In case you haven’t noticed, my day job has been eating up my blogging time for the last year and a half. So, I thought I’d share a little of my day job with you.
Recently, I took a business trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, and I stayed in a lovely […]
This small unfinished pine bookshelf was shuffled from room to room. I planned to paint it, but never did. I was on the verge of kicking it to the curb. (This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may earn a small commission. You can […]
Lately I’ve been coveting a coffee-table ottoman. You know: one of those oversized ottomans that you can kick your feet on from nearly any seat on the couch and use as a coffee table by merely adding a tray. I loved Pottery Barn’s striped Alexandria Ottoman (see […]
American Express asked me to make over a social space using merchandise available through Membership Rewards points. I chose to make over my dining room. Deciding what to buy with 150,000 Membership Rewards points and dozens of fabulous merchants to choose from was a challenge. […]
Wow. I should ask for your input more often. You gals shared some great ideas! I didn’t think it was possible, but you changed my mind about some of my original ideas for this dining room makeover sponsored by American Express. After […]
My Sylvania room makeover taught me a few things about the difficulties of turning one small room into a multi-functional space that serves as a craft room, an office, and a guest room. I wanted to share what I learned with you. Here are my top five small-space […]
This is the first whole-room makeover I have attempted on Crafty Nest. What an undertaking! I had been planning to make over my office/guest/craft room for some time. The makeover involved a ton of DIY — which is definitely why I had procrastinated the job. Then Sylvania […]
Introducing a new guest nester! Australian Abby Matthews used to blog about the things that inspire her at Two Little Dicky Birds. Abby’s remake of this tired, chipped pine dressing table reminds me of my wallpapered cart, but she used an entirely different (and better?) process, so […]
Our new guest nester, Maria Romvari, transformed this corner of her house for her Hungarian blog A Hoover-gáton is túl, and she’s sharing her tutorial with us! Maria used ordinary thrift store items — side table, vase, and mismatched frames — totaling $10.67 to create this stunning vignette. […]
I love metallic-finish furniture, and I thought this little library table was the ideal piece to try my own metallic finish. I bought the table on Craigslist last year for $15. I adored its cute shape, but it needed lots of repairs. I pulled 21 (mostly bent) […]
I picked up this table curbside last year. The wooden top was weathered, cracked, and warped, and the base was rusted but sturdy. Then I found these French café chairs at Ikea, a replacement tabletop at The Home Depot, and exterior paint on
I told you I had a plan for the Ikea Fira mini chests that were leftover from my DIY rolling toolbox. I had a plethora of printer paper and envelopes and nowhere to store it all. The solution: stack three mini chests together, add molding, casters, and paint […]
I outgrew my toolbox end tables, but I refused to pay hundreds of dollars for one of those ugly, manly Craftsman tool chests. And the gorgeous white ones are even more expensive. This chest of drawers cost me $10 on
I decided to try a different take on the tray table I made nearly a year ago. This time, it would have a more practical permanent top. Plus, it’s an ideal opportunity to use more of my furniture nails, which I love, and some fabulous lime green spray paint. […]
In lieu of a project this week, I’m posting some photos I took during one of my walks around my neighborhood in Menlo Park, California. It was an idea inspired by sfgirlbybay. Instead of beautiful, transporting images (I’m not the photographer Victoria is), I shot items that […]
I bought this trolley for a steal on Craigslist. You may have seen it before with my salvaged window-frame mirror. You can’t tell in the photo, but it’s banged up and rickety from years of use. My friend Peter added some reinforcement to make the […]
I found these chairs curbside with a “free” sign taped to them. They have a nice shape but suffer from two problems: a shoddy paint job and cracked seats. I knew I could fix both issues. I wasn’t settled on the how part until I saw what Melissa did to her […]
Last year I fell in love with Jason Horvath’s Sakura table from Uhuru (below). 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 […]
Our newest guest nester Heika DeHart shared photos of her daughter’s bedroom, which was full of decor that Heika handmade herself, including this beautifully stenciled dresser. Now she’s sharing her step-by-step instructions for how she transformed the lackluster chest of drawers.
Heika bought the dresser at a university auction […]
My new friend Heika DeHart shared these images of her daughter Aspen’s adorable bedroom. Nearly every decoration in the room was created from scratch by Heika herself. My favorite project is the stunning dresser. I loved the result so much, I asked her to share her instructions with all of us. […]
Closet cleaning isn’t a flashy subject, but I can’t help it: I’m in full organization mode. I blame the new year. I simplified this closet by chucking old clothes and sticking with just three types of hangers: wood, padded, and skirt hangers (the latter two are on the left side of […]
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 […]
I picked up these drawers on Freecycle. They were salvaged from the kitchen of a 1940s house that was demolished. My original plan was to put the drawers on wheels and use them as under-bed storage. Turns out, no two drawers are the same height, which would look […]
I got this idea from the plastic adhesive window coverings that Sarah Gaffney used in Sunset magazine’s 2008 Menlo Park Idea House. The window coverings (see below) from British designer Emma Jeffs are sold by Design Public. Sarah wrote […]
Kelly and Sarah, two former Sunset magazine coworkers, planned to use this shabby bookshelf in Sunset’s Menlo Park Idea House last summer. After removing the doors, which were in a dire state of disrepair, they painted it. Paint: Benjamin Moore Aura Steam (AF-15) and Caliente (AF-290). Then they decided […]
A few years ago, I achieved my dream of owning a Yamaha DX7 keyboard, the synthesizer behind that bell-quality sound of 80s pop music. But, I couldn’t just plop it on top of any keyboard stand. A former roommate gave me an old piano bench, and I found an unfinished […]
Living in a rental, there is only so much you can do when you want to upgrade your bathroom. With a wall-mounted sink and no storage to speak of, my small bathroom needed a little help. Paint isn’t an option, and the neutral tile colors limited my color choices, so I […]
I’ve seen many tray tables on the market recently. You know, the side tables with removable trays. They inspired me to make my own. My neighbor gave me this rusty old plant stand, and I knew it could make a perfect base for my round metal tray. All it took was […]
What do you do with an ever-expanding tool supply in a small apartment already packed to the gills? Answer: toolbox side tables. I found two of these locking file cabinets on Craigslist and loaded them up with all my tools and paint. For the smaller tools, I […]
