I’ve decided to reveal my complete lack of skills when it comes to Do-It-Yourself to you, because at least a few of you seem to find it funny. I read ReadyMade, I come up with all kinds of overambitious ideas, and when I go to execute, the results are laughable. I finally bought some new sconce/chandelier lampshades at RE-Store the other day (that place is AWESOME!) for $2.95 each, new in package (I also picked up some earplugs for my neighbor’s weekly two hour leaf blowing extravaganzas, for ten cents each). I absolutely adore the print on this pair I bought at IKEA, but like everything else I have ever bought there, they were a near miss – while my sconces require clip shades, this was one of those weird shades with a ring that fits below the bulb, and probably only works on lights from IKEA. Inspired by IKEAHacker, I figured it would be an easy fix. For some reason I felt sure this involved stolen coffee stirrers from the coffeeshop and packaging tape.

(Pardon the D.I.Y. Photoshopping Above) By the way, these stayed like this for about a year. They were actually straight for about a month or so, but because they were at the top of the stairs, this was the main view of my handiwork I had of at least one of them as I looked up. Let’s get one more look at how this was working out:

Usually I have a hard time living with things that are crooked, but this was such a lost cause and I hate bare bulbs so much that I just ignored it. Do you have anything around the house like this that you’ve just let go forever?

So, first I asked you all for advice. I received great tips, and basically picked the one with the shortest drive to go get materials. The winner, thus, was foam core from Utrecht.

DAY ONE:

I then went through the piles and piles of Marimekko fabric I have around my house, but nothing was really calling my name. So I gave up and got busy doing other things.

DAY TWO:

I worked out for the first time since my gym went out of business on December 3 and way overdid the lunges. It was also freezing outside, but looking at my ugly map wall, blank foam core and thus total lack of inspiration, I remembered I could walk to Paper Source and get something to cover the foam core. It was VERY cold outside, so hobbling with my aches and pains to Paper Source took a lot of determination.

I looked through all of their beautiful Japanese papers for what seems like an hour and finally decided on this gorge blue dotted one. Now, I knew I needed to cover a 30″x 40″piece of foamcore. Let me say, I don’t understand how I broke 700 on my math SAT, because what I am about to tell you is so stupid it’s ridiculous. I had the saleswoman measure the paper for me. It was 19″ x 25″. We both agreed this would cover something 38″ x 50″, even though I said “I know something is off here but I cannot figure out what.” It was this:

Um, yeah, you only get to double ONE of the dimensions! Duh!

At this point it was 6:45, the store closed at 7:00, I could not find my big cutting board or fresh Exactos to trim the foam core. I was thawing out and my thighs were screaming. DAY 2 was dunzo as far as this project was concerned.

DAY THREE

It’s a new day for DIY. I took down my maps and discovered why I didn’t like my map wall anymore – the ones at the bottom showed me the beautiful blue that background used to be had faded to a dingy awful gray in the sunlight. This is probably going to happen to my new inspiration board, but if I worry about that now, this is never going to happen. Check out the difference – it’s so weird!:

So I returned to Paper Source (dang it – I wish I could get out of that store for under $70, but the metal robot ornaments were 50% off!) and bought the two remaining pieces:

I trimmed it, glued it, and covered the ugly sides of the foam core with black tape:

Now that it had been THREE DAYS, I was determined to complete what should have taken about a total of an hour, including shopping! I wasn’t going to let the fact that there was no way to hang it stop me. Has anyone EVER made any sense of this picture hanging crap from IKEA? Some of their stuff is just so ridiculous, but you get what you pay for, right?

I turned to my favorite secret weapon: Binder Clips. They always come through in a jam:

Now finally, I can get some inspiration up in here! This is just some random stuff that was cluttering my desk, but I hope to layer all the things that inspire me over time! Is it the prettiest DIY? The most complicated? Um, no, pretty much the opposite, but I just wanted to let those of you who suck at DIY projects know that you are not alone! Now, if I could just get the room painted, I’d be a happy camper!

I stopped by my friend Lucas’s loft in the Old Fourth Ward today and took about a million pictures. Between the funky flash and the fact that I was dizzy, I’m not thrilled with the results, but the ideas are so good I had to share a few with you immediately anyway. I’ll share more of a house tour in a later post after some photo editing attempts, but for now, here are a few of his great ideas.

