my favorite projects of all time!!! It all started with a trip to ReStore. If you've never been to ReStore, you must go! It is a home improvement thrift store, just the description is dreamy, right? Anyway, this was out in the yard and I asked how much, $5 later and it was in my van, ready for its new home.
I used it this last Christmas as my tree stand and swooned every time I looked at it . I couldn't bare to put it back outside after Christmas so I decided to turn it into the diy coffee table I always knew it could be.
I started out with a trip to Home Depot and picked up a 1/2 sheet of plywood. It was a 4X4 sheet of pre-sanded plywood in the project section. No cutting and wasting, no giant pieces of plywood to shove in the van, just a small, concise piece that Read more [...]
During a back to school shopping trip at Famous Footwear my son Jake and I picked up this awesome skateboarding poster! It was a store display and is approximately 6 1/2 feet tall and 10 feet wide. It would be perfect for a preteen's bedroom. I asked the store employee is I could have it when they were finished displaying it. After a few calls to her manager, she said YES! A few weeks later she called me and told me it was ready to pick up. She put toilet paper over all of the tape adhesive so it wouldn't stick to itself, and rolled it up for me. I couldn't believe how sweet they were and that they gave it to me for free! It didn't even have a Famous Footwear logo on it or anything! It was thicker than I expected. I hung it on the wall using thumb tacks along the borders. A similar poster from PB Teen Read more [...]
My oldest son Jake is very stylish. Today I am sharing his very own creation, a DIY Denim Tie. This year he is in 7th grade and accidentally got put in Home Economics. It actually suited him quiet well, and the girls in his class quite liked having him around. He started off with a skinny tie that he already had.
Then he took an old pair of his dad's jeans and laid them out on the counter. He looked around till he found the worn marks and whiskering that he wanted on the front of the tie.
He turned them inside out and placed the tie over the desired parts of the jeans.
Then with a marker he traced the tie with about a 1/4 of an inch extra all the way around. The jeans were not long enough for the tie, so he traced the extra needed right next to the main part of the tie.
Then he cut them out and pinned Read more [...]
So I was loving all of the faux taxidermy found all around the internet. I searched for life sized paper mache, plaster, even gilded deer heads. They were all very expensive, $150 plus. Then, since I live in a prime hunting state, I figured I'd check our local classifieds at KSL.com. I looked up taxidermy and that's when I fell in love with this buck. The owner was asking $50...yep, $50 for the REAL DEAL! We met up at a convenience store and she pulled it out of the back of her Jeep. It was even prettier than the pictures on the web. I was giddy the whole way home. As I began showing it to friends, family, and anyone who would listen I started getting a lot of street cred among people I didn't know were hunters. They all seemed a bit dissapointed when I told them I bought it off of KSL. Ha ha. I'm definitely NOT Read more [...]
Artificial Christmas tree or Fresh Cut? I'm Artificial all the way. And, if I'm not hosting a Thanksgiving feast, I like to put it up the week before Thanksgiving. Yep, I'm one of those people. Don't get me wrong, I respect the bird, but why not enjoy your Christmas tree as long as possible, another reason I love artificial. This year was no different. I was so excited to put my tree up this year, mostly because of a crate that was repurposing.
I made a usual stop at our local ReStore and purchased a huge classroom chalkboard. I had to pull around to the back for the guys that work there to load it in my van. That is when I spotted this amazing crate. It was huge, wrapped in plastic, and stacked out in the yard. I asked the guy loading my chalkboard how much it was. He said "how about $5". I went Read more [...]
With my beach roots, I adore anything that reminds me of the ocean. So last year while on a trip in Hawaii, I gathered up a few bags of driftwood and stashed it in my luggage. I have contemplated many different driftwood projects since then, but none made me as excited as this, driftwood garland. It is super simple and cost me about $3 (not including the trip to Hawaii of course).
I started with jute cording that I picked up for around $3 from Michael's. I taped off the end giving it a firm shoe lace like tip.
Then I laid out my driftwood and drilled a small hole in each end of each piece. The drilling created a big dusty mess but it was easily wiped up. Then threaded the driftwood with the taped jute. If it didn't go through the hole easily, a small pair of pliers pulled it right through. The easiest Read more [...]
What happens when you take someone like me to drop off a sofa at the dump? You end up with a car full of junk bound to be a cool project someday. Well this last weekend became this project's someday, a vintage industrial tray table. I started out with this slightly rusted tray. It looks like a paper tray without a bottom. Or maybe a vintage army tool chest stand. I've Googled it and can't come up with anything else like it. Then I disassembled two pallets I found in a dumpster near my house.
I carefully removed all of the nails by hammering them on the bottom and then pulled them out from the top with the back side of the hammer. The wood was long enough to fill the tray with just one cut on each end, but I thought that a diagonal pattern would be more interesting to look at. I dry fit them together and Read more [...]
Dhurrie rugs are very popular right now and for good reason. They are rich in texture and colors and are available in many great textures. Pottery Barn has one right now that I really like called the Alhambra Tile Dhurrie Rug:
It unfortunately is out of my budget right now. Well, imagine my complete surprise when at a recent Down East Home (a local outlet for Pottery Barn scratch and dents) tent sale, I rummaged through the rug sample box and found four 18"X20" samples. These are what you can order on Pottery Barn's website if you want a swatch of the rug to make sure it matches your home. They retail for $25 a piece. BUT at the DEH tent sale, they were $2.50 each!!! I bought all four and made pillow shams out of them. Here's how.
Supplies:
rug swatch
heavy canvas
zipper
down pillow
10 min.
I Read more [...]
It's that time of year to take down all of my summer beach decor and get in the mood for fall. For this display I wanted to keep things on the simple side. I have a habit of adding a lot of stuff at different layers and levels in order to create drama (examples HERE, HERE and HERE). Not this time.
I decided to go with neutrals and keep it clean and tidy. My family room is two-story and has a grand fireplace and mantle. This was by design, I wanted a huge space to decorate so this mantle fit the bill when we designed our home 8 years ago. It does create a problem sometimes since the space is sooo huge, it is easy to dwarf the decor. This layout started with this European mount elk skull and antlers. I found them on our local KSL classifieds (similar to Craigslist) for only $75! That is cheaper than a fake Read more [...]
Although I have only sewn one outfit from a pattern, I have fond memories of my mom whipping out a pattern and sewing up something fabulous (did she say she sewed an "outfit" eww! in my defense I was in 4th grade and by the time I finished the "outfit" I refused to wear it due to the hideous fabric I had selected). At a recent "Free" yard sale swap that a fellow blogger hosted, I found a stack of old sewing patterns free for the taking. The images on the covers were priceless, and I knew I could create something with this bit of nostalgia.
I've seen patterns used in many ways recently, but my favorite were tissue paper flowers. After searching for the perfect tutorial, I decided to make one myself and include all the important details that I felt others had left out and I had to learn by trial and error.
Layer Read more [...]
Dumped & Found, Recycle & Reuse 
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