Pretty Handy Girl - A DIY Blog Empowering You to Complete Your Own Project

5 Easy Ways to Lighten Up a Dark Room

I get a lot of questions from readers. Recently Joyce, emailed me with some questions about her new apartment in a basement. She asked, “How do I increase the amount of light in my dark basement apartment?”

Have no fear Joyce, I’m here to help and hopefully create a home that is dreamy and less hobbit-like. With a little TLC and intentional changes it will be dreamy! Here are 5 Ways to Lighten Up a Dark Room:

1. Curtains:

Hang curtains outside your windows. You won’t want to block even one inch of glass. Let the edge of the curtain overlap the casing. White curtains and sheers will help keep the room feeling light and airy. Be forewarned that heavy and dark drapes will absorb some of your light, so keep them light and airy!

You want privacy, but still have light come in, check out this DIY privacy film? It is a wonderful way to cover your windows but still let the light come in. [Continue reading…]

2 Comments
Filed Under: Decorating, light fixture

DIY Like a Boss Link Party – Week 7

18 Feb posted by Brittany Bailey

DIY Like a Boss Week 7 Featured Projects

What an amazing array of DIY projects this week! All this creativity in one place is inspiring! Scroll down to see the picks for this week.

What have you been up to? Bring your project photos and share because…

You’re Invited Every Thursday
starting at 6am EST to

~ DIY Like a Boss ~

a link party designed to share the best DIY and home decor projects
in blogland with you each week!

To join in the fun, scroll to the bottom of this post and use Inlinkz to submit your work. We’re so glad you’re here and can’t wait to be inspired by your #DIYLikeaBoss ideas!

If you just arrived, I have partnered with four other amazing bloggers to bring you a fabulous weekly party where you can share all of your amazing DIY and home decor projects!

DIY Like a Boss- The only DIY and home decor link party where you will be featured on 5 blogs + Hometalk! ‪#‎diylikeaboss‬

This party is for DIY home decor projects, DIY furniture projects, DIY craft projects, DIY sewing projects, and anything you can DIY!

This is my way of keeping up with all the fantastic DIY projects you’ve been working on. Plus, you’ll be getting exposure with hundreds of other DIYers who will be linking up as well. AND, I’m on the hunt for a new contributor, so this will be a fantastic place for you to showcase your skills (DIY projects, photography and writing.)

And now…

…without further adieu, here are the featured #DIYLikeaBoss projects from last week’s party!

[Continue reading…]

1 Comment
Filed Under: DIYLikeaBoss

DIY Plywood Frame with Glass

17 Feb posted by Jaime Costiglio

They say necessity is the motherhood of invention. Today’s project post on DIY Plywood Frames with Glass fits well with that saying. Jaime at That’s My Letter here sharing how I took scrap plywood and made it into frames for my kids’ silhouettes. Custom framing is not cheap and sometimes you have odd-sized pictures or artwork that just won’t work in a typical store bought frame. This DIY plywood frame is a great solution for those situations.

There are tons of DIY wood frame ideas out there, but the difficulty lies in actually getting glass into the frame especially if you don’t have a router. (To be honest I do have a router, but hate using it!) The solution to this problem is to place the glass on the surface and to do that I had to find clips to hold the glass in place. My first thought was mirror clips but they are rather large and deep, typical framing glass is 1/8″ thick and the mirror clips are meant to hold mirrors which are slightly thicker.

So after much perusing of the electrical aisle I decided to try low volt staples. They aren’t clear like mirror clips but they are smaller and have the proper depth for frame glass. The only issue is the small lip edge that’s meant to hold electrical wires in place:

No problem. The low volt staples are plastic and I was able to easily slice off the lip edge with my utility knife! I think they come in black too if you don’t like white. You could spray paint them any fun color to highlight your artwork being framed.

I ordered the glass in the size I needed (I paid $18 for all 3 pieces) and had the scrap plywood on hand. The low volt staples are $2 for 25 staples, so this entire project cost me just about $20. The joy on my kids’ faces when seeing their Kindergarten silhouettes hung was priceless. Below are step-by-step instructions to make plywood frames with glass.

Materials:

3/4″ plywood (cut 1 1/2″ larger than artwork on all sides)
1/8″ clear glass (cut 1/2″ larger than artwork on all sides)
3/16″ low volt plastic staples
wood stain
3/4″ wood screws
picture hanging wire
utility knife
double stick tape
measuring tape & pencil
drill
1/8″ drill bit
hammer

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut 3/4″ plywood to size. Add 1 1/2″ on all sides of artwork to create frame similar to my version above. Sand edges smooth.

Step 2: Stain frame. (I used Minwax Early American.) Let dry thoroughly. [Continue reading…]

4 Comments
Filed Under: art, arts and craft, framing, Tutorial, Upcycling

Faking Wall-to-Wall Carpet with an Area Rug

15 Feb posted by Brittany Bailey

The closet renovation is coming along nicely, even though I’ve only been able to work on it in fits and starts. After I added a new light switch for the closet, I added any missing insulation. Then I filled any and all gaps with Great Stuff. This closet had always been very cold in the winter or super […]

You’re Invited Every Thursday starting at 6am EST to

~ DIY Like a Boss ~

…without further adieu, here are the featured #DIYLikeaBoss projects from last week’s party!

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