My sister Christy came up with this super easy idea—and I love it. Even better: I had all the supplies on hand. No, I don’t drink wine, but I have plenty of friends who do. They saved their corks for a big project I have planned. I could spare a few for this trivet. You [...]

So sorry for the suspense regarding my toolbox dresser project. I haven’t made much progress on it yet. In the meantime, I decided to make a starburst mirror. This project was a cinch because I learned from the mistakes I made on my sunburst mirror. The basic materials for this one: an Ikea plant glide [...]

I’m redecorating my living room. Red has been lovely, but the colors of the sea are calling me. (I’ll post a before and after when my living room is done.) I like Ikea’s Fjädrar inner cushions, but none of Ikea’s pillow covers go with my new color scheme. So, using a cover that I bought [...]

Last year I fell in love with Jason Horvath’s Sakura table from Uhuru. It was out of my price range, so I decided to make my own version using some bamboo veneer a friend gave me and two Ikea Lack tables I got on Craigslist. Aiming for an organic floral design, I used photos of [...]

My apologies to those of you who had difficulty with my site this week. I tried something that didn’t work. It’s back to the old design until I work out the kinks. While I do that, I thought I’d post a project from two years ago. I bought a bunch of canvas tote bags, fabric [...]

Some of you may remember my first faux capiz shell lampshade that I made for Sunset magazine. It was originally inspired by West Elm’s popular capiz shell table lamp. I was going for the mod look, but I didn’t quite pull it off. Plus I discovered, after two years of use, that the colored rice [...]

When I told my brother about this week’s project, the first thing he said was, “You know you can buy those, right?” Halfway into the project, I started to wish I did. My old shower slippers fell apart recently. I examined the shreds and decided that I could make my own—only better. I bought a [...]

My brother and I custom built this unit. I couldn’t find the right piece of furniture that had small drawers and deep drawers. I found these Branäs baskets at Ikea, but Ikea doesn’t make a unit like this to hold them. So, I drew up the plans to build this shelf unit.

I got this idea from the plastic adhesive window coverings Sarah Gaffney used in Sunset’s Menlo Park Idea House. It took me hours and hours to do—and I don’t like it. That is, I don’t like how Plan A turned out—mostly because I apparently got a defective roll of clear Con-Tact paper (see the streaks?). [...]

Last year, I asked for suggestions on ways to display my postcard collection. Everyone had great ideas. But this postcard “tapestry” idea came to me, and I had to try it. It would also work well for photos or Christmas cards. You can easily rotate in new ones whenever you like. I’m planning to make [...]