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Home Decor Ideas: Beautiful Ways to Use String Lights Indoors

Indoor String Lights Decor Ideas

String lights are great to play around and experiment with because they are so cheap, and are so versatile (you can shove them into wine bottles or wrap them around branches). This post shows how to bring string lights into your indoor decor. I’ve also got a post on all the DIY projects you can do with them outdoors: Home Decor Ideas: Creative Ways of Using String Lights Outdoors.

Creating Your Own Lamp

All you need to create the informal floor lamp in picture (1) is a thick rope and some string lights. For the ‘how to’ and more pictures of this nautical rope lamp head on over to A Merry Mishap.

A classy lamp idea would be to use a a brown wine bottle. The project (2) by Wit and Whistle does require some drilling of glass. Or instead, how about using hurricane lanterns to house the lights seen in picture (3) – done by Restoration Hardware.

Let’s think bigger, and create a chandelier. Instead of using a hula hoop as the base, The Project Table grabbed a grapevine wreath to create a more rustic looking string light chandelier (4).

Whimsy In the Bedroom

Adding string lights in the bedroom creates a magical and whimsical feeling. There are so many different ways you could style a bedroom with them. They can be hung above the bed just like in picture (5). If you buy LED string lights, which produce less heat, you can wrap them up in drapes or light fabric to create a soft mystical glow.

If you hang the lights from a point in the ceiling, and fan them out down towards the bed, you will create a canopy effect seen in the picture below. Turn off the bedroom lights and you’ve got yourself a makeshift starry sky effect.

String Lights Canopy

When it comes to the headboard, you could create your own headboard that has string lights fitted in them. Or just hang some on the headboard to use as romantic bedroom lighting.

Another bedroom idea is to use the string lights as a hanger for your photographs, just like in picture (6). Or in a nursery, cotton balls and firefly lights make for great looking floating clouds (7). For more bedroom ideas that make use of string lights have a look at my posts here: indie bedroom ideas and romantic bedroom ideas.

Remix

There are a lot of things you can do to personalise the string lights themselves. I’ve seen a lot of craft paper used and flowers created, to stick onto each light. The origami cubes in picture (8) by Amanda look great, and can be used anywhere around the house (or outdoors if it doesn’t rain). I’ve also seen colourful pingpong balls attached to each light too.

Create your own art piece by cutting out holes in a piece of canvas. Fitting string lights behind the canvas then lights up the art work (10).

Wood and Lights

I’m a fan of bringing the outdoors inside. So one indoor string light DIY project that is on my to do list is to use branches, and wrap string lights around them to create a tall floor lamp – just like in picture (9). These days you can also find firefly lights, which are tiny lights strung on a bendable copper wire – making it easier to wrap them around things. The firefly lights in picture (11) and the picture below can be bought at Restoration Hardware.

String Lights Mirror

Other lighting mood boards:

January 30, 2014 in DIY, Lighting

Home Decor Ideas: Using Reclaimed Old Windows

DIY Ideas For Old Windows

I had no idea there were so many project ideas for old windows. The creative people below have done everything from recycling them as room dividers to creating furniture pieces.

Camouflaged 

Reclaimed windows make great looking room dividers. Check out the rustic charm in picture (1), or the floor to ceiling reclaimed patchwork window arrangement in picture (2) from Dezeen.

If you take the time to replace the glass panels of a old window with mirror plates, you could end up with a gorgeous rustic mirror – just like in picture (3).

Decorating With Old Windows

Old windows make for great wall displays because of the sectioned glass panels. Each panel can be used to display photographs (4), or a kitchen menu board (from The Knot) (5).

Ashlee over at My So Called Crafty Life used cork tiles, chalkboard paint, and chicken wire to turn an old window into a kitchen command center (6) (Ideas for Setting up a Family Command Center in the Kitchen).

How about using an old glass window pane as a piece of canvas – just like what Kate and David did for their wedding in picture (7) – from The Knot. Other craft ideas include using old windows to make a backdrop for a coat rack, the one in picture (8) was made by Nadine.

