Category Archives: DIY

Kid’s travel neck pillows

Posted by Melissa in Crafts, DIY, Kids and tagged with ,

Like many of you, we’ll be doing some traveling with the kids this summer. Planes, trains, automobiles–we’ll be doing it all. I’m glad we won’t be toting any bulky baby gear, but big kids in booster seats don’t have those nice headrests to prop their heads up during a nap on the go. But nothing passes the time better on a long travel day than a nap, so I made the kids some travel pillows.

I almost bought them something like this or this, but didn’t really feel like spending almost $50, since I need one for each child. This was a project that fit my mediocre sewing skills and short attention span, and it cost me nothing. I used fabric and polar fleece remnants from other projects. As usual, I searched for an online tutorial, and found several to choose from (here’s one and here’s another). I traced out a pattern on newspaper, cut out all the pieces of fabric, stitched, turned and stuffed. I invested at most an hour for all three pillows. I’ve got other things to spend $50 on, thank you very much.

Are they perfect? No. Perfectly functional? Absolutely. The kids are excited to have their own special pillows, and maybe…just maybe…they will take a little nap.

PVC bike rack

Posted by Melissa in DIY, Kids and tagged with

 

Raise your hand if you have a two-car garage and can’t fit your cars into that garage because there are too many bikes, scooters, tricycles, hula hoops and Cozy Coupes littering the floor? That’s what I thought. Please note that I am NOT raising my hand, because both of our cars fit into the garage and the bikes are parked in this nifty bike rack! (Feel free to applaud.) Do I feel smug? Why, yes—yes, I do.

In the winter, we hang the bikes from hooks in the garage ceiling, but in the summer months, the kids need to be able to reach their bikes. Finally, it occurred to me that we needed somewhere besides the garage to park and lock the bikes; you know, like in the bike racks at school. Why couldn’t we have a bike rack?

Normally, I would search Google and Pinterest for “DIY bike rack.” But before I got around to that step, fate stepped in. I was reading the great craft blog I Am Momma Hear Me Roar, and Cheri posted a link to a bike rack project! Thanks to Kristen from Hostess with the Motzes, I could stop thinking and just follow the directions.

Miss Six and Mr. Nine accompanied me to Home Depot to buy the pipe. While I balanced the 10-foot lengths of PVC pipe on my shopping cart, they carefully counted out all the elbows and T-connectors we needed. At home, Mr. Nine measured all the pieces and even took turns cutting them with the hacksaw. Finally, with the help of a rubber mallet, we assembled the rack (the fun part!). I should note that this is a perfect project to do with a kid. The measuring and cutting does not need to be perfectly precise or straight, and it doesn’t take too much strength to cut the pipe with a hacksaw.

But what would a DIY project be without some kind of glitch? I knew exactly where I wanted to put the rack alongside the front porch, but I neglected to measure the space and compare it to the measurements of the rack before we started. Soooo…the beautiful 5-slot bike rack didn’t fit in our space. The fix was easy, though, since we skipped the PVC cement when we assembled the pieces (being able to disassemble the rack for storage sounded like a good feature). I just popped one end off and removed one slot, turning five slots into four. Still enough room for three bikes and three scooters, and a perfect fit.

Painting lampshades

Posted by Melissa in DIY and tagged with , ,

We have this brass chandelier in our dining room that came with the house. I don’t love it, but anything I really like is not exactly in the budget. A few years ago I bought some cheap Ikea lampshades for it, but there wasn’t any color selection, and they have yellowed and just look dingy.

I looked around for new shades, but for six plain black chandelier shades, that could be nearly $100. If I’m going to spend that much, I’ll put it toward a new fixture. Then I saw this tutorial for painting a lampshade. It’s taken me a couple months, but I finally gave it a try. What did I have to lose?

 

I used the same exterior semi-gloss paint & primer that I used on the front door. I started out with a little artist’s brush, but it took forever to paint a single shade, and it seemed a little streaky. I looked at the row of five more shades lined up on the table, and I switched to my trusty two-inch paintbrush. MUCH faster. It took two coats of paint, and I did use the small brush to paint the rolled hem.

My kids accuse me of painting everything black. They exaggerate, but black seems to give everything a little more weight, a little more style. The new black shades will give the brass chandelier a reprieve until we find a fixture we love at a price we’re willing to pay. It could be years…

Repairing a bamboo roman shade

Posted by Melissa in DIY and tagged with

 

There’s nothing like someone coming to shoot some photographs in my house to motivate me finish a lingering project. Yesterday, it was the bamboo roman shade in the kitchen bay window.

