REVEAL: $100 Small Bathroom Makeover!!! (Tons of ideas for inexpensive upgrades)

This DIY project was FEATURED on Rachael RAY!!! Watch the segment!

So I made over my bathroom...on a $100 budget!

You seriously have NO idea how excited I am to finally be able to show off my brand spankin' new powder room!  I couldn't be happier with how it came out especially given all the "firsts" I faced - wallpaper, beadboard, trim, building...  What makes me even happier is that I was able to come in under my $100 budget.  It's hard to believe looking at the before and after pictures that this could be done for less than one hundred buckos, but I assure you it was!

Washi Tape Storage

So a few weeks back I majorly scored on Pick Your Plum...I got 10 rolls of Washi Tape for something like $13.  Totally cleaned up, right?!   Of course, now I have a Washi Tape storage problem.  That's a fine problem to have, if you ask me.   

DIY Laundry Drying Rack (Wall Mount from Floor Standing)

Many a days I'm asked "Oh that's cool...where did you get that idea? Pinterest?" Yeah yeah yeah, I got it inspired from Pinterest, okay...what's it to ya?  But I got news for you today...I didn't get this DIY drying rack idea one from Pinterest.  No ma'am!  I actually had a moment of pure genius last week and thought this one up all.by.myself. 

If you've been following recently, you know I'm in the midst of making over my laundry room.  I'm on a tight budget and working in an even tighter space.  One of the items on my 'must have' list was a wall mounted drying rack.  With a $100 budget I was definitely going to DIY it, I just had to figure out how.

In our old house we had an actual laundry 'room'.  It wasn't pretty, but at least there was room for a foldable floor standing drying rack.  Our current laundry closet is extremely limited on space and I'm forced to hang all of my unmetionables all over the door knobs on the second floor.   Anyway, we've been storing that foldable laundry rack for years and the other day it caught my eye...it almost had a little glow around it like "TAKE ME!!! I AM THE ANSWER TO YOUR DRYING PROBLEMS".  And so...I did.

HELP!! My Laundry Closet Needs a Makeover

Perhaps it's because I've been seeing the same four walls of my house for too many consecutive days this winter...that doing laundry actually feels like a retreat most days.  It's five or ten minutes that I can hide upstairs alone when no one is asking me for a drink or to find their Batman (no the other one) or calling from the toilet that "Mommy, there's a problem" only to find out the 'problem' is that he can't get his superhero underwear (oh sorry, mask) on his head without my help.  WHAT is going on!!???!!

Oh wait, I retreat upstairs to switch the laundry and I'm faced with this and it's like WHAM BAM thank you MA'AM this is no haven this is an ugly, inefficient, and scary small laundry room closet. 

{More} Tips to Empty a Yankee Candle Jar (Pt 2)

Wow! So um...apparently I'm not the only thrifty chick trying to reuse and empty Yankee Candle jars.  The response to my original post on how to empty the candle jars was (and continues to be) overwhelming.  Many of you left tips, tricks, suggestions and even warnings of your own. 

The one suggestion I heard over and over again was to stick the Yankee Candle Jar - with the last bit of wax - in the freezer for a few hours and the wax would easily pop out in one chunk.   Well, why didn't anyone tell me?  Here I am cutting the wax into pie pieces with a knife to remove it. 

So I tried the popular freezer method and here's my take - it definitely worked, but...yes, there's a but.  After about 3 hours in the freezer, the wax at the bottom of the jar was easily able to pop off the bottom of the candle jar in one piece with a little nudge of a butter knife. The problem is many Yankee Candle jars are larger at the bottom than they are at the top.  So while the wax pops off the bottom easily in one chunk it can't fit through the smaller opening at the top.  I ended up breaking the wax up anyway.   My feeling is it's six of one half dozen of the other - unless you have a jar that's the same diameter top to bottom then go with the freezer method.

Several readers suggested putting the nearly empty Yankee Candle jar in the microwave to melt the remaining wax so it can simply be poured out.  I do not suggest this.   The bottom of the wick is attached to a small metal piece that I don't believe would be safe in the microwave.

Best {Small} Closet System to Maximize Organization and Space

If you get the 2IY Weekly Best Newsletter you've been getting sneak peeks on the major renovations in our master bedroom.  We are expanding our master bath to make it large enough for a double vanity.  But to do that we had to take about half of my ungodly small 5' reach-and-grab closet - seen on the right below.   The closet project was sort of an after thought for me - something that just had to be done because, let's be honest, ain't no girl around that's gonna make it with 2 feet of closet space.

