The Easiest Decor DIY Ever!

Hi there! I’m writing to you from sunny Iowa, and while 40 degrees might not be warm where you are from, it’s certainly a welcomed sight in this region! Today I have a super easy and quick DIY ready for you, perfect for filling in those small spaces in your home.

You will need:

1. Twine

2. Clothespins

3. Scissors

That’s it!

Let’s get to it!

I picked up these clothespins and twine from Lowes

Now that you have everything gathered up, take the scissors and cut a 2 to 3 foot section of twine and begin to wrap it around a clothespin, with no particular pattern. I like to choose varying lengths of twine and make some clothespins ‘fatter’ than others, so they all appear different when piled up together. Repeat this process as many times as you desire, and you can either hot glue the ends or simply tuck them in.

These little twine clothespins are great fillers for any decor, since they are neutral and not specific to a season. Here are a couple photos of how I used them just today.

This project was also very budget friendly, I think the grand total was around $7. For those looking for clothespins, I found them in the cabinet organization section at Lowes (don’t ask me why they keep them there, I never understand how that place is organized).

Well, I am headed back outside now that all of my winter decorations are officially unfrozen from the front porch….it’s time to clean that area up!

As always, thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Spring Dining Room Decor

It’s March, and I am determined it’s time to decorate for spring, regardless of the fact it remains very cold here in Iowa. Today I want to share with you my quick and easy dining room decor that I refreshed for the new season.

This is quite possibly the last time I decorate this table, as it is on the project list to be sold and replaced with a barn wood farm table, much like this one pictured below (photo from a client’s home).

Hopefully by mid summer we will have the table built and replaced, but as always it is hard to find time to do things for yourself. At least we won’t have snow removal getting in the way of our projects by then!

Well I could talk for hours about plans for my dining room, but let’s get back to the current task at hand….decorating for spring! Traditionally, I have never done a whole lot for spring, and as a result I only have one tote designated to spring decor (I have like 8 for Christmas!). Regardless, I dug that tote out a few days ago and got to it.

I picked up these pastel eggs from Target, either last year or the year before, and I have really enjoyed them. They add just a hint of color and are so versatile to use. And since I don’t plan on changing anything up before Easter, they are going to serve dual purpose as the Easter decor!

Here is a closeup of the table, which I kept very simple, and all of these items I had on hand except for the small glass plant mister which was at the Target dollar spot, score! If we zoom out a bit you can see the rest of my dining room below.

My buffet and large rusty metal pig are permanent fixtures of the dining room, and I change up the buffet decor for the different seasons. As you can see I used some faux greens and DIY candlesticks (if you missed that tutorial click here). Also, I have had some eucalyptus and faux flowers in the window boxes for a couple months now, but I will most likely leave those as is until we are closer to summer.

And there you have it, my simple refresh of my dining room for spring. I would love to refresh my front porch as well, but my winter decor is currently frozen to the concrete so that will have to wait for another day and another post…hopefully sometime soon!

Well I am off to tackle some spring cleaning, I must harness this motivation while it lasts! Thanks for stopping by the blog today, see you soon!

The Kitchen Reveal You Don't Want To Miss!

Sometimes there are home improvement projects that linger, for years. This would be one of those projects. Our kitchen was 95% finished for the last two years, all but for some 6 or 8 back splash tiles and decor. Well, since this winter is approximately 15 months long, we had time to finally get a few things done around here and this project was one of them!

A little background info:

the home we currently live in was designed on a piece of notebook paper by my husband. We eventually had to have an architect develop the house plans off of our drawing (because let’s face it, we know nothing about truss systems for roof structures) but the floor plan stayed the same. Now we had previously built additions to homes, and remodeled existing structures, but building the entire home from scratch was a new endeavor. Oh, and did I mention we had never designed a kitchen… (yikes!).

So off we went with our notebook paper drawing to meet a local cabinet maker and have him help us come up with something. He told us what worked logistically for wiring and plumbing, and showed us some basic layouts he had in production. I knew I wanted something different and unique and by the time we left our first meeting I am pretty certain he thought I was nuts.