I started having trouble raising the shade completely a couple of weeks ago, but just assumed that the problem was the ever-growing tangled knot of cords impeding its smooth operation. The shade starting drooping on one side, its rakish angle catching my eye each time I passed. Piles of clutter, attracted to the aura of neglect, accumulated on the window sill and slid off onto the floor. I finally looked at the back of the shade, and discovered that three of the four cords had escaped their rings and were just hanging there, not pulling their weight. I also noticed that several plastic rings seemed broken, and assumed I’d need a trip to the fabric store to find some new ones. Another errand to put off to another day.

It looked worse in person.

Which brings us to yesterday morning, when I ran out of time to procrastinate. The photographer was coming in the afternoon, and I couldn’t bear the thought of that sad, lopsided window shade marring photos of my kitchen. I unscrewed the three wing nuts holding it in place, and laid the shade face down on the floor. My first revelation was that the plastic rings were not, in fact, broken, but manufactured with a small opening, presumably to make it easier to string the cords. Then I realized that the real problem was that three cords had become disconnected from the bottom rail. All I had to do was thread the cords back through the rings and snap the plastic connectors together at the bottom. Ridiculously simple.

Those white plastic thingies had disconnected, but they snap right back together.

I reattached the blind to the window, and cautiously raised it. Success! I gathered the stacks of two-week-old newspapers, the bits of yarn, the stray toys. I scraped all the sticky tape off the glass (left from a flurry of paper snowflakes decorating our windows last winter) and washed the windows. Photo ready!

But now I’m noticing how all the drapes in the house are covered in a considerable layer of dust…

Infinitely better.

Painting the front door

Posted by Melissa in DIY and tagged with ,

Why did it take me so long to get around to this?

I’ve been meaning to paint the front door for ages, and yesterday I was finally moved to just get it done. Well, I did the exterior. I was waffling on whether to paint the inside of the door as well, but after a quick browse through some inspiration photos on Pinterest (just search for “black door”), I was reassured. Today’s project: paint the interior side.

Before

I dropped Little Four off at preschool and went straight to Home Depot and bought a quart of Behr Premium Plus Ultra exterior semi-gloss enamel in Black. I looked at some paint chips, some more greeny-black, some more gray-black, but when it came down to it, I just asked for plain old black. I’m very happy with it. Somehow the glossy black makes the entrance more impressive, and I like how the brass hardware pops out.

First coat

As I expected, it took three coats of paint–maybe an hour, total? All I needed was a 2-inch angled brush and some painter’s tape (to tape off the hardware).

 

After

I’ve got about two hours before I need to leave the house again…time to put my painting clothes back on and get the first coat on the other side!

On the wall

Posted by Melissa in DIY, Organizing

This isn’t going to be a picture hanging tutorial. There are plenty of those around the internet, and I’m fairly certain that my eyeball method isn’t going to win any awards. I do recommend this handy tool called the Hang and Level (as seen on tv!) that my husband got me after I yelled, “I need one of those!” when I saw it on tv. That thing works great if you use it. This time I didn’t bother to get it out because I was sure this was a 10-minute project. Can’t you hear the universe laughing at me? It took me an hour and a half, but I got some pictures out from under the bed (literally) and onto the wall, so I’m calling it a win.

A few things I actually used and a whole bunch of things I rejected.

I had hoped to have all sorts of details in the master bedroom completed this week: pillow covers, closet door knobs, pictures. Alas, this is real life, and like you, I had a couple of other things to attend to. I did get as far as realizing that I don’t have enough fabric for both sides of two pillows, so I’ll have to go buy something to coordinate for the pillow backs. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be expensive. I’m still pondering whether I should attempt zippers on these pillow covers. I’d hate to ruin my nice fabric trying something I don’t really know how to do. (Clearly I’m already talking myself out of it.)

But back to what I did accomplish: the pictures. When we rearranged the furniture a few weeks ago, the original picture placement didn’t work anymore, and there was another big empty spot on the wall. I decided it was finally time to complete a project I intended to do at least a year ago. All three children wore the same Belgian lace bonnet and booties for their baptisms, and I bought a shadow box to display them, but they’ve been moved from a shelf to a bag under the bed and back and forth. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to fix the items in the box, but last time I was at Michael’s, I asked someone behind the framing counter. Turns out, all I needed was 15 minutes, a few straight pins and a little batting. No thanks to the shadow box itself:

“Oh, great! Instructions!”

“Are they written in invisible ink?”

That little velcro strip wasn’t going to help, so I just stuffed the booties loosely with batting, and then fiddled around with the placement until I was satisfied. Now I have a piece of art and not just something to store until I have grandchildren.

I also rehung the two frames I originally had next to the window, but higher to accommodate the dresser. These are just postcards of watercolors of costumes designed by the artist Leon Bakst for the Ballets Russes in the early 1900s. I studied a little Russian in college and fell in love with these paintings while taking a course on Russian culture.

On the other side of the bathroom door I hung a white porcelain Kaiser plate with a relief pattern (I love the matte finish of these Kaiser pieces) and a Van Gogh print (that I’d like to reframe–check out the top piece that’s bowed).

