Home Decor Archives » Page 2 of 2

06
Jun
2020

Super Simple Succulent Decor Ideas for a Struggling Plant Mom

categories: Home Decorating, Woodworking

This quote pretty accurately describes my feelings about succulents and other plants. In doing some research, I found this article on the 11 Ways Plants Enhance Your Mental and Emotional Health from Psychology Today. Take a look at #7; Higher levels of creativity! Who doesn’t love succulents and cacti? This article on the Top 8 House Plants to Help with Mental Health explains why those plants in particular help with your mental health. During these uncertain times, it’s definitely necessary to do what you can to keep stress and anxiety at bay. With that being said, who’s ready to put together some succulent decor?!

You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy succulents! And that is pretty much the same thing.
-Unknown

Time to Run through Three Succulent Decor Ideas

Simplicity at it’s Best

This simple set up comes by the way of Lowe’s gardening center, Michaels’ rocks, pots from a failed potting present and Target. The rocks were my attempt at creating a more prosperous environment for hen and chicks after many deaths. It sadly failed just like those before it. At some point, I will figure out how to keep them alive, but for now, I decided I’d be best to stick with simpler cacti for a bit. This bluish-gray platter was on clearance at Target and a perfect fit for these pots. So far, I’ve been able to keep these cacti alive by spritzing them with water I spray these cacti with a spray bottle once a week. The flowers have stuck around for months, so I’m at last doing something right.

Long Lasting Succulent Decor

When my daughter said she wanted to have succulent decor in her ‘new’ room, I pushed for the fake variety for her. I initially found some individual stems at Big Lots months before, but we needed more than what I’d gotten. We went on a little mother-daughter shopping trip to Michaels. My oldest is talented in a great many ways but doesn’t typically go the crafting route with me as my other two girls do. It was a nice time to get away and pick out some items for her to put together. She picked out the extra succulents, the glass container, and the sand color.

All that was needed was to throw the sand into the glass and arrange the succulents as she liked. I enjoy the look of this angled bowl combined with the varying heights of the succulents. In order to achieve that, we had to cut the thick stems with wire cutters to make it all work together. You can see it in her renewed room here…

Easy Square Plant Hanger

A little woodworking never hurt anybody…. Just kidding, it definitely could, if you’re not careful. This square hanger is super simple and involves a wee bit of woodworking.

Materials

1″ x 3″ x 6″ pine
Wood Glue
Paint or stain
Hook
Small planter hanger
A Plant
Nail Gun
Saw (I used this arm saw, but any variety of saws could cut the 4 pieces of wood.)

There are only a few steps for this project. 15 minutes and you could be finished with all four steps

Cut the wood to size. Two 10 inch long pieces and two 8 1/2 inch pieces.
Put wood glue on the ends of the top and bottom pieces.
Use a nail gun to nail the top and bottom in place.
Stain/paint it

I found this wood tint and plant holder (seen below) at an A.C. Moore going out of business sale. Those items inspired me to make this rustic wood holder. I hadn’t used ‘wood tint’ before this, so figured I’d give it a go. Even after using it, I’m wasn’t quite sure what the difference was between it and stain, because they seemed mostly the same to me. Given that, I did a quick internet search. I found a post from Repurpose and Upcycle that provides an awesome explanation of the two and when to use one over the other. The wood tint seemed to provide good initial coverage based on this first experience. It also dried quickly, which keeps for the quick and easy strategy here.

I found these river rocks at Lowe’s as well. Simple is the name of the game. Put the plant in and spoon the rocks in around it. Then, it’s ready to put the hook into the ceiling of the square. It’s best to pre-drill a hole for the hook but it can also just be screwed in without it. The rope that came with the glass globe was too long, so I used some twine I had on hand. I also preferred the look of the twine, so it was a win-win.

Final Succulent Decor

And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed the simplicity of these ideas. Two of them can be found in my daughter’s newly made-over bedroom. To read more, click here…

Don’t forget that plants help with stress reduction, so go ahead and place them in areas where you tend to feel a little more stressed. I guess that’s why I love keeping them in my office.

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

30
May
2020

Super Simple to make DIY Hexagon Shelf for Personalized Decor

categories: Home Decorating, Woodworking

Hexagons are in and squares are out! It’s time to jump on the new trend wave with this DIY Hexagon Shelf. After updating my oldest daughter’s room, I knew this shelf would be the perfect compliment to her freshly painted wall. Don’t you think?! You could certainly buy one for $30 plus, but I’m sure you’ll agree with me that this easy $10 project is the way to go.

Super Simple Supplies

5- 1/4″ x 4″ x 2″ Poplar Boards
Paint or Stain
Wood Glue
Painter’s Tape
Nail Gun
Saw

These pre-sanded boards were ready for cutting. Doesn’t get much better than not having to stand.

If you’ve read some of my other woodworking posts, you’ve likely seen that I tend to use some older tools or am making do with what is available. This project is no exception. I’d love to get a new miter saw with all the bells and whistles but just can’t bring myself to spend money on it yet. This used radial arm saw was cheap and available, so that is how I came to have it. Anyway, it does the job. If you are new to woodworking and/or the whole tool game, you can be reassured you don’t have to have all the newest fancy gadgets to make neat functional projects.

Time to cut some wood!

First up, was figuring out how to utilize the size of the board. In order to maximize the boards at their current length, I decided to make each side 12 inches long. That meant I was cutting 3 of the boards in half and the other two would be cut for the shelves.

The sides need to be cut at a 30-degree angle on each end of the boards. I’ll be totally honest here when I admit I couldn’t bring forth enough of my geometry memory to figure out the angle. Google was my friend in this instance. It makes me feel like I need to brush up along with my children as they learn it! While making the angled cuts, just make sure you’re not cutting off any length by cutting only the squared edge off.

I made the shelves 17 1/2 inches long to give more space to the middle shelf. The shelf boards also need to be cut at a 30 degree angle on both ends. It’s an option to save the hassle of angled cuts and nailing at an angle by cutting the shelves at a straight edge to attach to have hexagon with straight sides.

Hexagon Shelf Trick

Here’s a fun little trick to keep it all together. It’s not as strong a method as using something like ratchet straps, but I think more people have painter’s tape at the ready. Stretch out the painter’s tape, then line up the boards in a row. Put some wood glue into the crack and pull up the end. It’ll pull together as you go.

For those with little experience with glue and staining, I’ll let you in on a little secret. If you plan on staining the wood, you’d better take a wet cloth to the wood to clean off any trace of wood glue. If you don’t, it won’t stain properly. So, after you wipe the glue off, you’re best to leave the octagon to dry. I will tell you that I didn’t wait for it to dry, so it was a tad difficult to nail it firmly because of the shifting angles.

Time to bring out the nail gun

After the limited sawing and gluing, it’s time to nail it all together. My nail gun was jammed, so I borrowed my neighbor’s. His was better than mine because it had an arrow pointing at where the nail would come out. Mine doesn’t have that lovely little feature…because…mine is cheap. I’m very near buying a better one. I seem to use a nail gun a lot more than I’d ever anticipated so seems like a worthwhile purchase to me.

The hardest part was nailing the shelves in the right spot. Honestly, I didn’t want to wait for the glue to dry at the time. It would have been easier to have waited to nail it after it was set with glue.

Final Stretch for the Hexagon Shelf

All that’s left to do is paint it. My daughter picked pink out of my spray paints. It ended up not matching well with the pink on her wall, so we ended up spray painting it gray.

Shelf brackets nailed into the back were the finishing touch. I have found the easiest way to hold the tiny nails is with needle-nose pliers. You just hold them there while you hammer.

24
May
2020

Teen Bedroom Design with Simple Painted Focal Wall and Succulents

categories: Home Decorating

Right after my 12-year old’s birthday, she started on about re-doing her owl-themed bedroom. It was painted light blue and had owl paintings and owl curtains. After 4 years, she had finally outgrown it. I still felt as though I’d only just finished decorating our ‘new’ house. Her room was one of the first I tackled after the builders fixed the nail pops a year after we moved into the brand new house. It was definitely time for an update for her. If you’re looking for some ideas for your own preteen or teen, you’d better follow along!

Before

For the previous owl theme, I had painted three pictures for her. She had porcelain dolls from my childhood collection on the wall shelves and a wire cage hanging in the corner with a stuffed owl. This child’s theme was no longer suitable for an almost teen.