Fast forward to that next summer, and we were laying tile and painting the walls in preparation for the cabinet maker to bring and assemble the cabinets. I don’t have many pictures from this point in time (maybe because we were literally building our home during the night and working during the day), but this photo below shows you the basic outline of our cabinet system (excuse the contractor lighting and pizza box).

The next step was to add counter tops and appliances, which then made this kitchen functional. We were on a time crunch, so finishing touches and decorating took the back burner. We just needed our kitchen to pass the final building inspection and we could worry about the rest later.

Originally, I was interested in concrete counter tops but my husband talked me out of it. We cook A LOT at our house, and he was afraid that we needed a stronger material that could take a beating without showing any signs of wear. I am happy to report that after three years of constant use, these quartz counter tops have held up perfectly and have zero imperfections.

We did add a stainless steel back splash behind the stove area pretty early on, and then gradually finished the rest of that wall with subway tile, as you can see pictured below.

One of the first comments people usually make when they see our kitchen for the first time is that our cabinets look ‘beat up’. Well, I think this is where our custom cabinet maker thought I was nuts, but I wasn’t going to budge on the distressed look. The material is knotty alder, and we chose all of the wood that had the greatest amount of natural knots and ‘imperfections’. Then, combined with black glaze and iron knobs and pulls, this kitchen has the appearance that the cabinets are older or re-purposed, when in fact they are brand new. I know this is a unique look, and it’s not for everyone, but it really came together in the end and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

Ok, fast forward a couple of years to present time, and the last of the subway tile was installed over the kitchen sink. During the notebook paper design phase, I had pictured a window for this space but it was not feasible since the garage was on the other side of the wall. I still decided to put a window in this space, but just had to be a bit more creative.

I found an old farmhouse window at a salvage barn for $5, and I immediately knew it would work for this space. All of the glass was removed, which was perfect since it would make cleaning a breeze. This window frame is very light, and thus I was able to install it easily with command strips. Plus, I didn’t really want to drill into the fresh tile! (yikes!) And while I love our sink, I would have preferred a copper farm sink but that just wasn’t in the budget for this house (maybe next time!).

Here are a couple more photos/angles of our kitchen:

Well I could go on and on about this kitchen, it really is the focal part of our home and I am so excited that it is finished. This was a huge lingering project that I can finally cross off of our list, all thanks to our epic long winter this year. If you have any other questions about the materials or process, feel free to leave a comment here or catch me on Instagram. As always, thanks for stopping by the blog today! We really appreciate your support!

Hanging Cast Iron Cookware

Hi friends!

Today I have a quick post for all the cast iron cookware lovers out there. We love using this cookware at our home but find it impossible to have enough room to store all of the heavy/bulky pieces. My husband has wanted to hang up a pot rack over the island for years, but I didn’t want all the heavy cookware to block the view of the rest of the living area. Finally, during one of the 800 snow days this month, we came to an agreement on how to hang and store our cast iron pots and pans.

Our pantry was the obvious location, due to it’s proximity to the stove and vast amount of unused space. We also needed the pans out of reach of our 1 year old, so hanging them on the wall seemed to be the best choice. Adam found a barn wood 2x4 in the garage and fastened it to the wall in the pantry, and then added the gas pipe and fittings. For those of you that don’t happen to have a ton of gas pipe sitting around in your garage, you can buy them from any hardware store. We used 1/2in size, but you could use larger if desired. The only downside to working with gas pipe (besides the grease) is all the adhesive and stickers that have to be removed. If you follow us on Instagram, you saw my struggles with this the other night on stories.

Here is a close up photo of the gas pipe hardware. I had some old shower curtain hooks from a previous residence that I used to hang up the pots and pans, but I’m sure you could find something more aesthetically pleasing on Amazon. In the future I plan to hang up another identical rack below this one, and use it for hang baskets for potatoes and veggies from the garden (to get them off of the kitchen counters).

Here is the view from outside our pantry.

