Archives for April 2019

6 DIYs to Beautifully Update Your Kitchen

April 25, 2019 by Eileen 1 Comment

Everyone always says that kitchen is the heart of the home.

We spend more time in the kitchen than any other room in our home. During our family gatherings or parties, everyone always ends up gathered in the kitchen.

For as much time as I spend cooking, it’s really nice to have a space that I enjoy being in. While our kitchen still needs work, it has come a long way from the old oak cabinets we transformed a few years back.

Most recently, we gave our kitchen pantry closet an amazing makeover – and we are loving it! It’s incredible how small upgrades here and there can completely transform a space.

Today I’m sharing 5 home improvement DIYs that can beautifully update your kitchen – from lighting to cabinet updates to pantry makeovers, these kitchen DIYs will definitely help you love your kitchen.

DIY Kitchen Home Improvement Projects

Not only is the kitchen is the heart of the home, but when it comes to resale value, kitchens are a big deal. People usually invest a lot in kitchen upgrades, and it can can cost more than a brand-new car.

If you’re thinking that you can’t afford a kitchen upgrade and are tired of the same old kitchen, you are not stuck.

You can definitely tackle some of these DIY projects. Not only can these DIY projects transform your kitchen, but they can even boost the resale value of your home.

Wood Beam Chandelier

So many kitchens (including mine) have those outdated fluorescent light fixtures. You know that ones that seem to collect all the bugs?! Updating the lighting in your kitchen makes for a huge transformation. You can do so much with lighting in a kitchen – you have pennant lighting over an island, a gorgeous fixture over your sink area, and a beautiful chandelier over your kitchen table.

Megan from Two Feet First built this awe-inspiring wood beam chandelier for her sister-in-law. She custom made it according to her sister-in-law’s vision and shares every step of the process so you can make it too.

If you have any outdated light fixtures in your kitchen, swapping in a new one can totally makeover that space. Just fixing up old lighting can bring a kitchen or other room into a new decade. Even if you can’t DIY it, there’s tons of gorgeous light fixtures that can update your space.

Kitchen Island Shiplap

Shiplap is everywhere these days, and I am here for it.

Usually, you see shiplap used on accent walls, like we just did our mudroom makeover.

Yet, Christina from The Frugal Homemaker, used faux shiplap on her kitchen peninsula, and it is just gorgeous!

Not only does she share exactly how to replicate this on your kitchen island or peninsula, but she’ll show you how to save money with shiplap too. She did the faux shiplap project for less than $25! Definitely check out the details and speaking of awesome kitchen updates, be sure to see how Christina’s kitchen has transformed over the years!

If you love shiplap and don’t have a peninsula or island in your kitchen, look for other areas in your kitchen you could shiplap – such as a pantry, your backsplash, or a coffee station area. Shiplap adds so much elegance and character.

Pantry Shelves Makeover

My husband and I redid our pantry a few week back- taking it from boring metal shelves (covered in contact paper) to these gorgeous wooden shelves with drawers! Let me tell you, drawers in a pantry are a gold mine of space, hiding all those usual eyesores and hubby’s bags of chips, of course.

I love the wood stain we used, which actually has ZERO VOCs and no smell at all. It’s super natural and green. Check out our post for all these details.

Additionally, our pantry walls were so aged, so we covered those with this faux brick wallpaper. Peel and stick wallpaper is perfect for a whole new look, and I share exactly how to apply wallpaper.

This is a perfect example of how a small project can totally transform a space. As far as resale value, a pantry is a space that can usually look pretty boring. Pantry updates are a great way to add a wow factor to a typically drab area.

Every time I open the pantry door, I expect to see how it used to look – the change is so refreshing!

We were able to build this in one weekend, and we share all the details on how you can do the same 🙂

Also, if you’re wondering what kind of shelf is on the left (below pic) it’s a repurposed CD tower that was on it’s way to the curb!

Faux Marble Countertops (Using Paint)

Wow, this tutorial just blew my mind! Diane from In My Own Style shades how to paint formica kitchen countertops to look like Carrara marble. She shares her painting tips and tricks and exactly how she created the veins.

The before and after pictures are absolutely amazing! If your countertops are in need of an upgrade and you don’t want to spend the money on stone, definitely check out Diane’s tutorial on how to paint a faux marble countertop. I have to think about where I can incorporate these painted marble countertops into my home!

Under Cabinet Lighting

Whenever you’re in the kitchen, you can always use more lighting when your chopping or cooking. A small but powerful update you can make in your kitchen is installing under cabinet lighting. It’s convenient, useful, and helpful.

This DIY from Amy at Health, Home, and Heart is not only convenient, but she makes installing under cabinet lighting so easy. She found these awesome battery-charged, adhesive lights that took her five minutes to install.

Brightening a space is always a good idea – and these under the cabinet lights are an awesome addition to any kitchen.

This is a perfect example of a simple DIY that has a big impact. Head on over to Amy’s post to check out this easy kitchen update!

Painted Kitchen Cabinets

Although a big undertaking, painting your kitchen cabinets is the perfect way to update your kitchen on a budget. Replacing cabinets costs a fortune, and you can get a gorgeous look by simply painting them.

Christine from The DIY Dreamer painted her 1960s kitchen cabinets, and they turned out amazing. She shares all the steps she used, along with the fusion mineral paint that she used. The paint has ZERO VOCs and no odor.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed picking paint colors, check out Christine’s tip how to decide on the perfect color.

Updating your kitchen cabinets is a great idea if you’re cabinets are the originals. A few years back, we used gel stain on kitchen cabinets – and even though it was a huge project that I took on right before the holidays, it looks massively better.

If you’re kitchen cabinets are driving you nuts, definitely make a change and check out Christine’s tutorial for all the steps on how to paint them.

Time to Update Your Kitchen

These 6 DIYs from talented home improvement bloggers are simple ways that you can update your kitchen to get that look that you love. Whether it’s your cabinets, countertops, lighting, or pantry that needs an improvement, pick one project and start from there.

When you update something in your kitchen to make it prettier, more functional, or just bring it into a new decade, it’s amazing how happy it makes you feel.

And, when you’ve saved money and completed the work yourself, it’s an amazing feeling.

With the kitchen being the heart of a home, a few DIY updates can absolutely help you feel happier in the space.

