New Storage Products

Written on February 11, 2010 at 9:04 am, by Order in the House (Pamela Porter)

I’m just back from the New York International Gift Fair where I spied these must-haves for organization lovers. Check out company websites for pricing details and retail locations near you!

1 .This non-shedding stoneware pup by Johathan Adler will keep your favorite reads in order. If you can’t swing the $150 price tag, check out the designer’s resin version for $40 at Barnes & Noble.

2. As a decoupage lover, I’ve always been a fan of Margaret Josephs’ cheery company The MacBeth Collection. This spring, she offers all new patterns in which to dress her wide range of metal containers.

3. Resource International uses 100% post-consumer material for these sturdy fiberboard Cargo collection of boxes, bins, and cases.

4. Because my on-the-run lunches too often consist of handfulls of M&Ms, Thorsten Van Elten won me over with this glazed earthenware dish. Ah, M&M heaven!

5. This bamboo Tuck storage box from Umbra swivels into a compact 5-inch cube. I’m also hooked on their new magnetic and beak clip bird hook.

6. Danica Studio caught my eye with their fabric-covered office accessories. Hmmm….I think an office makeover is in my near future.

7. I couldn’t resist this blue ceramic bird container from Lazy Susan. Perhaps another home for my stash of M&Ms?

8. If you love lacquer (and who doesn’t) let these accessories from Pacific Connections help you stay organized.

Here’s to Order in the House….both yours and mine! Have fun containing your clutter with these and other storage-savvy products. If you find a storage solution you can’t live without, share it with us at DIY’s page on Facebook.

Make It Monday: Clay Valentine Hearts

Written on February 8, 2010 at 4:28 pm, by East Coast Style (Sarah Goldschadt)

This year make your valentine a special gift that can be displayed year-round. The best part is it won’t break the bank, and it can be made with a few things you have around the house.

In addition to the ingredients for the flour clay, you’ll also need:

• heart-shaped cookie cutters (I used the fondant shapes from Michael’s)
• baking sheet
• parchment paper
• straws
• toothpicks
• yarn
• scissors
• paint (optional)
• polyurethane (optional)

DIY Tip: Use a straw to poke holes in the top of the shapes. Snip off the end of the straw once it’s used so each hole is clean.

Homemade Flour Clay

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• red food coloring
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions
Mix ingredients together and knead. If you choose to add food coloring, separate the “dough” into as many parts as you wish.

Use a cookie cutter to make shapes and brush egg on top.

Bake on a cookie sheet with parchment paper  at 300˚ for one hour.

Shapes can be painted with acrylic paint and finished with a polyurethane finish.

Note: This recipe made enough clay for three colors and two baking sheets full of shapes.

Meredith’s Faux-Paneled Doors

Written on February 3, 2010 at 8:43 am, by Shopgirl

If you read Do It Yourself magazine, you probably know Shopgirl. She’s our go-to gal for tips, tricks, tools, projects, and hefty doses of DIY inspiration. Meredith Ladik is one of our creative lasses behind Shopgirl, and here, she shares a beautiful repurposing project she did in her own home. Enjoy! – Team DIY

To lighten the look of my 1930s cottage, I’ve brushed many a gallon of crisp white and soft neutral paint on cabinetry, furniture, trim, picture frames, and floors. Chairs and sofas, too, were slipcovered in downy white canvas. Nevertheless, something dark and unnerving remained, lurking throughout my house’s corridors: dark-brown varnished slab doors!

Rather than replace these original, nothing-wrong-with-them doors with beyond-my-budget raised-paneled doors, I decided a fresh facelift with leftover paints mixed with a little creativity was a fun and affordable solution.

Here’s what I did:

For ease, remove your door from its hinges, placing it atop a pair of sawhorses. Remove varnish using a methylene-chloride-free citrus-gel paint remover, followed by a light sanding. Prime then paint door (I used a pale-gray color in a satin-finish), allowing it to dry and cure thoroughly. (I’d recommend a week.) Rehang door.

Plot out the size of your door’s “panels” using a tape measure; a T-square or carpenter’s ruler for straight lines and corners; a pencil; and easy-release painter’s tape.

Essentially you are taping up pairs of parallel lines that become individual “frames.” The “channel” between the two pieces of tape is where you brush on paint in a lighter color such as white and in several light coats. I used leftover high-gloss white paint that surprisingly catches light for nice highlights.

When the white paint is thoroughly dry, carefully remove the painter’s tape.

DIY Tip: As you pull off the paint, slowly and gently pull it up vertically, keeping your fingers—and force of motion—close to the door’s surface. This will hopefully prevent pulling up the paint you want left on the door.

