15 Awesome DIY Highlights

Every week, I host a DIY linky party where so many of my talented blog friends share their latest DIY and every week, I am so inspired. I wanted to share a few recent favorites with you {please visit and pin from the original link}:

Julia from Cuckoo 4 Design always has a plan for some fun DIY and shares her tutorial for a DIY room divider. Beautiful and functional!

DIY room divider @Cuckoo 4 Design

I love every room Janel has shared of her fun eclectic home at Nellie Bellie and her epic hallway makeover has so many fun features including a painted floor and awesome lighting…

nellie bellie hallway reveal

So beautiful! Amy from the Blissful Bee shares her formal living room updates. Great space to hang out! I love what she’s done to create an inviting formal living room {nothing stuffy or impersonal about her style…it’s awesome!}

formal living room @ The Blissful Bee

As a mom of girls, I’ve never had the opportunity to decorate a boy’s room but loving these…

Color, texture, memories…it’s a beautiful combination for this big boy room makeover at Dixie Delights.

boy room before and after @Dixie Delights

A sweet little vintage/industrial nursery from Korrie’s neighbor at Red Hen Home…

vintage nursery Red Hen Home

Speaking of sweet little boys rooms, did you see this adorable stenciled biplane dresser at Classy Clutter? SO cute! {stenciling tutorial included}

DIY, stenciled biplane dresser @Classy Clutter

and then…speaking of Classy Clutter, there’s an amazing tiny kitchen makeover! Need an example of how paint can brighten up a small space? Check out the before and after that Mallory finished earlier in the year {dining room makeover too}. Wow!

DIY kitchen makeover @Classy Clutter

No entryway or mudroom? Creating your own closet to mudroom. A great idea for making a welcoming space to take off shoes. This one from Handmade Modern is so pretty and organized:

DIY closet mudroom @Handmade Modern

or…Ellora from Creatively Southern shares tips for creating an entryway space right inside the door:

how to create an entryway @Creatively Southern

Closets aren’t just for storage or clothes or junk or entryway/mudrooms. A closet makes a cute office space too. I love the organization and pretty closet office at Thrifty Parsonage Living…a quiet place to be busy.

closet office reveal @Thrifty Parsonage Living

A vintage rustic master bedroom filled with DIY awesomeness and gorgeous vintage accents at Down to Earth Style…

vintage rustic master bedroom @Down to Earth Style

Bethany from This Little Estate invites us to see her stunning kitchen remodel. Beautiful choice in materials, lovely styling, unbelievable before and after…

kitchen remodel @This Little Estate

Sheila really did an amazing job with creating this beautiful footboard wall hanging at Plum Doodles…it’s so creative, so pretty!

footboard wall hanging @Plum Doodles

Tricia from Simplicity in the South is updating her sweet petite master suite {makeover in progress} and it’s looking good!

master bedroom makeover @Simplicity in the South

and last but not least, my laundry room inspiration. There is not one thing in this laundry room that doesn’t fit my style or requirements. It’s full of character and so functional. Yes. It’s dreamy.

laundry room makeover @Me and My DIY

All of the links were really worth sharing but since I can’t do an entire post, you’ll have to visit the DIY party to see the rest. Including these fun ideas:

  • Weaving with twigs from hurricane
  • Chicken wire bulletin board
  • Thumb tack embellished ornaments
  • Simple rustic Christmas ornaments
  • DIY decanter bar lights
  • Super cute stocking hat crochet pattern
  • Building a nook under the stairs
  • Autumn front porches
  • Painted faux hardwood floors
  • DIY curtain rods
  • Recycled cork floor mat
  • Reversible tree skirt
  • so many sweet furniture makeovers
  • DIY felt Christmas trees
  • Mason jar chandelier
  • and so much more!

Hope to see you Sunday at the next DIY Project Parade!

DIY Show Off

If you’ve been featured above, please feel free to grab an “I’m Featured” button {here} to show off! Thanks to everyone for linking up and sharing your inspiring DIY creativity and hard work!

DIY Show Off

Miss Mustard Seed – “Inspired You”, inspired me {review and giveaway}

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Winners will be contacted via email. 

Inspired You winners

Congratulations to Jessica and Gena!

winner 1 - Inspired You

Inspired You - winner 2

If you’re a blog reader, love pretty decorative accents or painting furniture, it’s likely that you “know” Marian from Miss Mustard Seed. I’ve “known” Marian for years and her amazing story and inspiring talent are a reflection of the kind heart behind the Miss Mustard Seed blog.

Miss Mustard Seed blog

From the moment I returned from the Haven 2012 conference, my entire summer was spent renovating a small apartment and oh, joy! It was a blast. Nearly everyday warm (my favorite time of the year) and spent doing something I love to do…DIY and decorating. And as the renovation came near to completion (there are still a few things left to do including taking “after” photos), we enjoyed a much needed vacation. No DIY, no work. All relaxation and spending time with family. And you’d think one would return all well rested and ready to jump back into routine. But when I returned to a home that had been neglected all summer with the fast approaching holidays, shorter days, colder temps, gray skies and an empty nest, I suddenly felt overwhelmed and stressed and had no idea where to even start in my cluttered unfinished surroundings.