Not sure where to start?

If you aren’t sure where to start on redoing a room in your home, check out our room makeover workbook, which walks you through the process of how to transform a room in your home.

More DIY Home Improvement Projects

See more DIY home improvements projects, including how to DIY a fireplace, how to recaulk your stairs, and how to install hardwood flooring.

Most of these home improvement projects are part of our At Home DIY monthly challenges. Next month’s challenge is an outdoor one so be sure to check back for the next DIY challenge.

You also might like…

Have an extra space between your fridge and the wall? Build a sliding spice rack like this one. It emptied out an entire kitchen cabinet – not to mention all the organization it brought.
Need another way to bring a wow factor into your kitchen? Switch out your old pantry doors for French doors. French doors instantly adds a bit of classic elegance to any room. They turned our old kitchen pantry nook into a beautiful space.
Have an awkward kitchen desk? Transform the desk into a cabinet for more kitchen storage. This tutorial will show you exactly how to make this kitchen storage update the easy way.
Looking to add backsplash to your kitchen? This tutorial will show you how to easily install backsplash.

How to Make a Themed DIY Gift Basket

April 17, 2019 by Eileen Leave a Comment

See how you can make an easy themed gift basket for any occasion. These DIY gift baskets are creative and unique, enabling you to give a thoughtful, personal gift.

Homemade gift baskets are always such a hit.

Whether it’s a bridal shower, a housewarming, or a gift for your significant other, people love receiving gift baskets. They are so fun to make – especially when you choose a theme.

Today, I’m sharing how to make a themed gift basket. (If you missed the Year of Dates Gift Basket I recently made my sister, it is my absolute favorite.)

DIY Gift Baskets with a Theme

The fun part of making DIY gift baskets is that you can choose any theme, any budget, and you can be as creative as you want.

You can choose items off a registry or you can search places like Target’s dollar spot and the dollar store. You can have a few gifts that are more expensive mixed with a few cheaper gifts.

Any way you do it, you are collecting items that go together and making a thoughtful cohesive gift.

I’ve sat at many showers where the guest of honor is opening registry gift after registry gift.

A creative basket is a great way to mix it up!

DIY gift baskets always get tons of ooohhs and ahhhhs – plus it shows that you put a little extra thought.

Don’t get me wrong – you can still use registry items for your gift basket, but you can definitely do it with a theme.

Another thing DIY gift baskets are great for is raffles. Raffles gift baskets are always unique and fun to make – and even more fun to win 🙂

Without further ado, here’s how to make themed gift baskets.

12 Months of Dates Gift Basket

Pick a Theme for your Basket

If you’re wondering what to fill your homemade gift basket with, the first thing you want to do is pick a theme.

If your recipient is registered, you can use this as a starting point if you’d like.

For example, if you are shopping for a bridal shower, and she is registered for a pizza stone, you could turn this into a pizza themed gift. You could buy the pizza stone off the registry and add a pizza wheel, a cute cutting board, your favorite pizza dough recipe, gourmet sauce, potholders, seasonings, or wine.

A Pizza Night gift basket is a fun spin using a registry item but also using a little creativity to make it a thoughtful gift.

If you are trying to cheer someone up, you do a Sunshine gift basket. Sunshine themed baskets usually have items that are all yellow, to cheer up your recipient.

If you are making a gift basket for your man or woman, you could do an indoor picnic theme, a year of dates, or a “time to relax” theme.

Once you have the theme for your DIY gift basket, you’re ready to start thinking about the gift items.

Kids Craft Activities Basket, one of 200 non-candy Easter basket ideas

Choose a Creative Container

Once you have your theme, you’ll want to start thinking of something that goes with your theme that could serve as the basket or container for your themed gift basket. If your recipient is registered, look through the items on their list for ideas that would suit them.

Of course, you can choose a regular basket or container, but it’s always fun when your container goes with your theme.

Also, you can save money by using one of the gifts as the container because then you won’t need to spend more money on the basket.

Think about size or weight with your DIY gift basket. You want big enough to fit your items, but not too big where you feel you have to buy more to fill it up.

Also, if you are putting something heavy in the gift basket, you’ll want to account for that. For example, if you are making the First Year of Marriage Milestone basket, you’ll need something really strong to hold the 12 bottles of wine.

Keep these things in mind as you are choosing the container for your homemade gift basket.

Year of First Milestones – Wedding Wine Basket

Gift Basket Container Ideas

For example, for the baking theme, your container could be a cake mold or mixing bowl. If doing a cooking theme, you could use a strainer, crock pot, or an oversized measuring cup.

For a get well theme, you could use a big soup bowl. For a college survival kit, you could use a cute storage container. And, for a housewarming, you could use a large pitcher or an oversized jar.

If you’re stuck for a container, go to the craft store and a take a look at their baskets. There are so many pretty ones – floral themed, industrial looks. And, you can save money by using a coupon.

Here are some more ideas for containers for DIY gift baskets:

Oversized mason jar
Terracotta planter
Glass kitchen jar
Pitcher
Colander
Crockpot
Baking, salad, or serving bowl
Cake tupperware
Cookware
Picnic basket
Laundry basket
Tote bags
Bundt pan or cake mold
Bucket
Cute storage bin

DIY Gift Baskets for Dogs

What do I put in the gift basket?

Wondering what to put in a homemade gift basket? Now that you have your theme and your container, now is the fun part. You’ll fill the container with items from the theme.

Gift basket items can definitely add up, so you’ll want to make sure that you stay on budget. It definitely helps to create a budget ahead of time. Another idea is to make a list of things that you are looking for, so you don’t buy everything. Definitely use coupons where you can.

Try to throw in some low cost items along with some higher cost ones.

For example, if you’re making a baking basket, throw in some sprinkles, cupcake wrappers, parchment paper, or cute napkins.

If you are making a holiday basket, you can some candy canes or chocolates.It makes for a fuller basket, and the range of items keeps my price point low. If the recipient has a registry, you can always include any items that fit the theme.

Amazon is great for ordering items that are hard to find or that you need quickly. However, there are so many bargains out there. Check out the below list for where to find low cost items.

