DIY

DIY Challenge: Give Your Closet Doors a Makeover – Ideas and Design Tips

If you think about it, your closet doors take up a lot of ‘visual space’ in your bedroom. This means that the style and design of them really impacts the style of the space. And it doesn’t take much to completely change the look and feel of them. Here is a list of DIY closet door ideas.

The 2 main ways to change the look of your closet doors are to:

Change the color
Add some depth

Adding depth. This is the easiest and most effective way to give your closet doors a makeover. And you’ll see in the DIY pictures below, that this is done mostly by adding trim/molding and new handles.

Doing A Simple Paint Job

This is the easiest DIY of them all. Give the closet doors a simple paint job, but use painters tape to create ‘faux trim’. By Gemma from The Sweetest Digs.

Sticking On Decorative Decal

What a simple way to add a decorative touch to mirrored closet doors. Roxanne from the Honeycomb Home used the services of Overlays to create a custom fit laminate that she stuck onto her daughters closet doors.

Adding Depth

Adding Embossed Wallpaper

Fawn showcased this DIY makeover on Remodelaholic where she used a $3.62 roll of paintable vinyl wall paper from Lowes. Also adding trim around the wallpaper for a more finished look.

Adding a Touch of Lux

New brass hinges + IKEA handles spray painted gold + inexpensive panel molding. For the step by step guide on how to create these DIY closet doors, check out Kris from Driven by Decor.

Giving a Kids Closet a Makeover

Here is another closet makeover from Kris at Driven by Décor. This time she is in her daughter’s room. This makeover would also be ideal for a home office, pantry doors, closet doors near the front door – anywhere a bulletin board could come in handy.

The DIY Faux Barn Door Makeover

What was surprising about this DIY project by Monica from East Coast Creative is that she was able to use the same closet doors. 8 pine planks, 2 handles, and s a sharpie is what it took to create the DIY barn doors.

Repurposing a Ceiling Crown Medallion for a Closet Door

Here are 2 DIY closet door projects that use crown medallions to add some glamour to plain and boring closet doors.

Jennifer, from Dimples and Tangles, combined ceiling medallions and crystal door handles to create her closet door makeover.

And here is another example of a ceiling medallion being used to spruce up some closet doors. This time the medallion is a little more decorative, and the repainted doors add an elegant pop of color to the room. Found on Pop Sugar.

Replacing The Doors

I saved this one to last, since it takes the most effort, and requires replacing the doors. That is unless you have the swing out doors in the first place vs the bi fold ones. Traci from Beneath My Heart bought 2 $20 hollow core doors, and then added the wooden frame and slats to create her DIY barn doors.

Check out these posts for more ideas and pictures:

March 26, 2016 in Bedroom, DIY

DIY Remix: Koi Fish $5 Bucket Stool DIY

The simple bucket stool DIY, where you fill a bucket with cement and poke in some dowels, comes from Ben over on Homemade Modern. I wondered if there was any way to customize the face of the stool. So I ended up experimenting with debossing / inlaying an image into the cement – using cardboard.

You can check out my other experiments trying to emboss cement (again, with cardboard) here: DIY Experiment: Embossing Cement Challenge.

TOOLS

Saw

You’ll need a saw jigsaw/circ saw/hand saw to cut the dowels to length

MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES

Bucket

Ben uses a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot, with a smooth bottom. I used what I could get my hands on. You basically need a bucket wide enough that you can sit on.

Dowels

1 1/4 inch dowels 48 inches long. For mine, again I used what was available – which was much thinner dowels – they are still sturdy stool legs.

x2 Concrete

I went ahead and mixed my own cement – buying concrete and sand. You can always get Quikrete 5000 concrete which is premixed for you, so you just need to add water.

You’ll also need another color of concrete to pour into the inlay. You can do this by buying a bag of white concrete such as Quikrete Countertop mix in white. Or just buy the white concrete and a concrete pigment dye (like red) – instead of buying 2 bags on concrete.

Illustration

I found my illustration by searching for ‘koi fish black and white illustration’ on google. You’ll need to print this out (in reverse) the size you’ll want it on your seat – I did this at home with on an A4 sheet of paper.

Cardboard, Packing Tape, Compass (or String and a Pencil)

You’ll need enough cardboard to make 2 templates of your design and to make a circle the size of your bucket. The packing tape is going to be used to cover the template to make it waterproof.

Fine Grit Sandpaper (around 100-grit)

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1: The Design

So you’ll need to print out your design. Remember it needs to be in reverse since it will be a mirror image when you are done.

I ended up cutting two sheets of cardboard to create the mold shape for the cement pour. I did this so I could double up the cardboard to get a deep inlay in the seat. I saved the scrap piece of the template (the outside) to create the embossed cement plaques DIY (seen at the end of this post).

Step 2: The Mold

The next step is measure the size of your bucket and cut out a circle using the cardboard. A compass or a piece of string and a pencil can be used to mark out the circle.

Then glue the pieces of your design together and onto the circle.

Step 3: Waterproofing

Use the packing tape to cover the the mold to waterproof it. Then put the mold into the bucket. I went ahead and put taped up the sides where the cardboard disk meets the bucket.

