Coming atcha with another super easy home decor DIY! I stopped into IKEA this past weekend to pick up some plants and was inspired to create a little hanging planter for the bathroom in our apartment. We have a second towel bar underneath the window that rarely gets used, so I thought it would be the perfect spot to hang a few plants and brighten the space up. Keep reading to find out how to make this cute planter!What you’ll need:
Place the plants in the utensil holder, slide on the S-hooks, and attach to the towel bar! Voila – a cute and functional hanging planter that adds some color your bathroom! The grey cart and white basket are also from IKEA and help keep our bathroom organized. XO, J
February has come and gone and Sawyer and I have officially been in our new apartment 2 months. I’ve been dying to make a headboard for our bed since we moved to SF over a year ago, but alas, no car = no home improvement DIYs. We have wheels now, and since I’ve had this rustic headboard DIY pinned on Pinterest for about as long as we’ve lived on the West Coast, I thought it was about time I tackled it! It was a fairly easy project with only ONE TRIP to Home Depot (!!!). I’m so happy with the way it turned out.
Supplies you’ll need:
5 1x6s of whitewood cut to the width of your bed (we have a California King bed, so ours were cut to 72″)
1 1×3 of whitewood cut into 30″ sections (we needed 3 30″ sections due to the length of our headboard)
80 grit sanding block
Rubber glove
Small can of Minwax in Jacobean
Rag or old sock
Drill
12 1.5″ wood screws
9′ hanging wire
Stud finder (and if you buy a new one, also buy a 9-volt battery)
String of twinkle lights (optional)
1. We closely followed the direction of this tutorial, but needed to make a few tweaks along the way. First, lay down all of your wood and dry fit (make sure all the planks fit nicely together). With each plank, decide which side is going to be the front and which side is going to be the back. Since we used whitewood (which is cheaper than pine), one side of every board had machine markings on it, making it pretty easy to figure out. Place all the planks together, good side down. Note: I would suggest staining the wood prior to screwing it together. We didn’t and wished we had.
2. Evenly space the 30″ pieces of 1×3 on the planks. Since we used 3, we placed two on either side and one in the middle. If you’re making a smaller headboard, you’ll probably only need two pieces. You’re going to drill a screw through the 1x3s into each of the planks on both sides, so it helps to drill pilot holes first so the wood doesn’t split. Carefully drill the screws in, taking care not to drill through the front of the headboard.
3. Make sure to leave each top screw sticking out about 1/4″. This is where you are going to tie the wire.
4. Once everything has been screwed in and the headboard feels secure (doesn’t wobble or twist), prop it up and give it a quick sand with the sanding block. The edges of our boards were still quite rough, so be sure to sand those thoroughly to prevent accidental splinters.
5. Put on your rubber glove (I wrapped my hand with a plastic bag and it didn’t work very well…). Cover your gloved hand with an old sock or rag and dip directly into can of stain. Apply the stain to the wood in a buffing motion. We only ended up needing one coat of Minwax Jacobean, so definitely buy the smallest canister of stain available. Allow to dry in a well-ventilated area for an hour or two.
6. I didn’t include photos, but once your stain is dry, string the hanging wire onto the top screws of your headboard. Once the wire is on as tight at you can make it, use the drill to finish screwing in the top screws. This will anchor the wire and hold it taught. Using the studfinder, find two evenly-spaced studs above your bed. Drill two screws into the studs. Carefully hang your headboard. The first time we did this, our wire wasn’t tight enough and the headboard drooped lower then we wanted, so it might be a little bit of trial-and-error.
TA-DA! The headboard gets the Buddy stamp of approval!
For a glam touch, string up some twinkle lights. This DIY really was fairly simple and headache-free! I only spent $63.07 total for all my materials and tools (not including a drill). Our bedroom has finally been elevated to ADULT status! Not bad for a Sunday afternoon.
This week marks 6 months that we’ve been living in San Francisco! Although I’ve showed snippets of our apartment on Instagram, I’ve been hesitant to give an official apartment tour because we’ve been stuck at about 80% for a while. These past few weeks we’ve made an effort to put some finishing touches on our place. It’s our first real “adult” apartment together outside of college, so we wanted to make sure the place reflected both our tastes (mixing masculine and feminine elements in a living space can be tough!). Have a look!
Lately I’ve been feeling inspired by mid-century decor with a modern twist (take a peek at my Pinterest boards and see!). However, with any vintage decor you walk a fine line between looking cool and retro and looking just plain out-of-date. IKEA is, of course, the workhorse of everything mid-century and Scandinavian and affordable and AWESOME. San Francisco is ripe with secondhand stores and flea markets which are treasure troves of vintage furniture. Sawyer and I can’t wait to peruse them this weekend and maybe find a gem to take home with us! Hey, a girl can dream, right?!
Martha Stewart Living paint in ‘Enamelware‘: $2.94/sample
I’m not perfect. I’ll even reluctantly admit that I’m somewhat messy and disorganized. But what’s a girl to do with too many products, tools, and accessories and not enough space? When you’re sharing a bathroom with someone else, however, I guess it’s pretty bad etiquette to leave it looking like this. I even debated not including the before shot, but I had to convince myself that this is what every girl’s bathroom sink looks like (right… right??). So here we go, an unedited photo of my extremely cluttered bathroom sink:
The biggest problem for me was that I had nowhere to put my hair styling tools while they were cooling down, so I would just leave them on the sink to cool. This is a pretty common problem for girls, no? I found a genius solution, though….
The Container Store is where it’s at, gals. I picked up a four-tier acrylic organizer to store my hair elastics, bobby pins, jewelry, lip balm, and any other loose odds-and-ends that were taking over my countertop. My cotton balls were still in the giant plastic bag from the store, so I also grabbed a glass apothecary jar to display and make them easily accessible. The best organizer I bought, though, was the Style Station Organizer, which I mounted under the sink on the cabinet door. This organizer can hold a hairdryer, flat iron, and curling iron – even when they’ve just been used and are still hot! No more “leaving it to cool off on the counter” business. I also used a woven basket (not pictured) to store the rest of my hair brushes, combs, and products. The whole process was so easy I finished it in one evening. So, no more excuses, gals! It’s time to get organized!
Coming atcha with another super easy home decor DIY! I stopped into IKEA this past weekend to pick up some plants and was inspired to create a little hanging planter for the bathroom in our apartment. We have a second towel bar underneath the window that rarely gets used, so I thought it would be the perfect spot to hang a few plants and brighten the space up. Keep reading to find out how to make this cute planter!
What you’ll need:
XO, J
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