DIY Life

In my humble opinion, upholstered furniture looks better without the anchoring wall of fabric known as the skirt. More often than not, skirts are cut and hemmed too short anyway. Unless the legs are downright hideous, their presence adds an element which becomes a part of the overall design, rather than something attached to it.

Complete removal of a skirt can get tricky, but ReadyMade happened across a chair update project on The Brick House blog that opens up all sorts of vintage chair possibilities.

The blogger transformed this unimpressive gold 1970s chair into a retro gem by altering the skirt in order to show off those modern legs. Find out more after the break.

Even if a piece of furniture was just made yesterday, it can be made to look vintage. I love shabby-chic, and thrift stores are fabulous places to find items that give a shabby-chic look to things like scrapbook albums.

One of my favorite crafts is scrapbooking. I like to take paper or cardstock, add embellishments, stickers, and buttons, and make my own Shabby Chic scrapbook album. CraftBits has a great description, complete with detailed pictures, telling us exactly how to make the album.

You can find the chipboard, as well as the crackle paint and other supplies, at your local craft or scrapbook supply store. If you don't happen to have all your necessary supplies on hand, then you can purchase an album at Michaels and just go to CraftBits to see the tutorial on how to paint and embellish the album.

Now you know what to do with all those extra embellishments and that last bit of pink paint. This would also be a great time to untangle your ribbon, so that your next craft project can be this awesome ribbon dispenser box.

Have you ever gone to a thrift store or a garage sale and seen the ugliest piece of furniture, but just knew in your heart that it could be transformed into something beautiful? Me too... sigh. Lucky for us, you and I are great DIYers that can turn yuck into fab.

Marianne Kirby picked up a plain side table at a yard sale for $5, and purchased about 1600 buttons on eBay. While waiting for the buttons to arrive, she got busy sanding and painting the little table. When she received the buttons, she applied a basic tacky glue to the tabletop, then situated the buttons in a way that pleased her eye. She let the glue dry overnight.

After the glue had fully dried, Marianne mixed and applied resin to the tabletop, allowing each layer to set before applying another, until she reached her desired amount (at least enough thickness to cover the buttons smoothly). Then, she allowed the tabletop to cure for 72 hours... and yuck turned into fab!

Since green is my favorite color, I absolutely love Marianne's new and improved side table. Of course, you can use any color buttons you wish, and arrange the buttons in a way that pleases your own eye. Just be sure to let the table top completely cure before using it.

Laundry is definitely one of my favorite household chores to do. Taking something that is stained and dirty and making it come out clean and beautiful always puts a smile on my face, even when I have to dig into nasty laundry baskets to accomplish that task.

ModHomeEcTeacher on Curbly shows us how to make a hangable laundry hamper with one yard of fabric and plastic purse handles, a wooden spool to mark a round pattern and a sewing machine to stitch it all together into a gorgeous stylin' new laundry hamper that we should be proud to carry around.

I think the hangable hamper would be great for grocery shopping too, as long as you don't fill it with too many cans or plastic bottles. Check your local thrift stores for some really nice vintage fabric and purse handles; you never know what cool items you may find!

Curbly's ModHomeEcTeacher, Shelly Leer, dropped us a line to let us know about a nifty project she designed. This upholstered nightstand cost her less than $25 to purchase and overhaul, and with attention to detail, you can do it too.

Shelly was nice enough to give us a bunch of extra photos of the makeover process. I've set them up in a gallery, below, where you can watch it all come together.

Please join me after the break for a few more notes about methods and supplies, like the name of the fabric used in the tutorial and at least one place where you can purchase it.

Everyone needs coasters, right?

A set of Scrabble tile coasters were recently one of Craftster's featured projects. They're simple, requiring more patience than time or skill. The creator, Jessfun23, glued Scrabble tiles to thin cork sheets in clever drink-related patterns, then coated the tiles with a sealant.

She chose Mod Podge, but any waterproof, non-toxic clear sealant should be OK. Some sealants might yellow over time, but there's no ideal soft base for coasters that won't deteriorate over time anyway (most coasters have a finite life span by definition). Another Craftster user, TracyinNH, was inspired to try this project with a felt bottom and denim edging, for an entirely different look. You could try running a metallic gold paint pen around the edges before applying the sealant, or edging each coaster with glue and glitter. The possibilities are endless.

Acquiring the letter tiles for this project is probably the largest obstacle to hurdle. I did some research, and was able to find some surprising and interesting options... not just for sources of tiles, but also for the look of the tiles themselves. There's even a totally different way, shown in the photo above, to make a similar coaster. You'll find something for almost everyone, including your favorite l33t g33k, after the break.

Ever wonder what to do with all those bicycle parts that you know you can't throw away because someday they will have a use? Ever wonder what to do with those crutches that you hope you'll never need again?

Wonder no more, as I have found a great instructable on how to make a stool from spare bike parts and crutches. Ryan McFarland, aka zieak, went to the thrift store and purchased some old crutches. He took those old crutches, along with some bike wheels and inner tubes, a few bolts, a piece of plywood, and some insulation, and made an adjustable height stool with all those parts. Talk about ingenuity!

The complete instructions for the "bike-crutch stool" can be found at instructables.com. I don't know about you, but the inner tube seat doesn't appeal to me. I would certainly have to cover the insulation and plywood with something a little more feminine. For all you guys out there, this is probably the most manly thing though, right?

My son has a pair of light-up sandals. Everywhere you go, there are kids sporting these shoes with light flickering on every step. How often have you wished they made such cool things for adults? Why wait until they come around? Hack together your own pair of light up shoes.

What you'll need

1. Craft knife
2. Heavy-duty scissors
   
3. Pliers
   
4. Soldering iron
5. Electric drill
6. Glue
7. Old kid's shoes with lights (can get cheap worn out ones at the thrift store)
8. Your shoes of choice - Are you going to spice up your work shoes or add some light power to your favorite clubbing shoes?

DIY adult light shoes are a great way to add a little originality to your step and stand out in the dark. The full instructions and pictures along the way will walk you through the whole transplant process. I wonder if your kids will still think these shoes are cool when Mom and Dad are sporting the same ones?