Plant shelf

Budget:

• $0 for shelf  (already had)

• $0 for paint (left-over )

Time:

• 1 hour

The shelf I had painted previous was actually only 1/2 of the original shelf.

The other half had been sitting on the side of our dining room, looking quite confused without a purpose.  We had used it to just pile on stuff that didn’t have a home and hide all the homeless stuff in the big closet before guests would come.  Finally, an ah-ha moment came.

I am going to put my herb plants on it.  The plants have been sitting on the cabinet in the kitchen, toward the side that’s hard to reach and getting too much direct sun.

I painted the middle shelves the same brown color as the dining chair.  Then, I tried using the blue paint I had for the side panels.  The blue I have is really too light and looked weird on a wood shelf in the dining room.  I then performed custom blending that I’m so *good* at… NOT!

Fortunately, gradually adding the darker paint into the lighter paint was the key to control the color change.  It also created better blending.  I’m quite happy with the shade of blue it ended up…. matches with the new blue carpet we got for the living room.  maybe some day I will do a post of apartment tour.

Until then… our newly trimmed herb plants are sitting quite nicely on the painted shelf.  The biggest pot is the newest addition — Tomato plant!  I can’t wait to start harvesting.

Hanging jewelry boxes made from old picture frames

Budget:

• $0 for picture frames (already had)
  

• $4 for wrapping paper

• ~$8 for all screw hooks

• $5 for spray paint

Time:

• about an hour including dry time

I originally saw the idea from the now-not-in-publication Blueprint magazine.  (aw, how I miss it.)

I had some basic IKEA frames from before that I no longer use.  While choosing frames, you’d want one that has some depth.  The shallow frames that you usually see in stores don’t work as well.  Find something that’s like the “shadow box” or “display box”.

Step 1: wipe the original frame clean.  If you don’t like the original color, paint it with something that works with your paper color/pattern.  I spray painted mine red.

Step 2: take out the cardboard backings that came with the frames.

Step 3: cut the wrapping paper to slightly bigger than the cardboard backing.  Wrap the cardboard and secure it with tape, like you’re wrapping a present.

Step 4: screw in the hooks on the front side.  Place them at spaces that work for your jewelry lengths and widths.

Step 5: put the finished cardboard backs into the frames.  Then hang them on the wall!

I put my next to the mirror above my dressing, so I have the whole area like my vanity.

Painting an old IKEA shelf

Budget:

• $0 for shelf (already had)

• $0 for paint (left-over)

Time:

• 1 hours

What to do when you take a very basic tall stacked shelf that’s lacking back support?

Unstack them and keep them low to the ground!

Sand, paint, *holding breath to not inhale toxic fume*, flip, and paint again.

Let it dry & sand it down lightly with steel wool.

End Product – shelf for DVDs and speakers.

Repurposing IKEA shoe rack

Budget:

• Old shoe shelf – $0

Time:

• 20-30 minutes of measuring, cutting, and installing.

Bottom of our pantry has this large space with no shelf.  While it’ll be very useful to hold rice sacks large enough to feed a village, we are not really in the market of buying such item.  Most of other tall condiments and oddly shaped bottles still don’t fully utilize the height of the space.  Unfortunately, my trials of bringing home different racks & baskets from The Container store (a.k.a. Mango’s happy place) haven’t worked out so far.  Time to make our own solution instead of buying one.

I had an old shoe rack from IKEA like this, which I had previously spray painted red. My willing partner-in-crime said to me: “let’s cut it”.   He took out the electric saw, ruler, pencil, and went to work.  The 4 support pieces got attached to the sides of the pantry.  The two shelves were cut down to size to sit on top of the new side rails.

Tada!  Now we have shelves in the large, unused spa to store containers!