minimalist birdhouse

inspired by the modern birdhouse we talked about a few months back, d*s reader courtney of two straight lines decided to create her own version, using eco (and bird) friendly materials. and to be honest, i like hers better! she used a found gourd that she painted with non-toxic paint and used little twigs as the perch. couldn't be cuter if she tried. [thanks, courtney!]

creative painting

yesterday i spent the afternoon painting a second coat of paint on our dining room walls. i figured some of the splotchy bits would show up in photos so i should really get around to fixing that. halfway through the painting i was cursing our uneven walls and my short legs for not being able to reach the top despite standing on the tallest chair we have. so i took a break and read an email from d*s reader nikki. after seeing what SHE did with paint in her home i felt like a total loser for complaining about a single plain room. nikki received a lighting fixture from a designer friend and decided to mimic the shape of the lamp in paint on the ceiling. it's such an unexpected but beautiful detail. then she added a slew of stripes on the wall by her door and i was suddenly filled with the desire to stripe our whole home. it looks so pretty and really gives life to what could have been a cold studio space. stay tuned for a full sneak peek of nikki's home on the new d*s next week. [thanks, nikki!]

day-lab diy blog

diy fans rejoice! amy at day-lab has launched a new diy blog project that will feature exclusive diy projects from amy and others. if you'd like to contribute a project please send your photos and info to amy at daylabdiy [at] yahoo [dot] com. click here to check it out and few amy's mosaic tile cabinet project above. design*sponge will be expanding in october to include weekly diy content as well so stay tuned for craftyness here and at amy's site.

clip wall

what a fun idea- a wall full of prints hung by bull dog clips. inexpensive, quick and easy- can't beat that. via jan at poppytalk.

before + after

i love a good before and after diy project. nothing is quite as satisfying as seeing what you can do with your own two hands. marie at justmariec made over this fantastic antique store find with a gorgeous amy butler fabric. it's amazing what a coat of white paint and a bit of new fabric can do. [thanks to marie for sharing and claire for the tip!]

diy

d*s reader natalie hansen is one talented lady. she loved this ava green fabric from repro depot so much that she bought five yards of it and reupholstered her living room chair in- by herself! i'm not much of a seamstress (not one at all really) so i'm always in awe of anyone who can reupholster on their own- with such great results. i love seeing the diy talent out there- if you've done anything similar feel free to send it along! great work natalie!

(mini) sneak peek: jenny's cabinets

i love seeing how people choose to personalize their home. d*s reader jenny lives in north carolina and was kind enough to share a little peek into her kitchen with us. jenny hired her friend and local artist (and rock poster king) ron liberti to silkscreen this silhouette print onto their kitchen cabinets. it's definitely not something you'll see in everyone's kitchen and i love all of the possibilities you could have with this medium. i'd love to silkscreen a simplified version of my favorite wallpaper pattens on cabinets. how fun. click here to see larger pictures of jenny's cabinets. [thanks, jenny!]

bamboo fun

something about the bamboo chair post really struck a chord with people and i've been hearing nonstop about great diy projects people have done with used bamboo-style furniture. one of my favorites belonged to leah of more ways to waste time. leah found these metal bamboo-style chairs on ebay and had them powder coated in white. the result is clean, fresh and totally fantastic. click here to read more about leah's home decorating projects. [thanks, leah!]

peg board project

as much as i loved my kitchen corkboard project, ac was right- it's not the most practical thing for the kitchen. it turns out i don't need to pin things up as often as i thought, so i decided to take a tip from julia child (via domino) and build a peg board for my pots, pans and cooking utensils. i bought a piece of pre-cut peg board at home depot for $10 and then had two one-inch thick pieces of wood cut to form a frame behind the peg board and then painted it to match my favorite le creuset pot. ta-da! instant function. i even have my countertops back now. it was a fun way to bring some color into the kitchen, too. if you'd like to build your own homage to julia child just click here and follow domino's instructions.

