DIY Life

I can't tell you how disappointed I am when I visit a friend that oozes with creativity and see that their backsplash is the same brown granite as anyone else's. Kitchen backsplashes are so often overlooked as something mundane, unnoticed or unnecessary. And the truth is? The backsplash, in my opinion, is one of the more important design elements of the kitchen. Aside from appliances, they can make a massive impact when done right.

Even better? They don't necessarily have to carry a huge price tag. Here I've rounded up a few of my favorite creative DIY backsplashes to both inspire and remind you that a backsplash doesn't exist solely for functional purposes...

1. Wallpaper
Wallpaper is great for adding an unexpected dose of pattern to any space, and the backsplash is not to be excluded. Try the look by bolting a thin sheet of glass over the wallpaper to prevent peeling or discoloring of the paper itself. Other ideas inspired by the wallpaper look? For a kid-friendly and educational kitchen, try placing your child's artwork or old, typographic report cards behind plexiglass. I'd love to see some vintage alphabet flash cards in a family kitchen's backsplash, as well. The possibilities are truly endless with a sheet of glass to protect from stains!

2. Ceramics
No, we're not talking tile here. Why not line up a few plates for a backsplash that adds a fun, decorative architectural element to the room? Plate hangers are both inexpensive and perfect for switching out decor quickly and easily. I think the look would be gorgeous in a country-inspired kitchen or even a more modern setting. (I'd love these Thomas Paul melamine plates in a stark, black and white kitchen!)

3. Chalkboard
Your elementary school teacher would be so proud. Simply add a few coats of chalkboard paint to the space above your sink and under your cabinets for an instant, schoolroom-inspired aesthetic that is super easy to maintain. Bonus? You'll never lose that to-do list again; just grab a piece of chalk and let the fun begin!
Hint: You can even learn how to make your own chalkboard paint right here!

Promise me you'll ditch the granite, OK? There are far too many great ideas to waste away with a brown marble look-alike!

The first step of wallpaper removal: NEVER put it up to begin with.

Please. If you are thinking of moving out of your house in the next century some time, don't hang wallpaper. You might think that there is no way people won't love your paper, but trust me it is a guarantee that someone will hate it. Remember how stylish the dark background wallpaper with teeny tiny flowers was a decade or so ago, or the large striped paper with a 12" border around the ceiling that made the room look like a big hatbox, or the cows and ducks in pastels phase, which screams outdated like your parents avocado green appliances. Yeah, how many of the people who hung those wallpapers now regret it. Or to be more accurate, how many current owners of those houses regret it.

You don't want to be that previous owner. You know that one that is talked about at dinner parties and neighborhood gatherings. The previous owner with no skills and even less taste.

One day you will sell your house. And the new owner will be faced with your wallpapering decisions. They will wonder how you could have ever thought it was worthy of hanging on the wall. Then when they are removing it and it has adhered to the wall and tears the plaster off in chunks, they will curse you.

If DIY was a dessert, Curiosity Shoppe owners Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith would be creme brulee. Filled to the brim with great DIY projects (that keep getting better!), the duo recently took their advice to the books in Wallpaper Projects. What amazed me most about this book was the incredible amount of information available, from prepping your walls for paper to removing the tough stuff.

As with most DIY projects from Fagerstrom and Smith, the design is in the details. Ideas for using wallpaper scraps that may otherwise be trashed are plenty in this book, including tutorials for notecards, paperweights, magnets and brooches.

My favorite tutorial? Picture frame mats using wallpaper. I honestly hadn't thought to use wallpaper for this purpose, but after seeing the results, I'll never go basic again.

Including a section for wallpaper improvisations (where you can scan your own photos to create the look!), the book ends with a bang. Certainly a resource any DIY lover will want to keep on their [wallpapered!] shelves for years and years.

Wallpaper Projects
Authors: Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith
Chronicle Books

Having previously used wallpaper to cover my kitchen cabinets, I'm ready to change them for a new look. Since I get bored fairly easily with my decor, I like to spruce things up about every six months, and I am so itching for newly decorated cabinets.

Thanks to help from Tipnut, I found the perfect kitchen cabinet makeover project over on Tres Chic Veronique. Using pretty fabric covered in bees and honeycombs, Veronique cut the fabric an extra inch on each side, then hammered in thumbtacks to secure the fabric to the cabinet door.

I read in the comment section of Veronique's post that Scotchgaurd was used to help eliminate grease and stains when the fabric is wiped down. If you, like me, are unsure of whether or not you want to use regular fabric on your cabinets, then maybe the best alternative would be to use oilcloth, since that can be wiped down easily.

A set of ten boxes, nested one within the other. The largest is perhaps two feet square and a foot deep (60 cm x 60 cm x 30 cm), the smallest half those dimensions.

