DIY

DIY succulent planter boxes

May 20, 2015 by Angela

Hello, hello. Did you catch my post on creativity over on The Blog Market? I may or may not have rambled on. Anyway, I’m currently sitting at a cafe near my apartment because we had a few little ants wander in over the weekend and obvs I freaked out and called to get the place sprayed. Well, they showed up to do the job this morning and I had no idea they were coming then or that the kitties needed to be out. It was majorly stressful and by some miracle I decided to get up early, shower, even DRY my hair, and put on a cute dress. If you work from home you know that this is pretty rare. So it’s a darn good thing I did that because I had to run out in a rush with my laptop in search of internet to continue working. Now that I’ve caught up on all the social media I was late on this morning, I finally have a few minutes to write up this little DIY. Let’s all try and forget that my morning was an absolute mess and learn how to make a little succulent home, please!

You’ll need:

Three slabs of hobby board, found at the very back of the hardware store in the miscellaneous section. I went thick for the bottom and cut off each and for the two short sides. Lots of tiny succulents. Paint or stain. Paint brush. Hammer and nails. Saw if not cut to size already.

DIY Succulent Planter Box

1. Measure your two short sides. Cut the size that you’ll need for the two blocks at the short ends off of the longer pieces.

2. Nail your two long pieces onto the thicker base and the two short blocks.

3. Sand down any rough pieces.

4. Paint a stain around the outside. I tested out this Martha Stewart wood stain I purchased on clearance ages ago. I didn’t feel it was different enough from the wooden coffee table it will sit on so I decided to paint the top a gray blue as well.

5. Here, you can repot your succulents into the whole length of the box, add them to decorative pots, or be lazy like me, and leave as is. I went into this thinking I’d create potted planter box, but I ran out of soil. If they aren’t thriving in their little pots I’ll switch them over but for now I left as is.

6. Add to your coffee table or window sill, and make sure they get lots of light and love.

A few crystals = optional.

There’s more than three boards in the photos because I planned to do one for my entryway too. We’ll see if I ever get around to that! You can see the rest of my coffee table tour here. Now, off to check on the apartment…

Coffee table tour // coffee table decor

May 14, 2015 by Angela

Has it been decided yet that the whole chic styled coffee table phenomena originated from bloggers wanting to have as pretty a home as those girls featured on the likes of The Everygirl and Glitter Guide but only have the extra hours to make one surface of their dwelling pretty at a time? I like to think yes. So I dub these photos my coffee table tour. It’s about the only place in my new apartment that’s fully unpacked, though I won’t say it’s at 100% because I haven’t yet found the perfect area rug to go underneath. Now, a brief how to for the perfect coffee table…

First, the essentials. We all know our feet will be propped on it anyway, might as well make a pedicure out of it.

Second, cold brew–always.

A little crystal collection mixed in with found rocks from coastal trips.

Ranunculus, a la Trader Joes, and a succulent arrangement or two.

Add in a DIY element, like my DIY map book covers.

Current reads and a magazine, no need for more than that.

Leave a bit of room for the clutter of coffee mugs and dinner dishes, miscellaneous writing utensils and if possible, more candles and more flowers.

DIY wood stained desk // industrial desk

May 7, 2015 by Angela

This tutorial might be 8 months in the making, but what’s new? I always do DIY projects and then get inspired to write about them down the road. Back when we made this table, our apartment was so poorly lit (and we didn’t have much outdoor space), I couldn’t even take a photo of the finished product without it looking really sad and unwelcoming… I took a few process photos but over time I misplaced them (here on my laptop somewhere, for sure), so unfortunately I only have the final product…

Our simple wood stained desk! I know I promised a dining table and it certainly could be one, but it’s better suited as a desk for us now. First, Kevin and I had this little dining nook, so it made sense, but when we moved we no longer have that, not to mention Kevin really needed a new desk. Anything to get his old black Ikea desk out of the picture!

The trestle legs obviously make it a way better desk anyway… We inverted them to make leg space underneath.

My favorite part of the whole thing is the stain. It was a process of aging the wood + using a very light gray with an almost blue tint stain.

Here’s a little how-to for those of you thinking of making a foray into furniture making!

DIY Wood Stained Desk // a loose tutorial

1. Choose the size of table you want and what legs you’ll be using since you’ll have to get the appropriate size wood for the legs. We went with these two Ikea trestle legs and five planks of wood.

2. Get (or cut) boards into the correct lengths. Ours were longways and when we bought them at Lowe’s we had to cut them down to be more even. Then sand each piece down.

3. On to aging. Since we didn’t buy reclaimed wood but wanted that look, we had to age the wood. Use a basic tutorial to create a stain you’ll use to age it. Ours wasn’t too bold but just right to make it look more weathered.

4. Use a wood stain to achieve the right color on the aged wood. We went with a blue-gray like this (but not as dark). Paint on each board.

5. Next is to attach each board together. There’s a couple different ways to go about this, like lining up the boards and then creating a border around the underside so it would be sturdier without doubling up the thickness of the entire table. This connected the boards pretty well, but you could also use other more sturdy methods!

