Posts Tagged: DIY

DIY Projects

DIY Vegetable Garden Bed

July 9, 2013

Ever heard of a raised garden bed? They're kind of the best. I spent yesterday shooting a segment on how to put one together, and can now explain to you exactly why they are wonderful. Let's discuss!

1. They're great for vegetable gardens because you can place plants very close together, and because the loosely packed soil makes for excellent drainage conditions.

2. They can be used pretty much anywhere (on decks, or even indoors), and are extremely versatile. This is just a simple 4'x4' bed, but you can stack them, expand them, and even make them into pretty shapes (I ended up stacking a second 4'x4' bed on top to make the walls a little higher.)

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Old Wives’ Tale Test-Run: Using Butter To Get Out Wood Rings

June 28, 2013

I do have an actual office, but despite the leopard print carpet and tiger rug, it's not a place where I spend a ton of time: I dart in and out to use the printer, but spend the bulk of my workday camped out at our dining room table. Since it's theoretically a communal space (even though we eat sitting on the floor around the coffee table like cavepeople) I try to keep things as neat as possible...but one thing you'll always find next to my computer is a coffee cup in the process of making a ring on the wood. Because I need coffee now and extra steps like locating coasters just get in the way.

This has resulted in the area on our dining room table directly surrounding my computer being covered with rings, to the point where there are so many that they've basically become a part of the tabletop decor. Honestly, I don't really care all that much: the table is supposed to look "rustic" to start with, and my feeling about furniture is that you shouldn't be too precious about it; it should fit with your life, and my life involves coffee and laziness about coasters.

As an example of when not to be (too) precious about furniture: Virgil is destroying our new couch. His favorite place to sit is smack on top of the back pillow, and the fact that he sits there for an average of ten hours every day staring longingly out the window at chipmunks is creating a very large, seemingly permanent dent. I really wish this wasn't happening, but what am I going to do? I get it: I like chipmunks, too.

That said...the rings on our dining room table are getting a little out of control.

Decor

Before And After: Patio

June 27, 2013

I know: it's a sorry, sorry sight.

But honestly: I had no idea what to do with this space, to the point where it sat unused (and apparently unswept) for nearly a year.

Having a yard was already much too much outdoor space for me to wrap my little New York City girl mind around; I couldn't handle the additional challenge of figuring out what to do with a patio, as well. First of all, it was attached to my office - a room that we barely use anyways - so I frequently forgot it even existed. And second, I couldn't imagine why I'd sit there as opposed to...well, anywhere else. If we wanted to eat dinner outdoors, we'd probably sit at the big table in the yard, right?. And if we wanted to lounge around outside...well, we own a fire pit.

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New Use For An Old Thing: Toothbrush Holder

June 20, 2013

You may not think of toothbrush holders as "collectibles". Or even as "attractive", really.

And that makes sense; they're usually not. The one I had in college, for example, was a teal plastic thing that I think cost 99 cents and that went straight into the trash on graduation day. But there are definitely some very pretty versions out there - little silver holders that look like mint julep cups, simple white porcelain styles, modern wood ones, colorful ceramics like the My Mela holder pictured here - and sometimes they're so pretty that it seems like a shame to use them for their intended purpose.

So. If you happen to have an especially lovely holder laying around...well, first, wash it thoroughly in hot water with anti-bacterial soap before doing anything at all.

And then try these ideas!

DIY Projects

Variegated Yarn Baby Blanket

June 18, 2013

Knitting is one of my favorite things to do in the world...but really, the only things I'm good at making are blankets (my baby hat was kind of a disaster and ended up looking more like a Bizarre Pom-Pom Elf-Cap). That's OK, though, because while blankets are pretty time-intensive they're also super relaxing to make once you get the hang of them.

All I did to make this blanket (which is being shipped off today to Morgan, who's expecting a daughter in just a few weeks) was cast on 100 stitches*, knit and knit and knit (no purling) until I had a 36" x 36" square (the typical size for a baby blanket), and then cast off. So easy.

The reason I chose not to knit-purl or create a pattern like I did for this basketweave blanket: when you choose a variegated yarn** (one that's dyed lots of different colors) like the one pictured here, the color variations basically create a pattern for you; there's no need to add any texture because it's visually interesting as is.

DIY Projects

DIY Blue Mason Jar Hanging Lanterns

May 23, 2013

Keep reading...

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Getting My Garden On

May 7, 2013

All weekend I wandered around in this sort of happiness-haze, wearing garden gloves and scooping dirt and saying things to Kendrick like "Who KNEW? I mean really...who knew?!" And he was sort of confused by my need to announce (over and over) how amazed I was by the fact that I was enjoying something that was way, way outside the realm of anything I would have ever thought I'd enjoy...but seriously.

WHO KNEW?

I never in a million years understood why people liked gardening. I was like, "OK...so you spend all weekend hunched over on your hands and knees digging in the dirt, probably encountering things like insects, and at the end you get...something that you could probably just go pick up over at CVS? Cool, guys."

But it's so satisfying. And the results are so gorgeous. And there's something really incredible about standing back, looking at your yard which was once one thing and is now another thing entirely, and thinking I did that.

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