Step 4: Cutting the Legs

I ended up cutting the legs to the right height I wanted them. Ben’s instructions are to cut them 16″ long.

Step 5: Pouring the Cement

Mark 3 inches from the bottom of the bucket upwards. This will let you know when to stop pouring the cement.

Mix up your concrete with water and start pouring. You want the mix to be a bit watery so that it covers the mold well. Shake the bucket gently and tap on the sides of it to bring up the air bubbles.

Step 6: Adding the Legs

Make a mark on the dowels 1 1/2 inches from one end. This is how far into the cement you’ll want to push the dowels in. Then place them equally around the bucket.

I used tape to hold down the dowels, since they kept wanting to float up.

Step 7: The Reveal

Wait for over a whole day (20 hours+) for the cement to dry. Now depending on the bucket you have, you might be able to pull out the stool by the legs by bending the bucket to loosen it. In my case, I had to break it apart.

And carefully peel off the cardboard. The cement is still not fully dry – so right now you can either use sandpaper to smooth it out, or what I did was to leave it with all the wavy marks and waited another day for it to fully dry.

Step 8: Pouring the Inlay

Here comes round two of pouring the cement. This time use the colored/white concrete, and carefully pour it into the inlay. You can use a tooth pick to push the cement into the corners and move it around.

Step 9: Going Fishing

Wait another day for the cement to dry. Then use the sandpaper to carefully sand the new cement to unmask the design.

That’s it. I’m curious to know if anyone else will try this with another design. Email me at jacob@hometreeatlas.com with photos if you make your own, or if you have any questions.

Check out my experiment in embossing cement here.

March 2, 2016 in DIY, Made By HtA

7 DIY Swimming Pool Ideas and Designs: From Big Builds to Weekend Projects

Some people can make building things look so easy. This is good, since it let’s the rest of us have the guts to try something like building a swimming.

But if you take a look at some of the DIY swimming pools people have made below, it does show you that anyone can build one in their own backyard oasis.

There are three types of DIY swimming pool designs to choose from:

There is the permanent swimming pool construction
The natural swimming pool
The temporary pool – which can be a weekend build

The Permanent Pool

1. The dumpster pool – DIY above ground swimming pool

Stefan Beese is one of those who makes building a own pool look easy. He took an old dumpster and used that as the main container. It was padded out with insulation, covered with a liner, and then cladded with pine slats – showcased here.

2. The shipping container swimming pool

Using a premade metal container seems to be a pretty straightforward and simple way of starting a swimming pool build – by Ian Starz.

3. A more traditional DIY concrete swimming pool build

Build Your Own DIY Natural Swimming Pool / Swimming Pond / Organic Pool

Not only do they look great and blend into natural surroundings, natural pools are chemical free and are lower maintenance than normal swimming pools. Also when the pool is not in use, it is still full of life.

4. A natural swimming pond

Build plans by David Pagan

5. Another natural inground swimming pool pond, this time in a more urban backyard

Built by VonBubenberg

Temporary Weekend Swimming Pool Ideas

For a temporary swimming pool all you really need is way to make a large box, and a way to hold in water (which is usually in the form of a large waterproof tarp – get one here). Some ideas to make the container include: shipping containers, hay bales, or a wooden frame.

6. 9 pallets were used to build the frame for the pool

Swimming pool DIY by Torben Jung

7. A DIY swimming pool using hay bales and a waterproof tarp

Built by Roy and Reagan

More fun DIY home builds:

March 1, 2016 in DIY, Outdoors

Home Decor and DIY Ideas: Using Driftwood

What is the appeal of drift wood? The dried out look makes it a lot less rustic. It is organic, and because of that each piece is different. It is stripped down, smooth, and artistic. Here are some driftwood art and decor ideas that can be used around the house.

Together With Nature

I like the idea of combining organic pieces with driftwood decor. This can be done with plants. In picture (1) a piece of driftwood is being used as a make shift planter for an air plant. Holes can be drilled to make a stand for test tube planters seen in picture (2). And how about a macrame wrapped, hanging drift wood planter (3).

Going Large

A really large piece of driftwood makes for bold decor item. Any furniture made out of driftwood will be a focal piece in the room. Just check out the driftwood coffee table in the living room in picture (4). The glass top tones down the rustic style of the driftwood underneath.

If you find yourself a long piece of driftwood, you can have yourself an elegant candle holder if you cut out a few grooves (5). And for those rustic chic homes, there is the driftwood hand railing in picture (6).

Large driftwood pieces really adds an artistic side to a room’s style. The room divider in picture (7) also looks like an art installation. There is always the option of having a large drift wood piece just leaning up against the wall decorating the room (8).

Art Pieces

Smaller driftwood branches can also be used as art pieces. Display some on a black stand (9). Or how about color block painting a piece that can be used as coffee table decor or as a centerpiece (10).

Simple Ideas

The kitchen in picture (11), with its minimalist design and subway tiles, makes great use of a driftwood branch as a kitchen hanger. This can also be done in the bathroom to hang up towels, or in the bedroom to hang up jewelry.

Some other driftwood crafts and projects include: cutting a groove in a piece of driftwood to create a photo stand (12), creating a base for a lamp, or drilling holes to create a little wooden pencil holder (13).

image credits: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13

More decor ideas posts: