DIY

The Pallet Cinema: A Garden Movie Night

These pallet chairs were made for a garden cinema night hosted at my friends co-working space Work Saigon.

DIY Adjustable Lounger Chairs

The main lounger chair is made up of three main pallet sections which are hinged together with bolts. A rope threads through the 3 pieces, giving its main structure. The notches on the back of the pallet garden chair let you adjust the angle.

Home Decor Ideas: Using Large and Small Logs

Inexpensive DIY Log Furniture Ideas

Logs can be turned into pretty inexpensive furniture pieces. Ben of Homemade Modern paid $2 per log from someone on Craigslist who was selling them for fire wood. He then turned them into stripped down log end tables – seen in picture (1). Follow along with his tutorial here.

What I like about using logs to create coffee and side tables, is that there are a bunch of different ways it can be done. In picture (2) two logs have been used to create more table space in the living room. A thick piece of log has been sliced up into 3 separate pieces to create another of coffee table in picture (3). And for a long coffee table – turn a log on its side and cut off the top and bottom to create a flat base and top. Depending on the thickness of the log, this coffee table might be low down – just like the one in picture (4). For more creative coffee table ideas have a look at my mood board here.

Chairs and stools are other home furniture pieces that can be crafted from logs. They can be solid pieces, or the logs can be carved to create a more stylised and lighter stool (5).

Around The House

The chalkboard made out of a log slice is a great rustic chic idea – and simple too (6). Martha Stewart has a tutorial on how you can make your own colored chalkboard paint here. So you are not stuck with using the traditional black paint.

Stripped down and finished quartered log pieces make for elegant book ends – seen in picture (7).

Wood + Lighting

Carved out log candle lanterns will add some serious rustic charm to any space (8). While the white birch log lamp in picture (9) is ideal for a more Scandinavian styled space.

Back to Nature

I really like ideas that take organic materials and use them back in organic settings. One example is using logs as planters (10). Or how about the crafty log bird feeder in picture (11).

Using Smaller Wood Pieces

Simple Ideas: Planters can also be created out of smaller branch pieces. Just by turning the wood slice on its side, and using the bark to keep it still, the test tube planter in picture (A) above is one designer looking piece. Another simple idea is to use wood slices as photo stands (B). And how about drilling holes into a thick wood slice to create an elegant pencil holder (C).

Adding Color: Add a splash of color to play down the rustic look and feel of wood slices. Just like the candle holders that have been dipped in gold paint for a more lux-chic look (D). Then there are the log bowls in picture (E), which use high-gloss paint to add bold colors.

Log Home Decor On The Walls

I’ve seen a few ideas of decorative log slices being used as wall decor. They didn’t really appeal to me. But this log wallpaper by Rockett St. George really caught my eye. It is so artistically designed and creates a striking feature wall.

image credits: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11 A/B/C/D/E

June 10, 2014 in Decor, DIY

Home Decor Ideas: Using Air Dry Clay

Here is a great selection of air dry clay projects to try out at home. My own next personal experiment will be to make shadow candle holders.

On The Wall

The first DIY project is a good one – a faux deer bust, complete with antlers as seen in picture (1). Heather from Poppy Haus even has step by step directions on how to make the deer head shape, so even someone like me, or kids, could artistically create it.

Green Thumb

The tiny succulent planters in picture (2) were made using polymer clay, but I’m sure air dry modeling clay would work too. Head on over to Transient Expression for the tutorial.

Over at Wit and Whistle Amanda used oven baked clay to create some elegant DIY garden markers (3).

Displaying Travel Moments

One simple DIY project that I did myself, was to use air drying clay to create minimalist photo stands for my travel photos (4). You can find out more about them here: Simple DIY Clay Photo Display Stands.

Get a little homemade art up on your fridge by using stamps on air drying clay to create magnets – just like the ones from Gathering Beauty in the picture (5).

On The Table

Clay can be used to create hanging tags. Arrange them on a branch like in picture (6) and you have a homemade centrepiece.

One of the more popular air dry clay ideas is to make bowls and trays. And by using organic pieces like leafs or branches, you can create elegant stamps. Follow along with the instructions here on Urban Comfort to create the organic inspired trays in picture (7). Or how about using a doily to stamp an intricate detailed design (8) – made by VT Wonen.

8 Beautiful Wooden Wall Designs

While writing the post on pallet walls, I came across a lot of wooden walls that had not used pallets. Pallets are great because they are budget friendly. New and reclaimed wood can be costly, but can be used to create beautiful and charming wall designs.

Some ways to play around with a wooden wall design include: adding color (either through stains or paint), mixing up the sizes of planks you use, or create patterns such as going angular.

Mixing Light and Dark Shades of Wood