DIY Designs || Home Decor
I am not a professional home interior decorator by any means, but I love to decorate and do DIY projects and make old pieces new again. This has been in my blood LONG before HGTV has been around. It started with watching my mom's love for antiques and taking "tired" pieces and giving them new life. Maybe that's why my house is filled with repurposed pieces or furniture we have built.
So I thought it would be fun to start sharing the pieces we have designed and made or given new life with new posts on my DIY Designs posts. I'll also share some of my favorite home decor books that I have collected over the years that have been really fun to flip through and draw inspiration from.
One of those books is A Touch of Farmhouse Charm by Liz Fourez which I love. I came across Liz's book the fall of 2016 and instantly fell in love with it. It is JAM PACKED with easily attainable DIY projects for those who are more "beginners" to those who might have more skill with power tools.
One of the first pieces I knew I HAD to make was this adorable wooden plank tub shelf.
When we started our house hunting again, back in 2012, the one thing on my WANT list was a deep soaking tub. I love baths and the tranquility they bring, especially after a LOOOOONG day. So, when we found our current [project] home (more on that later) and I saw that it had a deep soaking tub, I jumped right in, clothes and all, to make sure it was 1.) long enough and 2.) deep. I was SOLD.
Then, years later when I was flipping through Liz's book and saw this cute shelf, well, we headed to the shed to dig out some wood. It was honestly one of the EASIEST DIY projects I have ever done and is one of my favorites.
One of the things I love about this shelf is it takes my tub from just a tub, to a cute and pretty space that I see everyday. And stylizing it with faux flowers (because I'm too cheap to keep real flowers constantly in there) and bath salts makes me smile.
It's also important for me to have a few spaces in our house that are more "adult." Spaces without toys and clutter. It's my little retreat so to speak. And yes, this tub quite often gets visited by "Ken and Barbie" because my 8 year old also enjoys the occasional spa day.
One of the other items I came across that I loved was this adorable tray. There is nothing complicated about this tray whatsoever. We headed to Lowe's, picked up an already rounded piece of wood, (side note: if you have a router and skill saw, you could create your own round) picked out a few handles and headed home to stain it.
Now it sits on my bed and stabilizes my coffee mug or displays one of my favorite magazines that I love flipping through. And why not have a space for retreating too? It is so needed!
Our headboard is also an easy DIY that I will share later as well!
If you are like me and enjoy flipping through cottage style magazines or home interior magazines and think, "I'd love to sit in that cozy environment..." then I say, DO IT! It doesn't have to cost a lot of money to create the spaces you enjoy in magazines or other social media sites. The BIGGEST factor for me though is that it HAS to be livable and not a "no touch" zone. It may be a no toy zone, but it has to be a LIVABLE space.
One more quick tip on decorating that I got from my mom, who learned this from her mother-in-law (my Grandma ~ obvi) was to shop what you've got. You [often times] don't have to go shopping and spend a lot of money to redecorate or make a space cute. Often times, those items are already in your home. For example, if you're flipping through the pages of a magazine and think a certain setting is cute or an arrangement of things is pretty, shop your home to recreate that scene.