Where to Shop for Low Cost Filler Items

Target’s Dollar Spot – You’ll find all kinds of things here! It’s great to check regularly and pick up things that catch your eye.
Dollar Stores – Dollar Tree is by far the best of the dollar stores. You can get so many things here from cupcake wrappers to ribbons to storage bins (you might find a cheap container here too).
Craft Stores – There clearance sections or dollar sections up front are amazing! Always use a coupon – you can use your phone.
Walmart – Lots of low-cost things here – and if you find something on clearance, the price is even better. Check the ends of aisles for random clearance items.
Five Below – I was amazed at how much awesome stuff this store has – especially around the holidays. Books, socks, toys, college dorm things, and all kinds of seasonal things too!
Christmas Tree Shops – I love this store SO much. It’s a cross between a Dollar Tree and a Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Lots of seasonal things, kitchen items, books, decor – they have it all.

Choose a Creative Filler

As your shopping for your items, think about whether your basket need a filler or not.

You can use tissue paper, you can use shredded paper (you can get this at the dollar store or I’ve even made my own). But my favorite thing to do is to use something from the theme for the basket filler.

For a holiday basket, you can use garland. For an indoor picnic basket, you can use a cozy blanket. And, for any kitchen, coffee/tea, or bridal baskets, you can use cloth napkins, which are always on clearance at some of the above stores.

Gift Basket Filler Ideas

Shredded paper – Buy or shred your own! I’ve done this to make a unique color – it takes a lot of paper, but it works like a charm.
Tissue paper
Small cardboard box – Perfect if your basket is too big. You can even hide an extra gift in it!
Towel/Cloth Napkins – Depending on your theme kitchen towels, beach towels, or even bathroom towels could work
Cozy blanket – great for “time to relax” basket or a picnic basket
Table cloth – If you’re making a craft basket for kids, use a few plastic tablecloths as the filler for easy cleanup with their art activities.
Scarf or t-shirt – If you’re making a gift basket for a new college student, the basket liner could be a t-shirt or sweatshirt with their college name.
Craft materials (felt, knitting, etc) – For a crafty basket, you could use felt or another craft material to the line the basket. For a baby basket, you could line the basket with your knitted gift.

Winter Indoor Picnic Gift Basket, with a cozy blanket as a basket liner

How do I assemble the gift basket?

Once you have your container, your items, and your filler, you’ll want to start assembling your DIY gift basket.

When you are arranging your items, you’ll want to arrange them in a way that showcases them all. Start with the larger items and put them in the back. Work your way down to the smaller items, which you can easily fill in the front. Tilt things at an angle to bring intrigue and showcase more.

You can tuck away any of the less exciting items, and put the more exciting ones in a more visible spot.

When I was arranging my sister’s Year of Dates gift basket, I had a hard time making everything look nice. There were 12 separate items, each with envelopes, and it was difficult to make it look elegant.

I ended up tying a piece of ribbon around the items that went together (for each date), along with the envelope. It brought some cohesion and elegance to the gift, rather than just looking like I threw a bunch of items in a basket.

Add a Gift Tag

Once you have your DIY gift basket arranged nicely, you can add a cute gift tag. You use a little piece of card stock and print or write on it – and then attach with a nice ribbon. If it’s not obvious what your basket is, definitely write it on the tag (Pizza Night Gift Basket, Little Artists Basket, etc).

You can even come up with a sweet rhyme.

For my gift tags, I usually just print them on Microsoft Word. Sometimes, I print on card stock and cut that out. Sometimes, I just print on regular paper and glue to card stock.

One thing I love to use is squiggly scissors. I seriously cannot cut a straight line, so the squiggly scissors not only hide my imperfections but they add a bit of fun to the tag.

Ice Cream Sundae Gift Basket

If you want your tag displayed more, then you could attach it to a wooden skewer and then stick it right into your basket like a candle on a cake.

Creative Ways to Wrap a Gift Basket

If you want, you can add a clear gift basket bag, cellophane, or even tulle over your basket.

In my opinion, the easiest and cheapest way to hold it together is definitely with a clear gift basket bag. You can get these at the Dollar Store (usually 2 for $1).

With the gift bag, you don’t have to worry about trying to wrap the basket up – you just slip it into the bag 🙂 Make sure to check the size on the bag to make sure if will fit your container. You can always slide the basket in sideways and tie in the back.

With my gift baskets, I typically don’t wrap them up at all because I think it takes away from how nice the basket looks. However, if you are travelling or are worried that something will fall out, then definitely buy one. You don’t want to lose any items after all your hard work.

You can also use a box and then no extra wrapping is necessary.

Cookie Decorating Holiday Gift Basket

No matter what kind of themed gift basket you are making, I’m sure your recipient will absolutely love the hard work and thought you put into it.

Anyone can buy a couple gifts at the store, but to make a DIY gift basket with a special theme is next level.

Whether it’s a wedding gift basket, an encouragement gift basket, or a family gift basket, I hope this helped you with creative ideas for your DIY gift basket.

How to Make Built-In Pantry Shelves with Drawers

April 15, 2019 by Ash 17 Comments

See how you can update your pantry with built in wooden pantry shelves and drawers. This easy pantry system is a perfect weekend makeover project.

It’s time for another round of our At Home DIY challenge, and this month’s theme is home improvement. Last month, we redid an old folding TV table, and today we are sharing our pantry update.

We always look for places in our home that could be easily improved. Our pantry was a sight for sore eyes, and now it’s undergone a huge transformation.

We ripped down the old pantry shelves, covered the beat up wall with brick wallpaper, and installed built-in pantry shelves AND drawers.

Pantries usually have all open shelving, so I was excited to add pantry drawers into the design – those drawers will be perfect for hiding my snacks from the others 🙂

Be sure to check out all of the At Home DIY participants’ projects at the end of the post.

How to Prep and Prepare for a Pantry Redo

We are so pleased with how the pantry looks that we are kicking ourselves for not thinking of it sooner. It only took a weekend of work, I used wood I had, and the add organization is wonderful.

Tools and Materials

3/4″ plywood (or boards) for shelves
3/4″ boards for drawers and trim
Table saw
Miter saw
Circular saw (I used my compact circular saw)
Drill (with countersinking bits)
Finishing nails (I used my finishing nailer)
Drawer slides (I used 14″ ones)
Drawer knobs
Deck screw
Construction adhesive
Laser level (and regular level as well)
Wood stain
Wall paper

Pantry Shelving System Design

Here is a sketch I put together for the DIY pantry closet shelves:

It consisted of 5 shelves, two of which held drawers (a smaller upper drawer and a larger bottom drawer). The shelves were made from 3/4″ plywood, covered with a 2″ piece of trim in the front.