While I was at it, I added a few things to the upstairs hall. I’ve been meaning to hang the kids’ school portraits (seriously, why do I order these if I never put them on display?). I thought a good spot would be over the bulletin board where we display some of their current artwork and awards. I had some unused white Ikea frames that fit perfectly.

I also dragged my framed diplomas and law license that haven’t seen the light of day since they left my office in a cardboard box two days before I delivered my firstborn. I’ve read all the arguments for and against displaying one’s diplomas in the home, but my reason was purely so that my children come to realize that their mother did once go to college and earned a couple of degrees, and has some knowledge beyond laundry and cookie baking. As soon as I hung the diplomas, they were busy examining them, calculating the years between them, and inquiring whether I had met all the state Supreme Court justices whose signatures are on my license.

Next week I fully intend to get those pillow covers made. Really.

Iron on Tuesday

Posted by Melissa in DIY, Laundry

Back in the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder, or more recently, June Cleaver, women did their housework on a schedule.

Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Mend on Wednesday, Churn on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday, Rest on Sunday.

June didn’t have any household help, so she must have accomplished all that in her trademark pearls, heels, and perhaps a pretty apron (nicely ironed, too). And instead of churning butter, I suppose she just went to the market.

I average a couple of loads of laundry every other day. I bake when the mood strikes and I mend a favorite item of clothing once or twice a year. I don’t iron very often–I usually save it for special occasions. My regular attire is jeans and some kind of t-shirt or sweater, nothing that I’d bother ironing. But I do have a whole pile of shirts that I’d like to wear, if only they weren’t wadded up in the ironing basket in the linen closet. Today I decided I’d get a few of those ironed so I have more than three tops to wear, along with a couple of shirts for my suit-and-tie wearing husband. Usually he irons his own shirts, but I try to help out once in a while. You know, in between my soaps and after I’ve polished off the last of the bonbons.

Ironing isn’t a big deal if you know how to do it. Practice makes perfect, as they say. When I was nine or ten, back in the 1980s when 100% cotton was making a comeback after the polyester doubleknit of the 1970s, I desperately wanted this very cute pale yellow Esprit outfit (cotton pants with a matching slouchy jacket and a pink t-shirt–I even had baby blue lace up booties to go with it). My mother consented to buy it on the condition that I learn how to iron it myself. As a teenager I occasionally ironed shirts for my dad, who paid me a quarter per shirt (perhaps that was a one-time deal–I’m pretty sure I abandoned the ironing gig in favor of babysitting). As a live-in nanny one summer, I washed and ironed as part of my duties. And now, though we have to pay to have suits, coats and the occasional dress dry cleaned, we save a small bundle by not taking shirts to the cleaners.

So here’s a little tutorial on ironing a shirt, for those of you who never learned but would like to try. Perfection is not the goal here. If you’re that motivated, go check out YouTube for a slew of how-to videos. Get most of the wrinkles out and don’t scorch the fabric, I say. If you have to wear a dress shirt to work, why fritter away your paycheck getting those shirts cleaned and pressed? Not to mention, you can’t watch HGTV while driving to the cleaners and back.

How to Iron a Shirt

1. Plug in the iron and set it to the appropriate setting. I was ironing cotton and linen, but I like to set it a bit cooler so I don’t scorch anything. (I suspect our iron runs a little hot.) If you’re ironing cotton or linen, definitely crank up the steam. If your shirt has polyester or another synthetic, dial down the heat or you’ll melt the shirt. Really. You can use spray starch or a spray bottle of water, too, but I’ve found that the starch gunks up the iron after a while. Ideally, you’d iron the shirt while it’s still damp from the wash, but let’s get real. Your shirts are probably just like ours, piled in a basket somewhere in the back of the closet.

2. Fill the iron with water. (Some irons require distilled water; we just use tap water in ours and empty it faithfully when we’re finished.)

3. Iron the yoke. What is the yoke, you ask? It’s not part of an egg (that’s a yolk, and maybe you need to review your spelling words), or something to hitch to your team of oxen. Check out the photo below: it’s the part of the shirt that goes across the back of the shoulders, just below the collar. You won’t find one on some casual shirts or women’s blouses, but a standard men’s dress shirt definitely has a yoke. Slide it onto the narrow end of the ironing board and iron half of it. Then flip the shirt around and iron the other half.

4. Iron the collar. First do the wrong side, then the right side. Fold the collar down and lightly iron the fold.

5. Iron the sleeves. Lay the first sleeve flat on the ironing board. Smooth it out with your hands so the seams are flat. Iron first one side, then the other. Repeat for the other sleeve.

This shirt has French cuffs (because my husband is fancy that way). Iron the cuff flat, then fold it over, making sure the buttonholes line up, and lightly iron the fold.

