Tag: DIY

Chicken Wire Frame

It has been decided. As soon as we move, I am doing this first thing. Well, first thing after painting walls, getting/making curtains, arranging furniture, organizing the basement….

Anyway, this is one of the first things I’m going to do in the new office/guest room.

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I’ve pinned chicken wire frames before but it never occurred to me to use my gaudy gold frame to do it with. I absolutely LOVE the way the rustic chicken wire contrasts with the gilt frame.

Are you as excited about this as I am? Probably not.

The Big Reveal

Yes, although I would have preferred to post this at a normal blogging hour, (like 10-ish which is my goal,) I figured slipping this one in during the evening would be better than waiting till tomorrow. Oh wait. Tomorrow I have another reveal.

Anyway, you remember the Pinterest Challenge, yes? Well, as you can see from that old post, I decided to do a double whammy and do I guess the “Big” part in this title is misleading. This was possibly the easiest DIY ever DIYed.

It involved buying a new, pretty shiny, faux stainless steel picture frame from Target (approx $7) and some dry erase markers. I have a stash of maps–you may have seen some of them in the office in my recent home tour. Well, I love maps with lots of water and decided British Columbia would fit the bill nicely. I cut a piece to size, inserted it, and planned a week’s worth of meals.

Our kitchen walls are plaster so I’m not going to attempt to hang this up (nails are a disaster in here) so for now it takes up valuable real estate on our tiny counter. I was considering using magnets to put it on the refrigerator but it’s surprisingly heavy. I will come up with a solution someday.

Side note: meal planning is excellent. It makes grocery shopping and takes the guesswork out of “what should we have for dinner?” Yes,  you can cheat and swap meals. We had stuffed zucchini tonight (more on that tomorrow) and BBQ meatballs yesterday. Oh well! I just erase the “completed” meal and have the others to choose from. :)

Did you participate? You inspired by me to make a dry-erase note board? Please comment! I love comments!

Sewing

Last night I broke out my sewing machine for the first time since I’ve lived in this apartment. Crazy, right? I just hadn’t had the opportunity or to make anything since the apartment came with curtains (yay!). Now, however, Doug’s co-worker is going to pay me a little somethin’ somethin’ for making him 4 curtains. And I definitely would like some extra grocery money at this point in my life. They gave me the fabric and yesterday I got to work! Cutting out fabric is my least favorite part of any sewing project ever. Well, I’ll probably finish them tonight. I forgot how insanely easy it is to sew rectangles–haha!

Anyway, This little project is making several things very evident:

  • Making curtains for my own house is going to be super easy when the time comes!
  • I really, really need to get a ironing board to press seams. These are gonna look a hot mess if the recipients don’t give them a good pressing before going up on the wall.
  • Plaid is GREAT for making sure to get straight lines. Just cut on one of the lines in the pattern!
  • I need to use my sewing machine more than once every couple years. It gets musty and stinky sitting in the sketchy cabinet in my office. (Even though it was in a sewing machine bag).