Cicada Studio’s Michelle Engel Bencsko

Written on January 27, 2010 at 7:13 am, by Magic Touch (Angie Packer)

When we discovered the fabrics of Cicada Studios on Etsy.com (we featured Dandelions in our “Console-tation” story in the winter 2009 issue of Do It Yourself — see page 86), we just had to know more about the creative spirit behind them. So we sat down with fabric designer Michelle Engel Bencsko to find out more about what goes into her gorgeous designs, her craft, and what’s next for her on the textile horizon.

What was the inspiration behind your Dandelions?
This fabric was part of a series called Earthly Delights that I created for Cicada Studio, which is my personal retail/craft business that I operate on Etsy and Supermarket. I wanted to focus on plant life and yet keep them all rather separate from each other. I have Pussywillows (shrub), Mushrooms (fungus), Lily of the Vally (flower), and then lastly the “weed”, Dandelion. I often like to balance motifs within a collection so there’s no real duplication of an idea. Also the colors were a nice contrast to the other prints, too. This range was very influenced by the art nouveau movement — very stylized, yet organic motifs.

Fabric design — what got you started in that?
It was really just luck. I studied photography in college, but my first job afterwards was through my mother at a men’s pajama company as design assistant. I have always loved working with fabric, so it was natural I should take a position like this. I picked up things very quickly and grew from assistant to surface designer. Eventually I moved on to another company as a design director where I was responsible for creating thousands of prints and plaids in my career there. Everything I know was through experience — I had no formal training.

Where do you get your design ideas and how do you create them?
Most of my ideas are primarily referenced from nature and natural motifs. As noted above, I like to work in collections, so it becomes a bit of a puzzle to fill in blanks, too. I will often sketch ideas from what I see on a walk or a drive, or even in my back yard. If I see something that moves me, like a dandelion, I will also scour images online in order to find the perfect viewpoint. I typically kick off with one idea that I really love, then the rest start to fall into place.

While I’m familiar with different printing methods, I don’t personally print my own fabrics. Cicada Studio fabrics are digitally printed on a beautiful mid-weight cotton/linen blend that is ideal for upholstery, various crafts, or window dressing. It took me a long while to find a professional printer I could work with and who would maintain my high standards. As a result, my fabrics are very costly. I’m very excited about the fact that people buy them regardless of the price. They are truly a pleasure to sew with, and I’m glad my prints appeal to so many.

When and why did you launch the Cloud9 Fabrics line?
In the early part of 2009, I got together with a former colleague to discuss the possibility of mass producing fabrics for Cicada Studio so that I could begin selling them wholesale (digital printing costs prohibit wholesale pricing!). Within a short time, Gina, now my partner in Cloud9 Fabrics, and I formulated a business plan that was rather new to and certainly wanting in the market: organic print cottons, with eco-friendly print methods, specifically for the quilt and craft shops.

We both understood the importance of the organic cotton movement, and we were excited about being on the cusp of this growing industry. While others have been here before us, it’s our goal to help bring organics to the foreground, and we do so with competitive pricing, contemporary prints, small collections that will rotate quickly and yet tie in to each other over time. We’re building a brand in Cloud9, and we hope to broaden our scope to products down the road.

Indeed, we’re moving pretty quickly, mainly thanks to our garment production backgrounds. Cloud9 Fabrics, Inc. incorporated in March, shipped our first collection this September, our second collection is due to ship in March 2010, and we have plans for another for Fall ‘10.

Who and what inspire you?
With Cloud9 there’s lots to be inspired by: the idea of running our own business, the betterment of the cotton print industry, our children (I have two boys, Gina has a daughter and another on the way), the health of the planet and the people who work the land and process the materials. As far as theme goes, it’s always back to nature for me.

Can you offer any advice to our readers who might be considering launching a product line?
I can honestly say that I could not be doing Cloud9 without my partner. I know many people who are capable of these challenges as a whole, but for me, the key was having someone to work with. Gina is the yin to my yang. We don’t overlap, and we compliment one another.

I know this partnership is not always easy to find, and had we not worked together in the past, we probably would not find ourselves here now. But essentially, I mean to say look for opportunity and seize it. Dream big, keep your sights focused, put your goals out there, and sometimes the universe hears you. Gina and I weren’t looking for this when we found it, yet here we are today because we knew we wanted to be successful in a self-made business and we embraced the possibilities and the opportunities.

I was very capable of formulating and running Cicada Studio by myself and I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved, yet it did not grow at the rate I hoped it would, which is why I reached out. Now my primary focus is Cloud9, while Cicada Studio will hang low for a bit while I work with Gina to take the next big step there, too.  It takes work, dedication, confidence… and, oh yeah, money!