7. Iron the front and back panels. Start on one side and work your way around to the other side. Start at the top of each panel where it meets the collar and sleeves, and work in sections down to the bottom hem of the shirt. Iron in between buttons, not over them.

When you get to the pocket, don’t try to press the whole pocket at once. You’ll probably end up with a crease somewhere. Iron half of it from one side, and then do the other side.

8. Now hang up your freshly ironed shirt and button the top button so it hangs nicely.

But wait! you cry. My shirt looks completely different! Never fear. The technique is the same no matter the shirt: start with the fiddly bits, and work top to bottom. Here’s a linen tunic of mine that doesn’t have a yoke or collar.

This one’s easy. Iron the sleeves first, then the front, then the back. I used the spray button on my iron to sprinkle the stubborn creases with water.

Now I have a freshly ironed top to wear with my pearls and heels. I like to look nice when Wally and the Beaver get home from school. But I’ll have to remember my pretty apron, because we’re having fish tacos for dinner and those things are MESSY.

Crossing them off, one by one

Posted by Melissa in DIY, Organizing

I don’t know about you, but I can only keep so many balls in the air. There are some that are perpetually in orbit: feeding and clothing (and occasionally bathing) the kids, supervising schoolwork, paying the bills. Putting gas in the car, buying groceries, keeping up with the dirty dishes. Most everything else has to stand in line and wait until I have two seconds, and can actually remember what it is I was going to do. That includes trying new recipes, reading, watching television, DIY projects, and anything involving the garden or cleaning the garage.

But I’ve been greatly motivated by a project from one of my favorite blogs, Pancakes and French Fries. Jules has taken the well-known quote from William Morris: “I will have nothing in my home that I do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful,” as inspiration for accomplishing one project a week to make her home more functional and beautiful. So I’m going to join her William Morris Project, and see how many items I can cross off my very long list of Things I’d Like to Do Around the House. It helps me to have a schedule and some accountability, so I’ll be posting about my weekly project here every Thursday. If you don’t see me, feel free to comment and prod me! We’ll see how creative my excuses can be.

This week’s project was to recaulk the shower. It did in fact take me an entire week. I spent a couple days scraping and scrubbing out the old caulk. Several more days passed while I tried various methods of killing the black mold that had grown all around the grout and caulk on the bottom. A stiff scrub brush and straight bleach worked pretty well (don’t forget the rubber gloves and plenty of ventilation if you try this), and an overnight application of Clorox Bleach Pen killed what I couldn’t scrub away. I don’t have any good before pictures of this stage–did you really want to see that? Here’s what it looked like after I bleached the grout:

The next step involved finding the caulk gun and the caulk, which required pulling the van out of the garage so I could open the cabinet where I keep my caulk collection. This was a real stumbling block for me. I had to put shoes and a coat on, and actually go outside in the cold. Then I discovered that the caulk had dried up (why don’t all these tubes come with caps?) , but by that time I had to pick up Little Four from preschool. We stopped at the hardware store (this time I bought the expensive caulk–the kind with a cap) on our way to pick up the big kids from school, and since I was on a roll, I caulked that shower as soon as I got home–even before dispensing snacks or directing the unpacking of backpacks. I was going to use painter’s tape to get nice clean lines, as I saw in several online tutorials on the subject, but I completely forgot until I was almost finished. Fortunately, I didn’t make too much of a mess, and the shower pan and tile are white, so any mistakes aren’t too obvious. My next recaulking job is in the kitchen, though–between the white marble tile backsplash and black granite counter. I won’t forget the tape there!

So now that the shower is looking much cleaner, more in keeping with all the work we’ve done trying to spruce the place up (new paint on walls, vanity and medicine cabinet, new faucet and hardware, and new towels), I did one last project. We like using shower cleaner spray to keep the shower relatively clean in between scrubbings, but we’re forever running out of the stuff, and I try not to run to Target too often (we all know what a struggle it is to get out of there without dropping $100). When I cleaned out my desk last week, I found the recipe for a homemade shower spray, and lo and behold! I had all the ingredients in the house!

First, check out my tidy desk drawer:

I know, you can actually see the bottom of the drawer. Weird. But here’s what you need for some shower spray:

There you have it. Clean shower, fresh caulk, homemade shower spray. I feel much better about my fresh new bathroom (though I’d like to remove the shower doors one day soon–keeping those things clean is a miserable task–and even when they’re clean, they’re still ugly).

Next week I’ll show you my progress on the rest of the master bedroom. We’ve already made a lot of changes, but I’m down to those details that are easy to put off until you completely forget to do them at all. Knobs on the new closet doors, new pillow covers, rehanging pictures…exciting stuff, people!

What projects are on your to-do list this year? Anyone else up for joining the William Morris Project?