DIY Decor & Crafts

Green Squares

Published on May 14, 2015May 14, 2015 by Our Humble Abode1 Comment

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been splitting time between painting various rooms, adding plants to the exterior, and giving the guest room an update. None of which are completely finished, and all waiting for other elements before I’m done. Between the bigger guest room tasks, I decided to rearrange the bookshelves for a less cluttered look. For a bright spot on the shelves, a simple shadow box art was in order. I started with a piece of white mat board, glue, and a bag of moss.

Before starting, I lightly marked a square 1 1/2 inches from the edges. Working in sections, I spread glue and started placing moss along the edges.

After filling in the entire square, I let the glue dry and shook the excess moss off.

Twenty minutes after starting, I had a finished art piece, ready to frame. Both the color and texture are lovely.

I had an Ikea shadow box that fits perfectly on the shelf. Boom, instant nature art with depth and character. Any nature finds you’ve turned into art recently?

Now time for me to get more plants in the ground.

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

Published on May 6, 2015May 6, 2015 by Our Humble Abode1 Comment

Our guest room was one of the first rooms we tackled after moving in. Not much has changed since finishing it.

While I like the room on its own, now that we’ve worked on more of the house, it doesn’t exactly flow with the rest of the house.

Fortunately, it’s nothing a can of paint, a few yards of fabric, and a little rearranging can’t fix. For the walls, I’m really feeling an olive-green, to cozy up the room.

After painting the main bath vanity Tate Olive, I started thinking about making similar changes to the guest room.

Using leftover paint, I made a sample board on a scrap of foam core.

Clearly I like the color, but for an entire north facing room, it might be too dark. In the much brighter south-facing master bed and bath, I didn’t hesitate to go dark and bold.

On the other hand, it could be warm and enveloping. The wall of white bookshelves brightens up the room, too. When paired with a linen upholstered headboard, the natural tones would be perfectly earthy.

If Tate Olive is too dark, I found Thicket, a lighter, still similar color. After paint, the other side, opposite the bed, will get a little change. I still love the art and arrangement, but I’d like to repaint the dresser top.

Perhaps new curtain panels, too. The rolled shade is easy to close, but annoying to roll up to open. How do you feel about dark colors in small spaces?

Produce Cart

Published on March 31, 2015March 31, 2015 by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

In addition to the new knife block, I’ve been working on organizing the rest of the kitchen. It’s a great way to keep busy, while indulging my crazy. Initially, I planned to have an under shelf mounted basket in the pantry, to store potatoes and extra fruit. Because, well, Costco quantities. Something similar to the baskets in the pantry below.

The problem with that is two-fold. Finding the right mounting system is tricky. Secondly, a secured basket would block the inside corner, making it useless. Due to stubbornness, I didn’t let the issue go and searched for a better solution. One night, as I couldn’t fall asleep, the perfect idea came to me. Lightbulb-a wooden crate on casters! I dug around our scrap bin, but didn’t see enough of any one thing. Michael’s carries wooden crates, and the measurements were perfect. Even easier than building a custom box. For easier moving, I bought four fixed casters at Home Depot to attach to the base.

The base material is about 3/8 inch thick, so I used a combo of screws. On the outer edge, along the 3/4 inch front piece, I used 1 inch screws. Along the inside, shorter 1/2 inch screws to avoid going through the base. Adding a quarter-inch thick block would also fix the problem, but I didn’t want to add height.

Swivel casters could work just as well, but fixed wheels made it easier to pull out and push in without hitting the sides. Instead, the box smoothly slides straight in and out.

Inside, we store potatoes, oranges, and other room temperature produce. Having gaps between strips allows adequate ventilation, keeping the contents fresh longer.

This system would work well for other heavy items, keeping contained, but easily accessible. Not only in a pantry, but think of closets for shoes, toys, or sports gear. Endless options, but super easy to get done.

Ladder Rack

Published on March 17, 2015March 17, 2015 by Our Humble Abode1 Comment

With recent fluctuating temps, light layers are the key to staying comfortable. Outdoors and well as in. To neatly store extra blankets, I built a leaning ladder for our bedroom.

To get started, I used two 3/4 by 2 3/4 inch by six-foot long poplar boards and two 4 foot long 1 inch dowels. Before cutting, I measured and marked the boards for four rungs. Mine are spaced 15 inches apart, starting from the bottom.

Using a Forstner bit, drilling the holes was quick and easy.

After drilling all holes and cutting the dowels, I used 220 grit paper to sand each piece before assembly.

Honestly, sanding almost took more time than all the other steps combined. Attaching everything was simple. Working on the garage floor, I squeezed a liberal amount of Gorilla wood glue in the four holes of one board as well as the dowel ends.

That was easy, but inserting the second side was a bit trickier. Another set of hands would have been really helpful, to line the glued dowels up with the other board. To keep everything tight while the glue dried, I placed a clamp at each rung.

Twenty-four hours later, I pulled the clamps off and lightly sanded the extra glue off.

The two foot wide rungs are perfect for king sized blankets.

I might make a second for the basement to store guest bedding. Much easier and cuter way to store blankets than a stack on a chair.

Office Space

Published on March 13, 2015March 13, 2015 by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

While focusing on the kitchen, my office nook didn’t get as much attention. For a while it had only floors, looking blank and sad.

Then Ben set the drawer boxes and it stalled again.

Once the kitchen was fully functional, we were able to focus on the office. A matching maple desk top is warm against the white cabinets and drawers.

After spending several days priming and painting, the office is nearly complete. By complete, I mean useable.

These drawers are already getting loaded up.

We have to add trim under the window before the office is back at 100% capacity. Though torn sheet rock and foam is beautiful.

I’ll also need to apply a last coat or two of poly on the maple. Before settling on water based poly, I tested six other options: mineral oil, cutting board oil, Danish oil, butcher block oil, wax, and teak oil.

Based on color, sheen, and water repelling abilities, I loved the paste finishing wax. It looked natural, but still brought out the depth of the wood.

It looked and felt wonderful – so smooth with a subtle gloss. To test durability, and stray marker/pen situations, I wiped the desk with a damp cloth. As expected, the water wiped the wax right off, raising the grain. I knew right then and there the wax wasn’t for me. So far, the three coats of Polycrylic with light sanding between is perfect.

In addition to useful office supplies, I celebrated a new office with greenery.

A lemon button fern and succulent.

Just a few small steps left in here. I’m itching to get everything out of the closet and from under the bed. To work at a desk instead of a tiny dresser. Any favorite office file organization systems?