How To: Cheap and Easy Vanity Table DIY

This little pseudo-vanity table is one of my favorite parts of my tiny little room. Most pre-built vanities I looked at were insanely expensive... Come on, we've all drooled over them on Pinterest - you know what I'm talking about. As a recent grad, it was a bit (read: WAY) out of my budget to spend more on what is essentially a table with some built-in drawers and a mirror than I do on my monthly car payment.

And then I realized wait, it's a table with some built-in drawers and a mirror. I can totally make that. Or at least fake it. Et voila!

Table: $5 at a sample sale (it's seriously 3 pieces of wood glued/screwed together, ultra easy to DIY)

Gold box: $2 also from sample sale (again, spray paint a cheap Joanns tray for another easy DIY)

Mirror: reused from this home DIY from my last apartment

Plastic drawers: Target for like $15 bucks

Chair: "gifted" from my dad - go thrift one that fits your table for super cheap!

The gold tray on top of the drawers holds all of the things I use daily: face lotion, eye cream, body lotion, deodorant, perfume, etc. My hair tools, make up, and masques/specialty lotions/etc live in the drawers.

Yes, the plastic drawers are a tad janky and should probably be replaced with some decent looking ones (or painted/have a cool scrapbook paper makeover!). Yes, it's not very ornate and the chair doesn't "match". But it's got plenty of natural light, more than enough storage, outlets to plug in my hair dryer/curler, and cost like 40 bucks! I'll take it!

And yes, that "hand of God" pencil drawing is there to stay (it's actually a pencil study that a right handed art student did of his left hand lying on the table). I weirdly love its creepiness.

Gratuitous selfie... Yes I'm way pale, and no my hair is so not really that dark...

DIY Home Inspiration: 6 Easy Ways To Update Your Kitchen

First off, here's where I should be announcing who gets a $10 gift certificate from me for winning my riddle challenge. However, no one's even attempted soooooo here's a hint: 26.

Secondly, have I mentioned yet how much I love love love these LEAF videos? The ladies behind them are just genius. And their latest video is a home run for someone (like me) who can't exactly renovate their entire kitchen.

DIY Home: Colorblock Framed Mirror

One, happy Spring!!
Two, know what one of the best things about having your own place is? Being able to paint a square of wall this pretty bright yellow, and no one can say anything about it!

What you need:
A mirror
Painter's tape
Bright paint (those 8oz paint samples are perfect for this)
Paintbrush
Drop cloth (newspapers works just fine)
Screwdriver/screws
Hooks or drawer knobs (I got mine at World Market)

What you do:
1) Start off with an area that is in desperate need of color. Even a pretty mirror doesn't make this area less boring...

2) Hang your mirror and tape off an area around it, making sure you're leaving extra room at the bottom for hooks and that you're square (though a circle or triangle frame could also be super cool!). Sorry for the dumb face and masking tape. I was really excited, and it was all I had...

Oh, and ever wonder what camera I use? No? Well, this little point-and-shoot is it.

3) Take down your mirror (but leave in the screw!) and carefully paint in that box. My paint said to do at least two coats, waiting an hour or two between. I kind of liked the post modernism of just a huge yellow square on my wall...

4) Hang your mirror back up. Mark where you want your hooks to go, and screw them in.

5) Done! Seriously brightens up this dark corner in my apartment.

I kind of think it needs something else though. I'm tempted to paint the border of the mirror in another bright color, or add a chalk paint trim... what do you think??

DIY: Cork Flower Pot Dish

Let's talk plants. I put up this beautiful glass shelf a couple weeks ago in my dining nook to hold all my plants, but hated the thought of hiding it under a bunch of ugly flower pots and dishes. Enter my solution!

Cork! It fits with my neutral/white/pops of color thing I've got going on in my kitchen and living area, and is low-profile enough to not take away from all my pretty plants! The cork naturally absorbs water that might leak out from the soil, saving your shelf. However, I definitely recommend watering your plants in the sink and letting them drain there for a few minutes.

I took a roll of cork (you can get it at pretty much any crafts store), traced and cut out circles, and that was it! I made a few sizes, so you can see some...

...and others are pretty hidden! I couldn't help but hide this little adorable little owl along with it.. 

Another good flowerpot dish? A teacup and saucer! I just plopped this little guy and his pot inside this teacup and that's it!

DIY Home: Fireplace Mantle Shelf

Have I mentioned yet that I love my new apartment and its fireplace? I didn't, however, love the fact that there wasn't a mantle shelf above it. Girl's gotta have a place to put all her fancy art (well, once I get some...)!