How to Prep Your Pantry

Before adding our new shelving system, Eileen decided she wanted to do something about the walls. Here are before pictures of the pantry.

And here are a few after pictures of our DIY pantry closet shelving:

Remove Old Shelving

The shelves were easy to remove, just a matter of unscrewing them. I’ll probably repurpose the shelves in my shed, as part of my much-needed summer shed organization project.

Applying Wallpaper

Back to the walls, Eileen found a peel and stick wallpaper for cheap with white bricks. So she ripped out the old shelves, cleaned the walls, and applied the peel and stick wallpaper. She wrote a whole post on how to hang peel and stick wallpaper. She goes into all the details, including tips and tricks for wallpaper hanging.

After the wallpaper was up (doesn’t it look great?!), I was ready to start making my final measurements and building the wooden pantry shelves.

Deciding What Kind of Wood for the Pantry

I had a lot of scrap wood left over from a recent mudroom cubby project. So I was able to re-use most of that wood for these pantry shelves.

I primarily used 3/4″ birch plywood (for the shelves and mounts) and some strips of 3/4″ pine boards (for the drawers and trim).

How to Build Your Own Pantry System

With the design, materials, and walls ready, it was time to start building the pantry closet shelving.

Cutting Wood for the Pantry Closet Shelves

Using several pieces of scrap 2′ x 8′ birch plywood, I cut out 5 pantry shelves (each approximately 37″ x 14.25″). They were custom cut to fit inside our pantry.

Even though the pantry closet measured 37″ wide inside, the widths of the shelves were actually just shy of that (about 1/8″ less). I wanted a little leeway when maneuvering the shelves in place.

From previous projects in this house, I knew that the walls were rarely perfectly straight. So perfect measurements didn’t always work out as planned.

My compact circular saw made quick work out of the cutting. I prefer this mini saw over a regular circular saw when practical.

It’s usually a lot easier to setup and maneuver around.

There are lots of ways to to make cross cuts into long 8′ sheets of plywood.

I opted to place the sheets on the driveway, raised up on four 2x4s. Properly supporting the sheets on either side of your intended cut is important for ensuring a clean and safe cut.

In addition to the compact circular saw for the cross cuts, I also used my table saw to make the lengthwise (rip) cuts to trim the board to 14.25″.

Building the Shelf Supports

After the shelves were cut, next it was time for some custom shelf supports. I needed 10 supports in total (2 per shelf).

The supports were to be screwed into wall studs in the pantry, and hold up the shelves. They also needed to be able to hold the shelves in place so they didn’t slide forward.

I came up with a fairly simply design for them (a finished support is in the rear of the picture):

Long deck screws would secure the supports to wall studs, while shorter wood screws ran vertical to kept the shelves in place.

Notice how all my holes were pre-drilled with a counter sinking bit. This was to reduce the likelihood of the the wood splitting, especially since I was placing holes so close to the edges.

Here is one of the supports in a clamp being assembled:

Here are all ten completed supports (both the left supports and the right):

Staining the Wood

After the shelves and supports were completed, it was time to stain the wood.

We went with an eco-friendly stain that omitted zero VOCs. We were so pleased with this stain. There was absolutely no odor and it went on easy.

I first stained the supports. They would be visible when looking up at the higher shelves, and I didn’t want raw wood to be exposed.

Only one coat of stain was really necessary.

Next I got to work on staining the large shelves.

It didn’t take too long. I laid them out in the driveway on some 2x4s, and brushed on the stain.

I did two coats on the top side of the shelves, and one coat on the botton.

Installing the Shelf Supports

After the stained supports were sufficiently dry, attached them to wall studs in the pantry.

I spaced them 12″ apart vertically, starting from the pantry ceiling.

Once the left supports were installed with the correct spacing, I proceeded with the right side. Using a laser level made this a very easy task:

Throughout the whole shelf support installation, I kept the level handy to sure everything was straight:

After the supports were all installed, I rested a scrap piece of 37″ wood across each support to make sure they were level.

Thanks to my laser level and regular level, all the shelf supports were straight.

Here are the completed shelf supports (the lighting is off in the below shot because it night time and the pantry doesn’t have a light):

Building the Pull Out Drawers for the Pantry

Next it was time to build some pull out drawers.

Since these drawers were going to be inside a pantry closet, I needed to make them narrow enough to be able to extend through the doorway.

There were going to be two sets of drawers. The upper drawer was 3.5″ deep and the bottom drawer was 7.25″ deep. They measured approximately 14″ x 24.25″.

I cut strips of the drawer sides with my miter saw, and joined them to form a rectangular frame using some construction adhesive and my finishing nailer.

I also made use of a long bar clamp to hold opposing drawer sides in place while I glued and nailed:

I’ve made so many drawers lately for various projects, and they all revolve around the same basic design. Check out my post about making custom pull-out drawers to learn more.

Next, I fabricated a drawer mount underneath two of the shelves. Two pieces of 3/4″ thick wood (14″ long) were attached perpendicular to the shelves using some L brackets.

Then 14″ drawer sliders were then attached to these pieces of wood, followed by the actual drawer.

The drawer mounts were carefully positioned to allow the drawers to be able to slide out past the pantry door.

Here is an upside down shelf getting prepped for the drawers with some L brackets:

Here is the completed drawer mount with sliding hardware:

I later added in two pocket holes in the center of the perpendicular wood support for extra rigidity.

After I was satisfied with the sliding drawers, I cut out 1/4″ plywood bottoms for the drawers and attached them to the drawer with my finishing nailer and more construction adhesive.

I found it really convenient to attach the bottoms to the drawers while they were mounted to the upside-down shelves. The mounts ensured that the frame stayed square before the bottoms locked their shape into place.

Here are the completed drawers with stain applied to the fronts:

Mounting the Pantry Shelves

Finally it was time to start mounting the pantry shelves. There was not much wiggle room in the pantry closet, so I found it best to insert the shelves into the supports one by one, starting from the top and moving down.