Aren’t these ticket stub shadowboxes a great idea? I have ticket stubs floating all over my house, some in scrapbooks, some on bulletin boards, I even saw one in my laundry room the other day. I’d love to get them all in one place, as each one carries different memories (side note: perhaps I’ll blow up the one from the Depeche Mode concert this past month – that show was AWESOME! OK, back to Lucas…) Lucas is a singer-songwriter and goes to see live music ALL the time. I even spy Suzanne Vega’s signature on a stub in his collection.

Lucas has a knack with IKEA frames. The piece above was bought from an artist in Provincetown, and he gave it more of a presence with an inexpensive black frame. The piece below is a tangle of old guitar wires that he was gathering up to toss out. When he saw they had formed a heart shape, he popped them in another frame:

Every surface around the loft is well-curated. Living in a small studio instilled the feeling of only keeping things you need and love around the house. Lucas entertains a lot, and I noticed he utilized trays and modern tray tables all over his home for various things. He keeps his bar beautiful with fresh flowers and candles.

A TV-related tree, currently some sort of shrine to Carrie Bradshaw!

Again, sorry for the photo quality. I’m not sure what happened there, and I feel like they don’t do the art or the space justice! Luckily, I have a bunch of photos from Lucas himself which are much better than mine. You can sort through them all in this flickr set if you’d like a peek before the house tour post!

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the note in the shadowbox, “U Cute” was a note left in grease pen on a Burger King bag by a toothless cashier who was staring at Lucas so much that he said “I was afraid he was gonna cut me.” It was only later as he picked up his burger detritus that he saw the note and it all made sense! Did I mention that Lucas is hilarious?

I know we are not out of the recession yet so I thought I’d share our DIY shelving project. If you have a drill to make some holes in a few wood boards, you can make this!

Here’s what you need, all of which can  be found at your local hardware store:

*  3 fir boards (good to let these dry out a bit so sap doesn’t get all over your things)
*  6 all thread rods
*  36 sets of nuts and washers to sandwich the boards
*  6 coupling hex nuts to use as feet
*  a drill

1.) Drill holes in all four corners as well as in the center edges of the boards. We stacked all three boards on top of one another so the holes would be placed in a similar spot on each board.

2.) Put a hex nut on each rod. Add a nut/washer above the hex nut. Insert the rods in the freshly cut holes of one of the boards. Sandwich the board with another set of nuts/washers.

3.) Add another set of nuts/washers to each rod placing the set at the midpoint of the rod. Top it off with a board and again sandwich the wood with the nuts/washers. Continue this process for the top board.

4.) Make sure you have some bad TV on in the background.

5.) Adjust the washers/nuts as needed so the boards are level.

6.) Clean up.

7.) Put the bad TV on your new shelving to test your work.

8.) Fill the shelving with your favorite trinkets!

Here is the before:

The transformation process:

The after!

Amazing the difference a little dab of black paint can make. She’s a beauty again!

This month’s issue of Ready Made really stood out. I’ve been a fan of the magazine for awhile, but  the April/May issue really takes it to the next level. Ready Made has definitely taken the “k” out of “crafty.” Loved the peak into artist Rex Ray’s 900 square foot home:

Loved the articles about community farms, the “where I live” article about Poncey Highland, Thomas Wold’s wacky found object coat rack, the key challenge’s winning design. Loved it from cover-to-cover!

In semi-Readymade related news, today’s New York Times featured a house I covet in an article titled “When Skateboarders Grow Up.” A Ready Made stylist (perhaps former, I could not find that information), Claire Bigbie, and her boyfriend Jay Shapiro renovated their Noe Valley Victorian beautifully. You MUST check out the slideshow here. Here’s a little teaser:

People who went to RISD sure have the best art and furniture collections. I really need to start hanging out with more people who went to school there!

• Ready Made cover by Scott Little
• Rex Ray’s abode photo by Ken Gutmaker for Ready Made
• Bottom two photos by Timothy Griffith for The New York Times.

Karen and I live in a condo within a large Victorian-style building converted into flats in the mid-eighties. It was very run down when we bought it but full of potential with high ceilings, large windows on all sides and plenty of light.