Master Bathroom Renovations Tour {and my purchase list}

I'm so excited to finally be able to say we have a start date for the renovations on our master bathroom.  This is definitely not a DIY project - although I'm sure it will produce a few. 

Basically we are expanding our bathroom to make enough room for a double vanity ending our twice daily ritual of the toothbrush/facewash/hair styling dance around the mirror and sink.

When we first thought about making renovations to the bathroom we were told it would be major construction (and cost) and would entail cutting and bumping into the guest room which shares a wall with our master bathroom.  But I'm happy to say we've figured out a way to not disrupt the bathroom at all except for the vanity area.   Okay so...here's a little looksy look into what's happening.

Here's our master bathroom now.

Small single vanity

You can see it's pretty small and storage is minimal. 

DIY Boot Rack in 15 Minutes

It's fall and that means it's boot weather.  I must have acquired about five new pairs of boots last year and already they're spilling all over the floor of my tiny closet (you know the one that's about to get even smaller due to our master bathroom renovations).  Anyway...this boot debacle calls for some organization in the way of a DIY boot rack.

Boot racks or boot stands sell on the cheaper end at stores like Target for about $25.  Martha Stewart's version goes for upwards of $99 (are you kiddin' me?!). 
This baby, my friends, cost me just a few dollars and about 15 minutes.   It was seriously the easiest and fastest project I've done in awhile....meaning like I squeezed it between two blog posts, lunch, and folding clothes during one nap time!

I already had everything on hand, but if you don't just pick up some lumber for the base (a 1x6 would be perfect) and a large diameter dowels.  Mine were all different sizes, because like I said, I just scrounged up what I could find lying around the basement and the garage.

DIY kitchen storage ideas: Repurpose food containers

If you're like I was you have a few stray baggies of spice mixtures or rubs you've mixed up (lucky you if you actually labeled them) and/or perhaps a half-used open-so-long-it-won't-close-correctly box of this or that in your pantry.  That was me - and I'm here to tell you all is not wrong with the world (or even your kitchen).

How to transfer text to wood without a stencil

There are several different methods to transfer text or ink to wood.   I have used the wax paper transfer method which works well if you have a large amount of text.  But since you print on wax paper, and then bring water into the equation, you run the risk of smudges and smears.

Rescuing family furniture pieces from the dump

Hi All,

I'm back from 10 glorious days at the beach with my family.  We had a great time biking, kayaking, enjoying the beach, swimming in the pool, and even a trip to
Home Depot for the kids workshop. (They're free the first Saturday of every month 9-12 at every HD!) 

Of course, I also spent some time dreaming up a few new projects....not to mention gathering some new materials. 

My family is in the process of selling my late grandparents' beach house and in doing so needs to empty the house.  Of course, I'm helping hoarding.  (They can thank me later!)

Anyway, I took it as an opportunity to rescue a few pieces of old family furniture from making their next home at the dump.  The mister isn't too happy that I brought home this old tool box (or as he calls it "junk") and that I've claimed a dresser...errr, three (shhh!), a nightstand, two lamp shades, some lawn tools, a full size headboard and footboard and an antique sewing machine that was my great grandmother's. 

His argument is that we already have most this stuff - only 50 years newer - and we don't have room for it all. Well, my dear, one of these days you will learn to embrace my inner hoarder, because it's just the nature of a DIYer.

15 totally awesome DIY wood dowel projects

I have been using dowels a lot lately and while simple wooden rods may not seem too exciting at first...let me tell you these inexpensive babies have massive potential and diversity for DIYers and crafters.  I have used them for everything from a toilet paper holder to a jewelry organizer to Pottery Barn knockoff.

A craft supply caddy I created with a dowel as a ribbon holder caught the eye of the editors over at the DIY home and garden website, Hometalk, and they asked me to create a featured clip board of some of the best DIY Dowel Projects.  Of course, I jumped at the chance and let me tell you there are some totally awesome crafters out there using dowels in some really creative ways.

First, here's a quick recap of how I've used wooden dowels...

Picture Frame Jewelry Organizer

DIY Toilet Paper Holder

July 4th Paper Stars

Craft Supply Caddy

Burlap Flag (Pottery Barn inspired)

And now some of my favorite dowel projects from bloggers around Hometalk:

Thistle Bird Feeder:  Using a plastic soda bottle and a dowel, Linda at Crafts A La Mode created a really cool and simple bird feeder.  She cut (or in her case, melted) holes in the bottle then stuck a dowel through to create a perch for birds to feed on the bird seed she filled inside the bottle.  Full tutorial...



