This idea comes straight out of the 1960’s. It’s an easy and creative way to make art from your costume or junk jewelry (any outdated & cheap stuff – nothing valuable of course) – or any other small items that are appealing to you (marbles, small toys, misc. doodads found in your junk drawer?) […]
What You Need Plastic bucket or empty-ice cream pail Small plastic jar or storage container Stones, marbles, etc for weight Votives or tea lights Cold weather, or a freezer if you live in warmer climes What You Need to Do 1. Place smaller container in center of pail 2. Place rocks, marbles, etc. in smaller […]
It’s easy to spend the day setting new baseboards, making sure each mitered and coped joint is tight and clean, the whole time eyeing nervously that closet doorway with no door casing to butt the baseboard up against. Here’s what I’m talking about: You could take the easy way out and leave the baseboards with […]
This was this past weekend’s project… though obviously it’s not quite finished yet (no photos in the frames). But it’s been on the to-do list for a while, so it’s nice to finally see it up. We’ve always liked the Picture Wall system, but at $350 for a 3′ x 5′ section (when we knew […]
Alicia found these great magnetic flower vases that amaze your dinner guests by balancing implausibly on the table-top. Unfortunately, the price tag was also implausible ($42 dollars!). So, in true Curbly fashion, we decided to do it ourselves. Here’s the video, details and links are below. For those of you who want to try this […]
Now that cassettes, LPs, and even CDs have become obsolete, what are we to do with them? DIY Maven came up with a very creative solution for making use of old LPs. So, here’s a suggestion of what to do with some of those old CDs: make a mobile out of them! What You Need […]
My dilemma is this: As of yesterday, I will be living with two of my friends in a lovely apartment in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco (if you’ve never been I highly advise you to…). Through the luck of drawing straws, I go stuck with the faux bedroom. My room was actually a living […]
A couple years ago I attended a play at The Theater in the Round in Minneapolis (really bad site) and in the lobby they had this cool system for hanging cast bios and other info that consisted of wire, pulled taut across a span, in this case from floor to ceiling, with small hardware holding […]
McMansions all over the country are quaking on their foundations. Gigantic houses are quickly falling out of favor for a more diminutive abode. Enter the 400 square foot mini home. McHurricanes, McBoomers, and McMansions In response to FEMA trailers hauled out an masse after hurricane Katrina, New York based designer Marianne Cusato drew up plans for […]
Are your dining room chairs on their last legs? Mine were. They were already looking bad three years ago when I bought them for $40 at a thrift store. Well, this weekend, Alicia and I decided we’d had enough. Thanks for watching our first-ever installment of ‘The Fix Its’ (that’s me and Alicia); we plan […]
Our dining ‘set’ is a thrift-store rescue; it was on its last legs and probably would have been put down (sent to the landfill) if I hadn’t come along to save it ($40). I think it was actually once a nice piece of furniture, built by the White Furniture Co. of Mebane, North Carolina. But […]
Let’s face it; the human face lit from below looks creepy. So, if you don’t want to look like a character from a John Carpenter movie or an aging starlet minus the pancake foundation, save the up-lighting for your abode. Negative Space, Man Positioning can up-lighters on the floor at the base of large houseplants […]
Today we’re learning how to make a box joint jig. Read on to learn how! Box joints, also called finger joints or comb joints, are really quite strong and have an attractive, handmade appeal which looks good on, well, everything. And you’re welcome to cut and chisel each one by hand…but, with this easy jig, […]
