Solig place mat wall art

Heather who is part of a design team for her local scrapbooking store finds an alternative use for the Solig place mat. It's a wall decor and "memory board". Lots of ribbons and a few favourite photos complete the look.



See more of her Solig wall decor here.

Akrobat cabinet with wall decals

Brittany brightened her old Akrobat. Wall decals are a simple way to add some interest to a piece of furniture.

She says, "I have had this Akrobat cabinet for about 10 years or so and it has moved with me at least 3 times. Originally, I purchased it to hold my vinyl, then it became a bookcase and in its final incarnation, it has been a kitchen buffet and bar area.Unfortunately, that lovely beech tone was no longer working for me and I brightened it up with paint, decals and wallpaper for the back of the cabinet itself. While I didn't make any purpose-altering changes, it's way cuter than before.

The real fun was taking it apart and realizing that I had saved the configuration and pricing sheet - not the assembly instructions! Nothing that a bottle of red didn't fix.

Light up with a Rektangel candle

Kelly saves a broken Yankee Candle and turns it into something that she actually like better than the original. Thanks to a 6" Rektangel vase.

Since it's already cracked, she broke the rest of the Yankee Candle glass container. Then the candle is trimmed to fit the rectangular vase. Put the trimmings into the vase and microwave till almost melted. Push the trimmed candle into the melted wax and let the liquid fill in all the gaps. And there you have it!



See her instructions on her blog.

A chair to rock your Summer

Alex's Emmabo Rocking Chair finally gave up its ghost. But he resurrects them into this outdoorsy deck chairs. How perfect for summer.

He says, "I've retrofitted wooden slats to an Emmabo Rocking Chair frame. It's now suitable for outdoor use as a deck chair.

The metal frame is salvaged and fitted with wooden slats from Home Depot. The wood is pressure treated to withstand outdoor use and then painted with one coat of black-brown ebony stain. When dried, the slats are then fitted on to the frame using 3/4" cable clamps, which are for electrical use but fit the rod of the Emmabo frame perfectly.

See more of Alex's Emmabo deck chair.

Lack shelving bench

Anette found a discarded Ikea Lack shelving unit and hacked it into a bench.

She says, "I added chrome legs from the local hardware store. The upholstering was the biggest challenge as I had never tried it before, but I bought thin foam and some sturdy fabric and got to work with my friends' staple gun. I stapled the foam down first and then added the fabric. I didn't sew the fabric at all, but just made sure to carefully fold in the edges of the fabric before putting in each staple.

Coffee Table

A really slim coffee table. Great if you have a small space and need something to just fit right in.

KayJay says, "It's fairly small and not a functional for someone with a large space. My living room area is tiny. I mean... HELLA TINY... like, five steps wide tiny. So, I needed something to act as a coffee table that could hold a drink/remote/magazine, yet still offer me enough room to maneuver and not trip over it all the time or feel overwhelmed.

In my old apartment I had a 39 3/8" Grundtal tempered bathroom shelf that I loved. In January I moved to this new apartment that was newly remodeled and showed nearly zero signs of wall studding. I didn't want to disrupt the walls too much so I chose not to use the shelf. I *almost* sold the shelf at a garage sale when, a day later, I came across this posting for a makeshift coffee table. I was in great need of a coffee table of some sort so I headed straight to Ikea to find a Mossby shelf. Whatdya know? They were plum out of Mossby shelves.

Remembering I had the tempered glass from the bathroom shelf I bought a piece of their basic unstained wood shelving for, like, $3.50 and Bjarnum shelf brackets. I took the items home, covered the shelf in $1.99 paper from a craft store and set the tempered glass atop with glue dots. Took about twenty minutes to create the table.

Display your art under the shelf

Sarah tips me on her friend, Lee Meredith's shelving hack, which was featured on Threadbanger. It's about using the space under a shelf as a art display area. Pretty neat. I mean, who says you can only put stuff on a shelf? All you need are Spontan magnetic racks the length of your self and and some magnets to turn your plain old shelf to an art display.

See more of Meredith's undershelf art display.