While this was a quick and easy project, it really has been a game changer for kitchen storage. For those of you who use cast iron cookware, you know its bulky and some sizes can be hard to fit in drawers and cabinets. This storage solution took five skillets and one large stock pot out of our cupboards, freeing up space for further organization.

I hope this post brought some inspiration to your own kitchen organization! Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Spring Farmhouse Decor Items on Amazon (Budget Friendly!)

Hi there!

I know it’s wishful thinking for most of us that spring will be here soon, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to de-clutter, disinfect, and decorate with bright colors. If you have been following for a while now, you know I love all things budget friendly and that includes decor. I frequently make my own decorations, but there are some times when a minor purchase can really make a difference to a space, and today I have brought you my top picks for budget friendly spring farmhouse decor items from Amazon.

*Note: This post contains affiliate links, for my full disclosure please click here.

Quick and Easy Updates

If you are like me, you might not have a ton of time to refresh your home for the next season, which is why I love simple pillow decor. Just bust these out of storage and pop them on the couch! Done!

4 Pack Farmhouse Green Buffalo Plaids Throw Pillow Cover St.Patrick's Day Decor Cushion Covers Soft Cotton 18x18 Inch Spring Home Sofa Couch Decor (Green White)

Farmhouse Pillow Covers with Farmers Market Quotes 18 x 18 Inch for Farmhouse Decor

Incorporate the Outdoors

Spring is a great time to start bringing your indoor and outdoor spaces together. This can easily be accomplished by decorating your front flower beds or starting your garden early indoors. Depending on your weather patterns, this time of year can be busy with planting. For us in the upper Midwest, we have a while to go yet before we can get our hands dirty outside so until then we bring the outdoors in!

Weierken Mini 6PCS Owl Pot Ceramic Flowing Glaze Base Serial Set Succulent Plant Pot Cactus Plant Pot Flower Pot Container Planter Bonsai Pots with A Hole

Contemporary Metal Planter With Rustic Style In Green - Set Of 3

Sullivans Ceramic Vase Set, Various Sizes, Distressed White, Set of 3 (CM2583)

Prep the Kitchen

With all the fresh food that will be coming in from the garden, I like to take time to reorganize the pantry. These hanging baskets will be perfect for fresh produce (we are going to try and do a ton of onions this year)!

Taylor Stainless Steel Analog Kitchen Scale, 11 Lb. Capacity

DII Z01657 Rustic Farmhouse Vintage Hanging Wall Mounted Wire Metal Basket, Set of 2 Assorted, Bronze

Everyday Essentials

These last few items can be versatile for many seasons, making them worth the time and effort of installation!

Spruce & Pine 17-Inch Distressed Wood Hanging Swing Rope Floating Shelves, Rustic Home Wood Suspended Shelf, Farmhouse Modern Wall Decor, with Mounting Hooks, Set of 2, Brown

Felt Letter Board Set with 10x10 Inch, Shabby Chic Farmhouse Rustic Wood Frame, Gray Felt, Changeable Message Board with 374 Precut White Letters, Emojis, Wall Hook, Canvas Bag, Stand

SkyNature Home Decor Clock, 14 Inch Large Wall Clock, French Lavender & Roman Numerals Wooden Dial, Silent Non-Ticking Quartz Round Clock

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Don’t forget to Pin this post for the future! Simply hover over the image below, and the Pinterest icon will show up, easy!

I hope this post brought you some inspiration for your own home. As always, I love your feedback and feel free to leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email if you have something specific you would like me to look for. Make sure you are following us on Instagram for all of our updates!

Thrift Store Cabinet $5 Makeover

Hello! Here in Iowa we are finding ourselves stuck in an endless cycle of snow storms and closings, which isn’t all bad since it allows for time to finish up projects around the house. Today I want to share with you a simple and inexpensive $5 makeover of an old medicine cabinet that I found at a thrift store a few months back.

Now, if you are thinking like my husband Adam, you might wonder what on earth I was doing buying an old medicine cabinet, but I saw some hidden potential in it becoming a cabinet/shelving piece for my enormous (and mostly bare) entryway. Here are a couple pictures of the cabinet in it’s original condition.