Teen Bedroom Must Haves

So when my oldest said she wanted to update her room, I couldn’t blame her. It’d really been just about the same as the pictures above for the last 4 years. For her new room, she said she wanted it to be gray and white, to have succulents and LED lights. She wanted simplicity. It was right up my alley since gray was in other parts of the house and I’m definitely a succulent lover. It’s really too bad that I’m also a succulent killer. Anyway…

I saw photos of this main geometric wall feature and really liked it. My preteen was on board with it, so she chose her colors with some guidance. We went with three Sherwin Williams colors:

Gray Screen, for the majority of the room. I got one gallon in Super Paint.
One quart of Rosy Outlook
One quart of Dusblu

Feather bedspread from the previous theme.

We used flat paint because that’s all that was available in the quart sizes of super paint. I don’t tend to like doing flat paint because it’s harder to clean. I like eggshell or satin for bedrooms. That being said, I will definitely give it to this flat paint for how smooth and even it goes on the wall. That is the benefit of flat paint. For this wall feature, I used painter’s tape to create the sections. You can really put them wherever you want. I painted the pink section first. Then while it was drying, I started on the other walls. I moved the tape from the outside of the pink area to the inside of the pink area to start on the dark gray section. It took me about half a day to paint her entire room with two coats.

Teen’s Ultimate Must Have

Her ‘must-have’ was a string of LED lights. She couldn’t wait for me to put them up on the wall with her and ended up putting them up by herself. Unfortunately, it ended up being slightly crooked and wobbly because of it. She loves them regardless and tends to use those LED lights rather than her ceiling light. If you’re looking for a sure-fire win with your teen, I’d say this is it.

Curtains for the Teen Bedroom

I’m generally floored with how expensive curtains can be, so I tend to do quite a bit of looking before buying. We looked at Target, HomeGoods, Walmart, and Boscov’s (all local options) for something to match that wouldn’t break my wallet right after all the Christmas purchases. We came up empty. I ended up being at Big Lots on 20% off day and found thick white curtains that would match the room and weren’t so sheer people on the street below would be able to see through. It was a huge win in my book. I like the large grommet look as well.

Other Small Teen Additions

She moved her earrings from her Hello Kitty holder to my DIY framed earring holder. Be sure to check out my easy tutorial!

She hung her Fuji Instant photos on a string of clip lights. Then I re-positioned her previous wall decor around it. All hung courtesy of Command Hooks.

She emptied a large bookcase filled with books in order to free up this space. I questioned where she would put everything, but she made it happen. It was a blond composite bookcase as tall as the windows that we’d gotten from my sister. The shelves were sagging a bit from the weight of years of books. I ended up cutting in half to make lemonade and bakery stand for my two other daughters. It was a win for them all.

All those books came to fill the shelves of this inset bookcase I did for her. I’d wanted to do this for 5 years and finally made it a priority. We were both over the moon with the result.

Desk Update

We used the leftover Rosy outlook and Dustblu to paint her purple desk. My preteen used the roller for the top of the desk because it was faster. This sadly ended up being a mistake because it now has a bumpy surface. You can see my gray and white striped hallway through the doorway, click the link for my run through on how to get the look.

“Yuck!” is how I feel about this finish. She says she doesn’t care, but she has to put a hard surface under her paper to be able to write neatly. I’m pretty sure I will sand it down at some point and fix the issue.

She (and I) would love to paint these dressers white or get a different set. They were mine as a kid and still have a pristine finish. I love a good refinish project as you can probably tell from this blog.

Every teen needs a mirror to check out their outfit. This is her Command hooks closet door. Truly, this post could be sponsored by Command hooks with how much I love them. The mirror is held up by them, the purses and hats are hanging on the command hooks, the light strings are hung with the special light ones. We painted the trim of this cheap mirror with acrylic paint.

Succulents

My daughter is a girl after my own heart. I love succulents and buying them. Most often, I seem to be throwing my money away because I couldn’t keep a hen and chick succulent alive to save my life. So for this pretty setup, we went fake.

A another hint of succulents from Michaels when they were on sale. This octagon shelf was a mommy-daughter project. I really liked how it all came together.

