How to Build Recessed Bathroom Storage Shelves

I never liked the cheap plastic medicine cabinets that came with my condo. I was even more perturbed when I removed the medicine cabinet to paint the walls and found the hole and framing for the cabinet less than square - to put it mildly.

 I figure I better replace it and poked around window shopping while I was searching and pricing every thing else I needed for the guest bathroom remodel.

Have you ever priced medicine cabinets?

Be prepared for some sticker shock. Even the cheaply made medicine cabinets like the one I have are a couple of hundred bucks. The medicine cabinets  made from actual wood are even more expensive while still lacking style. That’s more that I wanted to pay for a medicine cabinet in a second bathroom we don’t use often.

I really don’t need a medicine cabinet with a mirror door because there is a mirror hanging over the sink.  Actually I really don’t need a door either because the way it was installed, the current medicine cabinet door smacks into the bathroom vanity light if we’re not careful. Open bathroom storage shelves are the only answer.

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I stood in the guest bathroom staring at the wall and trying to visualize how to turn the medicine cabinet hole into an open storage niche as pretty yet affordable as possible when I realized I was standing on my answer – use leftover tile from the bathroom floor!

How to Mount a Big Flat Screen TV in a Small TV Niche

The thing that has been holding my husband and I back from upgrading to a larger TV is trying to figure out where to put it. We maxed out the TV hole in the wall above our fireplace with a 30 inch flat panel. We honestly don’t have any other place in our small living room for an entertainment center or to hang a TV but in our wall niche.

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Tiny Recycled Glass Bottle House

Recycling glass bottles into walls isn’t a new idea, glass bottle walls have been around since ancient Rome but seeing a glass bottle house in person rarely happens unless you know where to look. This tiny house made from recycled glass bottles is in Ohio practically under my nose until I stopped while walking past it (for a zillionth time in my life,) really looked at it, and realize it is a tiny store with wine glass bottle walls.

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Isn’t it cute?

Fall Wreath Alternative: DIY Birch Sunflower Basket

After I decorated the backyard patio for Fall, I figure I better turn my attention to the front of the house. My plan is to transition the front porch from summer decorations to a Fall outdoor décor theme that I can transition to Halloween if time permits (life happens!) and back to Fall for Thanksgiving (wishful thinking because of that time thing, ya know) until it is time to pack it all up and decorate for Christmas.
 

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Instead of decorating with something like the DIY Fall wreath I made for the back patio, I decorate with a half wall birch basket.

How to Make Flamingo Wall Hooks

I needed several decorative wall hooks to organize my craft room. I want something fun, yet versatile, since I have a pile of conference lanyards, craft aprons, and race medals in need of some serious organizing.

I headed to my workshop and made the perfect wall organizer using my all time favorite pieces of kitsch – plastic pink lawn flamingos!

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DIY Pink Lawn Flamingo Wall Organizer

 

How to Make a Power Tool Battery Charging Station

It’s funny how one little project like hanging a DIY chalkboard above my workbench quickly turned into a reorganize the workshop project. Well, actually, it was more like an ACK! I can’t find the bench top and the mountain of STUFF is driving me crazy project but why quibble over details?

I made an easy sandpaper organizer and a quick woodworking clamp rack. My latest project – a power tool battery charging station and organizer is the last workshop organizer I need to keep my bench top clean and my power tool batteries charged and organized. Woo hoo!

I built the workbench from reclaimed materials too.

Read my Recycled Cabinet Workbench Tutorial here on Condo Blues

How to Build a Hanging Power Tool Battery Charger and Organizer

How to Make Vintage Wall Map Decor

I like big maps and I cannot lie.

I cannot tell you how many times the room I fall for in a decor magazine or on a blog features a big vintage map hanging  on the wall. Swoooooooon!

In my made up fantasy world I would find the perfect old school wall map at a thrift shop for 10 bucks, merrily dance with it all the way home, and after a rousing game of Not It Won't Fit Yes It Will with Husband, hang it on a well deserving wall in our house. Where it fits perfectly, of course.

Photo courtesy of Blesser House

How to Hang an Old Window From the Ceiling

On sunny afternoons, the sun hits the kitchen window just right to make a prism on the ceiling.
Lacey thinks this dazzling array of luck and science is a formidable threat to our house and home. She barks her head off all. afternoon. long. no matter how many times we try and fail to shush her.
Apparently light theory is lost on dogs.

A window treatment will solve the nefarious prism problem. I want something that lets in light, is easy to clean, and won’t wrinkle like my DIY cardboard corner window cornice and curtains I made that brought out the haters on Hometalk.

Call it shabby chic, Fixer Upper, or my own Mid-Century Modern-Bauhaus-Contemporary-Found-and-Funkified-Retro-DaDa-Danish decorating style. I repurposed an old flea market window as a kitchen window treatment.
 

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Here’s how.

DIY Old Window Window Treatment

How to Test for Lead Paint on Flea Market Finds

We are the first owners of our condo built long after the US 1978 lead paint ban. We don’t have peeling paint and my family doesn’t lick the walls (which in my opinion would mean we have a bigger problem!) As far as any scaremongering about lead being everywhere in every home, we figured we’re good.

Except.

Maybe not.

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I like to upcycle and recycle found, salvage, and old stuff in my DIY projects. Swap meets, antique shows, and flea markets are my playgrounds. Some of my favorite transformations started out as thrift store finds or from the side of the road. I didn’t think I had to worry about lead in my project materials because I generally steer clear of chipping paint because it is a pain to sand smooth.

I recently discovered chipping paint does not mean an item is covered in lead paint. Neither does the color of the paint. Actually  bare wood or stained items can test positive for lead because of something in the stain or varnish.

Wine Cork Coat Hooks

Just when I think my kitchen is organized, I find out it is not.

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I’m making progress on ant proofing and reorganizing my kitchen and pantry. It looks organized, right?
Not so fast.