home: made [ plant pots and plant stands ]

January is all about new projects and hiding from the cold, and making crafty projects.

Introduce some indoor (or outdoor) gardening to your home but instead of just buying planters and pots – look to use, upcycle, recycle and make your own alternative containers and stands for your planting.

There’s great tutorials from favourites A Beautiful Mess and Brit & Co but there’s lots of easy projects without tutorials.

Search for unusual containers – cups, buckets, tins, old crates, bags or even tea pots. Depending on what you choose to plant your chosen container may need to have drainage holes. Then you can think about creativity with paints, sprays, varnishes or if the item has vintage charm it might look great as it is.

Look at trends in colour and pattern for inspiration and use masking to create designs on the outside – try geometric , stripes or colour blocking. Techniques including drip, dip and ombré may be a little more challenging but have great results too.

Find a collection of great tutorials all grouped together at Cool Crafts

home: made [ table decoration ]

If you are hosting this Christmas day or throwing a party over the festive season you are probably wanting to create an attractive centre piece to be admired. With only 3 days to go we have found some inspiring ideas which can be quickly achieved last minute.

Opt for something traditional with ferns, berries and pine cones or try something more modern with bright colours and mismatched patterns.

Below are some websites which we are sure will give you ideas for your table.

Countryliving.com

Housebeautiful.com

Houseandgarden.co.uk

home: made [ crate shelving ]

Adaptable for any space, size or colour, we love this tutorial we found, for making cool shelving from old vintage wooden crates.

Wooden crates can be found at vintage fairs, eBay, carboot sales and other vintage selling outlets plus there is now ‘new’ versions that can be bought in plain wood.

Then you’ll need a drill, screws, wood glue and your choice of stain, varnish or paint.

Nifty tutorial HERE

home: made [ radiator refresh ]

A great way to freshen up a room and at the same time make a statement is to update an item which would perhaps usually be hidden. The majority of radiators in peoples homes are painted white or perhaps painted to blend in with the wall colour, but this shouldn’t be the case.

Explore some options, whether it’s covering it or painting, turn it into something you want to look at rather than something you don’t.

For painting ideas:

Brightbazaarblog.com

Dontcrampmystyle.co.uk

For covering ideas:

Decoist.com

home: made [ midcentury shelving ]

The look of floating or modular shelving is minimal and clean with brands like Ladderax and String being the leaders in design; both in the last few decades and in present day.

We came across a great DIY tutorial from OldBrandNew which is a great way to produce a similar look at a fraction of the price as well as being satisfying that it’s homemade.

Making your own means you can also customise the size, dimensions and colour yourself with UK based suppliers offering all the equipment you’ll need from adjustable wall system racks from hardware stores including Wickes, BigDug and Screwfix, to high street DIY stores, like B&Q, having a good choice of ready cut wood shelves to use on the system as well as offering a cutting service when you give your own measurements.

Untreated wooden wood could be finished how you want in round stains, paint or varnish, and wall brackets can be bought in a few different colours or sprayed to the colour you want.

These systems are always easily changeable, can be added to and even the colour changed at a later date.

home: made [ house numbers ]

If you are looking to stand out from your neighbours, or fancy making a statement then you should consider the outside of your house as well as the inside with updating your house number.

Gone are the days of traditional brass numbers on the front door or decorative ceramic plates fixed to the wall. There is now a new wave of ideas including neon, incorporating plants and hammered nails. Of course some of these ideas might be a bit over the top in reality but we hope they inspire you.

Clockwise from top left:

Modern house number planter from abeautifulmess.com

Raised stainless steel numbers from instructables.com

Faux grass number box from abeautifulmess.com

Neon inspiration, for neon numbers try miniobjectsofdesire.com, neoncreations.co.uk

home: made [ towel loops ]

With a nod to our favourite style providers, the Scandinavians, these wooden beaded towel holders are simple to make and look great in a bathroom or kitchen.

This simple tutorial from SpoonForkBacon is easy to follow and can be adapted in size and colour depending on your interior preference. Beads and the leather straps can be ordered online from a craft supplier or there is plenty of choice on eBay, and then you just need a length of pliable wire that is slim enough to fit through the holes in the beads. The wooden beads can be dyed, varnished or stained to which ever colour suits the room.

This great project could be made large for bath towels, great in a kitchen for a tea towel or other areas in the home could look lovely as a decorative feature.

home: made [ printed doormat ]

First impressions are important and so is the entrance to your home. Doormats are usually an essential item which until recent years were pretty boring. Now stores are doing fun slogan and more colourful versions. But instead of having something others may have, why don’t you design your own. Still as popular as ever is typography, using words like ‘hello’, ‘welcome’, ‘hey ya’ whatever you want. Keep it monochrome or stencil your mat with colour.

With a basic doormat [ try ikea.com or homebase.com ], cardboard stencil and waterproof paint or permanent marker you are ready to go. This simple idea takes no time at all, and we have some tutorials to help.

home: made [ bleach dyeing ]

Tie dying had a recent serge in popularity with it becoming a strong trend in fabric last year but it’s just one part of the joys of pattern-creating with bleach.

Modern bleaching producing Scandinavian influenced designs

Bleach is an easy, when used safely, substance to use to create your own printed-style fabric in many variations.

Using brushes, sprays, knot tying, stencils and other tools, you can create so many different effects that result in incredibly beautiful fabrics. This DIY creative process is great to be able to create fabrics to match colour schemes, styles and patterns in your home. The fabrics can be used for further DIY projects including cushion making, upholstery and making other soft furnishings.

Modern bleach dyeing project from A Beautiful Mess

Two great features that cover all the aspects and great guidance for creating modern bleached fabric are from A Beautiful Mess and Threads Magazine. Both show inventive stylish results from using bleach dyeing.

home: made [candle holders ]

home: made [ candle holders ]

A massive trend at the moment is animal candle holders, everything from zoo animals to woodland creatures. We have looked at how you can create something just as fun but for a lot less money.

There are two popular ways to create this look, and it basically comes down to size. You can either opt for a party candle [ great for kids birthdays ] or a larger table centre piece for a dinner party perhaps. Either way involves the same preparation and materials; the chosen animal [ for plastic zoo & farm assortments try amazon ], a drill and some paint [ They look great painted black, white or gold btw ].

Below are a couple of tutorials to follow.

rainontheroof.com

thesweetestoccasion.com

[ Tiger, Bulldog and Zebra pictured are all from johnlewis.com ]

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