Completed Teen Bedroom Makeover

So that rounds out what we did to bring her kid’s room up to teen room standards. Even as I write that, I’m stunned that I’m old enough to be a mom to an almost teen. She’s still pestering for a full-size bed and new dressers and I’m still generating ideas on how to make the bed. My parents made several unique beds for us, so I know I could do it. I’ll have to make it an incentive to get her to control her teenage attitude. Ha. I don’t know that even that would work.

The new bed set big enough for a future full-size bed.

And that’s all she wrote…literally….I’m done. I hope you got some ideas out of it for your own teen’s room!

*This page contains affiliate links. This means if you use one of my links to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Cathartic Crafting!

29
Mar
2020

Wide Stripes: Hallway Paint Idea for a Unique Look

categories: Home Decorating

Our first home was a three-bedroom house with no real hallways. When we moved into our new house, I was so excited by this long hallway. Whereas all three bedroom doors used to be right next to each other, we couldn’t even see the door of the 5th bedroom at the end of the hall. It felt gloriously spacious. I knew I had to something special with this long wall. I settled on wide stripes as the backdrop for the gallery of photos I had just put together for the old house. If you’re looking for a statement hallway, go and ahead and try this stripe hallway paint idea.

Hallway Paint Idea

While searching for ideas for the new house, I was inspired by a wall on Girl in The Red Shoes. I loved the gray and white color pallet. The wide stripes also seemed less time consuming and busy than thinner striped versions.

Getting Started

Supplies:

Painter’s Tape
Measuring Tape
White Paint in your desired finish (I used Satin)
Gray Paint in the same finish
Lazer level (if you have one)
Paint brushes
Two Paint Rollers
Step ladder
TIME

Maybe your asking yourself, “what is my desired finish”? To answer that, check out this fun pictorial from Building Moxie.

I generally stay away from flat for the simple reason that it seems to collect dirt. Our walls had year old builder grade flat white paint that was DIRTY from 3 little girls. Satin was my paint finish choice.

Blank Canvas needing a Hallway Paint idea

The first step was to paint the whole wall with satin white paint. I used Color Place paint in Candlestick Silver for this. A quick tip for those painting over builder’s flat paint; you need to buy more paint than you think. The flat paint absorbs a lot of it.

The long hallway that inspired this hallway paint idea — This hallway is soooo long!

The Stripes

Using painter's tape for this hallway paint idea

Measure Measure Measure

To start, I measured the height of the wall (85 inches) and then determined an equal measurement for the stripes (7 stripes at roughly 12 2/16inches). As I said in my Stencil Coffee Table post, using those math skills tends to be necessary in my projects. This hallway paint idea was no different. Since I didn’t have a lazer level at the time, I initially measured from the ceiling and marked the height at several distances across the span of the wall. After the measuring and marking was complete, I started taping.

What I realized when I got to the end of the hallway was that the crown molding was not completely straight and even. This meant my last stripe was thinner on one end than it was at the other. AHHHHHH. I had to measure all over again but from the floor. This was why my husband was wondering why it was taking me so long to finish. From there, I painted two coats of gray from the top and alternating down the stripes.

Alternative Method for this Hallway Paint Idea

If measuring seems too tedious, I would definitely recommend a lazer level. I tend to do things as cheaply as possible, which generally means I’m not buying the tools that will undoubtedly make my life easier. Easier in this case being also more time effective. Obviously, that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. For those looking to make the project easier, here’s a quick video to help you decide what kind to go with Top 6 Lazer Level Review. Among some common uses of lazer levels could be hanging pictures in line and placing anchors for shelves.

Gallery Wall

Harder than measuring and taping was figuring out how I wanted to place all the photos and choosing the photos. As a fan of symmetry, I tried to maintain symmetry as best I could. I put the frames on the floor to figure out how I wanted them to be positioned before taking it to the wall. Then, I measured the wall to find the middle position to hang the middle picture frame of my husband and me.

Gallery wall with our initials. I had the K and G for years before I found a D that was close enough in size and style.

For the other walls in the hallway, I painted them solid gray. The white trim and crown molding tied it all together nicely. I hope you enjoyed the rundown and tips. Happy painting!

Tag: Home Decor