DIY best of: office. The office is one my favorite “rooms” in the house because so often it’s not even a room— it’s a converted closet, a dining table working double duty, or a well-organized nook. I love seeing how people customize their homes to make room for a workspace that suits their needs, and I can say from personal experience that nothing beats working in an organized setting, even if it’s not officially an office. Here are 13 of our our favorite office-related DIY projects to help you organize and decorate your own workspace. No office is complete without a bit of personalization, and these DIY desks, storage pieces, and decorative office accessories are a great place to start. Enjoy, and happy working! —Kate Image above: Maggi’s minimalist floating oak desk is perfect for setting up office in small spaces. 12 More office-related DIY projects after the jump!
Image above: Adorable fabric covered thumbtacks from DIY expert Jessica Jones. Image above: Chris Gardener’s awesome hand printed mouse pads. DIY Solar Lamp: Make Your Own Eco-Friendly Sun Jars. The principle is simple and seductively clever: solar lights that store energy during the day and release light at night. These can be purchased ready-made in a variety of colors (yellow, blue and red) but they can also be built at home. A simple, less-technical approach involves buying a conventional solar-powered yard lamp and then essentially harvesting it for key pieces to put in a jar. This is simply a way of taking an existing solar lamp design and appropriating its parts to make something more attractive for display around a house or home.
A more electronically-savvy individual can take the more complex route and built a solar lamp from the ground up using small solar panels – though the aesthetic result may not be as impressive. Whatever route you choose to go, these are fun and sustainable gadgets that make it easy to go green, automate the process of turning on lights at night and can add some color to your porch, patio, garden or windowsill. Top 10 Creative Ways to Store Your Stuff. I live in a smallish condo, so I love these kinds of creative hacks. Two of my favorite and easy hacks: 1. Hung my Guitar Hero controllers off the side of a movie rack with some thin steel wire. Just make a loop big enough to slide the headstock through, and then fasten the loop to the side of the rack.
When you're done with the guitar, slide the headstock UP through the loop and then let it back down so the wire grabs onto the tuner-nubs on the face of the headstock. Gravity and tension does the rest! 2. Top 10 Repair Projects You Should Never Pay For. How to DIY When You Don't Know Where to Start. The easiest way to start is by just touching something.... anything really. Take (for example) a leaky faucet. You go to tighten it with some channel lock pliers, and because it's been leaking forever, it breaks off at the base where you were tightening. After figuring out how to replace the faucet, you go to home depot and get a new faucet, some teflon tape, and some other misc supplies. The next step is to turn the water off under the sink. DIY best of: office. The SoHo: Light Up the Night. I'm one of those people that loves Christmas lights year-round.
That might put me in the corny category, but I think even Christmas lights can look sophisticated thanks to these ideas. [spotted here: 1, 2, 3] Top 10 Essential DIY Skills That Aren't as Hard as You Think. I think it depends on your definition of "maintenance. " I wouldn't hesitate to change my own oil or something like that but I wouldn't dream of replacing a radiator myself. That isn't my idea of "maintenance. " That's fixing something. Sorry you are afraid of doing that stuff, but even a complete engine rebuild is easy to do, and no you don't need "special tools" unless you call things beyond a hammer and screwdriver "special" I can do a front end alignment on a car in my driveway with a tape measure and a couple of carpenters squares along with the wrenches most people would have. I can replace the whole suspension system in the driveway as well, buying the struts as an assembly already with the spring eliminates anything special to do or the danger of a spring taking your head off, plus you get the advantage of replacing all those parts for only slightly more than buying the strut on it's own.
In fact the only expensive special tools I need are a Crane and engine run stand. Danger? Inspiring DIY. DIY.