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Indoor Splatter Painting–If your room’s not messy enough already…

in DIY/Home
Splatter painted tray, fully loaded

So, I got this pair of vintage metal catalog drawers, and wanted a cutting board on top that would roughly match the hideous faux-wood formica of my ancient counter tops. Foolishly, I went on a spree of purchasing cutting boards without taking any measurements. “This looks about right!” isn’t science, but it is how I roll. I ended up with a big pile ‘o’ cutting boards including one that worked and a bunch that were returned. Alas, there was one online purchase that was a bit bothersome to send back. (To be fair, I did measure this one, but Amazon…

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DIY: Canvas Sneakers with some 70s Stripes

in DIY/Fashion
my seventies sneakers at the park

One of my biggest obsessions from one of my favorite decades, the seventies, is the graphic design motif of bold, colorful stripes, often cozied up next to one another in a rainbow or half rainbow. I decided I had to get this look on to my feet somehow, hence these babies: Interestingly, they also look kinda nineties since those bold stripes reared their heads in that decade too… and again now… and forever… because that’s how these trend things work. Keep reading for some how-to info. While I opted to combine the stripes into one ribbon and sew them on,…

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Trash Your Home – In a Good Way!

in DIY/Home
vintage lamp in an alley

One gal’s trash is another gal’s favorite end table. Nine furniture items in my apartment are from the curb or the alley. These include items I found as a teenager and things I’ve acquired since. They include items I’ve spruced up and items that are as-is. This post is in defense of trash. I say “in defense of” because I definitely still meet those of little faith. One of my favorite finds was the retro three shade multi-directional floor lamp that you see in the header. My ex was with me when I swooped on it, and pleaded with me…

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DIY Some Clouds to Sleep In

in DIY/Home
Katinka in her cloud bed

So, about those bedsheets that I’m always losing my books in… I customized some sheets for my bed a couple years ago, choosing to do a dyeing technique that can have an appearance ranging from cloudy to rocky. This particular style appealed to me partly because I found it beautiful, and partly because: “Hey, this won’t show as much dirt as plain white sheets.” The technique is called “low water immersion dyeing” and not only can it produce a range of lovely effects, but it’s also a very NON-messy dyeing project! I gathered my own information on the technique from…

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Two Items to Class Up a Dumpy Apartment Bathtub

in DIY/Home

I love my high ceilinged studio, I do. But there are always some caveats to rentalhood. A rather common one is getting stuck with a bathroom setup that you don’t have much wiggle room to redo under your average rental agreement. Earlier in the year, I repainted mine after being blessed by my apartment masters with a shiny resealed sink. I naively thought “This bright white paint and adobe accent wall are going to make my tiny bathroom look like another dimension!” And then… Huh. Still pretty painfully blah. After investigating the option of taking off the very hateable shower…

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Needs More Glitter: Roller Skates

in DIY/Fashion
disco glitter roller skates metallic iridescent sequins

Last time I went to a birthday party at the roller rink, some little kid came up to me and said “Boring skates, dude!” and then pointed and laughed at my skates. Ok, that didn’t happen. But! It’s the stuff of my nightmares and that imaginary Bully would’ve had a point, because man are these skates lame. Embellished skates are nothing new, though I’m more familiar with the bladed variety, being an ice skater. So I think it’s time to level up these $5 thrift store skates that have been with me since my high school days. I picked out…

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Reminder: A Lot of Chokers are Just Ribbons with Good PR

in DIY/Fashion

Chokers have been baa-aaack for awhile now. (Where’d they go anyway?! They’re the best!) And now they’ve trickled down into all the fastest of fast fashion stores. Yet, I frequently see plain ribbon or string chokers priced at around… $15-20! Wait, what? (Or if you wanna get real crazy, Bartoli sells ribbon chokers for $115 if that’s your jam.) Get thee to a place that sells ribbons and you can have a few foxy, unique chokers for pocket change! Let’s start with the lariat style choker which was one of the first ribbons I saw priced up. These are the…

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DIY Flashy Summer Shades

in DIY/Fashion

I pined for some pineapple sunglasses this year, but most of the novelty shapes I found were cheapo party favors for luaus, unfit for day-to-day. Additionally, most of them would’ve shipped from China and arrived here right as summer is winding down. So I took matters into my own hands and you can too! Do you have extra sunglasses lyin’ around? Old ones you don’t wear? I sure did! My sunglasses drawer not only yielded a pair for this project, but was in dire need of a clean out. Here are the wayfarer style glasses I ended up working with…

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