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Archive: Home and Garden

July 2, 2009

Wishing Well Redux

We've always got plenty of things to do around our house, from scrubbing the fireplace stones that have been gathering soot since 1949 or thereabouts, to pulling weeds in various flower beds around our yard plus a quarter acre or more of hillside that the thistle and blackberries are fond of. The mudroom walls really need repainting, it's been 10 years since we said we were going to grout an exposed tile edge in the living room, and it's high time for a purging session in both the boys' rooms.

So, obviously, last weekend I decided that I really, really had to paint an old wooden wishing well that's been fading in our yard for several years.

My 6-year-old Arlo heard the word paint and signed on immediately. This means that he played outside while I, the mom, set up the work space (tarps, a ladder, and a table), gathered the materials, washed the dirt and spider webs off the well, and sanded the flaking paint and splintery wood to a semi-smooth condition. The DH removed the bucket from the inside to reduce the temptation to swing it at wet, newly painted sides, and then the redheaded tyke was ready to help.

I brought out a dozen or so cans of leftover paint from various projects over the years, and Arlo and I picked dark blue and yellow as the colors. My husband respectfully suggested that this was too reminiscent of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese packaging, so we added a muted green and a hot coral to the mix.

The painting was surprisingly fun and mess-free! First, we painted the roof, which was very satisfying since it had completely faded. Then Arlo and I decided that the top and bottom borders of the body should also be blue, so we painted those next. I added the yellow paint to the triangle sides of the roof while Arlo looked on and shot at aliens lurking in the forest. Then I added the green to the support rails, and Arlo decided he was ready to help paint the sides with the coral. I followed closely behind him, smoothing out his paint strokes and wiping away his drips onto our freshly painted blue border. Throughout the project, he frequently proclaimed, "I love painting, and I'm good at it! And it's hard work."

I added a second coat to all surfaces the next day, and got a little crazy when I decided to paint the bar that the bucket hangs off of, as well as contrasting colors on the handle. My husband made me stop when I considered painting the bucket, each slat a different color.

And happily, we're all quite thrilled with the outcome. I've decided it looks very Lego-esque, which is appropriate in our yard since our basement has 3 cabinets full of Lego bricks and the monthly arrival of the latest Lego catalog becomes an hour-long page-by-page discussion over dinner.

In retrospect, I would have painted more of the inside of the well, probably first, and would have saved the dark blue trim until the very end. But since this particular art piece will be sitting in our yard and gazed upon from afar, the messy edges and meeting points between colors won't be scrutinized very closely. Plus, I can always say my 6-year-old painted it, and it was hard to do!

July 1, 2009

Crafty Home Etsy Video

Tara Young at Etsy writes:

Three years ago, Alice Saunders, a.k.a. Forestbound, and Francesca Zmetra, a.k.a. Thirteen Eighty-Five, became roommates in an old house in Jamaica Plain, MA. They didn't know each other at the time but because of their similar styles, they bonded instantly and became close as friends and creative colleagues. Alice's aesthetic tends toward old military Americana with a collection of canvas bags, found bones, birch bark, vintage lace and postcards. Francesca's taste is more feminine, influenced by wartime beauty parlors and apothecaries.

Check out more about these two lovely ladies.

June 24, 2009

How-To: Mini Lantern

Instructables user smh writes:

Here in Pakistan we suffer from frequent power outages that last hours. Since I'm a university student, I needed a portable source of light but I found that candles weren't bright enough. I came up with a simple mini lantern that takes less than 5 minutes to make but lasts for hours.

June 19, 2009

Coffin Shelves

They've really been on a roll over at the Inhabitat blog lately. I've been admiring a lovely garden shed made out of recycled fencing that they recently featured, and now my new favorite post is about these ingenious (and cost effective) coffin shelves, dubbed Shelves for Life. Apparently they wrote about these shelves a few years back, but felt the need to, ahem, resurrect the story.

June 17, 2009

Pool Noodle Drink Holder

Here's what to do if your pool raft doesn't have a cupholder: make your own drink holder out of pool noodles!

