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Painted slingback chair by Brendan Power - Clinton Hussey

How To Paint A Canvas Slingback Patio Chair

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Transform this plain canvas beachside staple into a chair with style and presence.

Painted slingback chair by Brendan Power - Clinton Hussey

 

THE CREATIVE SOLUTION | Being fashionably dressed is expensive enough, but imagine the financial damage you can do creating the “latest look” for your home—which is why most of us play it safe with our furniture by sticking to classics. The trouble with this approach is that sometimes safe can mean boring. Fortunately there are ways to be current without taking a vow of poverty.

I suggest using quick changing accent pieces to modify your décor. Here I put my DIY skills to work transforming a classic—and already attractive—slingback patio chair—into something more topical and unique. Read more

Top Dressed Narcissus -Martin Tessler

How To Top Dress Floral Arrangements

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Turn ordinary potted plants into miniature landscapes by choosing a soil cover that matches their look. There are lots of toppings to choose from, including aquarium stones, beach glass and even rosebuds.

Top Dressed Narcissus -Martin Tessler

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | Plants potted up for the house are more than just leaves, stems and blossoms. They’re landscapes in miniature, with every aspect of their situation—the pot, the soil cover, the setting—adding to or detracting from the presentation. When I want my indoor plants to look all of a piece, I start by making associations. Read more

Give Old Planters A New Cement Overcoat

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Turn old pots and planters from blah to beautiful with a concrete overcoat.

Concrete on Old Planters - Clinton Hussey

 

DO IT YOURSELF | Do you have a hodge-podge of unattractive garden pots and vases collecting dust in the recesses of your storage area, containers you’ve been thinking about shipping off to the Sally Ann? Well, if you like the look of concrete, a binding agent the late, great Canadian architect Arthur Erickson called “precious …. the marble of the 20th century,” you could mix up a batch of the material and paint it on your old planters the way I did on mine. It made me want to keep them. Read more

Stylish Oil Lamps Are Super Simple To Make

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Here’s how to burn the midnight oil with a gorgeous lamp that’s super simple to make.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

DO IT YOURSELF | Oil lamps are probably never going to replace candles as a readily available ambient light source, but they are a viable and attractive alternative. The oil lamps you see these days, like the stylish ones by the German company Radius Design pictured above, are essentially just a wick threaded through a bead that sits on top of a bottle filled with lamp oil. This kind of decorative oil lamp is very easy to make. Read more

Back Painted Glass Vases - John Sinal

Use Marine Paint To Make Old Vases New

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Add rich colour to plain, old clear glass vases by using this simple painting technique.

Vases - John sinal

 

DO IT YOURSELF | Clear glass vases are the classic and obvious choice for displaying flowers and branches, which is why most of us have probably collected a few extra ones over the years. Many of these are no doubt tucked away in the dark reaches of rarely opened cupboards. Why not bring these dusty specimens back into the light and turn them into something different and original by painting their insides with coloured enamel.

This technique has been a design trick for years on sheet glass (to create lustrous walls) or as ornamental glass insets in furniture. Read more

Chalkboard clock - Clinton Hussey

How To Make A Chalkboard Wall Clock

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So much to do, so little time. Get organized with a clock that is also a blackboard.

 

Chalkboard clock - Clinton HusseyDO IT YOURSELF | When schedules clash and you just can’t connect, timing is everything. Leaving notes has become part of our regular routine. This make-it-yourself message board is one place you are bound to look. Read more

Pear Place Cards by Brendan Power - Martin Tessler

Make Our Favourite 3 Place Card Holders

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These three easy-to-make holiday place cards are going to charm your guests.

Pinecone Place Cards- Project WeddingCREATIVE SOLUTIONS | While place cards can seem a little silly for intimate dinner parties, they make perfect sense when you’re hosting a long-table meal and want to deliberately mix and match up your guests, or you’re doing a sit-down meal with multiple tables and desire a semblance of order.

Here are our three current favourite easy-to-make place card holders, all suited perfectly to this holiday season. Read more

How To Make Designer Votive Holders (VIDEO)

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These designer votive candle holders are surprisingly simple to make. Brendan Power shows you how. (VIDEO)

Brendan-Powers-Votive-Candle-Holders-Paul-JosephTHE CREATIVE SOLUTION | These decorative votive candleholders are an easy-to-make, inexpensive Christmas gift that is both beautiful and useful. Brendan Power, our D.I.Y. columnist, got the idea after he saw something similar in a high-end gift shop. “The patterns on the votive holders I saw were probably either applied as decals or printed directly onto the glass,” he says. “My adaptation is made with photocopy paper, but the look and the translucence is no different from the original.”  Read more

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

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