6. Attach legs. Using Ikea trestle legs, you can screw them in. These ones were a little tricky so we had to open up part of the legs to get the screws to sit nicely into the wood (since that’s not usually where they go). It was a bit of trial and error but the job is done and hey, no one looks at the underside.

And there you have it! So much nicer looking than my bf’s previous desk… But still, it would be nice if there wasn’t a huge PC and a ton of cords hanging all over it now!

DIY felt craft room banner

May 1, 2015 by Angela

Happy May! Can you believe it? If you’re up for a little crafting this weekend, why not try a quick DIY?

Now that I have a little creative studio separate from the rest of my apartment, I can finally think of decor. It’s a small nook with doorways on two walls and windows on the other two, and I want the one large wall to be blank for shooting, so I have to be very intentional about decor. I have room for this little DIY and one or two more. Here’s the how-to and results…

You’ll need:

Felt (including one stiff felt for the banner itself)
Scissors
Hot glue + gun
Stick or twig for hanging
String

DIY Felt Banner

1. Cut out your banner from the sheet of stiff felt.
2. Cut out all letters first, arrange to see how you’d like them to sit, and adhere with hot glue.
3. Line your stick with glue and attach to the top of banner.
4. Tie or glue on string for hanging.

My letters are quite crafty to say the least. Take a peek at Charity’s banner to see an example of someone who can cut letters straight without tracing (it’s an art, really).

DIY macrame plant hangers

February 26, 2015 by Angela

Charity and I have been wanting to make those DIY macrame plant hangers you see all over Pinterest for awhile now. They go perfectly with her earthy, rustic decor and my bright bohemian style. We made a few more that aren’t shown here because we didn’t have the chance to hang them all while taking photos. Tip: Choose where yours will go before you begin. They’ll keep falling and possibly tangle the string if you try to set them upright.

After you get going, honestly, you’ll probably wing it. We tried to follow a few separate tutorials and it’s really better to go with whatever will make yours look best. To begin, I had a mini and a small planter.

MATERIALS

The short ‘n sweet material list: string (if it’s not thick enough, simply double up), beads (optional), plants (plucked straight from Charity’s garden!), and your planters.

DIY MACRAME PLANT HANGER

1. Cut string at least two x as long as you want it to hang (closer to three to be safe). We went with eight total pieces (four long pieces folded to create the loop at the top) to create four around. You can increase this if you’d like. Just make sure you have the proportionate amount of string each time.

2. Keeping them divided with even amounts of string each piece (two), tie knots on each piece. You can do it in various points or try to keep it more even, whatever you like. I added beads in between some of the knots. Next time I’d go with bigger beads though.

3. Keep doing so until you’re at least half way down, depending on how long you want it to hang (see, so many variables).

4. Now it’s time to create the netting pattern, which is why it’s important to have even numbers all around. First divide up all your string. Then, starting on one side, begin combining the strings next to one another, from the other group. Clover + Dot explains this process well in her mini macrame pot tutorial.

5. Here’s the part where I dropped the ball on taking pictures (sorry, was too busy fighting string to be able to hold a camera!). You continue to create a couple rows in this pattern, each time combining the very first string with the very last (so it’s circular and thus will hold your pot). Clover + Dot again to the rescue.

6. Test it out by slipping the planter in your circle of netting like Charity did above. Side notes: There are ups and downs to potting early. We didn’t want to deal with taking the plants in and out (though it is totally possible after all), so we planted ours first. But that also means a potential string-intertwined-with-succulent-fiasco, so, be warned. In the end either way works.

7. Tie it tiiiiight on the bottom. Let the ends hang, cut them off, whatever.

Hang in a sunny corner or near your curtains and there you have it.

See what I mean about winging it? There are a ton of ways to try this. And after I was done fighting string in my first attempt, it was relaxing in the way crocheting or making friendship bracelets is.

Have you made one of these before?

Photos by Charity Hestead + edited by me for if found, make.

DIY dreamcatcher

January 2, 2015 by Angela

This dreamcatcher DIY is something I’ve been wanting to do for months, maybe years. I have a small collection of vintage ribbons and ricrac and lace, that I’ve waited ever so patiently for the right project to come along to use. I think I’ve had this collection for five years now. Recently I realized the dreamcatcher would be the right project, so I started collecting other things, like dyed yarn bundles from MW Fiber Arts and scraps of wool from crochet.

Finding the perfect size ring was difficult so I went with an embroidery hoop and designed the lace to hide the clasp. I used this tutorial to learn how to tie the string into a net. You loop it around and then continue to tie little knots in each piece.

Then all that was left was to tie the strings, as I didn’t want to cover up the light wood of the ring. I took green floral wire and added a few feathers here and there.

Tip: Go over the strings (quickly) with a flat iron if they’re kinky or coily from the packages.

Our bed is in a very inconvenient spot right now, sideways near our window (so I can have an “office”), so the dreamcatcher is off to the side.

I’m excited to try my hand at more of these this year!