Category: DIY

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DIY Pebble Mosaic Fireplace: Fireplace Update

My sister Allie is back on the blog today sharing her DIY fireplace update! You may remember her travel blog post about her non-traditional European Honeymoon. I’m quite proud of her for this one. Take a look!

Hello! It’s Brooke’s little sister, Allie. I am great at planning trips, excellent at communicating with children, and am becoming a proficient chef. I am not a DIY-er. One of our home purchasing requirements was a house that didn’t need a lot of work, and once I didn’t change a light bulb in the (windowless) laundry room for 3 months because it required a ladder and screwdriver. So if I can do this, you can do this.

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DIY Stair Runner

Today I am sharing our easy DIY stair runner! The stairs on our carpet were so old, so dirty and literally starting to pull away from the steps. After we installed our vinyl plank floors on the first floor, which I LOVE, the old ugly carpet on the stairs really stuck out like a sore thumb. Well, one quiet Saturday we finally decided to rip them out and re-do the stairs! This project was fun, affordable and seriously only took us a day! I’m so thrilled with how they turned out, but we definitely learned a few do’s and dont’s along the way. Here is our DIY Stair Runner!

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8 DIY Winter Wedding Ideas

This is a post I have been wanting to write for a long time! And since we are approaching our 5 YEAR wedding anniversary, I thought now would be a great time! I am really excited to share our DIY Winter Wedding details with you all. I poured blood and sweat (no tears though, I was definitely a Bride-chilla) into the making of white winter wedding for the 9 months we were engaged.

I began pinning every snow and snow flake inspired wedding pin on Pinterest. I quickly developed a vision for our wedding and off I went to Hobby Lobby and wholesale craft sites to get it going. For me, this was the pinnacle of my DIY skills. I felt I had been training my whole life for this! My mom worried that I was going to get overwhelmed because I wanted to do basically everything myself. I wanted personal, thoughtful details. I wanted to make my own center pieces, table chart and table numbers. I wanted to make my own snowflake chandelier with lights and tulle. And when I couldn’t find the votives that I had envisioned, well, I wanted to make those, too. And I did. Here are the best winter themed-DIY projects from our beautiful winter wedding!

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DIY Large Floating Shelves as a TV Stand

James and I had been talking about making a TV stand or table for a long time. We had an entertainment station that was given to us from someone’s basement, that we had literally cut in half to make more of a TV stand, because it was to small for our TV. Like, we actually cut the top half of it. It had saw marks, no backing, and flimsy shelfs. But it worked. James is really creative and I have seen him build some very unique pieces of furniture from wood, so I was basically leaving this project in his court. I knew he would come up with something eventually. One Sunday morning, he said, “I have an idea! Why don’t we do large floating shelves?” I loved the simplicity and openness of open shelving, too, so I agreed and off we went to Menards!

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DIY Spray Paint Countertops

James and I strongly disliked our bathroom counter tops. We initially thought, easy fix! They sell double sink countertops at Home Depot! James had replaced the countertop in our first floor bathroom, and it was fairly straightforward. But to our dismay, our vanity upstairs was NOT standard size. We think they used a kitchen cabinet, which are deeper than bathroom vanities by about 2-3 inches. Who knew?

Though we searched, we could not find a countertop that would fit our vanity. We thought about cutting off the back of the vanity to make it 2-3 inches smaller. But ultimately we decided there are too many drawers that would also have to be cut, too much hardware and not to mention moving the plumbing.  We thought about getting a whole new vanity, but man, that was expensive! So, I thought “why don’t I paint it!?”

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DIY Vinyl Plank Floors

We finally did it. After a year and a half of nasty, faded, salmon-tan carpet and yellow linoleum floors, we decided to rip it all out. DIY projects always take longer than expected and this project was no exception. I think it actually made the rule. I’ve been so excited to share with you guys are DIY vinyl plank floors. We love them so much, and it truly has transformed our 1980s home into 2019. We are going to share our before and afters, and how we updated our home with vinyl plank floors.

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DIY Spray Paint Tub

Well, it had to happen eventually. The worst DIY EVER! A DIY project that I describe as AWFUL and HORRENDOUS and A TOTAL NIGHTMARE!  What did we do? We spray painted our standing tub. Yes, you read that right – we used spray paint on our tub! “I’ve never heard of that”, you’re probably thinking! Well, there is probably a reason – because it was the WORST! Read on, I’ll tell you all about it.  Continue reading “DIY Spray Paint Tub”

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DIY Scrunchies

Have you noticed the scrunchie trend? It’s back, and I’m here for it. So, I splurged on an olive green Lululemon scrunchie, and I don’t regret it. I wear it all the time, on my wrist, in my hair, throw it in my purse… I dig it. I love that scrunchies are easy on your hair – they don’t pull or get caught. And I love that they add a pop of color to a pony tail, while making the pony tail look all floofy!  I was looking at my scunchie one day and I thought to myself, you know, I could probably make this. I turned it around in my hands a few times and I thought, I could definitely make this. And now you can make DIY scrunchies too!

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What You Need to Know About Stenciling Floors: The Mistakes I Made

It’s been a minute since I posted a DIY project! So, I’m really excited to finally reveal our bathroom stenciled floor!  I had heard about stenciling floors, seen pictures, but when when I saw a stenciled floor in real life, I was like – DONE. I NEED to try that! I thought our first floor, small bathroom was the perfect place to start and experiment.

Like most DIY projects, it wasn’t smooth sailing. I want to share what I learned stenciling our floors and what I will do differently next time (because there will be a next time!). Here’s 8 things you need to know about stenciling floors.

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