DIY Paint Brush and Pen Holders

Super easy DIY! I upcycled drink mix containers into paint brush holders by simply wrapping them with paper. 

The containers are just the right height for paint brushes. For shorter pens and swabs, I cut a piece of sponge to put in the bottom of the container.

 

More Repurposed Kitchen Cabinets

More repurposed kitchen cabinets! I used wall cabinets this time. Floor cabinets would have been too tall and too deep for the space. The shorter and shallower wall cabinets fit perfectly under the window on either side of the floor vent.

I painted the cabinets in black and Halloweeny lime green. At first, I thought the green was too loud and intense.

But filling the cabinets with cans, jars, and painting supplies obscured the color a bit. Now it's calling out rather than shrieking. :)

Two lessons learned from this project:

1. Wall cabinets need not be hung on a wall.

2. A color (or pattern) that seems too intense when the cabinet is empty may be just right when the cabinet is full.

Repurposed Kitchen Cabinets

Two of my old kitchen cabinets have been repurposed in my workroom.

Just for fun, I painted them in a Halloween-inspired palette of black, orange, purple and green.

I added drawer liners made from a vinyl tablecloth.

DIY Shelf from a Repurposed Drawer

After treating myself to new kitchen cabinets, I am repurposing the old cabinets. They're poor quality and quite worn, but most of them are serviceable for my workroom and garage. More on that later. :)

One base cabinet was in such bad shape that it essentially fell apart when I moved it. (I can't believe it managed to support the weight of a countertop for 45 years!) The drawer was the only salvageable part.

I decided to turn it into a shelf to store my craft paints. After measuring the paints and the drawer, I determined how far apart to space the individual shelves.

I made shelf supports with small slices of 1x3 boards and attached them with my power nailer. I placed 1x3 boards on the supports to create the shelves.

After primer and green paint, I added black and white striped wrapping paper and topped the shelves with black and white striped washi tape.

The end result is storage perfectly sized for my craft paints and other small supplies.

Disguising the Electronics

Electronics are useful but typically not very decorative. My speakers, modem, and router are black and thus not overly conspicuous on my black furniture. Nonetheless, I decided to make disguises for them. Even electronics like to play dress-up, right? ;)

To dress the subwoofer (Can I just say... I love that word! My dorky brain can't help but think of a subwoofer as a less dominant dog. In my house, Indigo is the woofer and Nook is the subwoofer. WOW, I am corny!)

Anyway, to make a disguise for the subwoofer, I used a black cardboard box...

And a photo frame from the dollar store.

I removed the back and the glass from the photo frame. Using acrylic craft paint, I painted the frame black and set it aside to dry. I centered the back on top of the box lid and traced around it with a pencil.

Following the pencil lines, I cut out the rectangle from the box lid.

I turned the lid over bottom side up. To cover the hole, I used a piece of black lace. I duct taped it into place. Duct tape isn't very classy, but it's MUCH easier than trying to glue lace.

I turned the lid back over so the top side was up.

I added the frame. It has little metal tabs which one would normally bend inward to hold the back in the frame. I bent them outward instead, and they worked perfectly to hold the frame in the opening.

Then I turned my attention to the box itself. The box was shallower than the subwoofer. This wasn't really a problem, though, as I didn't need to enclose the entire subwoofer. I simply cut a hole in the bottom of the box large enough for it fit through.

I slid the box over the subwoofer with the box's bottom toward the back and the top toward the front.

And placed the lid on the box.

The router generates some heat, so I did not want to enclose it in a cardboard box. Instead, I placed it in a magazine holder made of filigree metal.

I turned the holder backward so the tall "front" hides the router while the much shorter "back" allows the cords to exit. I used a second magazine holder for the modem.

For the speakers, I made covers that double as candle holders (details HERE). The disguises were complete!

After looking at the pictures... I think I'll shift things so the box is in the center with a magazine holder on either side. I like symmetry.

EDIT:
I made the change. Symmetry!

Craft Along with GIY: Outdoors

The theme for this month's Craft Along with GIY is Outdoors. For my project, I made a bird bath.

For the base, I used a large candlestick from the thrift store.

For the bowl, I used a ceramic bowl from the thrift store. I forgot to take a "before" picture (bad blogger!).

I glued the bowl to the candlestick to create the bird bath, then spray painted it purple.

The bath was top heavy and needed a heavier base to stabilize it. I glued it to a large ceramic tile.

I placed the bird bath in my back yard. Burying the tile base in the river rock covered the tile and made the bath very stable.

I added some black, purple, and white decorative rocks to the bowl, then added water.

