An oldie but a goodie, just because the holiday season is almost upon us and these make cool and inexpensive DIY gifts (not to mention being a fun - and non-time-intensive, promise - weekend project).
DIY Blue Mason Jar Tutorial
DIY Projects
DIY Black Glitter Table
I own a weird number of small side and end tables for three reasons:
1. When I was in college, my parents inexplicably developed a habit of buying me tables as presents (during my freshman year they brought one with them nearly every time they visited, perhaps fearing that a lack of surface areas upon which to rest my books would leave me vulnerable to things like not-studying and keg stands)
2. The Upper East Side, where Kendrick and I used to live, is a treasure trove of discarded furniture on weekend mornings, and we went through a phase where we frequently dragged pieces up to our apartment for a little rehab;
3. I like them. Maybe it's genetic.
DIY Distressed Denim
I'm super into distressed jeans at the moment...but it can be tough to find a pair that fits you exactly the way you want them to (and doesn't cost a fortune). The solution: just grab a pair of jeans you already own and use some basic around-the-house items to quickly and easily do the distressing job yourself.
Tip: Don't forget to insert a piece of cardboard into the legs of the jeans in the spots that you're distressing to protect the other side of the fabric - the point is to create wear and tear, not to cut the legs right off.
Quick Fix: Entryway Update
I spent a decent percentage of this weekend in exactly this position.
One project I've been putting off (and off and off) has been repainting the very chipped wood entryway to our house, partially because when I brought in a contractor to look at our floors he told me that they were so old and worn that they wouldn't stand up to the kind of sanding you'd need to do to get a really fresh-looking paint job (that's why we ended up replacing the floors in our living room entirely, leaving this spot in the entryway alone because it wasn't in quiiite as bad shape)...and partially because I couldn't figure out a multi-hour period during which I'd be able to prevent all the small creatures in our house from making adorable little permanent track-marks across the floors before they dried.
But then I realized: 1) I don't really care if the entryway looks perfect; I'd just like it to look better, and 2) When it comes to small creatures and DIY projects, there really is no good time. So on Friday night we got our son into bed, made sure our dogs looked reasonably passed-out on the couch, and broke out the black gloss.
Top Ten Yard Sale Tips & Tricks
Even I have to agree that the extent to which I have been excited about having a yard sale for years - years! - is a little bizarre. It significantly pre-dated ownership of an actual yard in which to have said sale in; I started sequestering items away in boxes marked "YARD SALE" about ten months prior to our move to the 'burbs. Which meant both that I created a very annoying storage situation in an apartment that was already more than slightly lacking in that department...and also that I had a lot of stuff to sell when the big day officially arrived.
Why all this excitement? Some combination of the following:
1. It lets you play out the fantasy of owning a boutique (which is a fantasy that I have, although I'm aware that the reality of boutique-ownership is likely not nearly as idyllic as the picture I have in my head);
