Home Tree Atlas: Home Decor Ideas and Mood Boards

How To Create a Getaway Oasis: DIY Home Spa Ideas

Image you are in a day spa. There is low lighting, maybe you can hear water trickling down in the background, or there is some relaxing music being played. You breath in some relaxing scents, and you are offered a refreshing drink. These are the sort of DIY home spa ideas I’ve listed out below, to help transform your home into a oasis getaway.

Creating Relaxing Mood Lighting for a Spa Night At Home

The fastest way to set a relaxing mood in a room is to change the lighting. This can be as easy as turning off the lights, and using candles instead.

How about using some aromatherapy candles
Or to reduce the risk of fire, why not fill up a large glass bowl with water and use tea candles which will float.

Instead of using candles you can simply use floor or table lights. The goal is to avoid using the ceiling lights, and bring the light closer down to the ground.

If you have white walls, you can get yourself a mood lamp and shine it against the wall. Choose a dark relaxing color, or set it to cycle through different colors. You can get one in the Amazon window below.

Decorating Ideas For a Spa Feeling

Here are some ideas on pieces to include in your home spa.

Try and infuse as much natural materials into your space as possible (wooden and stone)
Get as many plants as you can
And if you are looking to paint the walls of your space to create a relaxing home spa, then look for a dark color (such as red or blue). This will make the space feel a lot cozier, secluded and relaxing, versus using a bright color.

Enticing Your Other Senses

A lot of the ideas above are based around our sense of sight. Here are some ideas for our other senses:

Keep your fridge stocked with relaxing and refreshing jugs of fruit or vegetable infused water
Look to get an oil burner and aromatherapy oils
A water feature of some kind is a calming piece to have and to listen to

The Bathroom Home Spa

Rooms like the bedroom and living room can be turned into relaxing spaces with the ideas listed above. And here are some ways to transform your bathroom into an oasis for your own spa day at home:

Set the mood with lighting. Again candles are the way to go. Put a few tea lights in a bowl of water. Or aromatherapy candles will also help create a relaxing setting. How about hooking your ceiling lights up to a dimmer switch, so you can control the level of lighting in your bathroom.
Set up an oil burner with aromatherapy oils
Try and infuse as much natural materials into your bathroom. Use a teak bathroom mat, a stone bowl for toiletries, have some hanging plants around the bathroom, or use a wooden bathtub shelf.

Here are some other posts to get more home spa ideas from:

1/2/5, 3-6

April 9, 2016 in Home Spa

Homemade Gift Ideas: From Using a Sharpie, to Copper and Concrete DIYs

After spending some time writing a lot of posts on the best home DIY projects out there, and doing some myself, I’ve put together this huge list of easy and cheap homemade gift ideas. The ideas are grouped together based on materials (copper, concrete, air dry clay) and basic tools (using a sharpie, using a printer).

There is bound to be something in this list that you can use as an idea for a personal and memorable handmade gift. Whether it is for a friend, for mom, the men in your life, or a family member – for chirstmas, as a thank you, or a birthday.

All Things Dip Dyed

There are so many things that can be dip dyed to add some elegant handmade styling:

A beanbag cover
Pillowcases
Candles
Table cloth
A lamp shade

For pictures and more ideas visit my blog post here: All Things Dip Dyed Mood Board

Using a Sharpie

Here are some things to create using a Sharpie

Doodle on some porcelain mugs, or draw on a quote or message
Cute homemade doodled napkins
Add a handmade touch to a lamp

For more ideas and pictures on using a sharpie, have a look here: Home Decor Ideas: The Sharpie Touch

Inexpensive Handmade Ideas Using Your Printer

If you have a lazerjet printer, then you can print out images and photos that can be transferred onto wood (wooden panels, wooden crates, a stool, etc.). Or if you don’t have lazerjet printer, you can always go down to your local printer and get the photos printed there
Print out photos and mod podge them onto ceramic tiles to create custom handmade coasters
If you print on fabric transfer paper, you could make fun napkins, pillowcases, or bed sheets
Or head down to the printers to print out cheap large posters (they are called plotter/blueprint/engineer prints) that will cost $5-6. You can get inexpensive large frames from IKEA.

There are so many more inexpensive homemade gift ideas that you could do with your printer. So visit my other post to see some other ideas, links to tutorials, and pictures of them: Home Decor Ideas: Using Your Printer

Do You Have a Drill?

If you so, print out a design and grab a sheet of plywood. You can then drill the design onto the plywood, just like I did when I created this DIY project: Drill and Plywood DIY Art Board.

