Team DIY

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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Awesome Storage Finds on Etsy

Written on January 8, 2010 at 12:03 pm, by Team DIY

Here at DIY headquarters, we’ve got storage on the brain. It could be because the hectic holidays are over and we’re packing up our Christmas decor or maybe the arctic temps have us itching for spring—even if it does come with a little cleaning. Whatever the cause, Team DIY is ready to get orderly and organized. And we’re turning to some unexpected friends for help.
Artists.

They’re the last people you’d probably turn to for help cutting the clutter in your home. Until now. We’ve discovered a few new friends over at Etsy who are catering to our craving storage products that are actually stylish.

We’re in love with this hand-printed canister ($32) from Acero Studio. It would be perfect for storing sugar, flour, coffee, tea, or even pastas in the kitchen. Plus, it’s dishwasher safe for easy cleaning.

No two of these ultra-mod bookcases ($150) built by Furniture From Red are ever the same. We love the asymmetrical angles of the shelves and the fun colors they come in

Create streamlined style on your shelves with the help of baskets or bins like these sweet little things ($38.99) from Sewing Momma. Check out the whimsical detail in the fabric rosettes, wool trees, and hand-stitched stems and tree trunks.

Take it from Team DIY project designer Debra Wittrup, labeling makes life easy. That’s why we love Bradens Grave Wall Art. Apply these removable, repositionable, and erasable chalkboard labels ($10 for a set of 12) to any smooth surface for instant organization

We can think of about a million ways to use these felted nesting bowls ($144 for a set of three) from Papaver Vert for storage around the house. Set them on your bedside table for spare change. Keep them on your dresser to hold jewelry. Create a key corral on your entry table. We could do this all day.

Vintage glass or apothecary jars like these etched beauties ($35) from la Vintage Maison are perfect for storage in the bathroom. Fill them up with bath salts, soaps, and shampoos and pitch those plastic bottles into the trash.

Organize your mail in your entry or office with a little help from
Uncommon Things for the Home. The “O” stands for out, the “I” for in, and the “R” for random on their awesome organizer ($28). Did we mention it comes in a number of bright, happy colors? It does.

After ooohing and aaahing over Mod Mom Furniture’s eco-friendly Owyn Toy Box ($350), we’ve decided this piece isn’t just for the tots. Of course, it would be perfect for stashing away toys. But we think it could make for a great bench in the living room or bedroom with added storage for extra blankets or pillows.

Do you know of any other Etsy finds that make for great storage? Post the links here!

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Team DIY Month of Storage: Tip of the Day

Written on January 6, 2010 at 3:13 pm, by Team DIY

Here at Team DIY, we love items that can be repurposed, reimagined, and reconfigured. Today’s storage tip: Use hanging sweater storage bags to sort and separate scrapbooking papers and cardstock. Pick up a few inexpensive plastic paper storage containers that fit snugly into the canvas shelves; they’ll help you keep colors, patterns, or projects separate. No more dinged paper edges or messy piles. How do you organize your scrapbooking and papercrafts supplies?

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Happy NYE from Team DIY!

Written on December 31, 2009 at 11:42 am, by Team DIY

Hope you’ve been enjoying the heck out of your holiday season. We sure have! There’s been lots of crafting and DIY projects going on in the various households and apartmentholds of Team DIY bloggers, and we’re excited to share them in the New Year.

No matter what you’re planning for New Year’s Eve — a blow-out bash with 250 of your besties or watching the ball drop on the TV screen with the cat — here are a few ideas we’ve gathered from around the Web designed to make it a bit more festive. These DIY projects, eats, and drinks can be made this afternoon.

Here are three fast, cheap, and eco-friendly DIY party favors, complete with step-by-step illustrations and directions:

 Make midnight sparkle with these super-quick custom sparklers:

 Make a batch of these to hand out before the countdown: personalized party crackers! You can use leftover wrapping paper.

 

We love, love, love this DIY countdown candles centerpiece. Check one of our fave party sites, Hostess with the Mostess, for six complete NYE party theme ideas, each complete with drink, food, decor, and tableware suggestions.

 

Here are 18 easy party dips from Better Homes and Gardens. Easy to throw together, easy to transport to the party, and easy to eat.

And, finally, a super-delish cocktail idea from PDT (stands for Please Don’t Tell), a secret bar in Manhattan. This recipe comes by way of Gwyneth Paltrow’s new-ish newsletter, GOOP.

 Cranberry Cobbler Cocktail

For One Cocktail:

• 1 orange wheel
• 1 lemon wedge
• ½ ounce Cranberry Simple Syrup (see recipe below)
• 2 ounces Beefeater Gin
• ¾ ounce Lustau East India Sherry
• 4 macerated cranberries (leftover from Cranberry Simple Syrup)
• mint sprig

Muddle the orange, lemon and syrup in the bottom of a shaker. Add the gin, sherry and a handful of ice. Shake and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with the cranberries and mint.
(Jim Meehan/Michael Madrusan, 2007)

Cranberry Simple Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 bag of fresh or frozen cranberries
• 3 ounces Beefeater Gin

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan set over high heat. Add the cranberries and cook over medium heat until the cranberries start to split. Remove from the heat, stir in the gin and cool. This mixture can stay in the fridge for a couple of weeks. When you’re ready to use it, strain the syrup, reserving the cranberries for garnish.

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Homemade Food Gifts

Written on December 15, 2009 at 2:21 pm, by Team DIY

Nothing radiates holiday love like the gift of sugar, carbs, and/or alcohol. Everyone on our list eats; therefore, there’s a homemade food gift to fit every taste. We searched the web and the blogosphere for some of our favorite homemade holiday food prezzies. Our advice? Go ahead and make a double batch. Do you have any favorite holiday edible gifts? — Team DIY

Recipe: Cowgirl Cookies
From: Bakerella

Recipe: Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts
From: Smitten Kitchen

Recipe: Infused Vodka
From: The Kitchn

Recipe: Hazelnut Mocha Sauce
From: Better Homes and Gardens

Recipe: No-Knead Multigrain Bread in a Jar
From: Our Best Bites

Recipe: Cranberry Orange Granola
From: LifeAsAMom

Recipe: Peppermint Marshmallows
From: Parents.com

Recipe: Homemade Spicy Guinness Mustard
From: Kiss My Spatula

Recipe: Limoncello
From: Epicurious.com

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Handmade Holidays: Ornaments We Love

Written on December 9, 2009 at 12:38 pm, by Team DIY

Instead of a cookie party, shake things up this year with a handmade ornament party! The blogs are ahoppin’ with gorgeous DIY ornament projects! Here’s a quick roundup of some of our favorites. Enjoy! – Team DIY

Kristen’s Fluffy Felt Wreath (via Design*Sponge) – by Kristen of Domesticfluff

 

 

Felt Birdcage Ornament  – by Zakka Life

 

 

Origami Glitter Cranes — by Zakka Life

 

 

Flocked Ornament — by Better Homes and Gardens

 

 

Felt Polaroid Ornaments – by Katie Cupcake

 

 

Easy Paper Globe Ornaments — by Just Deanna

 

Teardrop Holiday Ornament — by Patricia Zapata of A Little Hut

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