Category: DIY Decor & Crafts

Projects you can make to decorate your house.

We’ve Been Framed

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I think I have some form of seasonal depression.  When spring finally arrives, I feel compelled to make everything light and bright.  I make new artwork.  I sew new pillow covers.  I clean like crazy.  I still have a few changes on my list, but we checked one off this weekend. 

We (when I say we, I mean Ben) painted some of our picture frames.  Most were black before, like this set of family photos in our hallway:

And this in my office:

A few (7) cans of white gloss spray paint later and we have this:

The hall frames weren’t the only ones to get a facelift.  The remaining frames hung on the living room walls got the same treatment. 

Here’s an action shot:

Add some high gloss brown and my office frames look like this:

I really love the gloss finish.  It makes everything feel more chic and polished.

In the Spotlight

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I am such a cheap skate when it comes to artwork.  I rarely buy prints because they usually have no meaning to me.  Instead, I buy cheap frames and make my own art.  Like this map. 

I like to take inspiration from items I see and make my very own, which has more significance.  I LOVE Roadside Projects work, but she is not taking custom orders.  So, I decided to make my own 3D art.  It took about 1 day, but I love how it turned out. 

The first dance at our wedding was to George Strait’s ‘Carried Away’, so I took a whimsical direction and had us getting ‘carried away’ by the wind holding an umbrella.  I am from Minnesota, so I added a lake.  The mountains are to tie Montana in.  I want to add more trees, but that will have to wait for now. 

Here’s a detail shot:

I also love silhouettes.  You’ll see them in a few places in our house.  Like this set of our family:

I need to find a frame that will accommodate all four of us now.  Here’s another set of Ben and me that is hanging in our bedroom:

One of the reasons I love silhouettes is because they are personal.  Another reason is because they are so easy to make!  Just take a profile picture of your subject and print to the size you want.  Cut that profile out.   Trace (opposite the way you’d like the person to face) and cut out again.  Stick it to another sheet of paper and frame!  Instant art! 

You don’t have to limit the silhouettes to people, either.  Here are a few floral silhouettes I whipped up:

Ben always says I’m crazy because I make time consuming art.  Like this set:

Interested in custom artwork for your walls?  Check out the custom art pieces in my Etsy shop.  Have an idea for great art?  E mail me at ourhumbleabowed@gmail.com to discuss a creation of your own.

Young House Love Inspiration

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One of my favorite blogs to read is Young House Love.  They have great, usable DIY  ideas.  I decided to borrow some of their ideas to make custom art for my home office.  Like this map.

Here’s my DIY version, complete with places Ben and I have traveled.  I LOVE this idea.  It’s always changing, too.  I just need a map with Alaska to update the trip we took last year.

I bought a cheapo frame (I still need to paint it) and removed the glass.  I had a roll of cork from Michael’s, so I cut a piece to size.  Then I put the map in the mat and put the cork behind and put the back on again.  I had some simple sewing pins, too, and I liked the way the colors looked with the map.  Voila!

Here’s a close up of our map:

Going along with the travel theme, I also created similar vacation jars. 

I have a vacation shelf in my office complete with vacation jars and books.  I try to buy a book from all of our vacation spots, just to show some photos to people and remember where we were.  Some of the items I have from our vacations are too big for the jars (like a map from Savannah and a booklet from our Alaskan boat tour)  so those are to the side. 

I simply put all the items in a smooth-sided jar and made a label on my label maker. 

I like to get sand from everyplace we visit.  I feel like I have a little piece of oceanfront property.  I used different, smaller jars for the sand, but used the same labels.

YHL collects postcards from vacations.  I have a slightly more juvenile collection.  Squished pennies.  Rather than sitting in my drawer, I put them in a pretty flower shaped bowl for display on my bookshelf.

I try to buy a souvenir spoon from each place, too.  Excuse the spoon rack, I need to make a more modern, less cluttered one.  I see these every time I go into our kitchen and it’s a nice little reminder of where we’ve been! 

How To: Artfully Arrange a Bookshelf

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Arranging a beautiful bookshelf seems like a simple task.  Really, it can be difficult if you’re a perfectionist and organizer like I am.  I would LOVE to organize my books so they are just pretty, like by color.  But, the logical side of me says, “Amanda, that is SO impractical.  You NEED to organize by subject.”  Yes, I am a tad OCD. 

Just before our second son, Ev, was born, we worked to finish our basement.  What was I doing the day before Ev was born?  Not packing for the hospital, but putting together my new office!  FINALLY, after a year in the making, I had an office.  I quickly threw my books on to the shelves.  They looked okay, but they weren’t organized. 

I needed a way to make them look good and be easy to find.  So, here’s is the how-to for my newly designed system. 

1.  I took everything off the shelves.

2.  I separated all of my books into different categories: Fiction, Classic Fiction, History, Science, Travel, Biography, True Crime (guilty pleasure), magazines,  encyclopedias and random (books that don’t easily fit into my categories).  

3.  After grouping, I arranged the books in rainbow order.  Red through purple first, then white, grey, black and brown.   A group of red books is the beginning of a new group.    Not exactly a science, but it works for me. 

4.  I placed the books on the shelves where they fit best.  Then I filled in with accessories based on open spaces. 

I have most books vertical, but put some horizontal and one showing its beautiful cover.  (Thanks, Ash!)  I had some open shelf space, so I put some empty magazine files in so I have room to grow.  You’ll notice I also have storage boxes  to hold some of my stationery shop, Customized Stationary,  supplies.