DIY – Page 21 – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

An Organized Routine

Published on February 19, 2014 by Jenna2 Comments

If you’ve read this blog at all you know I crave organization. Maybe I’m OCD, maybe I’m just weird, but whatever the reason, I need a routine and having a ‘home’ for everything. It makes life less stressful when I know where things are and can find them right away.

That’s exactly why my morning routine needed some organizing. I had all the items I use on a daily basis in the bathroom, but most of them lived under the counter and had to be pulled out one-by-one as needed. Then I saw this post on one of my favorite blogs and had an epiphany. I could put all of those items in one container and pull it out each morning! When I’m done, I just put it back under the counter, out of sight.

It took a few shopping trips to various retailers, but I eventually found a three compartment basket made of vinyl. Not only is it pretty, it’s durable and waterproof. Perfect for daily use in a bathroom! I organized everything into groups of how I use each. First are the things I apply after getting out of the shower – lotion, deodorant, perfume. All of my hair brushes and products are in the back compartment because they are usually taller. The center compartment holds my toothpaste, jewelry cleaner and other items that don’t fit into either of the other compartments.

I also brought some organizing to my make-up drawer, by lining all my items up in the order I tend to use them. Luckily, I keep it pretty minimal when it comes to make-up so I was able to keep it pretty simple. I have a few items that I only use occasionally, so I keep them in the back of the drawer. This is the same drawer I described in my last post, where I used magnets to hold my bobby pins.

Have you organized your morning routine? Do you have tips on what worked or advice on what not to do? Share them below!

A Quick Fix

Published on February 13, 2014February 17, 2014 by Jenna2 Comments

I often need bobby pins to keep my baby fine hair in place when styled up. But I didn’t want to have bobby pins covering my vanity, so I started keeping them in a little bowl near the sink. But even that seemed a bit messy to me. So took to Pinterest to find a solution. Within minutes I had one. A magnet strip along the inside of a cabinet door. I adapted the idea, putting my magnet strip inside the drawer where I keep my makeup, which is usually open and in easy reach while I’m getting ready each morning.

All it took was a couple of 3M adhesive strips on either side, that way I can move it if I decide I want them somewhere different in the future. I think it took all of a minute to gather my supplies and install them. Best of all it’s been working like a dream. Quick, easy, and functional. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Pampered Pooches

Published on February 8, 2014February 8, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

I have long been planning to get rid of the large doughnut dog beds we have and replace them with something more “visually appealing” and washable (a huge obstacle for my allergies). I considered a bean bag style bed since both of our dogs love to snuggle into the corners of the doughnut, but the ones I found online were pretty pricey and I couldn’t find a bean bag the right size in a decent price range locally. And as I’ve mentioned before I don’t sew, so making my own was out of the question.

Then I stumbled upon this idea on Pinterest and was sold. I showed it to the hubs, who also liked it and whipped up a ‘trial’ run version to see if our dogs would even use it before we went whole hog and replaced all their beds. That was about 4 months ago. We’ve been so busy with work and all the other new house projects that we haven’t finished the idea. But that hasn’t stopped us from putting it to use in the meantime. At first I just put the doughnut bed inside the frame, which was built about the same size to make the transition easier.

Soon after we moved into the new house I spotted some dog bed pads with removable, washable covers on sale at Fred Meyers so I snagged three. Body pillows were also on a BOGO FREE sale, so I got two of those to act as the back part of the bed. Although the body pillow fit snugly enough across the back to stay upright the pad was about 2 inches shorter than the width of the frame. The hubs claimed that was an easy fix, as he’d just take the frame apart and cut it down to size. That was about two months ago and it hasn’t happened yet. Like I said, we’ve been a tad bit busy.

I added some extra outdoor pillows I had stashed away. I’ve found the mildew and stain resistance of outdoor fabrics work best for us since there is always drool, hair or dirt waiting to find our furniture. And when it does I can just pop it in the washer. Although the dogs loved the extra pillows and would often ‘arrange’ them to rest their head on, the pattern on them didn’t really work for me – which is why I’d stashed them away to begin with. Luckily, I snagged some cute chevron fabric on a super sale at Joanns and knew it would look perfect on the dog bed. Only 1 problem. I don’t sew.

But then a light bulb went off over my head and I decided to offer a trade in an online crafting group I had just joined. You sew me some pillow covers and I’ll make you something from my Etsy shop. I didn’t have any bites for a couple of days, but then out of the blue someone messaged me and said they could do it. I made arrangements to meet her and bring the materials to show her what I wanted. In exchange she wanted a family name platter, so I got all the details I needed to fulfill my end of the bargain. About a week later we made arrangements to meet again and trade. Here’s the result!