Creative Homemade Gifts Made Out of Air Dry Clay

Here are some ideas for using air dry clay:

You could create a faux deer bust to hang up on the wall
Make little photo stands
Craft some DIY garden markers
How about some decorative fridge magnets
Or use a doily to imprint a decorative design and make some bowls or trays.

For pictures and links to tutorials, head over to my post here: Home Decor Ideas: Using Air Dry Clay

Using Plants

Group together some vintage bottles to create a unique planter set
Use oven bake clay to make miniature planters

Elegant and Stylish Plant Decor Ideas

Using Chalkboard Paint

Grab some chalkboard paint and a plant pot to create a labeled planter. And then plant what is labeled.
The same can be done with glass jars to create labeled storage containers.

Have a look here for more ideas and some pictures: DIY Chalkboard Paint Decor Ideas for the Home

Going Vintage

Have a look my post here: Handmade: Simple DIY Vintage Decor Ideas, to see ideas ranging from DIY vintage containers, curtain tiebacks, and sewing doilies together to create a table runner.

The Glamour of Copper

Copper pipes and fittings can be used to make:

Planter stands
A hanging planter
A coat rack
Or you can get copper spray paint, and add some lux to candles, a stool, or storage containers.

Have a look at the pictures in this post to get more inspiration for using copper to make easy homemade gifts: DIY Mood Board: Playing With Copper.

Crafting Cool Homemade Gifts Out of Concrete

Here are just a few ides on what you could make out of concrete at home:

A decorative letter
A diamond paperweight
A pendant lamp
Or even a coat rack

Home Decor Ideas: Using Concrete

Or how about following along with a DIY that I did recently, where I made a concrete stool with a Koi Fish design inlayed into the seat: DIY Remix: Koi Fish $5 Buck Stool DIY

An easier DIY project would be to create concrete plaques, using any design you can print using your home printer. This is a DIY I did and posted here: DIY Experiment: Embossing Concrete Challenge

Do They Have a Pet?

Here are some crafty ideas for a creating a cat or dog bed.

For a cat lover:

A cute handmade hammock bed can be made to hang under a table
An old suitcase or a vintage one from Etsy can be crafted into a vintage cat bed
Or how about building a mini teepee bed

Making Sleeping Arrangements: Creative Ideas For Cat Beds

For a dog lover, here are some old items that can be upcycled into a custom dog bed:

An old tyre
An old crib
Or an old vintage suitcase

Making Sleeping Arrangements: Creative Ideas For DIY Dog Beds

Handmade Coaster Ideas

Coasters can be made out of:

Wood slices
Slices of rustic pallets
Agate slices
Bathroom tiles
Stamping fabric
Or how about mod podging photos onto ceramic tiles

For links and photos on how to create these ideas, have a look at my post here: Home Decor Ideas: DIY Coasters

Using Leather

Here are a few handmade things you can make out of leather. For more ideas, and some picture, visit this post: Home Decor Ideas: Using Leather.

DIY coasters
Cabinet pull replacements
A hanging magazine rack
A pillow case
Or storage trays

Search my full list of decor and DIY posts can be found here:

Home DIY Decor Ideas

April 9, 2016 in Decor, DIY

Makeover Guide: Blue Living Room Ideas

When styling a living room in blue, the question you need to ask is “how much blue?”. Do you want to go all out and have every wall (and ceiling blue)? Or would you want a white base and style the space with pops of blue? In this post I’ll go over the blue living room ideas that will help you transform your space.

How Much Blue?

So if you want to have a lot of blue in the living room, then paint all of the walls blue – just like the living room in picture (1). You could even paint the ceiling blue. Now this might seem a bit much, but there are ways to break up all of these solid blue surfaces (like using crown molding), which I will go over below.

Another option is to paint only 1 wall blue, and have all of the other walls painted a neutral color like white, cream, or light grey. This 1 blue wall will be a feature wall, and will stand out in the room.

The 3^rd option is to paint all of the walls a neutral color, and then decorate the space with pops of blue (blue couch pillows, etc.) – like the blue and white living room in picture (2). And I go over all of the ideas and design tips on how to do this below.

The Right Shade

The shade of blue that you choose to decorate your living room will depend on the kind of feeling that you want to create. A dark navy blue paint color for the walls will create a cozy, intimate feeling living room. While a light blue, like the living room wall color in picture (3), will create a more airy, spacious, and bright feeling space.

And don’t forget to try and take away any colored pieces that are in the living room. If you want to create a strong design, then you don’t want a green trash can, a yellow candle stand, or a red stool in the space.