The first task at hand was to take the doors off and get rid of the mirrors, all while saving the hardware for reassembly. After everything was taken apart and cleaned, I began painting with some Valspar chalk paint that I had on hand.

After the whole cabinet received a couple coats of paint it was time to reassemble the doors, and I used chicken wire in place of the original mirrors. I chose this material for a couple of reasons; I wanted the decor inside to be visible and I generally hate cleaning mirrors. I found a roll of chicken wire at my local farm store for $5, and that purchase ended up being the only expense for this entire project!

All that was left was reassembly, with the original hardware, and I hired my husband to hang it on the wall in our entryway. I think it turned out really cute, and in the pictures below you can see how our enormous entryway is slowly starting to come together!

(our permanent front door has yet to be installed)

This entryway has been a challenge for me to decorate (I mean, we have only lived here three years and it’s still mostly empty). However, this medicine cabinet turned decor shelf has given me the jump start I needed to finish this space once and for all. Do you have a room/area in your home that is a challenge to decorate? If so, I would love to hear how you tackled it.

For now, its back to shoveling snow for me, but I hope this project brought you some inspiration for an inexpensive furniture makeover in your future!

Toy Chest Makeover - DIY

Hi friends! It seems we have found ourselves in an endless cycle of snow days here in Iowa, but I’m using this time to complete all those small projects I never seem to have time for. Today I’m going to share with you my most recent project, a quick and easy makeover of a children’s toy chest.

My husband found this toy chest on Facebook marketplace a few months back, and it had been sitting in our garage as a kind of ‘rainy day’ project. Well recently I found myself with some free time due to terrible weather, and decided to give it a quick makeover.

Here are a couple before photos of the top and sides of the piece.

I removed the hardware that attached the top to the rest of the box and ran a sander over the entire piece to smooth out any rough edges, since a one year old would soon be climbing all over it.

Next, I painted the entire toy chest with some furniture paint and allowed it to dry. The original hardware was a dull brass color, but some black spray paint fixed that!

I decided to add a little DIY stencil to the top piece of the toy chest, and if interested you can see my complete stencil tutorial here.

My ‘stencil’, which is just large font printed on regular paper.

Below is an up-close photo of how the stencil turned out, ignore the mess!

After everything was dry my husband was nice enough to put it all back together, and he added a couple rubber stoppers to the inside of the lid to prevent little fingers from being pinched. Overall, it was a quick no-cost makeover and now matches the decor in my daughters room.

Rubber stopper to prevent pinched fingers

That’s it! This project was a little time consuming due to the stencil, but with several days in a row of negative windchill, it seemed I finally had the time to take this on so I went for it!

As always, feel free to follow us on Instagram (@aps_design) for all of our up to the minute projects and behind the scenes antics! :)

Vintage Inspired Book Sets

Hello! It’s below zero today in Iowa, and I am not planning on leaving my house for any reason, (except Starbucks of course) so I am using this day to catch up on DIY projects, book orders, and various other items I have lined up for you guys!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I recently started making vintage inspired book sets as cute personalized gifts for family members and friends. Well, it turns out there was a bit of a demand for these, so I recently created an Etsy shop to streamline that process. However, if you are local feel free to contact me via email/phone/etc to avoid shipping costs!

I believe these are so popular in part because of how neutral they are, fitting in to virtually any home’s existing decor, which could be especially beneficial as a house warming or wedding gift. Here are a few examples:

Aren’t they cute?? I love how each set tells a different ‘story’.

Well, I had better get back to my to-do list while I have the chance. Stay warm out there!

DIY Candlesticks

Hello! I hope January is treating you well, wherever you are located. Iowa is gearing up for a major winter storm, and while the snow is pretty, it generates some long days and nights of snow removal. If you find yourself snowed in, I have a super easy winter craft to share with you today, and if you are fortunate enough to have great weather then pin this post for a rainy day!