Here are all the shelves in place, secured to the supports with some short wood screws:

Installing Trim on the Pantry Shelves

Now it was time to cover up the exposed plywood edges with trim and add to the visual appear of the whole project.

To make the trim, I used my table saw and ripped some 2″ wide boards, sized to the the fronts of the 37″ shelves. Here is the cut and stained trim:

Two of the trim boards needed to be cut again to fit around the drawers, but I wanted to do that with the drawers in place to ensure a proper fit.

I attached the trim to the shelves with construction adhesive and my finishing nailer.

Here’s a picture showing a trimmed shelf (in stark comparison to the untrimmed shelf below it):

Next I inserted the drawers and proceeded with the trim on those drawer shelves. I took some of the trim used on the other shelves, and cut it into three pieces to wrap around the drawers.

Here’s a trimmed drawer (notice the industrial handle that Eileen picked out):

The pantry shelves were finally completed!

Time and Cost for the DIY Pantry Shelving System

It took a weekend to complete with a budget of around $75.

I was able to save by re-using left over wood from previous projects.

My expenses were just the wallpaper, eco-friendly stain, drawer slides and handles.

Also, you don’t have to use 3/4″ plywood for the shelves. I personally would have preferred common board, but only used the plywood because I had so much of it.

Here are some finished pictures of the pantry closet shelves and drawers.

Is there more organization in the pantry now?

I’ll let my wife Eileen answer this one – YES!

The shelves, although just as deep as the old ones, feel bigger and are 100 times nicer 🙂

The two drawers hold so many things! The lower one holds all of the snacks and bags of food, which usually make a pantry look a mess. These bagged snacks took up a whole cabinet of space prior.

One of the things that was great about Ash’s design was that he used all of the “extra space.” There was wasted space between the last shelf and the bottles of coconut water we would keep on the floor. That wasted space is now a huge pantry drawer.

I am absolutely loving pantry – every time I open it, I smile. Isn’t that what DIY is all about?!

For $75 and a weekend of time, it was totally worth it.

More Home Improvement Projects

This project was part of our At Home DIY challenges, where we are collaborating with over 30 talented DIY bloggers. See everyone’s projects from this month – DIY Home Improvement Projects.

Related DIY Projects

In our old house, we also redid our pantry! This was an easy pantry makeover with French doors.
Wondering where that shelving in our pantry came from? It’s a CD tower that was on it’s way to the curb. Check out how we upcycled the CD tower into pantry shelving.
A few years ago, right before Christmas, Eileen gel stained the kitchen cabinets! The dark color goes great with the walnut pantry shelves.

How to Apply Peel and Stick Wallpaper the Easy Way

April 15, 2019 by Eileen Leave a Comment

Learn how you can give a room or a space an instant update with peel and stick wallpaper. This easy tutorial will show you all the tips for how to hang wallpaper in your home.

Ever since our pantry update in our old home (we added beautiful French doors for an instant makeover), I’ve been wanting to give our new pantry a makeover too.

When we moved in, I put contact paper on the shelves, which made it look better. However, it still could use an update.

I had a vision to add white brick wallpaper and walnut DIY pantry shelving.

I was totally nervous to hang wallpaper.

After all, everyone spends hours and hours removing wallpaper from decades ago. Yet, this wallpaper was different. It’s peel and stick, so it can easily be removed whenever. There’s no paste – just adhesive.

Today, I’m sharing exactly how to apply peel and stick wallpaper to your walls.

Before and After Pantry Pictures

Below are the before pictures. One is the pantry as I started to empty it out, and the other is the empty pantry.

Below is the updated pantry – refreshed with the wallpaper and DIY wooden pantry shelving.

Choosing a Wallpaper

The first thing I did was decide what I wanted this transformed pantry closet to look like.

I knew I wanted white brick wallpaper, so now I had to find the best bang for my buck. Since I would be installing shelves in front of the wallpaper, I didn’t want to spend a ton of money. I was actually hoping to spend less than $40 on the wallpaper.

With a short timeline (Amazon prime for the win!), I found a wallpaper that had good reviews, was prime delivery, and it came in under budget. I measured the pantry to be about 50 square feet and the wallpaper would cover 49 square feet. I knew it would be a little tight, but I was okay with this – because of the shelves and the budget.

When choosing your wallpaper, keep these things in mind:

Measure the square footage of the space you need to cover in wallpaper. If you are doing an accent wall – where everything needs to line up perfectly, definitely order over the square footage you need. That way, you can have extra to perfectly line up your patterns. Now, I under-ordered for my pantry, and that worked for me. I was willing to compromise perfectly matching bricks to save money by only buying one wallpaper roll.
Read the reviews on the wallpaper you like before buying it (even if you are buying it at the store). People will mention if the pattern is easy or hard to line up. They’ll mention if they ran into any difficulties. These can be super helpful in making your decision.
Carefully read the description. If you are wanting peel and stick wallpaper, make sure that’s what it says.

Gather Your Wallpaper Materials

After you choose your wallpaper, you’ll want to gather a few more materials to complete the project.

Peel and stick wallpaper (I used this white brick pattern)
Xacto Knife – make sure it’s nice and sharp – I have this set and it’s wonderful
Smoothing tool – You can use your hands, a credit card, or a rag. I found this smoothing tool helpful – especially when cutting edges on the wall.
Measuring tape or ruler (the longer the better)
Scissors
Paper towels or rag

Prepare Your Walls

After you pick out your wallpaper, you’re ready to start your project.

First you’ll want to prepare your walls. Take down any pictures or shelves. I removed all of the shelving in our pantry – which felt so good to get rid of those metal shelves.

Next, you’ll want to give your walls a light cleaning to get rid of any dust or grime. This will help the wallpaper stick to the walls.

I just took a wet paper towel and went up and down wiping the walls of the pantry.

Hanging Your First Sheet of Wallpaper

In hanging your first sheet of peel and stick wallpaper, you might be nervous like me. However, these tips will help you to smoothly apply your first piece.

Choose a Starting Point

You’ll first want to pick a starting point. Usually, you want to work from left to right. In my pantry that has a few corners, I decided to hang my first sheet of wallpaper to the right of the first corner. I would still work left, but I would line my first piece up on the corner.

