Wednesday

Revamp an Old Filing Cabinet

 
I bought this old filing cabinet from a guy who posted it on Craigslist for $10.  It was dirty and had been stored outside.
 

I took all the drawers out and started cleaning it with soapy water and the water hose.  Then I let it completely dry.


 
I purchased spray paint primer and used two full cans to thoroughly coat the cabinet.  Then I used two cans of regular spray paint in an aqua color.  Afterwards, I sprayed the cabinet with two cans of gloss coating to protect the color.
 
 
My significant other then took the drawers apart so that I could clean and spray paint the knobs and label holders on each drawer.
 

 
I primed the front of each drawer with a light coat of the spray paint primer.  I think I could have skipped this step but I didn't want to risk seeing the black color through the fabric I chose.
 
 
I picked a fabric and gathered some Mod Podge and foam brushes.  I put the fabric on the front of the drawer and used the Mod Podge to adhere it to the drawer and to put a protective coating over the top.  Be sure to fold the corners the best you can and cut off excess fabric because you don't want to add and extra width to the drawers or they will not close in the filing cabinet.
 
 
I spray painted the front label holders white and cleaned the drawer pulls really good.  I was going to spray paint the drawer pulls but they were nice enough when I cleaned them that I decided not to.
 
 
 
 
 

Store Makeup Brushes in Glass Vases


I bought these vases for $1 a piece at the Dollar Tree.  I etched them so that the front of the vases spells out my future last name. 

I filled the vases a third of the way full with coffee grounds that I bought from the Dollar Tree. Then I filled them the rest of the way with whole coffee beans. The grounds at the bottom help hold the brushed upright better than just using all whole beans. 




Tuesday

Upgrade Your Dish Soap and Mouthwash Holders


The picture is self explanatory. The bottles can be bought from the Dollar Tree or Hobby Lobby. The spouts on top can be bought at the Dollar Tree. You can buy the whole set with both bottle and top from any department store. They are usually used for oil and vinegar. 


The one above is filled with dish soap. The one below is filled with Listerine. 



Thursday

DIY Custom Shirt


Oh my golly...I LOVE this shirt I made. I bought a pink t-shirt from Walmart for $4ish. It was in the craft area. There were lots of colors and sizes. I bought this to be a night shirt so I wanted a big t-shirt. You could even buy one of the $.99 plain shirts at Goodwill. 

 Start with a plain shirt. 


I opened a Word file and just typed in what I wanted the shirt to say and chose the font and size. I printed it out and then used a Sharpie marker to trace it so it was a bit more bold. You could just print it out filled in. 


I put the paper under the shirt and could see it enough to use a fabric market to trace it. 


After tracing it I colored it in and BOOM!  Easy, cute, inexpensive new shirt. Love it!!!

 





Mason Jar Solar Lights

Make these easy and inexpensive mason jar solar lights. 


You need these three supplies. Glass beads (I bought mine from the Dollar Tree), wide mouth pint mason jars, and solar lights. 


I bought the mason jars in a pack of 12 from Walmart because I wanted to make 12 of them for each windowsill in the back of my house. 


The solar lights were $2.50 each at Walmart. 


I bought blue glass beads and clear glass beads and then mixed them in a bowl. I bought 16 packs for $1 a piece. Each jar uses about a pack and a half. 


I took the solar light top off the base and filled the mason jar with the glass marbles. 


I put the solar light on top of the jar and it fit snug in the jar. 


I put one in front of each window. When the blinds are open during the day it recharges the light and at night they light up and the light shines off the colored glass marbles. 



DIY Desktop Outlet

The better half and I both have a thing for hidden cords in out office area. I am sure most like the look of a clean work area. Rerunning and taking out the charger cord for the laptop was getting old. A Solution to this issue was needed ASAP.

