do it yourself Archives - A Girl and a Kiwi

April 24, 2020April 24, 2020

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.

February 1, 2020February 1, 2020

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!

January 3, 2020January 3, 2020

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!

January 31, 2019January 31, 2019

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.