A great DIY inexpensive way to make any piece of furniture a breeze to move is to add wheels or casters. It makes it so much easier to vacuum and to change your furniture layout or make some room for a party. Casters with brakes will make sure your items to stay put until you’re ready to move them. If you’re dealing with something that is old and not too structurally sound like an old crate,...
If you’re short on storage space, consider using the space above your kitchen cabinets to store rarely used items. Recycling paper boxes by "prettying” them up with contact paper or fabric is an inexpensive way to do this - it will keep visual clutter to a minimum and your items will stay dust free. You can also make the most of that awkward space above the fridge by using white plastic drawers...
Need to tile around a pipe, radiator or toilet? Making a template out of thick paper cut to the size of your tile does the trick. First, you cut out thin strips into the paper, then place on the floor where the tile will be installed and score the outline, and then cut out the strips along the score line. By transferring the template onto your tile, you will know exactly what to cut out to make...
Need to drill to a certain depth? Use masking tape to mark off the desired depth on your drill bit – that way, you won’t overdo it! I used this trick to install a ceiling track system for a hanging room divider and it worked like a charm.
If you tend to do projects on your own, add a hands-free laser level to your toolbox. It’s like having an extra pair of hands when you’re working alone and they make hanging things straight a breeze. The laser level in the picture is actually on a ceiling, staying in place without using any adhesive. This tool also comes in very handy to install a hanging room divider.
Here's some food for thought for the new year just around the corner - Graham Hill gave this interesting short talk on TED about his philosophy on "stuff": he makes some compelling arguments that having less stuff and clutter in our lives might actually bring us more happiness. It certainly inspired me to take a couple of trips to Goodwill! Wishing you all the best in 2012!
Give a tired chair a fresh new look by reupholstering it with canvas drop cloths - they have a great natural texture, are really easy to work with and at about $10 for 6ft x 9ft, it’s an inexpensive way to experiment. And if you have a cat that likes to use your chair as it's personal scratching post, it won't cost you a ton of money to reupholster it!
Instead of using paint to jazz up a plain wood filing cabinet, why not use upholstery techniques to cover it with fabric or even wallpaper. I upholstered a wood IKEA filing cabinet with faux animal skin wallpaper (feels more like fabric than wallpaper), using nothing more than Mod Podge, Weldbond glue, a staple gun and some cardboard. The piping/welt comes pre-made at the fabric store, so no...
Whether you own or rent, it’s not always easy to decorate a studio apartment to keep the bed out of sight. In this episode, you’ll see how to divide a studio apartment with an IKEA KVARTAL system. Panels, curtains and art hanging from the ceiling tracks give
If you're downsizing to a small space, or just want to see if your furniture will fit in your new home, try out a few options virtually using Sweethome3D. It’s a free interior design software that makes it easy to draw a floor plan with furniture. You can also move around the space in 3D for a more realistic view of how things will look. I used it to visualize how my bookcase room divider would...
Let’s get social!
CATEGORIES
