DIY — Page 6

Built-in Book Shelves for the Upstairs Family Room

August 17, 2009 by Susan 216 Comments

Welcome to the 31st Metamorphosis Monday! My Met Monday post is a little different this week. The "After" hasn't occurred yet, but I thought I'd share my "Before" and my "After Wish" with you, just in case it gives you some ideas for a similar area in your home. This is the view as you enter from the hallway into my Upstairs Family Room. (To see more of this room, click here: Upstairs Family Room.) … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY Organization and Storage, Living Room/Bonus (Upstairs), My Nest Tagged With: Book Storage, Bookcases in Hallways and on Staircases, Bookshelves on Staircases, Building Bookshelves, Creating Space for Books

A Decorating Quiz: What’s Your Style?

August 8, 2009 by Susan 95 Comments

If you've been reading BNOTP for very long, you probably know I have a little decorating book addiction. A while back I ordered a book on eBay and just to be nice, the seller threw in an extra book for free. The extra book she included was Decorating Rich...subtitled...How to Achieve a Monied Look Without Spending a Fortune, by Teri Seidman and Sherry Suib Cohen. That subtitle grabs your attention, doesn't … [Read more...]

Filed Under: DIY, DIY Decorating

Creating a Planter from a Chair

August 3, 2009 by Susan 75 Comments

Welcome to the 29th Metamorphosis Monday! I don't have a before pic of this chair I found recently at A Classy Flea, but I was told the seat was in very bad condition and was not salvageable. So...what to do? Turn it into a lovely planter! The seller at A Classy Flea, attached a square wire planter container to the chair. I'm sorry, but I've forgotten where she said she found the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY, DIY Decorating, Garden, Gardening & Birding, In the Garden, My Nest, Nature Tagged With: chair becomes planter, Chair planter, new use for an old chair, Recycle and old chair, Reuse and old chair

Design a Room You Love

July 20, 2009 by Susan 86 Comments

Welcome to the 27th Metamorphosis Monday! My Metamorphosis Monday post is a little different this week. I don't have an exciting metamorphosis to share; instead, I thought I'd share some ideas or tips I've learned decorating my own home over these many years. These "lessons learned" are responsible for the changes that were made to the rooms in my home, so in some ways this post is indeed all about … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY Decorating, Living Room (Downstairs) Tagged With: Decorating, Decorating Tips, Design, Interior Design, Mixing Prints, Scale

How to Make a Lamp from a Treasured Collectible

June 29, 2009 by Susan 65 Comments

Welcome to the 24th Metamorphosis Monday! You may remember the Metamorphosis Monday post several months ago where I posted about a sweet doggie I found while out antiquing. When I found him, I thought he would be the perfect size for something I had in mind. I had the idea of having him made into a lamp. I'd been shopping for a small lamp to go on this table in my family room for some … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY Crafts & Sewing, DIY Decorating Tagged With: Create a Lamp from a Piece You Love, Make a Lamp from a Ceramic Piece, Metamorphosis Monday

Old Bound Newspapers Become End Table

May 11, 2009 by Susan 84 Comments

Welcome to the 17th Metamorphosis Monday! Many, many years ago, The Macon Telegraph and News decided to dispose of all the old copies of their past publications/newspapers. Apparently, news organizations used to keep copies of their old papers by binding them into large "books." Each bound volume, shown below, had about three months worth of newspapers. I had six of these large books stored for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY, DIY Decorating, Home Tours, Living Room/Bonus (Upstairs), My Nest Tagged With: bound newspapers, Make a table from Vintage Bound Newspapers

Humble Beginnings in Married Student Housing: Our First Home

May 4, 2009 by Susan 118 Comments

Welcome to the 16th Metamorphosis Monday! For this Metamorphosis Monday, I'm sharing "Before" pics that are really, really old. These are the "before-est" pics I will EVER be able to show you for a Met Monday! It was 1978, I was 21 years old, my husband, 23, and we were newlyweds having just married a few weeks before. We were living in "married student housing" on the campus where we were attending … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY, DIY Decorating, Inspire, My Nest, Previous Nests

Building a Dish Closet

April 6, 2009 by Susan 130 Comments

Welcome to the 12th Metamorphosis Monday...where it's all about "Before and Afters." I decided this weekend to tackle a project I've been putting off...the redo of a 35" x 24" coat closet in my kitchen/breakfast room. The previous owner of my home had a shell niche installed in the foyer/entry (Click to visit entry), where others houses in my neighborhood frequently have a coat closet. Then they took a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY Organization and Storage, Kitchen & Breakfast Area, My Nest

Make a Lamp from Something You Love

March 30, 2009 by Susan 77 Comments

Welcome to the 11th Metamorphosis Monday! Several years ago I was out antiquing and I came across this cute doggie. Ummm, the wheels started turning, and I thought he just might be the perfect size to... ...have made into a lamp. I'd been shopping for a small lamp to go on this table in my family room for some time. The room had/has a bit of a hunt/canine theme going on, so this little guy fit … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY, DIY Crafts & Sewing, DIY Decorating, Living Room (Downstairs), My Nest Tagged With: Design a Custom Lamp, Make a Custom Lamp, Make a Lamp from a Ceramic Piece

