Category: Home Projects


Jul
2017

Frames to Trays

categories: DIY, Flea Market Finds/Thrifting, Home Projects

Hello, happy Monday!

Today I want to share a really easy, creative, DIY, thrift store flip, turning old picture frames into trays for your home and entertaining.

This first tray, was a beat-up wood frame that I sanded, painted black, added some cute watermelon wrapping paper under the glass, and some simple handles.

Really cute for summer, so colorful, so whimsy.

I love whimsy!

The second tray is quite different.

Forgot to take a before photo, but it was all wood, with a picture decoupaged on one side.

Removed the picture, cleaned up the wood, and sanded both sides.

I stained one side of the wood insert, and I decided to paint the other side with chalkboard paint.

Added some really nice handles, and I was finished.

This frame was a really unique thrift store find, that was turned into a one of a kind tray.

The fact that it now has a reversible insert is amazing.

Turning frames into trays is so simple.

Next visit, or maybe your first thrift store visit, take a look at all the inexpensive frames, some are new, and try creating a tray.

Endless possibilities using paper, fabric, or even photos under the glass, a little paint, and some wonderful handles.  Hobby Lobby has an entire row of handles and knobs.

Gifts?

Have a creative week, love to everyone!


Jul
2017

Creating a Cleaning Bucket

categories: DIY, Home Projects

When my home is a mess, I’m stressed!

I love a clean home, but the truth is, I would rather take a beating than clean.

It never ends, the same thing over and over again.

Having my products all over the house made my everyday cleanups worse, so I created a cleaning bucket.

Bought a simple white, 5 gallon bucket, at Walmart for less than $3.00, but of course, it was too plain for me.

I put some fun into the project by adding a little black paint to the handle, a strip of black at the bottom, and at the top.  Love it, if you can love a cleaning bucket!

Looked around for a bucket to buy at the usual stores, but they were either too small, or way too expensive.

Filled my bucket with the products I use each day for my everyday quick cleanups, and those weekly more involved jobs.

Everything is now all together in one spot, I just grab my bucket and move room to room.  It really does save me a bunch of time.

I have quoted before, from a sweet little book I found at a thrift store some time ago, Being Home, by Gunilla Norris.  Meditations on everyday living.

Love this little book, that is now falling apart!  It is filled with really wonderful simple, black and white photos.

Gunilla writes, “if I leave a mess, I will find what I left sooner or later”, I must try to remember this!

To end this post, Gunilla writes, “When we clean and order our homes, we are somehow also cleaning and ordering ourselves”….”How we hold the simplest of our tasks speaks loudly about how we hold life itself.”

“Buckets” of love to all today!

 


Jul
2017

DIY Chic Desk Organizer

categories: DIY, Flea Market Finds/Thrifting, Home Projects

Yesterday I gathered together several items from my thrift store, dollar store stash, to make a chic desk organizer.

It was a fun, easy project, that I was able to finish in one day!

The wood tray and the file box are from the thrift store, and the jars from the dollar store.

I love that the inner section of the jar lids can be removed, but the jar rings can stay, allowing the jars to be open at the top for scissors and such.

Cleaned the file box, sprayed painted it and the jar lids with my favorite gold paint.

Sanded the rough spots on the wood tray and spray painted white.

To tie the items together I added angle brackets to the corners of the tray and painted the same gold.

The set looks great on my desk.  I love the way it all turned out!

Right now in my life I really feel the need to create and accomplish little things every single day.

Makes me happy!

I have a sweet little book written by Gunilla Norris, Being Home, in it she writes, “As I age, each and every day appears more and more as a gift. I want to live every one of them.”

That’s me!  Every one of them!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Live!

 

 

 


Jun
2017

Filling My $2 Basket

categories: DIY, Flea Market Finds/Thrifting, Home Projects

Every morning before the sun is too hot I have been working in my yard, potting, planting, weeding, just enjoying the alone time.

So much yet to do, but no complaining.  My home is my happy place, my place just “to be”!

I found this twiggy basket at the thrift store and immediately knew what it could “be”!

The $2 tag was hard to pass up.