How-To: Sew Peek-A-Boo Rick-Rack Trim

Bitter Betty Blogs has a tutorial for creating this cute peek-a-boo effect with rick-rack joining two pieces of fabric. She's used it for curtains in her kitchen, but points out that it would also be a great to use along hemlines and tablecloths with contrasting bands of fabric.

June 16, 2009

How-To: Build a Birch Log Table

Decorideas Table
Anne Collins of PointClickHome.com shows you the process of how she made her amazing birch log table. All for only $80 in materials and a wood saw with a few screws and nails she recreated a $2,000 design piece. So stylish!

June 12, 2009

Knitted Poufs Patterns

Pickles Puff1
Heidi and Anna at Pickles have some free knitting patterns to make these knitted "poufs", aka stools. (The ladies are in Norway and "puff" means stool in Norweigian). Try your hand at knitting Puff Daddy (gray stool above) or Puff Daddy's Baby (cream stool below). You can also check out the Pickles Etsy shop for cute handmade baby goods and patterns. [ via Casa Sugar ]

Pickles Hele3
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June 6, 2009

Brass Knuckle Soap

For all you soapters out there, this one shouldn't be too hard to make with the proper mold... brass knuckle soap via Gizmodo.

June 4, 2009

Papier-Mâché Party Lights

Papiermache Partylights
Break out the old Christmas lights and make these papier-mâché party lights by Reese Dixon which are perfect for a backyard summer BBQ or party.

Dye Your Couch Cushions a New Color

Sean Ragan humorously writes of his recent couch cushion dying process:

I'm going to call it Ragan's Law: The comfort of any piece of upholstered furniture is inversely proportional to its beauty. My current couch is no exception: A lumbering, beige behemoth with faint tan paisleys woven into its skin and a mysterious, slowly-spreading oil stain on the backboard that looks as if someone has been using it to blot bacon grease. Staring directly at the couch for more than ten or fifteen seconds has been known to cause sharp, stabbing pains behind the eyes. But close them, and lie down, and it becomes a cloud of soft, cool, downy cotton candy.

Much of the couch's haptic deliciousness is due to the magnificent fluffiness of its large cushions, with which it is abundantly endowed. Each is 2 feet square and 8 inches thick, and there are no fewer than seven of them for a six-foot couch. That's not counting the seat cushions, of course. Pile them all in place and there's barely room left to lie down, so inevitably about half of them end up living on the floor most of the time. Which is where they first met and made friends with my low dining table, Matilda, who for many years has been trying to meet a nice set of floor cushions to keep her company. It was a match made in heaven. Four of the couch cushions were permanently appropriated to serve as floor cushions around Matilda.

They are the perfect size and shape. Unfortunately, they are still beige with tan paisleys. Worse still, the carpet on which they sit now is also beige, and the walls in the dining room that surround them are a slightly yellowish beige. To make a long and increasingly ungainly story short: I decided to try dying them to make my life a little less beige. Concerned that messing around with girl crafts would cause the hair to fall off my chest, I made my Mom do all the actual work. She used 5 x 1.75 oz packets of Dylon Indigo, following the label directions and working in a large rubbermaid tub. The results look great and I've had no problems with color bleeding or rubbing off. (Thanks, Mom!) Now if I can just get rid of that carpet I'll be able to sit down and enjoy a meal without going blind.

June 1, 2009

Fabric Scraps Hanging Bird Mobile

Hangingbirdmobile
I love this sweet looking fabric scraps hanging bird mobile by Lisa Tilse of The Red Thread which is featured on the Smaller blog. I know this is really meant as mobile for a baby room but I'm secretly wanting to make this to hang in my office for some crafty birdy love.

May 27, 2009

Coffee Table From Old Windows

Instructables user TimBTodd writes:

My mother wanted a unique, traditional and modern coffee table. I found some old antique wooden windows at a flea market, and designed this coffee table around them.

Not many assembly tips are included, but if you've got some basic woodworking skills under your belt already, this is a great project to try!

May 26, 2009

Toothpick Lampshade

I love when a mass of a simple object creates amazing artistic effects. This lampshade made from hundreds of toothpicks is a great case in point.