This was the most visible part of my pantry, and I wanted it to look perfect, especially because I knew I might be piecing together scraps at the end 🙂

Lay Out Wallpaper Pieces on the Floor

Once you decide where you will start hanging your wallpaper, you’ll want to measure the length of your piece. Our pantry was about 79 inches so I cut everything at 81 inches to have a little extra at the top and bottom.

The absolute best tip that I can give you is to lay out your wallpaper pieces on the floor first. So I cut my first piece at 81 inches. And before taking this to the pantry to hang up, I unrolled more wallpaper. I lined up the pattern, making sure the pattern went seamlessly from the first piece to the second piece. Once it was lined up properly, I trimmed to 81 inches.

I took the first piece and hung that up. When I went back for the second piece, prior to hanging that up, I lined up and cut the third piece. This way, you are lining everything up on the floor, as opposed to struggling to line it up vertically.

Slowly Peel and Stick

Take your first wallpaper sheet over to the top of the wall and peel about an inch of the backing. Slowly stick the adhesive wallpaper to the wall (letting the backing fall loosely against the wall). Unpeel a little bit of the wallpaper backing at a time – smoothing the wallpaper out with your hand or the smoothing tool.

Before you stick too much on, you’ll want to make sure you pattern is straight. Sometimes ceilings might be crooked, so before you apply the whole sheet, you’ll want to make sure it is straight. You can use a ruler for this – or even just stand back and eyeball it.

What do I do about windows or trim?

With a window or trim, you’ll want push your wallpaper right up to the edge and then trim off the excess with your Xacto knife. Your Xacto knife will be your best friend when working with edges like these. Make sure to have a sharp Xacto knife, so you can easily get perfect cuts.

Continue to Peel and Stick the First Sheet of Wallpaper

You’ll want to continue slowly peeling off the backing and smoothing everything out.

It’s better to go slow because you can smooth out any bumps before you get too far down. When you’re finished with the first sheet of wallpaper, take your smoothing tool and go over it again to give it a good firm stick.

What if I mess up?

If your pattern is crooked or you have too many bumps, simply peel up and wallpaper and try again. You can keep retrying as much as you need to. That’s the beauty of peel and stick wallpaper. If you are really having trouble, you can always work in smaller pieces rather than a very long one.

Applying the Next Sheet of Wallpaper

When you go to grab your second sheet of wallpaper, remember to match and cut your third sheet on the floor first.

When hanging your second sheet of wallpaper, you may find that it’s a little harder than the first piece. That is because now you are lining up the pattern.

It took me quite a few tries to get my second sheet of wallpaper down perfectly. Make sure you go slow when pulling off the backing.

Do I overlap my wallpaper pieces?

I would not overlap pieces. You want a perfect side-by-side fit, so be sure to perfectly line up those edges. With this particular paper, I could absolutely tell if the paper was overlapped, and it didn’t look pretty.

You might find yourself working left to right more with the smoothing tool – to make sure you get the pattern lined up right.

Continue Applying the Peel and Stick Wallpaper

As you get toward the end of your space, you might find yourself needing to make smaller cuts. This will especially happen if you (like me) are running out of paper. I didn’t have a full last sheet left, so I used bits and pieces to piece together this last (hard to see) area.

When making smaller cuts, you can do this by using the marks on the back the back of the wallpaper or you can draw your own lines with the ruler. You can cut this with the scissors or your Xacto knife – it’s your preference. The back of my peel and stick wallpaper didn’t have full lines where I needed them, so I usually used a metal ruler and the Xacto knife.

Here’s a look at a finished corner of the pantry.

And here are a few more finished pantry pictures.

Not only will you notice the new wallpaper, but you’ll see the DIY pantry shelving system we built in a weekend.

The wallpaper background and the floating shelves as well as pull-outs completely transformed this previously-boring pantry space.

Wrapping Up + Time & Cost

The cost was just what I spent on the wallpaper. We had the other materials around the house and garage. Even though I split the work up in two days, it only would have taken me an hour or two if I worked straight through. I just didn’t have that time block with the kids.

As I’m wrapping up this wallpaper article, here are a few questions I wanted to answer for you.

Was hanging the wallpaper as hard as I thought it would be?

Absolutely not! I’m not the most precise person. I tend to make lots of mistakes and learn things the hard way. That being said, this was super easy and turned out really pretty. I didn’t struggle with the wallpaper at all – it was very simple to work with.

What was the hardest part of hanging the peel and stick wallpaper?

The hardest part of applying the peel and stick wallpaper was definitely matching up the patterns. Since I knew I would run low on paper, I settled for a less than perfect brick match sometimes, which I was okay with. The pantry wall would be covered with shelves, drawers, and food, so I wasn’t aiming for perfect matches. I saved a lot of paper this way.

As I mentioned in the tutorial, definitely make sure you have extra wallpaper if you’re going for a perfect match, e.g. doing an accent wall.

Is the wallpaper easy to peel off?

I can’t speak to peeling this off after a long time, but when I made a mistake putting it on the wall, it was very easy to peel off. It didn’t tear either. For a low cost wallpaper, I was impressed.

Anything else noteworthy to mention?

Yes! Consider the lighting in the room that you are going to wallpaper. Our pantry has no light and isn’t near a window, so it’s very dark. The white wallpaper looks gray-ish sometimes because of the lighting. Before you put your wallpaper up, tape a piece to your wall and check it out through the day. Make sure you love it!

Overall, I loved this DIY project. Hanging the peel and stick wallpaper was easy, and I can totally see how wallpaper can completely makeover a space.

If you have a space in your home that could use an update – whether it’s a closet, a piece of furniture, a wall, look into wallpaper. It definitely gives an instant update in just a couple hours.

Making Sliding Storage Shelves in One Weekend

April 11, 2019 by Ash 74 Comments

Learn how you can turn a 20-foot garage corner into 70-feet of space with stacked, slide-out storage shelves. Plus, see how to create bonus shelving with leftover wood.

My garage was getting a little out of control. Bulky tools from home improvements projects, boxes upon boxes of holiday decorations, gardening tools, piles of landscaping bags – nothing seemed to have a place.

It was hard to get work done efficiently – not to mention, find something when I was looking for it.

It was time to get smart about garage organization, storage, and shelving.

I decided we need a some sort of shelving tower with deep shelves.

