DIY Projects

I love doing projects around the house.
And now that we have a new place (small place) to decorate, with a small budget I figured I should share with you all my little adventures on making this place.... a home!

The very first project made in this apartment was my big black bookshelves that my daddy made among others a bench and a dresser, when Emma was born!
My parents are very talented, my dad a carpenter and my mom a seamstress.I guess I get a few things from them.

Here's how the bookshelves used to look in my old townhome.

With how dark my new apartment is I wanted something light.
So I decided on white!
Since I'm not going to paint the walls, I want to put color on the furniture.

Here is how it looks now

I don't have enough space for the 3 bookshelves so I only did two.

After doing the bookshelf I decided my next project would be something that I've been wanting to do for a while, since I was living in Illinois.

And thats the big ruler on the wall. This was I guess an original from that expensive but very lovely store Land Of Nod.

The best DIY projects are the ones that are FREE!

Would you agree?!

I had a piece of wood just laying there so I tinted it in a dark color and did nothing with it until months later and a move and here we are in our new apartment with a tinted piece of wood.

Now the ones I have seen are 6ft mine is 5ft, and I don't mind at all because I'm short and my husband is not that tall either so my girls are not gonna be bigger than that LOL!

I had the paint that I wanted already and for the numbers I used a little creativity.
I used stencil letters and and made it into numbers instead.
And because I have a handy dad I asked him to do the little hook thing on the back of the wood so all I have to do is hook it on the wall.

And here is how it turned out!

Not to shabby ha!
I totally love this. And it fit perfectly in that spot.

My next project was the dining room chairs which I only had two left and one odd one.

I'm in a hunt to find another chair to complete my dining room table. I was thinking of painting the table, but I'm kinda digging the look right now.

After we finally decided on the color of the chair, we went to hobby lobby to find the perfect fabric to cover the chairs.

We were stuck on tree fabrics and it took us a while to decide which one.

I say we because my husband likes to participate in my decorating endeavors....which sometimes bugs me, but he does have some good ideas so I can't complain.

After much much much thought into this my husband liked one fabric and I liked another one, so I decided to do them both and thats what we did.

I still think mines looks better :)

But wait there is more.....LOL! (Like those infomercials)

Now this is my latest DIY project and for me the best one so far. I was nervous when I did this one and maybe that's why I procrastinated a little bit. 

But I sucked it up and did what I had to for the love of my TV entertainment!

I have been wanting to restore a dresser for the longest, but I never got around to doing it when I had the space in a nice big garage. 

So I was in search for the perfect dresser and out of the blue driving to a store I saw this dresser outside.....my eyes opened up wide and I had to go see it.

It was perfect for what I was looking for I was ecstatic to have finally find this piece. 

I only paid $35, with them delivering it to me and all. 

Once it was at my place I expected more and realized I should have asked for $20, seeing that a piece was missing and another little piece broken but at least the broken piece you can't see. 

Then the inside part of the drawers where in a pretty bad condition. With all that I was still happy with my new discovered piece! 

This was by far the funnest piece I have worked on. I even included the girls too! 

My husband had some ideas for it too, and me feeling like I should let his ideas fly I decided to go for it and give him what he wanted....turns out that it didn't look that great.

 Here are the girls working on their mad coloring skills with water and chalk. They had a blast playing outside while I was working on painting the drawers.
Notice I tried trapping them so they don't leave, unfortunately they figured it out and I had to go after them a few times.

This was the great idea my husband wanted me to do with the drawers......It didn't work out hahaha (with an evil laugh)!

Seylah loves to break things and her personal favorite.... book pages. 

So I decided to include them in tearing up a book to cover the inside of the drawers. 

They had fun! I just realized that Seylah's hair looks like a hot mess!

They went a little over board...

I painted inside first to take out the old smell and then mod podge the pages to the drawers.

I had my dad cut of the pieces of wood that divided the drawers and add a piece of wood on top so I can put the PS3 and speakers. 

Decided to paint in inside the same color of the dining chairs. And I loved the way it looked, but I there was something missing so...

I covered the whole things in book pages too and left a little bit of the color as a boarded. And walah!

Wow this part was gross, I cleaned the hardware with water and vinegar. The first one from top to bottom was how I bought it, it was sticky and greenish, the second one was with the water and vinegar and the third I added cameo an aluminum and stainless steel cleaner and brushed it with a toothbrush and it turned out perfect I loved the goldish tones

This is how our entertainment center looked like. I know pretty sad and pathetic!

But this is how it looks like now! 

I'm so in love with it. 

Now I got the fever and want to do more. 

This is not the end, this is just the beginning of many projects to come....I can't wait!

My next big project is coming soon so stay tuned!

All the rave about the many possibilities you can do with pallets....I wanted to get in on it!

So after months I think it actually took me a year to finalize this project with the help of my dad and mom we finally had a comfortable couch in our little apartment.

My dad did an amazing job, all I had to do was draw the idea, buy the fabric and my dad made it possible.....of course I can't forget my mom my seamstress!

This is how my livingroom used to look. My husband and I used to take turns on the glider when watching our shows. 

But not anymore!

And the finish product.....

Drumroll please!!!!!

Now we fight for the corner :)

Thanks to my parents we have a beautiful couch that we love, is nice and cozy and very comfortable. 

On to my next project!

I was on the hunt for a dresser to home my scrapbook papers and gadgets and other scrapbook things.
Luckily I did and my favorite FREE!

This wasn't the best of dressers, but it was real wood that someone actually made and threw away.

I asked my dad for a couple tools to fix this....and I gotta say I fell in love with the electric sander.
I was just sanding away!

So here it is how it used to look.

I don't have a big space where I do my DIY projects but I do what I can with what I have.

I actually painted it a mint green, then I changed it to this color which is the same color as my dining room chairs......but I think I may just go with my original plan. And repainted white.

Here is how it looks now...

Not sure if I should take out the white handles, I don't want my girls opening the drawers!

What do you guys think I should do?

Well there you have it my FREE DIY project!

I really need to start the next one, which I have been wanting to do since we got here. Which is curtains for my living room. I have been having the curtain rod for a year now so hopefully this one is next!