To make matters worse, it's not only an awkward length that apparently no pre-made shelfs would fit, but there also weren't any studs in the wall to hang it from anyways. So, I just had to make one.

Super tall ceilings + no shelf + no art = boooooring!

SO much better!

What you need:
Wood board
Shelf brackets
Screws
Studfinder (if no studs, get screws specifically for drywall installation)
Sandpaper
Stain and/or varnish

What you do:
1) Measure your fireplace width, then add a few inches on either side. I only added 5, so that it would end right over the brackets on either end, and not extend beyond the edges.

2) Determine how deep you want your shelf to be. Keep in mind that if your fireplace is relatively small  like mine, you don't want a huge shelf to totally overwhelm it.

3) Pick out the type of wood you want, and get it cut down to size (yay Home Depot!). I chose Aspen since I liked how light it was and I knew I wouldn't be applying a stain.

4) Since most freshly cut pieces of wood look something like this...

...lightly sand your new shelf. Stain and varnish if desired (I didn't since it's so darn cold outside and you DO NOT want to have all those fumes inside).

Oops, kind of over-sanded that corner... but at least no splinters!

5) Install your brackets, ensuring they're level and that you're drilling into studs. While this isn't super important for small pictures, screwing into a stud is essential for any heavy/load-bearing wall items like shelves.

6) Place your board on top of the brackets and attach using small screws. These are really just to keep the shelf from sliding off the brackets, so don't need to be super duper heavy duty.

Pro-tip: don't completely tighten each screw one at a time. Partially screw them all in, then go around and tighten them all gradually.

7) Place art and DIYed match bottles (look, I made another one!) and a giant calendar on your new shelf. It's obviously a bit bare right now, but hey, art will definitely be DIYed in the near future!

DIY: Valentine's Dreamcatcher

I've always felt a weird aversion to theme-y DIYs. They always look so cute in pictures, but so horribly  cheesy in my living room. So I tend to avoid them like the plague.

Buuuuut with all of these sparkly things leftover from projects past, I couldn't help myself. Especially since it would make for such a horrible pun about catching the man of my dreams for Valentine's... But I'll try to restrain myself....

What you need:
Embroidery thread or yarn
Rhinestones and beads
Embroidery hoop
Glue
Scissors

What you do:
1) Tie thread around the edges of the embroidery hoop at random.

2) String some beads or rhinestones along some of the threads. I had rhinestones that had two holes, so I used two threads to suspend a couple, and then let a couple hang down. You could also tie knots on either side of the bead to keep them in place.

3) Wrap some thread around the embroidery hoop if desired.

4) Glue all the loose ends to the back of the hoop.

5) Hang up! Hint: Oh look, a preview of an upcoming apartment decor post :)

DIY Home Inspiration: Wall Decals

My apartment has 20 foot ceilings in the living room, so I've been looking for a giant piece of art to put above my mantle to fill all that space. Unfortunately, art pieces that big are slightly outside my budget. Okay, so what about wall decals?

I've always thought wall decals were a little tacky. Most are flowers, butterflies, or "inspirational quotes" with the words "live, laugh, love" somehow incorporated. Booooooring.

And then came Blik. I'm going to thrift a giant cheap frame, take everything out of it, hang the frame above my mantle, slap one of these (surprisingly affordable) beauties inside it, and I've got myself a statement piece of art.

Or how about using these bad boys as a headboard or mirror frame? So. In. Love.

For all the old school video game geeks out there (woohoo!) they also have huuuuge Super Mario Bros, Pacman, Asteroids, and Space Invader wall decals. Still don't see anything you'd like? That's alright, cause you can just DESIGN YOUR OWN.

DIY: Matchstick Bottle

You know those times when the name you come up with for something is not nearly as awesome as the thing itself is? Yeah, this is another one of those times. I've been going through matches like crazy recently since I moved into my new fireplaced apartment, and their box isn't exactly display-worthy. So I made a matchstick bottle with a built-in strike surface.

What you need:
Matches and their box
Scissors
Glue
Any ol' bottle (I actually used a soap dispenser I found for cheap at Target)
A cap or cork of some sort

What you do:
1) Cut the striking bit off the matchbox.

2) Glue it onto the bottom of the bottle, being careful not to get glue on the actual striking surface.

3) Once dry, fill the bottle with matches.

4) Top it off with the cork and you're good to go! I can't wait to DIY a mantle above my fireplace so this guy will have a real home (currently living on my new-to-me entertainment center). It's in the works!