One of the ways I maximized was by using sliding shelves in the storage tower. This increased the amount of things our shelf could hold but didn’t compromise being able to easily find them.

It was definitely an easy and practical addition to the garage shelf project.

Determining a Space for the Sliding Storage Shelves

I already had several prefabricated metal garage shelves doing a decent job of garage storage, but they had their shortcomings.

I had been eyeing this corner space next to our garage fridge. The space was 3 feet deep and about 6 feet wide, and it was currently underutilized.

There were just piles of boxes, gardening tools, and other things that had accumulated.

Corner spaces in the garage often become dumping grounds, as ours had become. I decided to capitalize on the vertical square footage, transforming this messy corner into garage storage shelving.

So, after a few days of pondering over garage storage shelving ideas and messing around in TinkerCad (an awesome 3D designing website), I came up with the idea below for garage storage shelves:

Garage Storage Shelf Requirements

I had 3 requirements for the sliding storage shelves project for my garage. My first requirement was deep storage shelves. The area had a lot of depth, and I wanted to make the most of the space.

I went with 3 ft deep shelves; this was twice as deep as the prefab shelves, so twice the garage storage space.

The second requirement (which is not evident in the TinkerCad drawing above) was sliding garage shelves.

Although 3 ft deep garage shelves would hold a lot, trying to reach something at the back seemed very burdensome. You would have to move things out of the way to get back there, which wasn’t very efficient, especially for vertical space.

Therefore, I wanted some of the deep garage shelves to be on drawer slides.

My last requirement was enough clearance at the bottom of the garage shelves to fit some of my taller tools (like my shopvac), and for them to just roll out (without having to drop off a shelf).

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Preparing Space for the Garage Storage Shelves

To start the sliding storage shelves, I first cleared out and cleaned the designated area for the garage shelves.

Then I located the studs in the wall (using my trusty stud finder), and used green painters tape preserve their locations.

The garage shelving unit was going to be bolted to the studs to make it stable.

Here’s the wall with the studs marked:

Building the Shelf Supports

The actual construction of the garage shelves was fairly straight forward. I just followed the design I created to construct the sliding storage shelves.

The whole garage shelf was made of 2 x 4 wood that was cut to different lengths.

Unfortunately, I was so caught up in the construction (it was a pretty fun project to work on), I forgot to take many pictures. Therefore, I’m just going to provide some visuals.

First, I made 3 vertical support structures for the garage shelves. I would install these on the ends and middle.

These supports looked like a 3 ft wide ladder – see pic below:

Next, I used 6 ft cuts of 2 x 4s to connect the 3 vertical supports, and to form a basis for each garage shelf.

I also added 2 extra 6 ft pieces at the back of the structure to bolt into the wall studs.

Adjusting for Sliding Garage Shelves

Before considering sliding storage shelves, I thought about making all of the shelves look like the very top one. However, that was going to be too simple, and I like to make things a little challenging.

Hence, the modifications for the garage sliding shelves.

The shelf slides were going to bear the load of the garage shelves, so it was not necessary to run as many 6 ft planks as the top shelf (which was just a static shelf with no slides). Three connecting pieces per row was sufficient.

Next, I needed structures to attach the slides to. I came up with the design below:

Notice the 4 slide supports on each row (one on each end and two in the middle). In between each pair of slide supports was going to be the actual sliding shelves.

At this point in the project, it was time to secure the structure to the garage wall. If I proceeded any further with construction, the DIY shelving unit would be too heavy for me to carry (not that it wasn’t already really heavy).

Also, there was just enough room for me to squeeze in between the 2 x 4s to get to back to bolt the structure to the wall studs.

Next, I wedged myself in the middle of garage shelving unit, picked it up like superman, and inched my way over to the wall. I used some lag bolts to secure the shelves to the studs.

Constructing the Storage Shelves

After that, I had to build the actual sliding storage shelves. Here is my design for each sliding shelf:

During construction of the garage shelves, I did add an elevated piece to the back of each shelf. I didn’t want items falling off the back as I pulled the shelf forward.

First, I installed the slides on each slide support. Then, using ¼” scrap wood as shims, I elevated each shelf and secured them to the slides.

With the sliding shelves installed, the garage shelf project was pretty much complete. Last, I just had to install some gate handles for each shelf to be able to pull them out easily.

Although, I did make a last-minute design decision though – I omitted the bottom row of sliding shelves and replaced it with a static shelf (like the very top one).

I realized that some of my tools (like my miter saw) didn’t have enough clearance to fit on the DIY sliding shelf.

Consequently, I settled for just 2 rows of sliding shelves, which was still plenty of awesomeness.

I took the pictures below of the completed DIY garage storage shelves:

There is also enough space to pull a car into the garage too – with about a foot to spare.

However, I was a little worried about bumping into the garage shelf with the car, so I got a cheap parking sensor to help (it turns from green to yellow to red as you get within a foot of the sensor).

Bonus Storage Shelving

After I finished the garage shelves, I had an extra 2 x 4 leftover. Still in a shelf-frenzy mood, I turned those into some normal shelves on the wall.

To the left of the sliding shelf structure was a hideous area begging for some DIY garage organization, and a prime target for a storage solution:

Using some shelf brackets, I bought a while ago, I threw together a simple shelf for the garage with the leftovers from the main project.

Below is what I turned the above disaster into – see shelf at the top of the picture.

Using the Sliding Storage Shelves

The sliding storage shelves truly transformed a disorganized corner. We gained a ton of lost space through building the shelf tower.

Storage-wise, the garage shelves hold more than we could have imagined – most of the boxes of holiday decorations (Eileen loves that she can easily access these), tool boxes, and large tools such as the miter saw.

Underneath the storage shelves, I store the shop vac, jaw horse, and snow blower. It’s the perfect height.

Pleased with the outcome of my DIY garage organization, I found building the shelving unit one of the most fun and creative projects I’ve worked on recently.

I also completely impressed Eileen with doing the whole project in one weekend – that was the best part. She was also thrilled that the cost was less than $200.

If your garage is getting out of control and you have underutilized space, you should definitely think about building these sliding garage storage shelves.

The design worked beautifully, and you can’t beat the turnaround time and low-cost.