Furniture Remix

Who knew you could upcycle old windows into DIY furniture pieces. Some other things to do with old windows include turning them into a coffee table like the one in picture (9) by Oh Glory Vintage. Then there is the homemade rustic kitchen cabinet by G. Collins (10).

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January 22, 2014 in Decor, DIY

Home Decor Ideas: The Sharpie Touch

DIY Sharpie Art Ideas

Sharpie pens, those colourful and popular markers. Who knew there would be so many different home decor DIY projects that you could do with them. From using them on your walls, tableware, to rugs and lamps – here are the Sharpie art ideas that inspire me.

Black and White Home Decor

Ceramic is a popular choice for adding the Sharpie touch to. The black on white creates a striking combo. You’ll want to use an oil based Sharpie, this way you can put your final piece in the oven to seal in the drawings. That is what Lova did over on Sweet Paul to create the mug artwork seen in picture (1). Or how about grabbing some air dry clay to create your own little home decor pieces – and then decorate them with a Sharpie (2).

If you get sick of using tableware, how about going out and grabbing some stones. With a black Sharpie you can create your own Zenstones. Check out the cool Sharpie designs by Judy on Arty Judy seen in picture (3).

Sharpie on Fabric

Fabric is another popular material for making Sharpie crafts. Create your own DIY slip cover seen in picture (4), or how about crafting your own fantastic doodle-icious napkins (5).

Over on A Subtle Revelry you can see how taking some time to write out a favourite quote, poem, or song line creates elegant scripted pillow cases (6) – the perfect focal piece for your bedroom (How to Create a Romantic Bedroom: Pictures, Designs and Decor Ideas). The same can be done in the kitchen. In picture (7) Becca from Blue Cricket Design gathered all the things her family were grateful for and wrote them out on a table cloth – just in time for Thanksgiving.

Sharpie Ideas For the Ambitious

Here are some big ticket items that were a little surprising to see the Sharpie touch added to. First up is an area rug. It took some effort, but taking a plain rug (with stains) and transforming it into a geometric printed piece looks like a worthy upcycling project, by A Nest For All Seasons (8).

How about taking on this Sharpie idea? Use a paint Sharpie, a gold one, on a plain white wall to create your own designer wallpaper. That is what Mandi did at Vintage Revivals to create her geometric designed, DIY sharpie wallpaper seen in picture (9).

On Your Side Table

Check out Dream Green DIY to see how Carrie was able to easily add some dimension to a side table using a gold Sharpie. It is very subtle, but highly effective (10). And over at Better Homes and Gardens an ordinary table lamp has had the magical Sharpie touch applied to it too – seen in picture (11).

Sharpies

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January 17, 2014 in Decor, DIY

Creative DIY Ideas for Living Room Shelves

Ideas for DIY Living Room Shelves

A few planks of wood and a little creativity is all that you need to make some shelves. Check out what people have done to create their own living room shelves below.

Repurposing Magic

There are a few things you can repurpose to create budget friendly shelves. Crates make for great stackable living room shelving, just like in picture (3). If you want to get away from that rustic feel, paint them all in white (4). Or what about using a charming rustic ladder to shelve plants (5). Place a plank of wood between the steps to create a long mobile shelf unit – just like in picture (6).

For the corners of the room, take a page out of Linda’s DIY notebook and use and old door to create some corner shelves (7).

New Materials

How about getting creative and bringing in some new materials into the mix. Like leather. A plank of wood, a strap of leather, and two nail is all you need to make modern minimalist style shelves for a living room (8). Get a little bit more fancy and you can create hanging shadow box display shelves complete with leather hangers (9).

Using tree branches was a creative idea to create some living room wall shelves to hold some books. Keep them raw for a rustic feel or spray paint them to blend them in with the rest of your living room decor (10). If you really want customised built in shelving then head on over to the piping section of the hardware store. Combined with some planks of wood you can create your own industrial style living room shelves seen in picture (11).

Then there is the side table in picture (12), made from planks of wood and bricks.

Pop of Color

I really like how the cabinet in picture (13) has a colored backdrop. It really makes the shelves stand out – creating a focal point in the room. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13

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January 10, 2014 in DIY, Living Room, Storage