Minimalist Christmas Decor

We put our tree up for the first time in THREE years. Woot. And the $30 spent in college on this Black Friday tree has clearly been well worth that full hosting shift I probably had to work to buy it. Have come along way.





The tree that has been dragged from storage unit to storage unit to attic to attic finally made its reappearance with a few other pieces of decor that have also been dragged through a similar tumultuous journey. Dubbed for this post - minimalist decor.

DIY Pallet Wine Rack

Back in June I made Jeff take me to pick up a stack of pallets, seemingly against his will. I was determined to make a bulk quantity of Texas art pieces. Well, then we had my cousin's benefit coming up, and Jeff volunteered the idea to make pallet wine racks for the silent auction. "Ooooooo, new DIY project," I gleamed inside. I was pretty excited, especially considering it was his idea. And I didn't forget! Sure enough, after lots of "reminding," the week of the benefit, Jeff completed what I considered was two perfect pallet wine racks.

Doggie Den Refresh - The Ruff House

We got a sweet deal on a custom-made dog house. Seriously, if you're in need of a dog house, in the Dallas area, don't want to pay major bucks at a pet store or don't feel like undertaking a DIY project, we found a retired guy from Forney on Craigslist who builds custom dog houses.

 

One catch - it's built with untreated wood, which means it needed a coat of paint or stain. We chose an oil-latex Behr redwood stain.

Dog Disasters, Dog Run, Dog House

My two terrors called dogs have pushed about every limit possible lately. They do things like eat our shed door...

Or maybe even eat our shed wall...

Or eat anything they possibly feel like eating, such as the electrical wiring for Jeff's trucks's tow package. It's bad enough we had to start shutting our garage door so that half of our garage wouldn't end up in the yard (or get eaten), but now we can't even trust the dogs in the yard.

DIY Modern Floating Mantel Feature on Remodelaholic

As part of our living room remodel, we created a modern floating mantel to replace our clunky brown one (original post here). Lucky for Pots, Pans and Paintbrushes, one of my favorite home remodeling/DIY blogs, Remodelaholic, is featuring the project today on their blog. Check out the feature here. And thanks to Remodelaholic for the post!

Reclaimed Wood Planter Box Fences - Part 2

Since our dog was using our non-planted-but-one-day-would-like-to have-plants-in-it planter box as digging grounds, I decided to make more reclaimed wood planter fences to protect it.

I basically repeated the garden fence project - cut the wood, laid it out, assembled - except rather than using old fence pickets to make stakes, we used stakes that we already had in place for a failed chicken wire protective barrier. Since the stakes didn't match the reclaimed wood, I painted them red with Behr exterior "Apple Polish" red paint.

Reclaimed Wood Planter Box Fences - Part 1

We now have TWO puppies, which means our "garden" (this year just an herb garden) needed some protection from curious paws. Thus came these awesome reclaimed wood planter box fences.




Deriving from fence pickets, particularly trash-ready fence pickets from a replaced section of our fence, this project rang in at a whopping $0.

American Flag Wall Mount

In 2006 I had the honor and privilege to spend a week in Washington DC with the US Senate Youth Program. And on that trip I was given an 8' x 5' American flag keepsake that flew over the Capitol on February 3, 2006.

Shabby Chic Dresser Makeover

My latest and greatest DIY feature – a brown dresser shabby chic makeover.

Ana White DIY Floating Shelves

I love having my finished Etsy art around the house, but I do not love my canvases stacked on my living room mantel, hearth, easel or floor. My inventory is kind of important, so I kind of had to figure out a home for it. Solution? These awesome Ana White DIY floating shelves.

DIY Chicken Wire Frame

Today's trash to treasure is a DIY chicken wire frame I made to (a) hold wedding and party invitations (b) use as a prop for photographing my Kitsy Co invitations.

DIY Burlap Vases from Starbucks Frappuccino Bottles

You know I'm a sucker for Craigslist, right? Well one random day I came across Coke bottles in the "free" section. Thinking I might could use them for some cool art projects, I asked the seller (or giver in this case) if they were glass bottles, and the answer was unfortunately, "No, plastic." However, she did have a bunch of empty Starbucks frappuccino bottles, if I was interested, and it didn't take too long before I took her up on the offer.

Chevron & Burlap No Sew Ruffle Tree Skirt

I haven't spent much time this year doing projects just for the fun of it. So in spirit of the holiday season, I took a day for myself to make this awesome no sew ruffle tree skirt.
 

DIY Floating Mantel

Meet our new mantel!

The Ugly Bookshelf Makeover

You've all seen them, whether in your own home or someone you know, drabby brown laminate bookshelves.

A Warm Welcome... with Flower Magnets

Well, it's official, my first blog post! I have tried this whole blog thing before approximately one year ago. I think I made it to three blog posts, and then what happened? Aside from the fact that I was using a blog host site that was technologically incompatible, I got a job - my first real BIG GIRL job. (Real = a true full-time position that I actually had to apply and interview for). Anyway, adding a steady work schedule was more than enough for me to give up on my hopes and dreams to be Kendra the Blog Queen. So now it's a year later, I still have not revived the dream to be Kendra the Blog Queen, but I do find myself often reading friend's blogs and thought I might try it out myself.

What exactly do I have in store for today? FABRIC FLOWER MAGNETS!

Being an artistic person, it did not take long before I wanted to bang my head against the white walls of my office. I immediately began to cover my desk with anything of color - pictures, magnets, push pins, pens, vases, etc (just like the good ole dorm days). One day during the summer, while crafting for my beautiful bridesmaids and finishing with extra fabric flowers, I decided I would convert my extras into fun magnets for my office. And VOILA!

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