I lined the inside with an inexpensive foil pan, poked holes in the bottom for drainage, and filled it with garden soil, geraniums, and vinca vines.

To finish up I added more soil to cover the foil pan.

The thick twig handle is what I noticed first and sold me on this basket.

The pink and white geraniums are so beautiful and I knew that this basket would be just a lovely welcome on my tiny front porch. On my trips to visit my brother in New York City, I loved all the small shops that sold flowers, the ones that lined the fronts of their stores with pots and baskets of plants and flowers.  No doubt my $2 basket could be displayed perfectly in front of any lovely, sweet, flower shop.

New York, NY: flower shop

Have a lovely Friday, hope you “fill” your day with joy and love!

 


Jun
2017

Creating a Recipe Binder

categories: DIY, Home Projects

Last week my dear husband ask me to make his favorite chicken recipe.

As it turned out, it took me longer to find the recipe than to make it!

My recipes are here, there, and everywhere!  Enough!

It is simply crazy that at my age my recipes are not organized, so I decided to put together a recipe binder to end the chaos.

I chose some colorful binders that provide a clear front insert area for a cover page.

Making one for myself, and a couple extras as gifts.

Pinterest helped to make this a really simple and fun project with all the free printables offered by so many talented people.

I decided on these clean, classic, black and white binder printables.

I love the font used and the extra sweet comment under each category page heading.  There are eleven category pages.

After I printed out the pages on white card stock paper, I inserted each one into sheet protectors and all my recipes as well.

Using sheet protectors allows recipes to be kept clean during preparation. Simply wipe off any spills or finger prints and put pages back into the binder for next time.

Click here to download your FREE recipe binder printables!

Offered by Lauren McKinsey (http://laurenmckinsey.com/).

Thank you Lauren!

Just a quick way to get organized and so very easy to put together.

Christmas might be lean this year so making a few extra binders would be a gift most folks would love to receive.

Oh, my husband’s favorite chicken recipe, Santa Fe Baked Chicken, yummy!

Grateful for all of you every single day!


May
2017

Repurposed Plant Stands

categories: DIY, Flea Market Finds/Thrifting, Home Projects

I’m “loving my new simple” passion of repurposing discarded items.

Breathing new life into old, forgotten objects.

It is amazing how fun and rewarding it can be to turn something someone no longer wanted into an amazing repurposed or the word I really like to use is reloved item.  Yes, there is such a word!

Found these old, dirty, rusted, plant stands at the thrift store for $2 each.  My thought at the time was to use them on my back porch.  They have been stored in my garage for months.

When planning my niece’s bridal shower I was concerned about side tables for drinks during lunch and playing games.  Buying new tables was out of the question, I simply could not afford anything new.  I searched online but any I found, goldtone, were at least $100.  Too much!

I thought of my plant stands in the garage.  Cleaned and sanded both, spray painted with my favorite gold paint, and I was so pleased with the outcome.

The gold paint added a bit of formal to the stands and the hairpin legs are so popular right now on many tables.

To complete the stands, I purchased two clear glass plates which fit perfectly into the top.

When not using as side tables, I will use for my plants in the living room area.

Hope you all have a great weekend, why not find something to relove!

Enjoy everything fun and loving in your life!

 

 


Mar
2017

Simple Kitchen Message Board

categories: Flea Market Finds/Thrifting, Home Projects

Saturday was another really dreary day, no sun at all!

I need sunshine!

Decided to make my own “sunshine on a cloudy day” by working on a fun “find it, fix it” project.

A simple message board for my small kitchen.

Found this piece at a community church yard sale some time ago, broken, and missing a section, but I saw potential.

By simply adding a fresh coat of chalkboard paint to the top piece, and a new cork piece, most of the project was completed.

There were many options I could have used for the missing piece on the lower area, adding a small shelf, a wire basket, but eventually decided on just adding a smaller piece of wood, painted, with knobs, hooks, and a large wooden paper clip to hold my post it notes.

The folks at my Home Depot cut the piece of wood I needed.  They will make simple straight cuts for you when you purchase wood at their stores, which is so awesome!

So very pleased with the outcome of my “find it, fix it”.