You can purchase the yummy unit shown at right through Seletti, or -- using instructions provided by those generous folk at Seletti -- you could make your own very personal unit, and save yourself a significant bundle of cash!

You'll need a collection of sturdy wooden boxes in various sizes, decorating materials, and two sections of heavy-duty strapping.

Admit it; you spend a lot of quality time in your bathroom! We all do. Accordingly, it needs to look nice. And like any other part of the castle, the decor looks a little tired and dated after a while. What to do? Give the bathroom a face lift on a budget!

So, in this edition of PRS, we're going to look at some ideas on how to bring this area up to snuff without breaking the bank. Let's look at the walls first.

Lose the boring old wallpaper

That old wallpaper that once looked so stylin' now looks like something the cat dragged in. Out of style, a few stray crayon marks from the toddler days, and the steam-soaked seams are curling up like your mother-in-law's lips when she sneers at you. (I hope she's not reading this!)

(This post has been edited since publication to fix some broken links.)

Pam Garrison is a relatively well-known artist and craft blogger: you may have seen her work in the Somerset family of magazines, or over at her blog.

Recently, Pam wrote about a decorating project she'd done in her own home: she made over the closet in her art room by papering its interior and adding shelves.

There's nothing so unusual in that, but the paper is entirely vintage (and vintage-style) wallpaper scraps, put up in a patchwork style. The effect is a cheerful and pretty collage. She credits the inspiration for the project to Alicia Paulson of the popular blog Posie Gets Cozy, who has done a closet door in a similar style.

Read more about how Pam did it, along with some further suggestions of my own, after the break.

Who isn't hard-pressed for time? Seems like myself and everyone I know are over-scheduled. Chronically. Hopelessly. Therefore, anything that needs fixing or cleaning around the house needs to be done pronto! That's why we here at DIY Life pounce on quick-fix-tips like these ones from BOOMj (that were originally gleaned from Real Simple magazine).

Here are my top 3 picks:
1. Restore sagging caning with water. Yes, plain old water. Wet the underside of whatever part is sagging (like the seat of an old chair) and leave to dry. The wood will naturally shrink back a little as it dries. Repeat if necessary.

2. Repair peeling wallpaper. Slap wallpaper paste on a piece of writing paper and gently slide it between the wall and the area that is peeling. Rub to transfer the paste, then press the wallpaper back into place. Finally, slide the writing paper back out. This fixes the problem without accidentally tearing the old wallpaper.

Do you have some leftover wallpaper that you just don't know what to do with? Maybe you purchased something you thought would work, but have since changed your mind. In any case, don't throw away those partial rolls of wallpaper.

Using scissors and glue, there are many things that you can create with those leftover wallpaper scraps. Use your imagination and your creativity, and get busy making some homemade Christmas gifts.

1. Cover up your boring kitchen and bathroom cabinets with complimentary wallpaper scraps. Paint the outside frame, and just wallpaper the insets of the cabinets.
   
2. Use wallpaper to cover an old lampshade.
3. Cover a waste basket to match the decor in any room.
4. Use scraps of wallpaper to cover the white mats of a picture frame to give it some vibrant color.
5. Make a framed wall art collage.
6. Create a room divider or folding screen.
7. Cover a desk or a coffee table top.
8. Bored with your headboard? Why not wallpaper it!
9. Line your kitchen cabinets or drawers with wallpaper scraps rather than buying expensive contact paper.
10. Cover an old shoe box with wallpaper scraps and use as a gift box.
11. Use as gift wrap for any occasion.
12. Cover light switchplates in your house with tiny scraps.
13. Make fancy greeting cards by covering construction paper with wallpaper scraps.
14. Laminate two large pieces of wallpaper and make fancy table placemats.
15. Use small strips to create bookmarks. Laminate, punch a hole near the top, tie some ribbon through, and make a tassel. Viola , a new bookmark.
16. Wallpaper the inside of a bookshelf.
17. Use wallpaper to cover a closet door or other interior door.
18. Wallpaper the risers of your stairs.
19. Cover a popcorn tin with wallpaper to give yourself a nice new wastebasket.
20. Wallpaper an old oatmeal container or similar cardboard container and use as pretty, decorative storage bins.

When I was at the thrift store the other day, they had rolls of new and used wallpaper. They were very cheap, and some of the rolls were very pretty and I must say, I was very impressed with the selection the thrift store had. In any case, what do you use wallpaper scraps for? Feel free to tell us in the comments.

If you are a parent then you are or have been the parent of a little artist. If your child only drew with pens, markers, crayons and pencils on paper, then I want your secret. How did you manage that? My children draw on everything they can get their hands, or crayons on, as the case may be.