Necktie SunBurst Clock:  Wouldn't this necktie clock be so cool for a man's office or a big walk in closet (of course, not mine since I have an insanely small - yet organized - closet).  Jessica at Dear Emmeline is a straight up genius when it comes to dowels, as I promise you'll see.   In this project - which I'll let her full explain in the full tutorial - she used dowels as supports to keep the shape of the necktie sunburst.


Embroidery Hoop Pendant Light:  Can I tell you how excited I was when I found this light? I came across something very similar in the Restoration Hardware catalog a few weeks back and I, too, imagined using embroidery hoops to create the knockoff version.  Lucky for me - and you - Jessica at Dear Emmeline has done all the work for us by providing the step-by-step DIY tutorial.   She used square dowels as part of the hanging mechanism.  See...this is why this girl is my new dowel hero!



Pumpkin Topiary:  This is one of those projects that you can stick in your back pocket until it's time to clear off the tiered front porch planters and replace them with pumpkins.  Jennifer at Decorating Made Easy used a dowel to create a gorgeous and very festive pumpkin topiary complete with a monogram.  How awesome would this look on your front step?   I'm thinking I'll be doing this one come September or October.  If you'd like to too, here's the DIY pumpkin tutorial.


Spring Topiary: While we're talking topiaries, Shanna at Restoration Redoux has put together a beautiful and bright sprint topiary.  She uses a wooden dowel to support the large flower bloom, but takes some of the weight off the dowel, by adding sand to her pot.  What a great idea and a perfect usage for a dowel.   For the easy spring topiary tutorial click here.
 

Ribbon Storage - Marty at Marty's Musings has some major ribbon
love so it's a good thing she is also not afraid to use a dowel - or five!  She's created a great system to store her dozens of spools of ribbon by hanging dowels horizontally on the wall.  This keeps her ribbons neat, untangled, easy to access, and out of the way.   For more on how to create this super easy ribbon tutorial storage project click here. 


DIY Curtain Rod:  Curtain rods can be so expensive - which is part most of the reason at least three rooms in my house still have naked windows 2+ years after we moved in.  Okay, maybe being a busy SAHM to two kids under 5 is also to blame. But...now that I know Jessica (at Dear Emmeline's) trick to creating fast and easy customizable curtain rods I have no excuses.   Jessica shows us how to cut down a dowel to fit the exact dimensions of a window, spray paint the dowel, then add drawer pulls to each end = instant curtain rod.  How freakin' great is this? Yeah, I thought it was pretty freakin' great too which is why I'm currently working on three for three different rooms.  I told you Jessica is nothing short of a genius! Full Tutorial...

Outdoor Tuna Can Lanterns: Diane over at In My Own Style has come up with a great way to make creative inexpensive outdoor lights that don't look like they were made from a dowel or a tuna can.  Yet, that's exactly what she did to light up her beautiful backyard.  For the full tutorial on these DIY lanterns click here.

West Elm-Inspired Wood Tile Dresser: This is like playing a game of "can you spot the dowel."  This use of a dowel was so ingenious I didn't even recognize it as a wooden rod.  Amanda at Love and Renovations created this stunning dresser and used wooden dowels as the drawer pulls.  They are disguised under a coat or two of oil rubbed bronze and I can assure you they saved her more than a few dollars.  Absolutely stunning...yes, I'm drooling over here! 

Idea Board from a Mirror Frame:  Suzanne at Pieced Pastimes used the frame of an old dresser mirror to create a beautiful vintage idea board.  She inserted dowels across the front to hang clips from so she can easily change out cards, tags, or embellishments.  Absolutely gorgeous piece and a great way to incorporate dowels. 

Well, that's it for today ... I certainly hope you've been inspired to use dowels in your crafting and DIY adventures.

Thanks for stopping by Two It Yourself.  If you like what you see we'd love for you to Pin it and share it with the world.  Also, join us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and, of course, Hometalk...whew that's a mouthful...but, yes, we're everywhere!

Posted by: Melissa

How to make a jewelry organizer from a picture frame

How is it that my 4 year old daughter has more jewelry than me?? Granted most of hers came from birthday party goodie bags and mine has come from my too-good-to-me husband, but the girl's jewelry box is seriously overflowing.  That's why I am so happy I have finally gotten around to making her the jewelry organizer that I've been planning.

