While in the paint store the other day, a lady looked at my samples and said to me with a smile, “Choosing a paint color is more difficult than buying a car.”
I laughed, looking down at my dozens of shades of blues and greens.
I was sitting in the paint store with my toddler (who behaves perfectly when he gets to choose his own paint chip at the end) looking through samples of whites and greens, in an attempt to choose colors for my parents’ living and dining room.
Also in hand, I had a sample of the flooring we were putting in, and I was trying to envision the white chair rail running through the dining room. It was a little overwhelming!
You see, my sister decided to redo my parents living room and dining room while they were on vacation, so we were making all of the remodeling choices, leaving my desk looking like this:
Rather than dumping all the paint chips and floor samples in a drawer, I wanted to have everything organized for my parents – so they could see the exact paint colors and flooring sample we used, for their own reference. Thus, my DIY home improvement printables were born!
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place to store your paint chips and room samples along with notes on the work you did or had done in your home? Heck yeah! And, I needed this organization for my own home too.
Keep Your Home Improvement Efforts Organized
I created these free DIY home improvement printables that I used for my parents house as well as my home – to store all of the home improvement updates in one, easy-to-access place.
Not only will the home improvement printables keep a reference of paint colors and floor samples, but it serves as a record for all of your house projects and repairs. I divided the worksheets into three categories – interior, exterior, and appliances.
You can keep a log of the home improvement work you or your contractor completed by room (including walls, floors, cabinets, countertops). This serves as your paint color reference too.
You can keep your exterior work organized (tree work, siding, roof, etc), and appliance maintenance (including when they were serviced/replaced and contractor information). The DIY home improvement printables keep all of these records organized in one place.
Also, you can download all of the worksheets in one download, or you can download just the pages you need, but these printables will have you organized in no time!
Simply hole punch them or put the printables in a sheet protector and place them in a binder, according to section. You can also keep contractor receipts and records, stored behind the log of the work done.
No more digging through file folders looking for the contractor that installed your fans. No more searching the garage for that leftover can of paint that may or may not exist.
And, the best part?
Down the road, when you go to put your house on the market, you can leave out the bound home improvement printables for your showings. It will show prospective buyers that you took great care of your home and are leaving them with information that goes above and beyond.
With all of the time you spend updating your home – choosing paint colors, installing new flooring, researching contractors, you owe it to yourself to keep all of this home improvement information in one easy-to-find place.
All of your home improvement updates, records, and files can be placed in this binder, in an organized, seamless fashion.
Materials for DIY Wall Art
Budget-Friendly Tip – When buying the canvases, paint, and other materials from the craft stores, check for sales and coupons before going. A lot of times the craft stores run 40%-60% off canvases. You could also use a coupon and buy a pack in bulk. Some craft stores even have surveys you can fill out that gives you a discount off of your next purchase.
Because the vehicle stickers from 
Making the Wall Decorations
Painting the Canvases
On my first attempt, I used painter’s tape and then painted the blue stripes – and I got a very imperfect line. After a bunch of experimenting (even tried gesso – which made no impact), this is how I got perfect stripes.
Now, some of my blue stripes were streaked with white from the seal I painted, but I much preferred going over the stripe again rather than having a jagged edge.
Last, I felt that some of the canvases needed a little extra touch. I saw some cool washi tape at the craft store and added it to the canvases.
I’ve never used washi tape before, but I’ve seen so many cute creations with it that I thought I could use the washi tape to give the look of roads, construction signs, and railroads. It was the perfect touch!
Time & Cost
The following projects are simple DIYs and will undoubtedly increase your home’s curb appeal.
For only a weekend of work, we sure reaped the benefits of that project.
It was an easy project – lots of digging and carrying stones. Yet, in just two weekends, we had a fabulous stone walkway. The hardest part of the project wasn’t the labor involved in making the path but carrying all those stones.
If your home is missing a direct path to your front door, or if you are looking for a pathway that’s simple to maintain, check out our 
In fixing ours, we realized just how straightforward it was – and what a huge impact it had on our curb appeal. A little fresh paint and a brand new post made our beautiful orange tulips finally feel at home. A mailbox makeover is a simple project that you can do in a weekend, and it will definitely impress the neighborhood.
Check out our four favorites – a photobook of commonly-used sayings, quotations from various countries of travel, a Seinfeld-themed book, and special occasion photobooks. Then, see how you can easily make a DIY photo book for the ones you love.
The sayings were so funny to hear. I mean Ash talking in a Jamaican accent alone was cracking me up.
Here are a few from Jamaica – Ash loves the picture on the right of the photo book. He’s climbing a fallen tree after a huge hurricane hit.
The DIY photo book went all the way to present day in New York. I just adore the wedding picture of my sister-in-law and father-in-law with the phrase, “Anything can happen in a New York minute.” So beautiful and true 🙂
We included photos with all the grandchildren and phrases like “hold your horses” and “pretty darn quick” that are unique to the United States.