I didn’t take a before pic, but I can promise you they look SOOOO much better than they did before! We still have to resize the frame, get it painted and finish up the extra foam we plan to put under the dog bed pad, but for now the kiddos seem to appreciate having their pillows back.

Oh yeah, they’re pampered alright. Especially when you realize that most of the time they still sleep on the couch with their heads rested on the throw pillows there! But that’s how things roll in this doggie-friendly house!

Finishing Touches in the Pantry

Published on February 2, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Thanks to a great BOGO Free sale and gift cards from Christmas I recently finished up the pantry. Because I wanted to add some more baskets now that we had more room, I decided to replace the ones we’d been using since we were in Kodiak – which will be repurposed in the studio and the spare room.

I also picked up some tiered racks for things like olive oil, bbq sauce, etc, and added a lazy susan next to it for the spices that didn’t make it into the spice rack.

Additional turntables in the remaining corners created accessible storage for drink ingredients, sauces and jellys.

The hubs made use of the wall space next to the door by hanging the cooling racks and fryer scoop.

Just like he did in the guest bathroom closet, the hubs added an additional light to the pantry for those items that are on the lower shelves.

Up above there is room for the rotisserie, a basket with spare grease cans, the hubs’ cast iron pan, paper towels and a basket for storing plastic bags. I went back to get that big basket after the BOGO sale, and ended up getting a super deal because it rung up on clearance for much less than what I anticipated paying with my 40% off coupon!

The bottom of the pantry became home to the dog food and recycle containers, with room left over to store my soda habit.

My final pantry project was the jars for our sugar, flour and other staples (seen in the picture above). It was a fairly simple project. I picked up several of these screw top jars on sale at Fred Meyers.

I put them right to use and had to come up with a quick temporary labeling system until I had time to make something pretty. So I grabbed my trusty dry erase marker and hand wrote each item. That of course didn’t last long.

Based on that, I knew I didn’t want to do the cute chalkboard labels I see all over Pinterest. Instead I decided to create vinyl labels for each with my Silhouette.

They turned out pretty nice! I love that they are easy to read and should hold up to repeated use. Plus they look pretty spiffy all together on the shelf.

And that’s our pantry. It’s the perfect marriage of organization and inventory, which not only makes me giddy, but keeps the happy as well. I think that’s a sign of a project well done. 🙂

Gettin’ Spicy!

Published on January 30, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

As a hobbiest chef, my husband has LOTS of spices. We’re talking more than the tiny spinning thing on the counter can hold. In our old rental, he filled the cabinet above the stove and even had some rows double stacked!

So I knew that our new kitchen needed to have some way to organize this stash of spiciness and of course turned to trusty Pinterest, where I found this DIY pantry door spice rack. I then promptly had a Gru ‘light bulb’ moment. I showed it to the hubs, who was definitely game to build something that not only put his spices within easy reach of the stove, but also gave them a dedicated space to stay.

Please just ignore that tool pile on the counter behind the door. With all the on-going projects I’ve lined up for the hubs, I have set aside my twitchy OCD ways and agreed to keep tools in the kitchen for quick access – that is UNTIL the major projects are done, which should be fairly soon!

He followed the building plans with a slight modification. He used freebie paint stir sticks from the orange box store instead of dowels for the front retaining rungs. Told ya, he was smart! And he’s becoming quite the thrifty DIYer.. of course not counting the tools he’s recently acquired. 😉

I will probably paint it white at some point, but for the time being it works just fine a’ natural. Now if only our measuring spoons had cutesy little holes to be hung on the side! Mental note: be on the lookout for clearance heart measuring spoon sets after Valentines Day.

A Little Indoor Gardening

Published on January 28, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Remember my little terrarium project? Well it’s gone so well that a few of the plants have since outgrown their little bubbles and were in need of a bigger home. I’ve been collecting little crocks and containers to serve as planters and trays to set them all on for a few weeks now from clearance bins and yard sales. I decided I finally had enough and got some potting soil to get things going. Here’s what I started with.

You can sense that I had a plan as I set all these out! I moved the larger plants into new pots where they can continue to grow, and transferred the slower growing plants to the now empty terrariums.

I ended up with enough planters to fill the laundry room window, the master bathroom window AND one of the windows in the family room.

At some point in the hopefully near future the terrariums will once again hang in the windows, but I’ve given the hubs marching order that his priority is getting the garage unpacked and organized first – which will also hopefully result in him finding his fishing line to do said hanging! Once I rearranged everything there was still a bit of room in the laundry room window tray so I found another small container for future repotting, or even a new additional plant.

