Tutorials & Tips

Concrete Cast Planter

Published on November 13, 2014November 13, 2014 by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

Over the last year or so, I’ve amassed quite the collection of plants. It’s border line hoarder, to be honest. I can’t help myself, the cheery green has a way of brightening up a room like nothing else. When NativeCast reached out to see if I’d be interested in trying one of their CYO (Cast Your Own) Concrete Planter Kits, I said yes. First off, they’re freaking adorable. Second, I’ve wanted to make a concrete planter for ages, and this fool-proof kit was a great test run.

Each kit creates a small planter, using a paper mache box as the mold. Genius! Part of my issue making my own was finding the perfect container. Now I’m thinking a cardboard box or two would work wonderfully, though I may be proven wrong once I try.

The kit comes with everything you need: mold, concrete mix, dirt, seeds, a small mixing spoon, and instructions. You only add a small bit of water.

A certain someone was very excited to mix everything for me.

With the concrete mixed, we pressed it against all sides.

After letting it dry for 24 hours, I used a utility knife to cut away the box. Inside is a perfectly imperfect, 100% cute pot.

Just add dirt and the seeds. Right now, I’m waiting for the seeds to sprout.

I’d really love to take this idea to cast a planter large enough for my fiddle leaf fig. Right now, it’s in a bucket. It’s not the worst, but I’d like something a with a little more heft and interest.

Repotting it would probably be best, because I can see some roots at the top. Is this normal? Or will it cause my tree to die if left alone?

The leaves have looked a little droopy recently, perhaps the small exposed roots are the cause?

I didn’t realize how much it has grown until I saw this picture from March. That’s about a foot of growth in 8 or so months.

Disclaimer: I was given a NativeCast CYO Kit to use in our home and review. All opinions are my own. We choose products that we use/would like to try and are relevent to our DIY/home improvement content. Thank you NativeCast for the lovely kit!

Floating Night Stands

Published on November 10, 2014November 10, 2014 by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

Why is the master bedroom usually the last finished/decorated room? Our bedroom was a mixed bag of old furniture, all functional, just not what we liked.

While inoffensive, the Ikea side tables just weren’t the best shape or size. An off-center window left a little more space on one side of the room, too. To play nicely with the planked wall, Ben built cedar night stands.

Originally, my plan was a simple double shelf, very similar to our entry console.

After using the entry shelf, I decided I wanted a single shelf, as the lower would be another surface to fill. I tossed out the idea of a basic shelf with black brackets, but Ben thought it would look off. We agreed a floating shelf would look great and blend best with the plank wall. There are many ways to make a floating shelf, but here’s what we did. For the base, we bought four heavy-duty right angle brackets. Look for something with a consistent width, as this will determine the shelf spacing. Mount the brackets into studs with the 90 degree angles to the outsides.

Using scrap cedar, Ben built a hollow, tight-fitting box using the brackets as spacers.

Then, the box frame slides over the brackets.

As a bonus, cords tuck inside the shelf, hiding away the extra length.

My nightstand is 24 inches wide and centered on the area between the bed and wall. I hung a small square print to add interest to the grouping.

To make up for the slightly wider space on Ben’s side, we built his at 30 inches wide. It’s mounted the same distance from the bed as mine. A wider print fills the space nicely.

Now to finish painting the room and get longer curtain panels.

And we should get the outlet properly mounted and covered. Ahh, there’s always something.

A Weekend of Difference

Published on October 27, 2014October 27, 2014 by Our Humble Abode2 Comments

Whew, I’m exhausted today. Over the weekend we knocked out several projects. First, I scraped the popcorn off our ceiling. This is my second go round, so I knew what to expect and followed the same steps as before. Being home alone, I couldn’t move our big bed out of the room completely. So I pushed all the furniture to that end of the room. A layer of plastic protected everything, then I covered the floors and doors.

Scraping went quickly. With one half done, I cleaned up the floor and pushed the furniture to the other end. Repeat same process. I learned something from my last session: when you reach a seam, scrape with it, not against. If you go against, you could catch the tape and cause unnecessary damage.

Speaking of unnecessary damage, someone patched an area near the light fixture. Even with the popcorn, the patch was noticeable.

I’ve got that spot, a crack, and small nail holes to fill and smooth before I can prime and paint. I accidentally peeled the mesh tape off when the mud was wet, hence the hole. So I have at least two more coats to go here.

It doesn’t seem like it’d make a big difference, but it’s nice to see a smooth ceiling. Over the weekend, Ben spray textured the recently wallpaper free wall to match the other two. With that dry, we trimmed out the rest of the room, windows, and doors.

Clearly, I have plenty of priming and painting in my future.

Our other walls are heavily orange peel textured, unfortunately. At least the three painted walls with match.

While we had texture going, we finished the knock down in the dining room. I’ll share more on that process soon. I’m so close to having a painted bedroom I can taste it. Or that’s sticky caulking on my thumb as I lick off chocolate. Doesn’t matter, our bedroom is seeing real, noticeable progress.

Big Time Suck

Published on October 21, 2014October 21, 2014 by Our Humble Abode17 Comments

More often than not, I enjoy having a project to work on. Using my hands, working, creating something that I can (hopefully) be proud of once finished. Then there are times that totally suck the life out of me. Removing wall paper that has three coats of paint over is exactly one of those times. Throughout my 10 hour removal process, I cursed the previous owners for a) putting up this dreaded wall paper and b) painting over it and not removing before.

Using a wide metal spatula, I was able to get most of the paint and paper off, leaving the glue behind. See how lovely the pattern was?

In a few areas, before painting over the paper, someone spackled over low spots. Please, I beg you, never paint over wall paper. Certainly don’t patch areas on top either. It’s not good.

With hot tap water, I was able to scrape most of the glue backing off easily. The process left the walls looking like this:

More spots than a dalmatian. Why did I torture myself? Because I’ve decided I don’t want to add wood on this wall. And we need to texture the walls with orange peel (unfortunately, to match the other two) before trimming out the door. Hence the scraping marathon and my claw hands. On a more positive note, every window in the house has been replaced. Now we’re in the process of casing and trimming everything. I’ve got three windows completely finished.

To match the other windows and doors, we painted the wood accent wall trim white. I really love the contrast between the two.

Our bathroom window is done, now I have to go back and touch up the wall paint. A walk in the park compared to the scraping.

After a summer of outside work, it’s nice to get some things done inside, too. Now to clear out our bedroom so I can start scraping popcorn off the ceiling.

Because misery loves company, feel free to share your worst wall paper experience.

No Sew Basket

Published on October 16, 2014October 16, 2014 by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

Over the past several years, I’ve seen so many cool baskets. Metal, wicker, fabric, or leather, I like them all. So useful, almost everywhere. I was especially intrigued by a clever folding basket design.

A brilliant origami-esque design uses slits to hold the shape without help from other materials. No sewing, snaps, buttons, zippers or anything of the like. Wanting a basket to store magazines, I used iron on interface (essentially a sheet of hem tape) to fuse two pieces of fabric together and prevent fraying.

Before cutting, I created a template on Kraft paper. The areas inside the white show one-quarter of the design. Just flip to make the other sides.

With my template ready, I traced it onto my fabric, cut, and put the handle through the tabs.

Instant no sew basket, albeit a floppy one.

Honestly, it does keep my magazines contained, but isn’t anywhere near rigid enough to carry. If you make your own, use a few more layers of fabric. The stiffer/sturdier, the better.

After this basket failure, I dug in Ben’s leather cache and found a thick, saddle/belt type leather. He said he didn’t need it, so I made a leather tote to store newspaper.