DIY : Papering Windows Update

Here are those photos I promised from our papering-glass-paned-windows project.

Yellow Bird Paper

Paper on glass pane

DIY : Make-your-own Rug

Back in college (read: 1 year ago), my roommates and I were lucky enough to be able to live in the sweet newly built housing on campus. 

 You can read another post I did about this here. 

Being poor college students we naturally didn’t have the kind of cash we wanted to be able to outfit the place. But, the college is conveniently located near a carpet store so one day we trekked over there to see if we could find some cheap carpet or a cheap rug. 

We were really delighted to find t a whole stack of carpet samples, little 12 inch by 12 inch squares. We shuffled through the samples, picked ones with complimentary colors (greens, blues, and white). The samples were just $1 each! So – for 12 dollars we bought 12 squares. 

Once we were home, we took the always useful Duct Tape and taped the underside of the squares together. It made a beautiful and interesting rug! We received a lot of compliments and have since seen similar items in magazines or stores for hundreds of dollars. The carpet lasted two whole years and 3 moves! We only recently got rid of it because my white cat had shed mercilessly on it. And it looked like some creature had died on the rug. 

So today’s DIY tip is to make your own rug from carpet samples. You can get them either at your local carpet store or you can order them, sometimes for free. You can get Flor tiles for about $5.00 each – which isnt bad, especially if you’re only making a small rug.  

You can also get a sample pack from Flor for just $6!!!

So don’t buy a pricey rug – either get a nice used one or make your own. It’s easy!

DIY *and* Green Per Diem: Shopgoodwill.com

Do you love shopping at your local thrift store? Do you ever lament the fact that all of the hipsters have somehow gotten to all the good stuff before you can? Well – lament no more because now there’s a way to keep an eye dozens (hundreds?) of GoodWills across the country. 

Presenting http://www.shopgoodwill.com – the best in recycled goods, all listed online. Its kind of like the ebay of thrift stores. The site operates like ebay, many of the items going to the highest bidder, some items available to be purchased right away. 

Here’s a peek at the types of things you’ll find at shopgoodwill.com – one of my top 5 websites of all time.

 Antique and Vintage Paper

   Vintage Typewriter

Retro Tablecloth  

Watermelon Shaped Picnic Basket    

The site is easy to use and incredibly reliable. I’ve purchased over $200 worth of books, jewelry, crafting supplies and other various items from there – each arriving in a timely manner and in excellent condition. One of my favorite things about the site is the ability to get old photographs and old documents. Naturally, plenty of funky, vintage and retro items are also available, making it the hip place for all of your DIY projects. 

DIY – Inspiration from The Selby

I’m really fascinated by how people arrange their living areas. Not just because I’m currently arranging my living area, but because I think you can learn a lot from a person by seeing where they live.

(On an unrelated note, I watched a film: D.E.B.S. last night and the screenwriter used food choices to display key pieces of the character’s personalities. The movie was awful, the technique was heavy handed, but slightly interesting nonetheless.)

THE SELBY is a website with pictures by Todd Selby. He photographs homes of interesting people. Not necessarily famous people, but people who are intriguing. For example, he’s photographed gallery owners, film directors, artists, actors, writers, and my personal favorite – Grandpa Cobrasnake.

The pictures show a tiny sweet slice of life. Also, its given me a lot of ideas about how I want to arrange my place and what it says about me as a person. So far, it doesnt say much because my walls are still quite bare. Someday – it’ll say something cool like – I read a lot of Kurt Vonnegut or I’m into Islamic Drinking poetry.

I can dream.

DIY : Papering Glass Paned doors

My first project in the new place is to bring some privacy to our glass-paned bedroom door.

So far – I’ve tiled 9 of the 15 glass panes with some adorable paper from Snow and Graham. Snow and Graham is an amazing paper company out of Chicago and their designs are stunning, simple, and beautiful.

The bird paper on the left is one of the two papers I’m using to tile my door. Pics when I’m finished!