1 crafty mother

Decorating on a budget never has to mean settling for a home that feels plain or cold.  In fact, some of the most striking design choices are simple, artistic upgrades that have changed the feeling  of my space rather than just filling it with more stuff. These ten DIY ideas create visual impact, personality, and warmth —often for far less money than traditional renovations. 1. Install a Wallpaper Mural A wallpaper mural can completely transform a room, turning a blank wall i

Convert your bonus space into a teen girl retreat

If you read my original post about building my walnut parquet dining table (aka my “I want to be someone who can do hard things” era), you might remember that I finished the top… and then stuck it on very practical, very temporary legs. those legs are from ikea They were fine.They held the table up...so I kind of moved on. But the whole time, I had a specific base in mind that I was longing for— a hand-forged iron one that felt heavier, moodier, and more in line with what I i

So… I turned two very normal, very rectangular kitchen cabinets into *sort of* arched shelves. Was this a perfectly engineered, mathematically precise renovation? Absolutely not. Do I kind of love them anyway? Yes, I do. Here’s how it all went down. --- The Vision (fuzzy at best) There is a house that I go by when I walk my dog that has beautiful, underlit, arched bookshelves that glow through the windows at night — soft curves, cozy vibes, very much something that I want. Pe

A finishing carpenter lived in our house before we did, and for the most part, we are beneficiaries of artful and skilled updating to our 1880s house. For the most part. One major departure from this line of gratitude existed as the kitchen. Wow. excuse the bright window into the afterlife...bad picture taking..can't go back and do it again. So our kitchen fits the profile for an old house in that it is very small….like it could fit on a boat. That’s ok. There are only 3 of u

Evidentally, privet bushes have a lifespan and our 24 privet hedge was reaching its end when we bought our house.  Slowly over the first two years we lived here, whole chunks of our 6 foot tall hedge would grow more sparse, leaving windows in an otherwise solid wall of prettiness.  I tried to fortify, I tied up and supported the weakening branches, I fed the soil...but there was no real hope. To quote Apollo 13, “from where I’m sitting, the hedge is dying. “ …or something lik

I made this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Step 1: Went to a Store …probably wise to say no names, just know that it rhymes with Shmottery Shmarn I saw a table I adored. And I mean adored. It was just so… rainy day, hot coffee, parquet with like pomegranates and hurricane candles and strewn linens ...you know the type...beautiful.  I did not make this....this is from the store...this was my inspo. I imagined hosting elegant dinner parties around it, I imagined reading newspapers around it as

Thank you, God, for this warm, pretty, old house. It took a long time for us to find one and we love it dearly. That said, there have been many, many things that we have fixed thus far and many more to come. A few projects (that I intend to post about) have been: added a fence and cut a garden along the driveway. resurfaced all of the cabinets in the kitchen. layed a brick patio behind the garage. dug out 26 dying privet and planted 24 lilacs for a hedge. big.fun . carpeted,