Condo Blues: February 2015

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Make a Play Workbench for Your Little DIYer!

When you have a toddler, more often than not, you or Santa gives them a kitchen play set. I had one. It was a pink metal play kitchen. Fun fact: My first apartment had pink metal kitchen cabinets.

Naturally I am pro play kitchen. I am also pro make sure it looks cool because it could show up as a real kitchen later in your kid's life play kitchen.  That being the case, I am all over the upcycled furniture turned into a play kitchen.

 But do you know what every kid needs after they get a play kitchen? A play workbench! How else are they going to play fix the kitchen appliances?


I am loving this nightstand recycled into a play toddler workbench on Apartment Therapy. It is a simple DIY that any child - boy or girl - would love to pretend tinker around the playhouse.

I wish I had one as a kid!


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Friday, February 20, 2015

Luck of the Irish $1,500 Paypal Cash Giveaway!

I'm always looking for ways to thank you for being The Most Awesome Community on Planet Earth.

Unfortunately, I can't do it in person or by anonymously shoveling your driveway (especially for you Australian readers. You are having as hot a summer as we are having as cold a winter, I'd love to personally visit you to thaw out say hello) but I can thank you with a giveaway of something that always fits - cold, hard, Paypal cash. $500 dolla, dolla bills to be exact!

I'd love it if a Condo Blues reader won this giveaway!

Sunday, February 15, 2015

29 Best DIY Coastal Wall Art Ideas

Anytime I need to take a breath and chill out, I close my eyes and picture a lovely Caribbean beach. It is my mental happy place. The crystal blue ocean, gentle sound of the sea, and warm beach calm me down. Daydreaming about the attentive and attractive pool boys serving me tasty Mai Tais on my personal pretend beach doesn’t hurt either. My Mind Palace. My Rules.

I can’t help but think that’s the reason why so many people like to decorate their homes in a nautical, coastal, beach style. So they can live on a pleasant, peaceful beach year round especially for those of us dealing with snow, cold, and landlocked cities.

Or you might just like that coastal style for the sake of just liking coastal style. That’s cool too.

Whatever your reasoning, beach lovers, check out this roundup of 29 Beach Crafts: Coastal DIY Wall Art by Crafts by Amanda for ideas on how to add a dash of beach style to your life on a DIY budget.


coastal-wall-art-decor-7

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Thursday, February 12, 2015

Romantic Pink Rose Centerpiece

 Husband likes to surprise me with flowers – often. I’ve gotten decent at arranging flowers by necessity. (I know you feel sorry for me.)  A few times, people have asked me to do flowers for them, most recently for Mother and Father-in-Law’s 50th anniversary party.

By luck I bought the flowers for their centerpieces from ProFlowers because they were having a rose sale. That’s when I clued in that ProFlowers sells flowers you can arrange any way you want.


masuline romantic rose centerpiece


Need a DIY fresh flower Valentine’s Day, wedding, anniversary, or party centerpiece? Keep reading I’ll teach you how I made this one!

Friday, February 6, 2015

18 Unique DIY Floors to Inspire You

 I’m still not sure if or what I want to do with our master bedroom floor as I plan our water damage remodels. Carpet? Hardwood? Or something else?

18 Amazing DIY Floors to Try Right Now


Since I am a nontraditional gal, who likes to build, decorate, and renovate with nontraditional materials, maybe one of these fabulous non traditional flooring ideas I put in this roundup might be the one? Let’s go idea shopping!


DIY Geometric  Wood Flooring For $80! – Vintage Revivals. She made and installed this floor for a vintage camper. It would be a stunning floor in any room of a house.

DIYGeometricWoodFloorvintagerevivals.com281

How To Glitter A Concrete Floor – Crafty Chica. A floor as sparkly and bright as Kathy’s personality.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

6 Smart Strategies to Organize a Garage and Workshop

Our garage and workshop was an unorganized mess!  I put the organize the garage project off for long time because I was overwhelmed by the clutter. Where do I start? Ack!

six steps to an organized garage

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By accident or design (I’m going to go with by design because it sounds like I had a plan all along instead of a make it up as I go along series of happy accidents) I broke my big garage organization project into several smaller, less overwhelming projects.

Guess what? Three days later (I had a lot of stuff to deal with) I had an organized workshop I can use without tripping over anything. I discovered some things I thought were working weren’t and why. I made changes according my needs and organization style. My garage is now neat and stays that way.

Yay!

This method worked so well on helping my clear my garage clutter madness that I’m using it to organize other parts of my house. You can too!