Organizing: Cigar Boxes I love having my own little studio, but it’s quite chaotic most of the time because of all of the stuff I tend to hoard. Vintage hardware, old cigar labels, broken jewelry parts, and all kinds of pieces and parts I pick up at flea markets and thrift stores that I know I can find a use for one day in a craft project. But storing supplies in plastic bins out in the open isn’t too attractive, aesthetically speaking. I have plenty of plastic storage, but those are tucked away in my cupboards. My hook on storing with vintage cigar boxes came the day I found and clipped out an image from a magazine of a large parts cabinet crafted to hold around 36 same size cigar boxes, acting as drawers. Thinking I could create my own folk art organizing cabinet, I started collecting cigar boxes over the years to make a cool storage piece. Enter: Label Holder Hardware with Pulls. He mentioned after the sale that they had belonged to his father. I’m now in the process of filling the boxes and labeling each.
25 (more) clever ideas to make life easier . We heard you loud and clear. When we published our first list of clever ideas to make life easier last year, we received an overwhelming response. So without further ado, here’s another 25 ingenious household tips and organisational tricks that will have you saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?!” Source: chezerbey.com Got an empty kitchen shelf? Source: maillardvillemanor.com Wall mount cutlery trays and add a cup hook in each compartment for brilliant jewelery storage. Source: apartmenttherapy.com Avoid messy dresser drawers by “filing” your clothing side-by-side instead of stacking items on top of each other. Photo: William Warby on flickr.com Has putting Toy Story on constant repeat finally taken its toll? Source: realsimple.com Packing tip: Protect breakables such as wine bottles or food containers with children’s inflatable floaties. Source: whatiwore.tumblr.com Rather than bundling them in your drawer, loop tights over a coathanger and store them in your wardrobe. Source: bakedbree.com
No Purchase Necessary Junk Drawer Organization Everyone’s got one (or more), but no one likes to share it! Well, I’m going to! Part of my commitment to change is organization, and our two kitchen junk drawers are my number one offenders at the moment! So, I did the most logical thing and dumped both of them out on our family room floor and decided to just start from scratch! After dumping it all out, I categorized all the contents and separate them into separate piles. After I paired items down, put misplaced items in their proper home (in other rooms- mainly the office and garage), and just flat-out got rid of trash, I was able to refill the empty drawers. Items Needed: Extra rubberized carpet pad (top left corner of the picture above)Miscellaneous small tupperwareRubberbands How I used it all: Here’s the final product! I honestly had been delaying this project because I thought I needed some fancy drawer organizer to be effective, but in the end, it turned out that I had everything I needed on-hand! I’m linking up…
Vintage Wine Crate Coffee Table Don't forget to stop by and Like my Facebook Page and Follow me on Twitter! **** ~ GREAT NEWS!!! For all you Non-DIYers out there. The Crate Coffee Table is now FOR SALE! Go to my For Sale page for more information! New: Check out the new Inspiration Page! At last! A leg of our old coffee table is about to give out. Optional Materials: ~ Images (not necessary if you use a real wine crate) - I found one on The Graphics Fairy and a few others online ~ Mod Podge ~ Matte Finish ~ Stain ~ Vinegar, steel wool and brewed tea {See my Stain Tutorial for more options} ~ A variety of screws, nails, L brackets, and bolts ~ Satin Polyurethane Final Dimensions: 27"W x 27"D x 17"HTotal Cost: $7 (x4 crates), $8 worth of wood for the frame and $7 per caster = $72 *price does not include screws, nails, stain or finish. I'm not intentionally being vague but unless you go out to buy these exact crates from Michael's then your measurements are going to be completely different than mine. Stain time!
Turn An Old Birdcage Into A Desk Organizer Hi Everyone! We are SO SO happy to be back from our little break! We’ll be posting soon about our first show and display booth from President’s Day Weekend. Until then, here is an item that we had in our inventory at the Bay Village Antiques & Vintage Show. It is a fairly simple DIY / Up-cycling project. How to upcycle a birdcage into a desk organizer Karen found this old birdcage, you know where…on a tree lawn! Karen stores many ideas in her brain (way too many for me to ever remember) so when she picked this birdcage up she knew she would make a desk organizer out of it. Spray paintWooden dowel rods – you can buy dowel rods at hardware stores or local craft stores like Pat Catan’s Pieces of scrap wood / plywood. Decorative items to embellish (flower, ribbon, etc) Staple gun, glue gun, wire cutters, hand saw Thoroughly clean the bird cage and remove the bottom pan. Place your pieces of wood on top of the dowel rods, Karen painted the plywood white. We love the way it looks!! Happy Salvaging!
Beaded Chandelier Tutorial Last week I showed you the beaded chandelier I made for our guest bedroom and promised a tutorial. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I used the brilliant tutorial here as a starting point, and then added a few changes of my own. Here's the skinny on how to make your own beaded chandelier: Gather your materials: LOTS of beaded necklaces, cut into long strands (the Mardi Gras kind) Metal hanging garden basket A spool of thin-gauge wire Wire cutters Wire clothes hanger Pendant light kit (cord & socket) Metal chain to hang the fixture Light fixture mounting bracket, bolt & loop Light fixture ceiling cap Start with a hanging garden basket. Go ahead and paint it to blend with your beads (or the finished color of your chandelier if you plan to paint your beads). Top it off. Add a little structure. Start beading! Trim away the excess. Add a chain and ceiling cap. Paint it up. Hang it.Admire. Good luck!
DIY Organizer For A Home Office If your working space is a mess, organize it making a paper and newspaper holder of a piece of wood and plastic. For this craft you’ll need 3 plastic bottles, a piece of wood, 3 can tops, a knife, scissors, a screwdriver, a ruler, an awl and some screws. Cut the top of the bottles, don’t deform them; using the awl or a drill make holes in the tops of the bottles. Screw the bottles to the slab of wood and from the other side fix some screws for hanging on the wall. Kitchen Helpers I found these helpful charts last week and just had to share! Both of these beauties are from Chasing Delicious (aka one of the most fab foodie blogs out there)! Aren’t they faaaaabulous?! I love tea, but I’m no expert. For people of the UK, have this one with you while you’re meal planning or grocery shopping! I’ve fond some other helpful charts that I’ll share in another post! Yay charts!