Candlesticks are new to my personal decor, although I have seen people use them for years and always admired their versatility. I had planned on purchasing some the next time I saw a good deal (I never pay full price for anything) but recently I went to a thrift store and saw they had old staircase spindles for $2 a piece, so I picked up a few and decided to try making my own. I think they turned out really well, and I wanted to share how I made them since it was SO easy! Let’s get to it!

Here are the staircase spindles straight from the thrift store, very budget friendly at $2 a piece!

The first step is to wipe them down of any dust or grease, I used a bleach wipe but you could use anything you have on hand.

Next, I used some white chalk paint that I had on hand to paint the spindles, using two coats. Make sure to take a brush and wipe out any excess paint within the details/grooves in the woodwork.

Then, grab a piece of sandpaper and sand down/distress to your taste.

Clean off the spindles using a lint free cloth, and apply a VERY thin layer of wax to seal, wipe off excess with another lint free cloth.

After these dry completely, preferably overnight, cut them to desired sizes. I was able to get 5 different sized candlesticks out of these three spindles.

Now for the fun part! Decorate!

I had fun styling these candlesticks with greenery and even put them in a birdcage that I had on hand. Next fall I plan to use them to hold pumpkins, and maybe even ornaments next Christmas. These are such a versatile piece of decor, I can’t believe I didn’t have any until now, but better late than never!.

Spring Faux Greenery Guide

Hi all! I know you might read the title of this post and think to yourself it’s January and too early to decorate for spring, and while I certainly agree, I do like to add a pop of greenery to my winter decor to keep things fresh. Iowa has a habit of being brown, with the exception of snow, for months on end and I personally prefer a hint of green to keep me plugging away until spring!

First, let’s discuss where I like to shop for faux greenery.

I get a lot of questions about where I find my stems and it varies by season. For example, I like to shop at Hobby Lobby for fall and winter stems due to their extensive selection and great prices on seasonal items. For spring or year round items I prefer Target or Amazon, due to their rock bottom clearance prices. Target usually has more of the style of faux greenery I prefer, and there is the satisfaction of seeing it before you purchase, however Amazon reviews can often times answer any questions you might have prior to buying and it helps they have a hassle free return policy on most items.

Next, lets take a look at the types of faux greenery available.

Below you can see a couple different examples of greenery currently in my home. The left photo shows more of a softer look with muted tones and a ‘fuzzy’ texture. I prefer this type of greenery for any stand alone plant that I decorate with, as it matches the softer tones throughout the rest of my home.

The photo on the right shows a mixture of large matte eucalyptus leaves with a smaller, more ‘shiny’ plant. When creating a display with multiple plants, I prefer to use different textures so the individuals stand out.

Softer, ‘fuzzier’ look

Matte vs Shiny

Here is another example of how the matte, softer looking plants work well with the decor already in my home.

This greenery is from Target. Book sets available here

Here are examples of mixed textures with multiple plants in flower boxes that I have in my dining room. I did add a hint of color to these displays, and I plan to continue to add to them later on in the season. I like how each type of plant stands out from the bunch.

If you are looking for a few greens to get started with, I rounded up a couple options below from Amazon. You just can’t beat the bulk pricing and quantities!

Note: These are affiliate links, and you can read my full disclosure here.

The Bloom Times Artificial Boxwood (Pack of 6),Fake Greenery Foliage Plants with Total 42 Stems for Wedding, Garden, Farmhouse Outdoor Decor in Bulk Wholesale

Artificial Greenery Stems 6 Pcs Straight Silver Dollar Eucalyptus Leaf Silk Greenery Bushes Plastic Plants Floral Greenery Stems for Home Party Wedding Decoration

Supla 6 Pcs Faux Seeded Eucalyptus Leaves Spray Fake Artificial Eucalyptus Stems Bulk in Green 25" Tall for Eucalyptus Wreaths Garland Bouquet Floral Arrangements Holiday Greens Christmas Greenery

GTIDEA 4pcs Artificial Plastic Flowers Plants Fake Shrubs Faux Morning Glory Bushes House Office Garden Patio Yard Indoor Outdoor Decor

Well, that’s all for today! I hope this post was able to provide some inspiration for your own decorating!