I was sure it was right for us but Karen took some convincing. With hindsight, I think she realized how much work was ahead, having renovated a few properties before. I’d never done anything like this so ploughed ahead in blissful ignorance!

Our motivation for the interior and the layout came from a love of large loft-style apartments typical of New York. We had a desire to replicate that, at least until we could afford the real thing!

First, we stripped everything out, removed all the old carpets, shelves, units etc until we had a blank canvas.

Then we took off all the doors, widened and heightened each doorway and knocked down a few walls, improving the flow throughout. We re-plastered, painted everything white and laid walnut flooring.

We lived with white for a while before adding feature walls in the lounge, office and bedroom.

Our taste is minimal and contemporary but with a retro twist, pretty much like our kids designs, so you’ll notice seventies-esque patterned wallpaper in the lounge, offset by a few designer classics.

We’ve used a color scheme that’s very much in the Olli & Lime palette, so you’ll see brown, white and orange and even a lime green kitchen! The contrasting concrete countertop was a real triumph actually and is always a talking point for new visitors.

Renovating has been really satisfying, particularly because we had a shared vision of what we wanted to achieve. Almost a year on, as we continue to add our own touches, we still look around at what we’ve created and smile.

Thanks, Andy and Karen! You can see all of their Olli & Lime products on DP.

***Special side note! Karen and Andy were nice enough to offer a 20% discount on all EGG products for this weekend only (April 10-13, inclusive). Use coupon code OLLIEGG at checkout. If you get the connection between the egg products and the holiday this weekend you are really smart.

1. Make your own wall art. We bought pre-cut cubes of wood from Home Depot  (about $1 each) and painted them 5 different shades of green of Benjamin Moore paint to create our installation piece. And no need to be obsessive over the painting!  The key is in the hanging which just takes an hour at home and a ruler. Go for bright colors such as corals and yellows.

2. Instead of the expense of wallpapering an entire room, why not cut down the cost and keep it focused? Buy fewer rolls and just paper a focal wall, behind your bead, your ceiling, as a faux headboard or even just in the back of your bookshelves. You will get your daily “glimpse” which will make you feel stylish and chic without paying thousands.

3. Paint your walls with horizontal or vertical stripes! Depending on the space and your patience, this is a simple way to make your space look larger or your ceiling height taller. This is a simple afternoon activity which I have done myself, and all you need is the paint color of your choice, some blue painting tape, a ruler and a level.  Tape out the increments of your desired stripe, and smooth it to the wall by applying pressure so that paint cannot seep underneath. And the rest is just layering on that paint! Get creative with your paint color choices, I love bold colors, so try green or a deep purple.

4. Extra space? Why not add a splash of color with buying books by the yard from your local bookstore or thrift shop (books which are either used or not in demand) and cover them with wrapping paper of your choice or with colored construction paper. Just another way to get the look of high design in your space without spending too much money.

5. Make opening every door a surprise; a separate jewel box in itself. Paint the inside of your closet a bright color to showcase every inch of your home. Tie in the accent color of the rest of your home or use your most favorite outrageous color – there are no regrets with this small project. Just close the door, and it’s out of sight.
Thanks, Nina! To view more of her work check out Haus Interior LLC and TheCultivatedHome.com

A key ingredient to this project was material selection. Tile rose to the top of the list for its durability and Thomas used its square shape to dictate the design of the chair. Imagine the possibilities of tile for your own outdoor DIY projects…like cubed side tables or a rectangular coffee table!

Check out the June issue of ReadyMade Magazine for the deets on how to make tiled furniture for your own backyard.

When Thomas Wold saw rows of seating at an airport or laundromat he thought, “Why not add other modular items to the row besides simple chairs…like lamps, side tables or statues?” Thomas then brainstormed, sketched, enlisted help from a local welder and ta da!…the creation was made.

His article in the 2008 April/May ReadyMade Magazine has fantastic tips on how to work with an expert in your area to craft one of a kind pieces as well as the basic blueprint for making a “Laundromat Seating for the 21st Century” creation of your own.

• Photo: ReadyMade Magazine Issue 34 (April/May 2008).