I was afraid that the dogs might bother the ones in the family room since it sits at eye level for them, but luckily they haven’t seemed very interested. Hopefully that statement didn’t just jinx things! LOL

I love having something green and alive around the house, how about you? What kinds of plants do you have in your home?

Dressing the Cabinet Tops

Published on January 25, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Decorating the tops of cabinets is harder than it sounds. It takes a perfect mix of size, color, shapes, spacing and design. I had a basic plan for the top of our kitchen cabinets as we were building, but you never really know how it will turn out until you’re in the space and trying it out. I decided to tackle the smaller section first, and am quite pleased with how it turned out.

I like my decor to do double duty and actually function, so displaying my large holiday platter was a perfect choice – and the fact that it’s so large it won’t fit anywhere else played a key role too. 🙂 I added the custom cutting board I got for the hubs for a birthday a while back and a two-tier basket filled with faux veggies & fruit for color. All of these things were items I had on hand, so total cost was a big fat $0!

I did have to figure out a way to elevate the items so they could be seen over the lovely crown molding. And the perfect solution came in the form of the little dip cups we’d *cough* “acquired” *cough* from restaurants in our to-go boxes. I was actually about to take the whole stack of them to Goodwill, but as I stood on the ladder contemplating what I could use I had a “light bulb moment” a’la’ Gru in Despicable Me.

I’ve since added the glass chile peppers we found on our honeymoon in Sedona to the left edge of the cutting board for some additional color on that side. I love seeing them displayed and I know they’re “safe” that high up and out of the way. 😉

Next, I had to figure out what to do with the staggered height cabinets on the longer back wall. I already had my giant ceramic chicken my sister gave me and my pretty cake stand, which make a great combo and fit perfectly on one cabinet. I also had my handy drink dispenser on a stand that I’d filled with faux lemons for some color while at the rental house. That too fit perfectly on one cabinet. I still hadn’t spent a dime and I was almost done!

With two cabinets to go, I was stuck. I left the project alone for a few ~~days~~ weeks and moved on to other things. One of those other projects was getting new bar stools for the kitchen island bar, which meant all of our dining chairs moved into the dining room. I didn’t like how full the table felt with all eight chairs around the table so I put two on either side of the buffet. Unfortunately, that meant that the pretty wine rack I’d found during a recent thrifting trip had to find a new home.

We aren’t big drinkers – even with dogs named after alcohol – so we only had a few bottles of various things (note there is only one real wine bottle in said ‘wine’ rack!) I had originally planned to include some sort of side table or cart as a bar in the dining room or main area of the house, but once we were in and placing furniture it seemed like it would make the space feel crowded and because we don’t tend to keep a lot on hand, there wasn’t the need for a dedicated ‘bar’. So my under $5 rack worked out perfectly and left a little room to expand if needed.

My now displaced rack seemed like a perfect candidate for above the cabinet decor, so I tried it first over the fridge, but it was too tall. The hubs suggested I move the chicken over one cabinet to the spot above the stove and try the rack in the corner. Although the corner cabinet seems to be the same height as the fridge cabinet, they are apparently not, because the rack did fit this time! And I was quite pleased with how it looked in that spot.

Now I’m down to just the space over the fridge. Since this is a wider space I decided to use two items here. First is the lovely vintage scale I bought as a newborn photo prop (even my photography props do double duty!) It hasn’t arrived just yet, but I’m sure it will bring just the right amount of color and difference of shape to that side. I’m a little worried about the scale of the scale (ha ha), but I think it should be ok, even if it’s a little small because I also found a large popcorn tin on a local buy/sell page that I plan to paint. I was originally thinking I’d go with a copper color but now that I have my cache pot, I want something different. Perhaps a milk paint ivory with a greenish lid and a stenciled design similar to this. But before I start that project I want to decide what the design should be. I’m considering a simple ‘Bon Appetit’ but I also like the idea of ‘Delish’ with a small flourish pattern or something using some of these words. Or maybe create something like this but with an Alaskan spin. What do you think would look best? I’m also toying with the idea of changing the handles so it looks a little like the uber expensive Pottery Barn urns I always lust for although Pier 1 has a similar option for a little less.

So far, not counting the scale – since that’s a business expense 😉 – my total is approximately $11 for the wine rack and tin. Not bad at all, if I do say so myself. Granted there might be some cost in painting the tin, but I’m sure it won’t be anything major. I’m sure I’ll do a post on my re-do of the tin once I get to it, so keep an eye out for that!