I was surfing the net when I found a solution to our work area OCD issue. Here are the easy steps I took to get this set up:




    I began by centering up the outlet and tracing around it to make a perfect template. Our desk is another DIY project from months ago, link. I cut the flooring that we have covering the desk to give easy lines to follow with the skill saw. Also, this will prevent the saw from making any rough edges on the flooring. I then cut a large hole in the remaining board of the desk. This gives plenty of room to move the saw around and get the remaining wood cut away.

 
I then cut a piece of wood, a one by six that I cut four inches, to serve as support to the outlet. Getting the wood attached to the outlet box is very important. I put two screws through the box to attach it to the piece of wood. That piece will be then mounted to the bottom of the desk. I drilled pilot holes to ensure the desktop doesn't break while mounting the box to the bottom to the desktop. I lined the wood and box up under the desktop and attached.

 
 
Now for the fun part. I ran the new cord behind the desk, hopefully for the last time ever because it is not an easy task. Make sure to leave the plug end not pugged in while wiring the outlet. I almost looked past this, would have been a shocking discovery. Cut the outlet end of the cord and run it through the box. Then strip it down and wire tot he two sides of the outlet. If you have any questions about wiring an outlet up, any old guy at the hardware store will be able to explain it no problem.
 
 
All that is left now is just mount the outlet down and put the cover on. We hid the cord on the wall with just a few 3M hooks.

DIY MENS! Louboutins

 
That cool red bottom look for dress shoes is not just for women anymore. My other half thought I needed to put some pop in my footwear. I have always been a fan of the bottoms of her Louboutins, but didn't know there was a DIY to get a good look alike without breaking the piggy bank. She used the same method for my shoes as for another project awhile back on a pair of hers:
 

 

 
We began here:
 
 
 
And in just a few coats of paint and couple of varnish. Bam! A little extra pop.
 

 

Cheap and Easy Pallet Deck!


The better half and I where looking at options to expand the patio area on the rear of our house without breaking the bank. There are so different ways to build a deck or use stones to keep the patio at ground level. Both options were a bit out of what we were looking to spend and would take a large amount of time to complete. While scanning the web for idea I stumbled upon a guy with pallets for just four bucks a pop. This got me thinking about ways to quickly and easily use pallets to not only get the patio expanded, but have a happy significant other in the process.

I began the process by measuring the two areas, which were 12'x20' and 12'x12'. A regular pallet is 40"x48" in size, making is prefect on the 12' out from the house. The length ran behind the house was adjusted so no pallets had to be cut and fabricated to fit. After putting the math together I ordered 35 pallets. The real number needed was 33, but I figured at that price a couple extra wouldn't hurt just in case we needed to do some repairs.

I started by laying three pallets from the house, parallel to the existing patio, outwards. This allowed me to level the pallets with the patio and keep that level the same throughout the entire pallet deck. Once all three were level, I connected them with to each other with a 3" screw at both ends of each pallet. I used a combination of treated wood blocks and concrete blocks. I did not attach the rows of three pallets to the next row, the weight of the sections holds them in place just fine.



Now that the pallet sections are in place and leveled, I still had the issue of gaps in between the slats of the pallets. originally, I was just going to take some boards off, buy more pallets and cut to size. I was taking measurements for this and I discovered an interesting revelation about the number. 3.5" or there about was what I was working with. This is the same as a 1"x4"x8' from any lumber yard. The boards only ran $3.75 a pop. I did have to do a little cutting to fit on the pallets, but nothing extreme.

 

I attached the 1x4's with 1.5" screws, one at each stud on the pallet. I centered the boards on the each section on pallet to give move strength in holding weight and together. This left a 2 foot space on each end. I cut extra 1x4's up to fill these out.

The deck was structurally complete. I now just had to stain and finish it. I went to Lowes and had the conversation with experts there. I really had to clue about this subject, but they were very helpful in educating and directing me in the direction I needed to go. I went with a stain and protector. This ran about $85 for 5 gallons. 4 gallons covered the deck easily, but the added expense was for a longer lasting cover. This will prevent needing an application every year and prevent wood rot over the winter.


 
All in all we are happy with the turn out. The project only took about 6 hours start to finish. The budget was very happy with a grand total of $450.00.