This DIY jewelry organizer is super easy - and if you add a ribbon to one of the wood dowels - it doubles as a hair accessories organizer so it's like the ultimate.  The part I love best is just how simple it was to make.  All you need is a picture frame and some dowels (or one long dowel cut into a few sections).

For months I knew I would be making some kind of jewelry organizer out of his old silver frame.

 I wasn't sure what I would use for the actual jewelry to hang on, but when I was tasked by Hometalk to create a portfolio of dowel projects...a lightbulb went off.

Chalkboard stickers: Easy DIY tutorial

Chalkboard paint is all the rage these days.  In our old house, I used it to paint a big chalkboard right on the wall - my daughter loved it, the white carpet directly below...not so much!   While I haven't put it on the walls of our new house, I recently bought a new bottle of chalkboard paint and today I finally figured out exactly how I would use it!

I have been thinking and thinking and thinking about how I could label the new DIY clothdrop covered baskets in my craftroom and was wanting to
incorporate the chalkboard paint.  I really didn't want to buy any more materials so I kept putting the project off....but, I also had to pull every unlabeled basket off the shelves to find anything. (Annoying!)  Finally, the craft gods came through today as I was cleaning out some old scrapbooking items and came across two packs of luggage tag-looking stickers -- chalkboard paint stickers, of course!  If you can't find tag-shaped stickers, you could even use large address stickers and cut off the corners on one side to create the same shape.

Repurposed desk and hutch into craft table and shelving

And the craft room makeover continues...but I have to say I'm finally making some major advances.  I've done the little stuff while I literally watch the paint dry - like make these awesome thought bubble pharmacy jars or these drop cloth covered storage boxes or this lazy susan craft caddy - but now I am finally moving and grooving and my craft room is beginning to take shape.

If you've been following along, this was our office/guest room.  To say it needed some organizing...is, well, a vast understatement.

Free printable labels: Thought bubble labels in two sizes

Who doesn't love them some free printable labels? I created a set of super cute thought bubble labels that can be used in a variety of ways.  I mod podged them to glass jars and use them for craft supply storage, but you can use them however you want.

They are available in two sizes and I two different sets - one let of printable labels that are pre-filled with craft related items and another blank set that you can customize.

You could use them for kids art supplies, on canisters in the kitchen, in the pantry or to labels storage boxes in a medicine cabinet or linen closet.

 

I'd love to see how you use the thought bubble labels.  Just share a link to you blog post with a picture in the comments section below. 

As always, thanks for stopping by 2IY. 

Posted by: Melissa

How to turn glass jars into DIY pharmacy jars with labels

I've been stockpiling glass jars for weeks now - saving everything from peanut butter jars to salsa containers and spaghetti sauce jars.  The reason for my hoarding?? I need cheap, see-through storage with lids for my growing craft supplies.  Storage containers aren't necessarily expensive, but when you can make them for free or pennies, why not especially when they look like these cool pharmacy jars.

The easiest way to turn glass jars into storage is to soak them in water and then use a sponge to peel of off the label.  It can be that easy and if you're just getting started or have no desire to make them fancy - then by all means stop there.

But I'm into cute and "collections" and so I needed a way to bring my hodge podge of different size containers together.   Plus, I wanted to take the cuteness factor up a notch on the scale...you feel me??

Sneak peek of what's ahead this week: Hint - think Father's Day

We have had lots of on-going projects recently and this week we'll finally be able to reveal some of them including an awesome DIY Father's Day gift your dad or Father-in-law or Grandfather or husband will absolutely love. Plus, we've made some major progress on the craft room makeover that you won't want to miss.

Here's a little sneak peek of what's ahead this week...

 

As always, thanks for stopping by 2IY. 

Posted by: Melissa

Turn boxes into pretty storage for pennies

With the master bedroom makeover nearly complete I've now turned my attention to the guest room which will soon be the guest room/craft room.   If ever there was a room in need of a do-over....I'll let the picture speak for itself.

I've never had a designated craft room so I'm super excited.  I've got big plans for this room and I'm sooooo anxious to start revealing them to you.  The big project is the office desk which I'm turning into a craft table by taking off the hutch and using the parts to create shelving for the room.

The shelves will be a big part of my storage space so, of course, I need storage boxes.  But do you think this thrifty sister is spending my money on boxes to store paint - ain't no way!  Next best thing - make boxes.