This story category covers chic and easy decor and entertaining projects, plus before and after home renovations.

Marmoleum Placemats - John Sinal

How To Make Marmoleum Placemats And Coasters

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This tough, classic linoleum that resists grease, acid and heat takes its place at the table.

Marmoleum Placemats - John Sinal

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION  | Eco-friendly Marmoleum is a fashionable finishing material that doesn’t end up only on the floor. I’ve seen innovative applications on kitchen countertops and work surfaces such as desks and coffee tables. It’s extremely durable, non allergenic and comes in every colour imaginable. Here I’ve used it for placemats in simple patterns. Read more

My Spice Files - C. Rule

How To Make An Easy Herb & Spice File

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How to devise a storage system for herbs and spices and forever do away with novelty spice racks and their special containers—or purchasing extra spice packets you don’t really need.

My Spice Files - C. Rule

 

PROBLEM SOLVED | Has this ever happened to you? You’re ready to whip up a dish from scratch when you realize your recipe calls for a dried herb that, after rummaging among your cache of spice bottles and bags, you appear to be out of.  So you rush out and pick some up only to discover later that you already had a bottle on hand—three, actually, stashed away in the dark recesses of the various places you store this stuff. Read more

Chinese Lanterns On Mini'lights - Martin Tessler

Make A Lantern Plant & Mini-Light Display

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Harvest Chinese lantern plant pods to create the perfect, illuminated holiday display.

Chinese Lanterns On Mini'lights - Martin Tessler

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | I first spotted brilliant orange Chinese lanterns fitted over mini-lights on an organically decorated Christmas tree. This is one way to use them for sure, though I like them better when they are used to create an original Thanksgiving or Halloween display. I love them threaded through a tangle of branches on the front porch or on top of the mantel or on a dinner table. I also love mini-lanterns strung around doorways for a punch of spot-on seasonal colour. Read more

Metal Gift Wrap-Martin Tessler

Make Bedazzling Window Screen Wrap

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Knock your present out of the park with pedestrian materials from ye olde hardware store.

Metal Gift Wrap-Martin Tessler

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | If you’re looking for an easy, dramatic and glamorous way to wrap a very special gift, nothing has the power to bedazzle like ordinary window screen and wire. Read more

Votive Candle Holders - John Sinal

Make These Window Screen Candleholders

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Sure it’s great for keeping out bugs, but metal window screen also shines as a candleholder.

Votive Candle Holders - John SinalRegular hardware store metal window screening, with its nostalgic cottage connotations, has obvious uses—and some that are less apparent. Here I’ve folded it into holders for votive candles that are straightforward to make. Read more

The Ideal Way To Store Your Magazines

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Finally, a systematic way to keep magazines together yet separate in an attractive {and unobtrusive} arrangement.

 

THE CREATIVE SOLUTION | When you have large numbers of magazines, quick reference is not always easy. The standard way to keep periodicals organized is to store them in magazine file boxes, but these containers, which are often made of flimsy cardboard, hold only a minimal number of copies. As your magazine collection grows, so does your need for file boxes, which can end up looking like an unattractive, mashed-up mess when you can’t find more to match the style you started out with.

Faced with this very problem awhile back, I came up with a flexible yet consistent-looking way to sort and store my favourite mags. Read more

reupholstered office chair - Vicky Tang

It’s Easy To Recover A Worn Out Office Chair

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Drab old office chair + fresh new fabric + easiest reupholstery job ever = sitting pretty.

reupholstered office chair - Vicky Tang

 

THE CREATIVE SOLUTION | When my gaze fell on this cheeky little chair in a friend’s home office, I had to laugh. It was the unexpected choice of fabric, I suppose. Never intended to be a serious design statement, the chair seemed to represent many people’s working lives today, where the comforts of personal style meet stark office severity head on. It’s what I like to call the “cottage industry look.” Read more

Soap Dish by Brendan Power- Heather Ross

How To Make A More Effective Soap Dish

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Here’s an attractive and easy way to address a perpetually slippery problem.

Soap Dish by Brendan Power- Heather Ross

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | It may not be the biggest problem of our time, but how do you keep a bar of soap from turning into sludge—or sliding all over the place? Read more

Leaf Bookmarks- Martin Tessler

How To Preserve Leaves And Branches

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Who knew the garden could be an endless, free source of gorgeous bookmarks and gift tags.

Leaf Bookmarks- Martin Tessler

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | We’ve all seen dried or preserved foliage—tired, dusty, brittle arrangements begging to thrown out. Preserving leaves in glycerin not only keeps them supple but makes them as tough as leather. Keep a bunch on hand for ready bookmarks or, if you now read all your novels on an electronic device, label them with metallic ink to use as place cards or gift tags. Read more

Flower arrangement by Brendan Power-Martin Tessler

Decorate The Table For Summer Dinner Parties

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Fresh ideas from the garden set the table—and the scene for summer entertaining.

Flower arrangement by Brendan Power-Martin Tessler

 

If you are planning a summer dinner party and want to decorate the table in a way that’s fresh and easy, here’s a spin on the current penchant for using formal table arrangements made of single flower variety in a single colour packed tightly into a vase. Read more