The photo below is one of my favorites. We were at a family get together and someone took this candid shot of us. I mean, look at each of those faces! After all these years, we finally found the perfect Seinfeld quote to go with it.
And, of course, we had to include “close-talker” in the DIY photo book.
We tried to limit the quotes and photos in the picture book to 30 in honor of 30 years. Yet, with all of the funny Seinfeld quotes and pictures we had collected, 30 was a drop in the bucket. The Seinfeld DIY photo book ended up being much longer (and hilarious).
To keep everything organized in the DIY photo books, as far as quotes and pictures, we used Google docs. You can easily share this with others. So, we made a simple spreadsheet of quotes and then wrote a description of picture we planned to use. This kept everything organized and sequenced properly.
I love having my son make things for others. Even more, I love having him create something with a specific person in mind – say Nana – he’ll pick out all of the colors Nana likes, the stickers she likes, and create something special with her in mind. I think it teaches such an important lesson.
How to Make Tissue Paper Suncatchers
Materials for Tissue Paper Suncatchers
I usually keep a stack of small dollar store bins or buckets in my office/craft room. I use these to organize our kids crafts as they are happening. For example, I’ll have scissors/pens in one bin, tissue paper in another bin, etc.
Preparation
Next, you will need two pieces of contact paper of roughly the same size for each suncatcher. You can prepare these ahead of time or cut as you go.
You can turn this into a fun sorting activity – and have your child sort the colors into piles.
Oddly enough, my son’s favorite colors are brown and black. Every time he goes to make a card for someone, he colors in brown or black marker. His Easter cards featured a cute pastel bunny with black and brown scribbles across it. 😉
After we covered enough of the surface of the contact paper with tissue, it was time to put the second sheet of contact paper down.
I used a regular pen and drew lightly, in case any lines were still there after I cut.
As an alternative to this, you can draw your shape or picture right onto the contact paper. I freehanded a train for his train-loving Pop.
Once we were finished drawing the shape, I cut it out. While I cut, my son picked the next cookie cutter shape. Then, we taped each one to the window.
Depending upon how old your children are, they might be able to do most of this themselves, and you can just supervise. My son is still little, but I very much made him a part of every step.
We are giving them to family members to go with the thank you notes for my son’s Easter goodies; yet, the tissue paper suncatchers would also serve as a perfect mother’s day gift for mom or grandma or a father’s day gift, too.
1. Choose 3-5 DIY party ideas and that’s it.
For my friend’s son’s 
Definitely browse Pinterest or Google images to see what’s been done before. This will help you to brainstorm or even emulate ideas.
Also, prioritize your list, so that if you don’t get to everything, you aren’t disappointed.
For kids’ DIY parties, think easy. Kids love coloring or craft stations, playing with trucks in the sand, or having an egg race.
I had all of the decorations and games finished early, so the week of the party, I could focus on cooking and cleaning.
Speaking of the Dollar Tree, it wouldn’t be a section on shopping smart without mentioning that this chain has the best selection of all the dollar stores. Dollar Tree has all kinds of books and games. Their party section doesn’t disappoint: table cloths, paper products in various colors, pom-poms, and all kinds of other party goodies.
You could also use the popsicle stick markers to create little signs for the hunt – such as follow the path to the backyard signs or “Bunny Crossing” signs. They are another easy Easter bunny craft that you could do with your kids.
5. Popsicle Stick Bunny Easter Crafts
1. Raised Planter Box with a Rain Barrel
With the gardening tools, outdoor toys and furniture, and riding mower moved to the shed, our garage is much more organized.
In our second home, we had no direct path from our patio into the yard. It was more like a downhill, rocky nature walk.
Both backyard projects took a weekend or less and definitely had impacting results.
If you are looking to make your life a little easier throughout the warmer months, think about undertaking one of these DIY backyard projects.
Materials for the Burlap Banner:
How to Make a Burlap Banner
Making the Stencil
For the stripes, I used strips of scotch tape to create the lines. Then, I just dabbed on the green paint onto the burlap.
I also recommend doing a test with the colors/stencils you will be using. I tried a few different shades of green to see what would work best – and a few different shapes to see how they would look. 
Pictured below is the edge of my desk, with my stencil and scotch tape strips. Rather than use a ridiculous amount of tape, I used the same four strips over and over, and I hung them here while not in use.
I also went back and forth with painting a shamrock, then stripes – this gave the stencils/tape a little dry time before more use.
Connecting the Pennants
So, I lined up my stripes and shamrocks in the order I liked and flipped them over for gluing.
I LOVED the way the sign turned out – it was so festive and added much more to our mantel than some of the store-bought St. Patrick’s Day decorations.
It was a total naptime creation, with time to spare 🙂