Miss Mustard Seed Inspired You

This past week, my copy of “Inspired You” {Inspired You: Letting God Breathe New Life Into Your Heart and Home} arrived and because I’ve been moving from one little thing to the next {although with little motivation and accomplishing next to nothing}, it sat on the dust covered coffee table for a few days. Then giving into my lazy mood one day {well, honestly, most days}, I took a moment for myself and brewed a cup of tea, propped up my feet and opened my book. I.could.not.put.it.down.

Inspired You review

So truth be told, a moment turned into a couple of hours (it’s 200+ pages) but it’s not all tutorial style. It’s Marian’s stories, her ideas and thoughts sprinkled with a few tutorials to refer back to and beautiful photos of her adorable home and inspiring vintage, thrifted, hand-made decorating style. I found myself looking up and around my home, pondering what works best for our family, what we do like, what we don’t, what’s not working, sometimes clarity, a spark of motivation. Marian’s thoughts are similar to my own but seeing them through her eyes, the gentle reminder of what is important, well, it gave me a fresh new perspective and several times, I set the book aside and walked around my home from room to room. I was inspired to grab my notebook, write down a few comments or a to-do list for a certain area, goals. And I was inspired to look at one task rather than the entire huge overwhelming picture which helps me realize that if our house is comfortable enough to mess up, we’re happy.

making things new

Basically, when I agreed to review our friend’s new book (because not only am I a Miss Mustard Seed fan, I love promoting my blog friends and share their excitement in fun opportunities and success of hard work)…I had no idea that her book would do just what the cover says. It helped me let God breathe new life into my heart and into my home. My house is not perfect. It never is perfect. It never will be and at this moment when my house is far far away from perfect, I finally found peace and motivation to start somewhere, anywhere to work towards my goal.

Miss Mustard Seed - Inspired You

So, if you’re looking for a ‘decor’ book for your holiday wish list, collect home decor books like me or need a talented friend to hold your hand and encourage you to make what you already have something you love…this book is for you. It’s not one you’re going to pick up, only flip through pretty pictures or refer to for a furniture painting tutorial. It’s one that you won’t be able to put down and it will inspire you to start an enjoyable satisfying journey to making your house a haven for your family.

Miss Mustard Seed Inspired You

And the happy ending to this story: I walked away truly inspired. And motivated. And thankful. With a fresh perspective, I got my butt up off the couch and dove headfirst into “letting God breath new life into my heart and my home”.

“Inspired You” GIVEAWAY

And I have the opportunity to share “Inspired You” with two {2} lucky DIY Show Off readers in a lovely giveaway this week! How to enter:

  1. Leave 1 comment about what you would most like to change about your home.
  2. Share this giveaway via Facebook, Twitter, G+, Pinterest, etc. and leave a comment about each share. {Thank you!}

Giveaway starts today and ends Saturday November 17th at midnight EST. Winners will be chosen randomly and announced shortly after. Open to US and Canadian residents only. Marian and Roeshel

 

 

Marian, Miss Mustard Seed with me at Haven 2012…at the end of a LONG crazy day. Seeing blog friends’ dreams come true is so exciting! You can visit Marian at her inspiring blog, Miss Mustard Seed.

Meet DIY blog friend, Stacy from Not Just a Housewife…

Good morning, DIY friends! This past summer at the Haven conference, I had the opportunity to meet one of my inspiring DIY blog friends face to face. She’s sweet, she’s funny {unfortunately she wasn’t feeling well and I didn’t get to spend much time with her} but she’s feeling better and while I’m away on vacation, I invited Stacy to introduce herself…

My name is Stacy and I blog over at Not JUST A Housewife. I live in a small 1938 cottage style home and I blog all about fixing it up and decorating. I have 4 little boys so with 6 of us in such a tiny area, I have to be creative in how I do things to maximize the space.

One of my favorite projects I have done this year was building floating shelves for my office. But these are not ordinary shelves….. Not only are they made out of old fence pickets (I love to repurpose!) But they have a secret 🙂

They have hidden drawers! They are only a few inches deep but it is perfect for papers. My office has always suffered from piles of papers everywhere. So this was perfect 🙂

Here are the basic steps it took to build them. I have a more detailed tutorial on my blog.

I started by cutting the fence pickets down to size and using a miter saw I cut the ends at 45 degree angles.

Then I nailed them together after applying some wood glue.

Once the shelf was put together (It really is a box-y tube at this point) I atttached a board to the wall and then slipped the shelf on the board. I screwed the shelf into the board to hold it.

And then I built a basic drawer that fits into the opening of the shelf. For more detailed instructions and pictures visit the tutorial on my blog.

Some of my other recent projects:

My son’s bed has drawers so he couldn’t have a traditional side table or it would block the drawers from opening. So I built him a floating side table.

Like I said, I LOVE to repurpose items into something new. I used old door knobs (original to our home) as towel hooks. I also cut out a new frame for our medicine cabinet for our vintage inspired bathroom.

I don’t just work indoors. I love to garden as well. I recently finished my very own secret garden!

Thanks for sharing your hard work and awesome DIY, Stacy!