Functional Home DIYs
Continuing the home-y spirit of the last entry, here’s a list of things we’ve made around the house. A couple of notes:
- It’s a rental, so there’s nothing too crazy done.
- We’ve lived here for about a year and a half.
- Still fixing-upping it bit by bit, next is probably the yard & outside of the house.
- There will be a non-functional category right at the end. ^^; #disclaimer
1. All the curtains
Curtains can be expensive yet are the easiest thing to sew. We have all manners of DIY curtains at home:
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- Living room sliding door curtains. We managed to put up the rail and sewed all the panels in 12 hours!
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- “Noren”-style dividers for our kitchen doorway. This one is an older project made from canvas.
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- And this is a shorter, double-sided one.
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- Counter skirts are kind of like curtains, right?
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- This one is a macramé valance for another doorway. It’s more decorative than functional but I like it.
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- Next is a privacy screen for our back door. It helps bring in light and air during the day but prevents people from across the road being able to see in.
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- This was made as a wall hanging but now works as a privacy screen (and/or draught screen because we use the aircond in this room a lot).
And the best thing is, many of these fabrics came from a bag of home decor fabrics sold as remnants for the magical price of (drumroll…) RM10! I know, #bestbargainever
2. Recycled bottle pouf
Pouf made out of 16 plastic milk bottles.
Second pouf, made more than a year later!
I love these because they’re the most useful piece of furniture when you have a toddler/pre-schooler who would quite like to be self-reliant and reach things himself. For adults, it also makes for a good footrest under a computer table, or a compact stool for extra seating (like outside the bathroom 😆 ).
The inspiration and rough instructions came from Pinterest finds like below:
Found via CraftGossip.
We will probably keep on collecting milk bottles to make at least one more pouf, although it might take another year! :nod:
3. Entryway shelf, starburst mirror and ottoman
These three bits make up our little entryway organisation area!
I was so keen on getting the small white shelf (especially) done because someone has a habit of dropping bits like receipts and coins on any horizontal surface in any room of the house and then has trouble recollecting the exact location when needed. 🙄
I have since discovered the power of such shelves, trays and/or baskets to act as “crap collector/hider”. We have crappity-baskets everywhere!
The bamboo mirror was made from a bathroom mirror and (surprise) bamboo from a craft store. The ottoman was a coffee table; shortened, painted then switched out the table top.
Oh, I forgot! The clock was a small DIY project too.
4. (Not-so-functional) wall art
Because I like having things to look at around the house. 😀 Most of these are my husband’s khat (calligraphy) designs but we made them together.
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- This is an old one, but it’s still around with us through house moves!
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- We were gifted the photo frame (it’s all one big frame) and Abi did the khat design. I painted it in.
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- Khat string art. This is one of our biggest projects. I did almost ALL the nailing!
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- Simple framed khat with some washi tape used as a mat.
That is it, for now! I have most of these projects up on Facebook if you need more information.
And, I might be learning how to make soap from used cooking oil soon. Wouldn’t that be a super-functional DIY? :yay:
What do you think?