With phase 1 of “Project DIY Garage Organization” was now complete. Phase 2 of the garage construction is coming this summer – a dream folding workbench with fancy storage solutions.

More Garage Ideas

You know that wasted space in between your double garage doors? We used every inch of it with these easy DIY French cleat storage boxes.
Our garage doubles as our workshop. If yours does too, see 12 things every DIYer needs in their garage.
We just put a DIY screen door on our garage and are loving it! Screen doors are so easy to make and cheaper than buying the premade doors.

DIY Updates on Our First Home

April 10, 2019 by Eileen Leave a Comment

Before selling our home in less than a week, we did a number of simple updates on our townhome.

This was the pivotal point that Ash and I realized that we were actually handy.

From installing French doors to simple painting projects, we worked hard on our home to make it market ready.

However, we were kicking ourselves for not completely these projects sooner.

We could have enjoyed these areas of our home for much longer than a few short weeks if we hadn’t waited until we put our house on the market to make these updates.

Kitchen Updates

Our kitchen was definitely not up to par with some of the other townhomes in our neighborhood that were on the market. Ours had blue painted cabinets (which actually was pretty on point for style), yet the quality of the cabinets was poor.

We had old laminate countertops and no backsplash.

We also had this very simple pantry that was literally a nook of shelves with a curtain.

I always hated our kitchen, yet every time we had parties, that’s where everyone ended up.

Updates we did on the kitchen:

We replaced an old hanging light fixture. Replacing light fixtures is a simple way to make a huge upgrade. A new light fixture that fits the style of the room/home makes a big difference.
We took the curtains off our pantry nook and added French doors! They looked absolutely amazing. We saved money doing this too – check out how we added these French doors to our pantry.
To replace our countertops, we hired a contractor. We didn’t have much counter space and figured we would get the money back with the sale of our home. Along with the new countertops came backsplash (how to install tile backsplash). With the old cabinets and the new countertops and backsplash, it was like a brand new kitchen.
We swapped out a large table for a smaller one to fit the space better.
We added crown molding to the ceiling. Crown molding had been installed by the previous owners in most of the rooms in our home, except the kitchen. So, we finished the job!

All of these things contributed to a whole new look for our old kitchen. This is why we were kicking ourselves for waiting so long to do these updates. We only got to enjoy them for a few weeks before we moved. However, that made us realize not to wait when we got settled in our new home.

Curb Appeal Projects

In addition to landscaping and lawn maintenance, the biggest curb appeal project we did was add porch railings to our front porch.

Our home was a cookie cutter townhome in a neighborhood of homes that all looked the same. Everyone had small porches that were close to their neighbors.

In walking around the neighborhood, I noticed that the homes looked so pretty and more private with porch railings.

I picked out the materials I wanted, and Ash made this a reality.

It definitely worked wonder for our curb appeal because it was the first thing our realtor commented on.

If you are looking for other curb appeal projects, check out 4 DIYs that will increase your curb appeal.

Painting Projects

We freshened up the paint on a lot of little things in our home.

Because we had a lot of scuffed baseboards and chair rails, a fresh coat of paint worked wonders for these.

We also put fresh coats of white paint on our front and back doors. This is a great time to add a little flair to your door with a fun pop of color.

If you have any bright colored or outdated colored walls, it’s a good time to paint these neutral.

Aesthetic Updates

In addition to the above DIY projects, we also completed some very simple fixes. We swapped out faded switchplates and air vents for new ones.

This might seem unnecessary; however, if you have faded or off-colored switchplates or air vents, you will notice a huge difference when you replace them.

Another thing we did was to fill the nail holes from the pictures we had hanging up. This is an easy fix with some joint compound, sandpaper, and paint, and it’s a nice thing to do.

Last, we had a few rugs that were in bad shape stretched.

Home Binder

One last thing that we did was leave a home binder for the next homeowners. This detailed all the work we had done (with prices and personal information blacked out), so they could use the same contractors or find the same stone, paint, or flooring again if needed.

I think this is also such a nice thing to do for the next owners because it shows how much you cared about your home – and that you care enough to share it with them.

You can download my free printables to use for this below!

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Archives for April 2019

DIY Kitchen Home Improvement Projects

Wood Beam Chandelier

Kitchen Island Shiplap

Pantry Shelves Makeover

Faux Marble Countertops (Using Paint)

Under Cabinet Lighting

Painted Kitchen Cabinets

Time to Update Your Kitchen

More DIY Home Improvement Projects

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How to Prep and Prepare for a Pantry Redo

Tools and Materials

Pantry Shelving System Design

How to Prep Your Pantry

Remove Old Shelving

Applying Wallpaper

Deciding What Kind of Wood for the Pantry

How to Build Your Own Pantry System

Cutting Wood for the Pantry Closet Shelves

Building the Shelf Supports

Staining the Wood

Installing the Shelf Supports

Building the Pull Out Drawers for the Pantry

Mounting the Pantry Shelves

Installing Trim on the Pantry Shelves

Time and Cost for the DIY Pantry Shelving System

Is there more organization in the pantry now?

More Home Improvement Projects

Related DIY Projects

Before and After Pantry Pictures

Choosing a Wallpaper

Gather Your Wallpaper Materials

Prepare Your Walls

Hanging Your First Sheet of Wallpaper

Choose a Starting Point

Lay Out Wallpaper Pieces on the Floor

Slowly Peel and Stick

What do I do about windows or trim?

Continue to Peel and Stick the First Sheet of Wallpaper

What if I mess up?

Applying the Next Sheet of Wallpaper

Do I overlap my wallpaper pieces?

Continue Applying the Peel and Stick Wallpaper

Wrapping Up + Time & Cost

Was hanging the wallpaper as hard as I thought it would be?

What was the hardest part of hanging the peel and stick wallpaper?

Is the wallpaper easy to peel off?

Anything else noteworthy to mention?

Determining a Space for the Sliding Storage Shelves

Garage Storage Shelf Requirements

Preparing Space for the Garage Storage Shelves

Building the Shelf Supports

Adjusting for Sliding Garage Shelves

Constructing the Storage Shelves

Bonus Storage Shelving

Using the Sliding Storage Shelves

More Garage Ideas

Kitchen Updates

Updates we did on the kitchen:

Curb Appeal Projects

Painting Projects

Aesthetic Updates

Home Binder