The Easiest Pinterest Project To Date

Published on January 21, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Remember that pretty copper pot I thrifted a little while back? I finally got around to converting it into my cache pot for the kitchen and it was seriously so easy I barely really don’t have much to explain. I followed the steps I found on this DIY post and I think it took me all of 10 minutes! So without further ado, here’s the how-to in just 4 easy steps.

Gather the supplies: container and charcoal filter. — Step 1: Gather the supplies – container and charcoal filter.

Step 2: Cut filter in half and prep with glue dots.

Step 3: Attach filter to underside of container lid.

Step 4: Put lid on container and sit back to appreciate your handiwork!

And that’s it! My pretty kitchen scrap pot is ready to collect trimmings for a future compost pile. Until then it holds the things I’d rather not put into our new septic system. For now, when it’s full I wander out into the woods on our property and dump the contents in random places so if wildlife do sniff it out, it’s never in the same area and they don’t become accustom to eating scraps.

I could have saved the other half of the filter for when this one wears out in 3 months, but instead I put it on the underside of our regular trash can lid to help with the odors that tend to accumulate there and I’m pleased to report that it seems to be helping!

So there you have it. Easy Peasy, Cache Teesy! 🙂

A Little More Storage

Published on January 12, 2014January 12, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

After finishing the Master closet storage system, the hubs installed the shelving in the hall bathroom closet and I quickly organized the contents of the last two boxes for that space. We decided that the steam cleaner, vacuum and other floor cleaning tools would live in this space so he installed the first shelf high enough to accommodate that. He continued the same shelving material and design as he did in the pantry.

Because I didn’t need this space to do much beyond holding towels and toiletries I didn’t pre-plan the layout, which was frustrating for the hubs who wanted specific guidance on what I would like. We talked it through and hashed it out as we went and I think it turned out great.

The top shelf holds those infrequently used items like the humidifier and fan along with the “dog towels” since the tub in this bathroom is where they would be bathed when they are do get a wash at home. The next shelf hold all those medications that seem to accumulate from nowhere. Next was spare towels, which I wanted within easy reach for guests and potential future human chitlins. The bottom shelf holds the first aid kits (both human and animal – because we’re that kind of household LOL) and bandages, along with the plethora of spare toothbrushes my dentist continues to send me home with even though he knows I have a Sonicare toothbrush. With a little arranging, everything fit really well. I might add a stair step organizer to the shelf with all the medications on it to make it function a little better, but for now it’s easily accessible and it fits.

Because the space doesn’t have a dedicated light fixture, the ambient light from the vanity light is all there is. To alleviate this, the hubs also added a small LED light bar near the door for a little extra illumination when needed. I don’t think we’ll need it often, but when we do it will be nice to have at the ready. But what I like best about it is that it didn’t cost a dime, because we had it from a previous project that no longer needed it.

I recently found a new rug and shower curtain for this bathroom and also got some decor up, so now I just have a few finishing touches to make this room complete – which will be one of the first to be so in the house! Stay tuned to see the end result very soon! 🙂

Hang a Star on the Highest Bough

Published on December 25, 2013December 25, 2013 by JennaLeave a comment

I’ve had the same tree topper for years. I bought it on sale after Christmas one year and added a string of lights so that it lit up. I loved it, but it was always so heavy and cumbersome, requiring a rod to support it and a special extension cord to be run to it for the lights. After fussing with it for 15 minutes this year and still not liking how it was sitting, I decided it was time for a change.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted exactly, but figured it would be another star because that just seems right to me. I know an angel is traditional, and I think that’s what I had as a child, but many I’ve seen are down-right creepy or psychedelic. I like the symbolism of the star, which guided the wise men to Jesus’ manger and being an Alaskan, the North Star is always a favorite. So star tree topper a-hunting I went.

My first stop was Target, which had tinsel options, but nothing that seemed to fit my style. I was considering researching DIY options when I decided to stop in at Pier One because I had a 20% off coupon. They didn’t have any tree toppers but I did find this large glittered star ornament. They called it a snowflake, but it sure looked like a star to me, especially in gold. I wasn’t sure if it wold work as a tree topper so I carried it around with me as I browsed other areas of the store.

Something told me that even if I didn’t end up using it as a tree topper it would find a use in my holiday decor so I went ahead and bought it. It was already a good price at $6.95, but I also got my coupon discount on top of that, so it was a super deal.

Once I got home I climbed on a chair and placed it at the top of the tree, arranging branches to make it sit just so. After a few times off the chair to check and make sure it was straight, I was completely happy, so I cut off the hanging string and left it atop the tree. It’s just the right scale to complete the shape of the tree and it coordinates with other decor in the house, so I think we have a new annual topper! And for less than $6 it’s the best deal I’m likely to find, perhaps even after Christmas!