DIY Home Projects: 10 of My Kept picks

Measurements come first here, because a good-looking piece in the wrong spot still fails. The weekend is the perfect time to tackle a DIY home project or two! I thought it would be fun to share ten of my favorites from over the years – from stenciling our bathroom walls to giving my girls' bathroom cabinets a fresh new look with paint and making a bedskirt with a flat sheet. If you've been following along for a while, some of these will be familiar to you but I bet you'll still discover a few DIY home projects that you missed along the way! (post includes commissionable links; for more information, see my full disclosure statement {here})

One. DIY Painted Tile Floors

One of my all-time kept DIYs is also one that I thought was probably going to be an epic fail… painting the ugly tile floor in our powder room! Our powder room originally had custom cut carpet (kinda gross for a bathroom, right?!) that was covering this super dated red floor:

I took a risk and painted the tile floor thinking it would be a temporary measure until we saved up to replace the tile but it turned out so well that we kept it as-is the entire time we lived here:

Powder Room Sources:Annapakshi Indian Damask Wall Stencil (11.25″ x 15.5″) |  Arched wood mirror (similar)  |  Pedestal Sink  |  Sconces (Polished Nickel)

Look at my post on painting tile floors {here}.

Two. DIY Stenciled Bathroom Walls

While we're talking about our powder room, I'll share the other DIY home project I did in this space that makes my top ten cut. Along with having dated carpet-over-tile flooring, our powder room had some pretty ugly yellow wallpaper:

I was on a tight budget for prettying this bathroom up so instead of re-wallpapering I tried my hand at stenciling instead, painting the walls a dark gray and then stenciling a light gray damask pattern on top:

It was pretty time intensive and not without some mistakes but I ended up with the look of wallpaper for about 1/10 the price:

See my full post on wall stencils for details on the stencil I used plus lots of stenciling pointers! You can also see info about our bathroom in my post on our budget bathroom redo.

Three. Unfussy Custom Bed Skirt from a Flat Sheet

When I made-over my youngest daughter's bedroom soon after our move to CT, I couldn't find a bed skirt I loved that went with her bedding. But then after lucking upon some cute polka dot sheets at HomeGoods, I decided to give a DIY bed skirt a go. I used the finished edge of the sheet as the bottom edge of the bed skirt so there was hardly any sewing involved and I got a custom sized bed skirt for a song!

You can snag the step by step details of how I made my DIY bed skirt {here}.

Four. DIY Framed Bulletin Board

Looking for a quick and easy DIY project using the preferred piece of fabric? This is it! This DIY framed bulletin board with a bottom pocket is a go-to spot for holding coupons, letters to mail, receipts, and anything else that would otherwise be cluttering up your kitchen countertops. Depending upon the fabric and frame that you use, you can create one in a style anywhere from modern to farmhouse chic:

You'll find the fully supply list and how-to for my DIY framed cork board {here} and the DIY for a similar burlap bulletin board {here}.

Five. DIY Shiplap Walls

When we moved into the house, our bedroom had blue faux finished plaster walls that were highly textured and cracked:

so instead of spending a lot of time and money to repair and smooth them, I decided to do a DIY home project and cover them with shiplap! By using ¼″ plywood sheets I was able to do it on a tight budget and am so happy with how it turned out:

Bedroom sources:Gray nightstands  |  Camp stools (similar) |  White table lamps (similar) |  Scalloped flushmount light  | Gray & white patterned linen duvet – no longer available |  Gray & white dragon/floral pillows  |  Drapes |  Diamond jute rug

Get all of the details in my post on our DIY shiplap walls.

Six. DIY Painted Bathroom Vanity

Most of you will remember this one because it's my most recent DIY project on the list! My girls' bathroom was looking really tired but a complete makeover wasn't in the cards so I decided to paint the walls and their worn vanity:

It made such a big difference (and is so much more do-able than you might think):

Get my step by step guide for painting a bathroom vanity {here}.

Seven. DIY Upholstered Headboard

Part of the tween room makeover that I did for my daughter when we first moved to CT included making her a simple DIY upholstered headboard. It's one of the preferred DIY projects to date because I was able to make it the exact size, shape, and color I wanted and I can always recover it with a different fabric in the future if I want to. Luckily when we did round 2 of her bedroom makeover using boho bedroom colors, it still worked beautifully with all of the other changes we made:

Bedroom sources:Quatrefoil pendant  |  White quilt  |  White leather poufs | Other bedding & accessories no longer available

It's actually an easier DIY home project than you might think – look at the step by step of her DIY upholstered headboard to see. I also used the DIY skills I gained doing the headboard project to help DIY our kitchen banquette – I created the tall back of our banquette just like I did the headboard but added upholstery nails to it as a final step:

Sources:Capiz pendant  |  Geometric gray rug  |  Large blush abstract framed art  |  Blue floral framed art  |  Pink floral framed art  |  Slipcovered dining chairs (similar) | Table runner no longer available

Look at the step by step of how I made it in my post on our DIY banquette seating.

Eight. DIY Fabric Book Covers

This is a super simple DIY project that anyone can do! Using the preferred fabric remnant, your iron and some Stitch Witchery you can get online, you can make cute and stylish fabric book covers:

Such a simple way to add some seasonal color and pattern to your home!

Just follow the easy steps to create these fabric book covers {here}.

Nine. DIY Refinished Table

For years I had been holding on to a scratched-up, darkly stained end table for sentimental reasons:

I refinished it by sanding it down and re-staining it with a gray stain which transformed it into a polished new piece:

If you have a piece of furniture that needs some TLC, look at my post on how to refinish a table {here}. You can use the same steps to refinish a chair, dresser, or any other wood furniture piece.

Ten. DIY Paneled Doors

While we have typical six paneled doors throughout most of our house, our closet doors used to be flat slabs that looked pretty cheap. I didn't want to spend the money to replace them with new doors so I dressed them up with molding instead. My youngest daughter's closet doors that started out looking like this:

Had a whole new look after I added molding pieces to the front in a decorative pattern and replaced the hardware:

You can find the details on my DIY home project in my post on our flat panel door makeover.

My oldest daughter's closet door started out with the same flat profile:

Along with some simple box molding, I added cork boards to the top two boxes so she'd have a spot to pin things:

You can find the step by step tutorial for in my post on closet doors approaches.

It would help if readers all found a project or two that inspired you to DIY something in your home too!

Enjoy your weekend,