Adding Another Color

A blue and white living room would be the easiest and most straightforward way to style the room. But you could always add in another color into the design palette. You just need to make sure that you stick to it. This means taking out pieces in the room that don’t align with the color palette you’ve chosen.

Some good color combinations include:

Blue and green
Blue and brown
Gray and blue
And light yellow and blue

Breaking Up A Blue Wall

Some people would like to have their whole walls blue. While others might feel it is a little too much. So here are some ideas on how you can break up solid blue surfaces:

Half of the wall can be covered in wainscoting, just like the living room in picture (4). Traditionally you would have white wainscoting and then a blue wall above it. But you could always have both the wainscoting and the wall the same blue color – this adds depth and style to the room (5). Or how about using two different shades of blue. A dark blue painted over the wainscoting, and a lighter blue for the walls
Neutral colored curtains can also help break up a solid blue wall
And how about hanging up some picture frames, or create a gallery wall (6) with black and white photos

How to Style a Neutral Blue Living Room

To create a tamed down blue living room, go with a neutral base color. This means having white painted walls (or light grey, cream).

Get rid of any colored pieces in the room.

And the you can style the space with a few pops of blue, and they will really stand out. These pops of blue could be:

A blue lampshade
How about repainting the media cabinet doors blue
Hang up some blue art pieces or photographs
Or just paint a large frame blue and hang up a black and white design
You can easily color a living room blue with a blue area rug
See if you can get blue storage containers
And if you have open shelving, you could paint the backs and insides of the shelves blue
Most living rooms the focal point will be the seating area. Now you don’t have to have a blue couch to style the living room blue. A neutral colored one will do. And you can add blue to it by: using blue pillow cases, or throw a blue blanket over the back of the couch

The same can be said about the coffee table. You could go with a blue coffee table. But a more toned down way of styling this area would be to have a neutral colored coffee table, with a blue tray on it to group items together.

Here are some other living room posts to get ideas from:

1/2/3/4/5/6

April 8, 2016 in Color Palettes, Living Room

Home Gym Ideas: Creating Your Own Workout Space

Some people might have a whole room they could use for their home gym, while others might need to divide their bedroom to create some space. Some people might be able to have a treadmill, while others will use a skipping rope. This post goes over ideas that show how anyone can build their own home gym.

Where to Put Your Home Gym

It is best if you could have a separate room just for your gym. A place where you can focus on working out. So a spare room, or somewhere in the basement, attic or garage would work.

But not everyone has this sort of extra space. If you only have a small space to work with, then look to create a DIY room divider. This can be as easy as hanging up a curtain, or blocking the area off with some bookcases. This will hide away your gym equipment when it is not in use, leaving you with a clutter free space.

Have a look at my post here for some ideas: Ideas Mood Board: DIY Room Dividers.

Basic and Space Friendly Home Gym Equipment

Set of Dumbbells – Even if you are looking to just lose weight, you’ll need to do cardio mixed in with resistance training (dumbbells). This will tone the muscles and add definition.

Skipping Rope – This is the best alternative if you don’t have space for a treadmill to do cardio.

A Stability Ball – Not only space saving, but a stability ball lets you do a wide range of different home gym workout from crunches and squats to hamstring curls.

Resistance Bands – These can work similar to the traditional big workout machines. You’ll be able to do exercises such as pull downs, shoulder exercises, and chest presses.

Yoga Mat

Design Tips For Building a Home Gym

Put in some full body mirrors. Why not check your self out when working out? To see your form when doing exercises, and to stay motivated
Stay pumped up through out your workout by having a set of speakers blasting some workout tunes
How about a mini fridge for drinks, ice packs, and protein bars
A TV in front of a treadmill can help you stay entertained with TV shows, news channels, or documentaries
And decorate the space by hanging up inspirational posters
Home gym flooring: You want to have a solid but soft floor. Vinyl or rubber would work best.

Creating A Bright and Energetic Gym Space

You’ll want to design a bright and spacious feeling gym, which will help keep your energy levels up. To do this, you’ll want a bright paint color for your walls. White works. Blue and green are more on the relaxing side. While yellow and orange will create a bold and highly energetic feeling room.

Lighting is also key to creating a spacious and energetic space. You’ll want to have as much ceiling lighting as possible. If you can’t add any, then try and have as many floor and table lamps as possible. You could even get one of these LED mood lamps, and point it up against the walls to paint the space different colors.

Placing mirrors around the room will also help make the space feel larger and brighter (since the light bounce off of them).

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