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Do you know what’s great about DIY projects? Everything. When you make items yourself, you can choose projects that suit your tastes, create them in your choice of colours/textures, and then use them to your heart’s content.
Whether you’re aiming for efficiency, decoration, fun, or self-sufficiency, there’s a awesome DIY project just waiting for you. Here are just a few that you might like to try out:
1. Bird Feeder Wreath
A circular mold, wide ribbon, some birdseed, and some melted suet are all you need to help feed our feathery friends over the winter months.
2. Upside-Down Tomato Planter
Just save your plastic soda bottles, cut the bottoms off, ease in a tomato plant seedling, and pour in some earth. Then hang it up, water it regularly, and watch your tomatoes grow! This also works well for herbs and peppers.)
3. Yogurt Cheese
Place a few layers of cheesecloth in a colander, pour in plain yogurt, and let it drain overnight: you’ll have a creamy cheese when you wake up the next day.
4. Yarn-Wrapped Painted Jars
Wrap some yarn or twine around a jar, paint it, and peel the yarn away once it’s dry: you’ll be left with a gorgeous luminary for tea lights or candles.
5. Baked Salt Dough Tags
Perfect for Valentine’s gifts, baby/bridal showers, or any other occasion.
6. Leafy Stepping-Stones
It’s easy to make beautiful stepping-stones for your garden with large leaves (like rhubarb), cement, and a trowel.
7. Shoe Holder Planter, via GreenUpgrader
Use an old over-the-door shoe holder to grow all kinds of plants. This is great for growing herbs outside your kitchen, or on a balcony wall.
8. Tea or Coffee Cup with a Message
Grab a teacup and a Sharpie marker, write a message on the inside bottom of a cup (or on the side of it), and bake for 30 min at 350 F to make the writing permanent. Great for bridal party gifts!
9. Pebble Placemat
Use a hot glue gun to glue flat beach pebbles to circles of felt or wood. These placemats are perfect to use beneath teapots and warm serving bowls, and they look great at garden parties.
10. Needle-Felted Toys
Use a barbed needle and some wool roving to make Waldorf-style toys for kids of all ages.
11. Water-less Snow Globe, via Salt Tree
Grab an empty jar, a dollhouse miniature, some glue, and fake snow, and you’ll have a water-free snow globe decoration.
12. Hanging Garden Basket
A wire basket, some moss, and some seedlings are all that’s needed to create a gorgeous hanging basket of edibles. Try a mix of lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, or even strawberries!
13. Reusable “Swiffer” Pads
If you know the basics of knitting or crocheting, you can create your own reusable pad covers for your sweeper.
14. Lip Balm
Make your own amazing lip balms with carnauba or bee’s wax, a carrier oil (olive, almond, etc.) and your favourite scent/flavour.
15. Floor Stencils
Instead of throw rugs, consider dressing up old wooden or concrete floors with painted stencil designs.
16. Laundry Detergent
Just in case you run out of laundry soap (or want to make a cost-effective detergent in the scent you like best), make your own with a few household ingredients.
17. Cake Stands
Use industrial-strength adhesive to glue thrift shop glassware together to make cake stands and pedestal bowls.
18. Nail Polish Key Identification
Use different colours of nail polish on your keys so you can easily tell them apart. Just remember which colour you used for each door…
19. Cassette Tape Wallet
You might have never played a cassette tape, but chances are you’ve seen them lying around. Transform one into a wallet for a bit of retro fabulousness.
20. Painted Garden Stones
Keep track of what you’ve planted where by painting large stones for your garden.
21. Wood-Burning Camp Stove
All you need is a large tin can, a few metal tent pegs/stakes, and a drill to make this camp stove.
22. “Fairy” Garden
Great for small spaces or as a project with your kids: grab an old bucket, drawer, or bowl, add some earth and small plants. Then tuck in some miniatures, and you have a tiny, perfect garden.
23. String Lanterns
It’s amazing how easy it is to make these elegant string-globe lanterns! All you need is twine, corn starch, glue, balloons, and spray paint. Easy peasy.
24. Suitcase Dog Bed
A vintage suitcase transforms into a dog bed with a little TLC and some fluffy pillows.
25. Jar Garden Mini Terrarium
Fill empty jars with pebbles, soil, moss, and small plants for mini gardens you can place around your home. Feel free to add in some miniatures for extra impact!
26. Wallpaper Dresser
Furniture gets an updated look with a fresh coat of paint and some strips of wallpaper in complementary hues.
27. Clothes Hanger Jewellery Storage
Add a few eyelet screws to a wooden coat hanger and voila: instant jewellery organization.
28. Bath Salts
Epsom salts or coarse sea salt is mixed with your favourite essential oils and a few drops of food colouring to make luxurious bath treats.
29. Paint Swatch Wall
Can’t decide what colour to paint your wall? Why not choose “all of them”? This decor was created from free paint colour swatches (available at any home reno store), pinned to the wall with straight pins.
30. Recycled Leather and Wood Shelves
We could all do with more storage space, and you can create some pretty fabulous shelves with some recycled wood, a couple of thrift shop belts, and a few nails.
Hopefully some of these will inspire some creativity at your end, and if you find yourself in a hardcore DIY headspace, a great place to find more projects is on Pinterest: either do a search for your craft of choice, or just type DIY into the search field to see what piques your interest.
Font: lifehack.org
Written By Lana Winter-Hébert