The weather is currently throwing a snow tantrum , so the bird bath isn't likely to get any use today... unless some penguins wander by. ;)

To share your Craft Along with GIY project:
1.  Add the Craft Along with GIY icon to your blog post. Link the icon to this page:
http://gothityourself.blogspot.com/p/craft-along-with-giy.html
2.  Leave a comment with a link to your project. If you're not a blogger, you can link to your webpage, Instagram, or anywhere else readers can see it. (Please link directly to the project page.)

Late tomorrow, April 30, I will compile the links on the Craft Along with GIY page.

Craft Along with GIY: Checking In

Hello, everyone! Just checking in with an update/reminder on the January craft-along. I'm making dog beds out of secondhand end tables. I have them primed and painted black.

I had planned to finish them this weekend, but instead I have spent the last 36 hours enduring the worst headache in recent memory.  I desperately hope to be better by tomorrow because I have a lot happening at work this week.

Luckily, we're only halfway through January, so I still have plenty of time to finish. I will post the completed project on the 31st.

How's it going with you?

Repurposing Kitchen Cabinets

My kitchen looked like this when I bought my house:

Yes, I bought the house anyway. ;)

I gave it a makeover, and it now looks like this:

As you can see, I removed all the upper cabinets. I like to repurpose or upcycle when possible, and four of the cabinets are now performing new duties.

I turned one into a trash bin (shown in the photo above) and one into a dog bed.

 
Two more went in my little workroom. They happened to fit perfectly under the window, on either side of the vent, between the table and wall. I added a board across the top to make a work surface.

Of course, it wouldn't be a GIY project if I didn't paint everything black.  XD

I added black adhesive shelf paper to the board so it's a more durable work surface. I put a power strip on each end, one for the lamps and one for my power tool battery chargers. The cabinets hold my paint and painting supplies.

There are two cabinets left. They're currently storing things in the basement, but maybe I'll find them a more glamorous job in the future. :)

Kitchen Makeover: DIY Trash Bin

One of the problems with the layout of my kitchen is that there is no out-of-sight place for the trash. The only place trash and recycling cans will fit is at the end of the peninsula, where they are clearly visible from the living room.

I wanted to make them less obvious, maybe with a wooden bin of some sort. Rather than making a bin from scratch, I upcycled one of the cabinets that I'd taken off the wall. I began by taking out the interior shelf, removing the doors and hinges, and filling the screw holes on the doors and cabinet face with wood filler. I primed the cabinet face, cabinet interior, and doors.

Next, I covered the center panels of the doors and the entire back and sides of the cabinet with beadboard wallpaper, and painted it all black to match my base cabinets. I also painted the interior and put down adhesive shelf paper to make sure the bin is easy to keep clean. Then I reattached the doors, placing the hinges at the bottom. I attached magnetic catches at the top of the doors to ensure they stay closed.

To make this thing look more intentional and less like a cabinet just sitting on the floor, I added feet. With the cabinet turned upside down, I repurposed the interior shelf to create a base. I then attached the feet which had been cut from the same balusters that created my cabinet toekick feet.

To cover the shelf/base, which is just ugly particleboard, I attached some narrow wood trim and painted it black. To make a top for the bin, I used a piece of MDF cut to size and, of course, painted black. I still plan to add pulls or handles to all the cabinet doors, including those on the bin. Other than that, the bin is complete!

It holds two cans - one for trash and one for recycling.

Total cost of this project was about $8. I spent $3 on the trim, $3 on the MDF and $2 on the magnetic catches. The feet, wallpaper and paint were left over from other kitchen projects.

Kitchen Makeover: Cabinet Toekicks

The toekicks of the kitchen cabinets had originally been covered with blue cove base. (Cove base is the vinyl "baseboard" typically found in office buildings and pubic restrooms.) Removing it shredded the toekicks and left tons of adhesive.

To hide the damage, I made new facades for the toekicks. I cut pieces of MDF to size and covered them with beadboard wallpaper painted black like the cabinets. I attached the facades with a little construction adhesive.

I wanted to dress the cabinets up further by adding feet. While poking around the architectural salvage yard one day, I came across these nine balusters. I saw the nice carved shape and thought, "I can make feet from these!"

Very dirty balusters from an outdoor staircase. Gonna need the Krud Kutter cleaner!

Sure enough, by cutting them into five pieces...

I chopity chop chopped on the chop saw.

I created feet! One section (number 4 above) gave me nine feet for the cabinets. I also got four feet for another project from section 2.

Lots of feet! The nine on the right are for the cabinets.

After thoroughly cleaning the feet, I painted them black. Then I attached them to the cabinets with a drop of construction adhesive.

Total cost of this project was $4.50. I paid 50 cents each for the balusters. The MDF, wallpaper and paint were all leftovers from previous projects.