We all need places to pin things, recipes, notes, reminders, and even a sweet photo to spark a bit of joy to our hearts when noticed during our busy days.

Hope you have ways of adding your own “sunshine on a cloudy day”!

Sometimes simple ways of adding “sunshine” are the best.

Have you ever just stopped what you are doing, grabbed a notepad, and begin writing down all the things, at that moment, you have that add “sunshine” to your life.

Try it!

It works!

Love to all.

 


Feb
2017

Flea Market Flips

categories: DIY, Flea Market Finds/Thrifting, Home Projects

My new must watch TV is a show on HG TV called “Flea Market Flip”.

Two teams shop flea markets to find three items to fix up and flip (resell) for profit.  The team with the most net profit at the end wins $5000.  The flips are amazing!

I started to visit my local flea markets and thrift stores just to see what was possible for me as a beginner.

Today I am sharing my first find, and simple fix up!

A candle sconce, with simple lines, that is now a gold and beautiful addition to my home.

This is how it looked when I purchased it for 50 cents. Dust and dirt in every corner with slight scratches here and there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cleaned it up and simply spray painted with my favorite gold paint.

I added a battery operated candle to complete, adding some warmth to the item.

A bunch of options for this 50 cent find, hang it in a corner, place on my dining room table, or on my desk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allowing myself to be a beginner I started small, but small flips first, building on each project.

I found this light fixture for sale on Overstock.com, maybe as I grow as a flipper I would have this vision for my candle sconce!

La Pedriza Antique Black Finish Glass Chandelier

Turn it upside down and add the lighting works!

Somewhere I read that for a happy life you need three things, someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to!

I have folks to love, and now finding and fixing up items is my new something to do and to look forward to!

Have a happy day!


Mar
2016

DIY Scrap Wood Open Shelving

categories: DIY, Home Projects, My Simple Home

DIY Open ShelvingMy TV passion right now is watching “Fixer Upper” on the Home and Garden TV channel.  The show features a husband and wife (Chip and Joanna Gaines), who live in Waco, Texas, on a restored farmhouse.  They are so cute together and the show is delightful.  Each episode of the show highlights how they restore fixer upper homes for other folks within their budget.  It is amazing what they can do.

Joanna’s style tends to include antique pieces, industrial items, and of course farmhouse, especially open shelving, featured in most of the kitchens she designs.

My kitchen is old, small, and nothing expensive about it, no granite countertops or fancy backsplash.  Recently, I did paint it a nice gray and we do have fairly new stainless appliances.  Not much money for anything else, but for now I wanted to share a fun DIY project, spending less than $20.

It’s my little bit of farmhouse style using scrap wood.

Kitchen Shelving Project

Now that it is completed, I have a bit of farmhouse open shelving on a small wall in my kitchen.  I really love the look and that it also allows me to display some of my white dishes, bowls, and pitchers.

The wood was a scrap piece I found in my garage, a 2″ x 8″.  I had it cut into two pieces, sanded, and stained with Mimwax, Special Walnut.  Purchased the brackets at Home Depot for $5 each.  That was it!

Open ShelvingA DIY project like this brings me joy, it is simple, clean looking, inexpensive, and so fun to put together.

Something I always try to remember about my home, “all that I have, is all that I need”.

I have a sweet home, filled with all the things I cherish, and blessed with love and laughter.

Blessings to all!

 

 

 

 

 


Apr
2014

My “someday” Project List!

categories: Home Projects, Uncategorized

Today is a beautiful day in West Chester, Ohio.  Finally!

It is sunny, with a light breeze, and 76 degrees.

I walked around our yard just to see what trees, plants, and shrubs made it through the winter and there it was, a project that has been on my “someday” list for years. A new potting bench!

This photo shows my pitiful bench right now.  It is pretty sad!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI put it together years ago with an old picnic table.

So, I am going to get started on this and report on my progress.  It will be fun!

I already have some old birdhouses, garden signs, and old watering cans to add that rustic look.  There are so many awesome potting bench ideas on Pinterest, hopefully I can use some for mine.

See you next time for the update on my progress.  Happy Spring!