ms. martha

as much as i hate her tv show, i can't get enough of martha stewart's craft projects. during my search for bamboo chairs i somehow ended up at this page of martha's site which details 6 different projects for used (bentwood) chairs. i love the long bench of chairs and the tall, leggy console table project- thought if any of you guys have something similar lying around this might be a fun weekend project. click here for the full post. [sorry for the light posting this week- i'm trying to plan out the biz lady nights and finish a new guide project (to post on monday). i'm also in the thick of the last harry potter which keeps tearing me away from the computer]

craft project + day away

today i'm hopping a train to new canaan, ct to visit the philip johnson glass house. they're letting in members of the press today so i'm going to catch metro north and bring my camera to make sure i get lots of pictures. i'll be back tomorrow with loads more but i wanted to share a craft project from last night. just like the drawer project, when i have leftover gift wrap i often find myself taping, decoupaging or sealing it to something in the house. i decided to perk up my closet a bit (since no one sees it but me) by filling the door molding with paper source's nörsa luxe pansies wrap. i only needed two sheets and it took me all of 30 minutes to do. just measure well, cut to size and either use clear contact paper, tape or decoupage glue to secure it. i always suggest tape or contact paper if you're a renter, but if you've found something you love, by all means glue away. you can pick up the gift wrap i used for $2.25 per sheet right here.

drawer love

i love this! yesterday luisa got crafty with her drawers after seeing the red ones on here. looks fantastic, thanks luisa!

craft project

when i get bored i like to do little craft projects around the house using leftover fabric or paper. one of my favorite things to do is use wrapping paper to line drawers, cabinets and closets. i thought my dresser drawers could use a little snazzing up to go with our new quilt so i picked up a few rolls of snow & graham gift wrap (on sale at loom) and cut them to size for my drawers. the best way to finish the project is to cut clear contact paper to size and use that to secure the gift wrap, but i decided to go for simple scotch tape this time because i didn't have any contact paper around the house. and if you get bored? simply peel off and start again- always a fun project for a hot afternoon.

sale finds

yesterday i had a meeting near rockefeller center and the lure of an anthropologie sale around the corner was too much to resist. i confined myself to the home section and spent a good 45 minutes trying not to buy all of the cookbooks and colorful hooks they had. i found this colorful tray and thought, well, i've got to do something with it- it's too pretty to pass up. so i plopped it in my bag (along with heidi's beautiful new cookbook!) and came home. when i got home my plan was to hang this on the wall and then i thought- wait, i could use this for the dish rack! i hate the ugly white plastic drying tray that came with our rack and thought, heck, this will be much prettier to look at. so i swapped one for the other and now i'm happy to have a bright pop of color in the corner. you can find similar trays at anthropologie online- i bought this version at the rock center shop.

fun for renters...

d*s reader leah shared a great project she had for parents who are renters. she had a good friend who wasn't allowed to paint her home so she made these cute winnie the pooh characters for her out of foam core and fabric. "i drew the basic shapes of pooh, piglet and tiger on foam core, cut them out with a craft razor, then covered them in graphic print fabric that i felt "looked" like the three characters. i used spray fabric adhesive to adhere the fabric to the foam core. she'll use 3M sticky tape to stick the characters to the wall. the project cost me only about $30 bucks since i used fabric remnants." such a great idea; i love the yellow fabric she used for pooh. thanks for sharing, leah!

kitchen ideas

i'm still ironing things out in our kitchen but it's been so fun to see reader ideas that have been pouring in my mailbox. this quick shot comes from d*s reader crystal who used thrift store wallpaper and a great bright green paint (benjamin moore "baby fern") to spruce up her cozy kitchen space. i love the contrast between the brown print and the bright green. such a nice way to add interest to a small space. thanks to crystal for sharing.

ta-da

after a lovely lunch (at lovely day) with the ladies of hable i purchased a yard of "fig" in chocolate to reupholster (well, staple gun) my rocking chair. thank you to everyone for their two cents on the fabric project. i'm really happy with the results, and i think ac will like it, too.

real homes

i've been so inspired by all of the ideas i've heard from readers after the kitchen post. d*s reader katya usvitsky sent over these shots of some of her own kitchen diy and reupholstery diy. i love the way she used branches as towel bars- it's such a nice, soft touch. always fun to see people taking design into their own hands...

studio blog

while doing a little research for the oldham feature i found todd's studio blog. i was immediately taken by the furniture project at the top of the site. conn, a contributor on the site, redid a thonet chair (diy, of course) by reupholstering it with a block-printed fabric. the results are stunning and so inspirational for those of us looking to redo our own furniture. the steps are well laid out and explained so click here to check it out. there's also a fantastic post on auction houses, some examples of todd's photography, and a post about artist shannon lucy (her illustrations are gorgeous). click here to check it all out.

amy butler diy

with all the reupholstery talk going around this week i've been receiving some great emails about reader diy projects- especially those with amy butler fabrics. d*s reader isla (who works at pacific home in honolulu) sent over this picture of a $14.99 goodwill chair she repainted and reupholstered in amy butler's "pods" fabric. between the savings on the chair and the affordability of amy's fabrics this was one heck of a steal. great work, isla and thanks for sharing.