[ via Re-Nest ]

Fabric Patchwork Lampshade

Patchworklampshade
Moda Bake Shop shows you how to use a honey bun and make this fabric patchwork lampshade. [ via Whip Up ]

Etsy Video: Handmade Soap

Check out this video highlighting Gwen Neucall of BeyondThePicketFence who makes natural soaps. She goes through the process of soapmaking, from selecting and combining ingredients to testing out experimental natural colors.

May 24, 2009

DIY Cloud Lamp

Cloudlamp
I love this dreamy DIY cloud lamp made from simple cut out circles of felt made by Ashley who made that fabulous DIY vanity featured on CasaSugar.

May 23, 2009

DIY Vanity

Ashleyvanity Diy
CasaSugar shows how Ashley transforms a Craigslist find into a stylish Sex and the City inspired DIY vanity using metallic and chrome colored spray paint.

May 22, 2009

Checkin' In: Design Sponge Grace Bonney

Design Sponge's Grace Bonney needs little introduction in the crafty world. Her impeccable sense of style and nifty DIYs are inspirational and infectious. Grace contributed three marvelous installations of her DIY Design column to the pages of CRAFT. In Volume 08, she showed us how to take a plain Ikea chest and put a beautiful spin on it, transforming it into a George Nelson-inspired piece.

In Volume 09 (my favorite), she shared a project by Catherine Weis, on how to transform a scuffed floor into a work of art using custom stencils and paint.

And in Volume 10, Grace gave us a great suggestion, inspired by Gosia Korsakowski, on how to take a charming vintage frame and reincarnate it into a lovely and functional chalkboard.

We checked in with Grace recently and asked what she's been up to. This is what she shared:

"These days my most imminent plans involve a 10-day honeymoon to Paws Up in Montana. Inside of blogs and comments, I hope to spend my time rappelling and horseback riding instead. My head is so full of design right now that I need a nature-time-out in a big way.

My head is full of design mainly because it's design season here in NY! I'm working on filming videos of all the shows (starting with Bklyn Designs [watch below]), so right now I'm brushing up on smooth zooming and not having a shaky hand every time I lift the camera."

"I'm also picking things back up to get the 2009 D*S Scholarship back on track (it's tough to find funding in times like these) and bring the Biz Ladies series [meeting shown below] back to new cities (ditto on the funding)."

"I was so lost in our wedding planning for the past 8 months that I'm really excited to use the next few months to refocus on the site and launch some new columns (including some content that's based on styling and photography)."

Thanks, Grace! Congrats on your wedding, and we'll be on the lookout for what fabulousness you have in the works!

Pick up any back issues of CRAFT you may not have (while they last) over in our Maker Shed!

May 21, 2009

How to Plant an Orchid Vertically

I love orchids, and this year for the first time I went to the Pacific Orchid Expo in San Francisco. I saw some amazing plants and flowers. I left the event very inspired and decided to try the technique many growers use of mounting the orchids on branches or boards, where they can hang vertically. Orchids love being suspended because it allows their roots to drain freely. The visual effect is beautiful, and allows gardeners to make the most of small spaces. Try to find some coco fiber instead of dirt for this project; orchids thrive in it, and it is also very lightweight.

Materials:

Orchid
Sphagnum moss
Small amount of dirt or coco fiber
Fiskars Floral Shears
18-gauge floral wire
Board

Directions:

Step 1: Wait until the orchid you want to plant has finished blooming, then cut the stem at the base. Remove the plant from its pot and shake loose any bark or dirt from its roots.

Step 2: Loop a length of wire around 2 opposite corners of the board. Twist the 2 ends of the wire together in the back.

Step 3: Next, lay a pile of sphagnum moss on the center of the board. Then add a handful of dirt on top. Add the orchid to the pile on the board. Cover it with a second handful of dirt, and a final layer of moss.

Step 4: Secure it to the board with wire. Wrap wire back and forth, starting at one of the pre-wired corner. Lace the new length of wire across the moss and orchid several times. Tug the wires tight to cinch them down and hold the plant against the board firmly. The board can be hung indoors or out.

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