Painting Furniture: A China Hutch Transformation

January 26, 2009 by Susan 103 Comments

When my screened-in porch was nearing completion, I happened across a little hutch for a great price: $95. It was just what I had in mind for storing dishes for dining out on the porch. After getting it home, I got down to work. This was B.B. (Before Blogging) so taking pictures almost didn't happen. Somewhere in the midst of sanding the piece, it dawned on me that it might be nice to take a "before" … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY, DIY Decorating, DIY Organization and Storage, DIY Repairs and Fixes, My Nest, Porches, Porches & Decks Tagged With: China Cabinet Hutch Makeover, China Storage, Painted Furniture, Painting furniture, Painting Stained Furniture, Porch Furniture

Plantation Shutters: Versatile Window Treatment

January 10, 2009 by Susan 113 Comments

My favorite, favorite window treatment has to be the plantation shutter. Don't get me wrong, I love other types of window treatments, too. I love the way drapes soften a room and would love to one day add gorgeous silk taffeta drapes to my dining room. But I'd still want plantation shutters underneath those drapes. Why do I love shutters so much? Well, there are a lot of reasons, one being their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: DIY Decorating, Kitchen & Breakfast Area, My Nest Tagged With: DG Window Treatments, Important features for Plantation Shutters, Plantation Shutters, Shopping for Plantation Shutters

Adding Picture Molding to the Dining Room

January 2, 2009 by Susan 106 Comments

A couple of months ago, I decided I was tired of my dining room being painted all red, above and below the chair rail. The room isn't overly large, so all that red made the room feel even smaller. This photo below is the only pic I have of how it looked when it was painted all red. I had just decorated the room for a birthday party I was having for a good friend. Once I made the decision to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, Dining Room, DIY Repairs and Fixes, Home Tours, My Nest Tagged With: Adding Molding Below a Chairrail, Adding molding to the dining room, Adding Wainscoting to Dining Room, Benjamin Moore Raspberry Truffle Paint, Dining Room Make Over, Dining Room Renovation, Red Dining Room

China Storage: Wishing for a Butler’s Pantry

December 2, 2008 by Susan 72 Comments

Welcome to the 15th Tablescape Tuesday! I often get questions about where in the world I store the china I've collected over these past 30 years. Well the answer to that is easy. Everywhere! Unfortunately, I do not have a "butler's pantry" like Interior Designer, Bunny Williams, though I desperately want one! In her book, An Affair With a House, Bunny writes this about her pantry pictured below, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: DIY Organization and Storage, Laundry Room, My Nest, Tablescape Thursday Tagged With: China Storage

Photography That Will Make You Hungry…

November 6, 2008 by Susan 28 Comments

Take a look at these amazing pics! Nice, huh? Well here's the shocker...all the items shown in these pics are actually FOOD! These scenes are the work of Carl Warner and they are all created using only food! If you look closely you can identify the food used to create them. Is the river (or ocean) chocolate milk? Can you imagine the time it took to do all these?! I read at the artist's website … [Read more...]

Filed Under: DIY Photography Tagged With: Food Photography, Photography for foodies

Five Minute Wreath Spring Summer Wreath

October 27, 2008 by Susan 86 Comments

There are two doors leading from my screened-in porch into my home. One takes you into the family room, the other into the kitchen. During the summer, I tried to find a pretty wreath to hang on the door to the kitchen, but the prices I kept seeing were way more than I wanted to spend. One day as I was bumping around inside a store we have here in the Atlanta area called Old Time Pottery, I came across … [Read more...]

Filed Under: DIY, DIY Crafts & Sewing, DIY Decorating Tagged With: Craft, Garland, Make a Wreath from Floral Garland, Wreath

Seashell Chest

October 24, 2008 by Susan 64 Comments

My birding vacation got in the way of shopping at the Flea for a couple of weekends...but I made a trip this week. You won't believe what I left behind that I really wanted! I did buy two things that I'll share at the bottom of this post. This adorable chest was probably my favorite treasure this week at A Classy Flea...but alas, it was already sold. I took six pics of it though because I thought this … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Before & After, DIY, DIY Decorating, Favorite Fashions & Home Goods Tagged With: Antiquing & Thrifting, Decorating with Shells, Thrifting

A Trip in my Time Machine: Here we come, 1921!

September 25, 2008 by Susan 31 Comments

Remember these from my Bonus Room posting a few days ago? They are bound copies of old newspapers from the Macon Telegraph and News, the local newspaper in Macon, Georgia. My sister, Glenda, saved them from being destroyed when they were being discarded. I turned them into an end table for the bonus room. :-) Thought I'd share some of the advertisements and articles that were published in some of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: DIY Decorating, Living Room/Bonus (Upstairs), My Nest Tagged With: bound newspapers, Time Machines, vintage newspapers