Shade Garden Fat Quarter Bundle by Cicada Studio

Wild Mushrooms Fat Quarter by Cicada Studio

Meadow from My Happy Garden Collection by Cloud9 Fabrics

Pearl from Beyond The Sea Collection by Cloud9 Fabrics

You can find Michelle on the Web at these sites:
Etsy Shop
Cicada Studio
Cloud9 Fabrics
Cicada Daydream

Team DIY Month of Storage: Tip of the Day

Written on January 26, 2010 at 10:18 am, by Team DIY

Before you recycle glass jars, consider using them as under-cabinet office storage for little things like rubber bands, thumbtacks, and paperclips. Use glue or screws to affix the jar lid to the underside of your cabinet. Now you’re ready to screw the glass jar onto the lid for easy-access storage.

This idea also works in the pantry, or, here, in our armoire-turned-pantry.

Any other fabulous storage uses for old jars? Share them here!

Team DIY Month of Storage: Tip of the Day

Written on January 20, 2010 at 9:58 am, by Team DIY

We can’t get enough of new online tools designed to help us conquer clutter in the most frustrating spaces. These digital tools offer awesome customization options. So you can map out a storage strategy for that weird space under the stairs. Or a bizarrely shaped pantry in your 1900s-era house. Or figure out a way to fit your not-so-teeny wardrobe into a teeny apartment closet. Here are a couple of our favorite tools. Hope you find them as helpful as we do!

Closetmaid’s Visual Storage Planner

Use it to customize and tackle your garage, kitchen, closet, or pretty much any other space. This tool is incredibly simple to use and it makes organizing, well, kind of fun.

 

EasyClosets.com

Easy Closets allow you to design your own closet solution or get a free closet design from a professional. Plus, measuring tips and product suggestions.

 

ClosetOrganizersUSA.com

If you’re a right-brainer, you’ll dig Closet Organizer’s online design tool. You can pick colors for shelving, even hardware styles (are you polished chrome or oil-rubbed bronze?). Bonus: The tool is really easy to use.

Team DIY Month of Storage: Tip of the Day

Written on January 14, 2010 at 7:33 am, by Team DIY

This may seem like a tiny fix-up, but you won’t believe the style it will bring to your office or craft space. And it costs zip, zilch, nada, zero!

Find your favorite scraps of wallpaper, fabric, or scrapbook paper. Pull a clean tin can out of your recycle bin. Make sure it doesn’t have any sharp edges. Cut your paper or fabric to size, then wrap it around the can. Use double-stick tape or crafts glue to attach.

Try this on a larger scale with thoroughly cleaned paint cans or coffee tins. Then, affix them to your fabulous pegboard.

Team DIY Month of Storage: Tip of the Day

Written on January 13, 2010 at 1:32 pm, by Girl's Eye View (Bethany Kohoutek)

Until some of the creative project designers buzzing around DIY HQ opened my eyes to pegboard’s possibilities, I had dismissed it as the stuff of ugly brown basements and stinky garages. Yuck.

Today I stand before you  a changed woman. I’m in the process of mapping out a new craft room, and I can assure you it will involve pegboard. Lots of pegboard.

Check out the cool ways our crafty peeps have used pegboard not only for its awesome storage and organization capabilities, but also because it’s, well, pretty!

Team DIY Month of Storage: Tip of the Day

Written on January 12, 2010 at 6:29 pm, by Team DIY

If you can’t spare an entire room to set up a workspace, consider converting an under-used closet to a hardworking mini-office area. Find (or make) a desk made especially for small spaces — thin legs, shallow surface area. Utilize wall space for storage: Corkboards wrapped in fabric make awesome bulletin boards! A hanging pendant lamp takes up zero floor and desk space.

See another closet-to-office conversion here.

Sneak Peek: Bonus Shots from Alison Warner’s DIY Cottage

Written on January 12, 2010 at 3:10 pm, by Team DIY

We shot first-time homeowner Alison Warner’s cute Michigan cottage for the spring issue of Do It Yourself magazine (the new issue hits mailboxes and newsstands today!). But it was bursting with so much color and style we couldn’t fit all of our favorite rooms into a single story. So here’s an inside peek at some bonus rooms—the bedrooms and baths—we loved but couldn’t feature in the mag.

Warner achieved the perfect balance of shabby and chic in her powder blue bedroom. We’re in love.

“I feel pretty…oh-so-pretty!” We can’t figure out how Warner doesn’t break out in song every time she sits down at her gorgeous vanity.

Check out the detail on the vanity!

The home’s cottage charm is accentuated with the damask and checkered patterns on the shower curtain and window treatments.

Warner put a fun spin on sophisticated stripes in her second bathroom with a punch of coral paint.

Which is your favorite room? Tour the rest of Alison’s house (including—spoiler alert! – an amazing faux-bois paint treatment on the dining room floor) in the spring 2010 issue of Do It Yourself magazine – on newsstands now!