Easy DIY Projects – The Power of Paint

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Roeshel

The Power of Paint: Paint and FrogTape (used in each project shown below) are my #1 DIY go-to materials.

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When it comes to transforming our house into a home we truly love that reflects our lifestyle and personality, “do-it-yourself” projects are a great budget friendly option. Not only can the result be a gorgeous home, but each DIY accomplishment can be empowering.

Our favorite saying around here is ‘imperfection adds character’ but really, I love that DIY projects are rewarding and motivating for creating a comfortable home for my family. There are no rules. YOU can make our home the way you want it to be. Paint has played a huge part in making over our home.

So there you have it…paint is my #1 favorite DIY material. What’s yours?

*This sponsored by FrogTape. FrogTape provided by Shurtech. The opinions are completely my own based on my own experience.

Show Your Colors

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Roeshel

With so many before and after projects going on around here…and you know how I’m always so excited to share…well, sort of like DIY Show Off, MyColortopia.com has a new feature for readers to celebrate their completed projects. It’s called Show Your Colors and not only can you show off your before and after photos, but you’ll inspire others with your DIY talents. Sounds fun, right?

This is how it works:

Remember the apartment kitchen area before?

Blah. But after a lot of painting, the cabinets, countertops, walls and trim have a fresh new look:

and a sneak peek of something you haven’t seen yet involving more paint {details coming soon}…

It’s super easy. Create and log in to MyColortopia.com, click the “Befores &Afters” tab and upload up to 4 pictures of your before and after room makeover.

All done. You’re all set to browse the entire gallery of before/after photos. The MyInspiration tool will match your favorite colors. And you can share via social media your project or your selected favorites. Super cool!

There’s so much more information at My Colortopia.com to kick start inspiration for your next room makeover including a blog post full of ideas written by some of our favorite talented DIY bloggers. Check it out!

I have been sponsored by Glidden brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

DIY Ombre Balusters

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Roeshel

Ever think about those boring stair balusters?

Martha Stewart

Meet: Angie from

Angie and her husband bought a 100+ year old home in desperate need of some love and blog about the misadventures in DIY home improvement. Angie’s project was the Pinterest-Martha-Stewart-inspired image above and here is her DIY result:

Gorgeous! When Angie first started this project, she hadn’t intended to use the same blue color scheme as in the Martha Pin-spiration photo but after color searching, a blue palette was the obvious choice for a home filled with many blues and sea foamy colors.

Her pictures are just as inspiring. But Angie does warn: this project is HARD for her 100+ year old, un-square, un-level home.

First step, choosing the colors:

Angie’s tips for choosing colors: So many blues! I’m addicted to the Valspar color options at Lowes, so I started the color selection process by selecting one section of the blues and bringing home ALL the chips in that section. I then chopped them up so I could “play paint chips”. And I played, and I played and I played some more. I originally thought I wanted to choose 16 different colors, one color for each of our balusters. But choosing 16 blues and putting them in ombre order proved way too difficult. Choosing 8 colors was hard enough. In the end, I chose two sets of three chips (you know…the paint chips come with 3 different colors on them with their own little ombre-ness to them). Then I just found two more colors, one really dark one and one really light one, to round out the field of 8.

It doesn’t take much paint. Paint samples (Valspar $2.94/each) are perfect for this project.

Angie didn’t want brush strokes to show up on the finish and used 1″ foam brushes to apply the paint. Three coats each.

So pretty! Next step was installation. The balusters did get a little scuffed up by the table saw and during installation, but it is far easier to touch up a little paint here and there afterwards than to paint them in their entirety after installing.