Genius ideas from some of our favorite designers and DIYers.
All those amazing projects youve been saving on Instagram and Pinterest?
Its time to start crossing them off your list!
COURTESY OF EMMA COURTNEY
Stencil Your Walls
COURTESY OF EMMA COURTNEY
Wallpaper can be spendy and hard to hang.
Understatement of the year?
Enter: this idea fromEmma Courtney, a DIYer based in Toronto.
COURTESY OF DANIELLE GUERRERO
She faked the luxe look of real paper using paint anda stencil from Etsy.
According to Courtneyand the crew who prepped the set for our cover shootthe key here is patience.
You also want a stencil with a registration mark, Courtney says.
COURTESY OF MARGARET WRIGHT
Carve out a few hours per wall, gather your supplies, and take these actions.
Danielle made her own shelves, but you dont have to!
I could bend them to create what I wanted, she says.
AMELIA LAWRENCE
First, she measured her space and mapped out the dimensions.
Row after row, she repeated until she had a nice border.
She really used her noodle!
COURTESY OF RYIA JOSE
Fake a Giant Piece of Art
AMELIA LAWRENCE
What is art?
If you askAmelia Lawrence, a Jonesborough, Tennesseebased designer, it can be a shower curtain!
And we dont disagree.
COURTESY OF AMANDA WALKER
So for the above design, she pulled out the scissors to create a 62-inch-wide piece.
She snipped off excess fabric and hung up her new custom piece.
Looking for your own frame-worthy shower curtain?
COURTESY OF KRYSTLE PERKINS
Check outsociety6.com,quiettownhome.com, orwestelm.comfor artistic designs.
She found banged-up European double doors on Facebook Marketplace for $500 and got to work.
First she sanded down the rough spots and applied wax polish to help protect the wood.
COURTESY OF ALLANN ARNOLD
Then she gave the glass a major scrub withMeanGreen Degreaserto remove decades of dirt.
The final steps were adding brass hinges, a magnetic door closure, and vintage brass doorknobs from Etsy.
They make such a statement in my kitchen.
COURTESY OF LIZ RISHEL
(If you buy a shelf, get one with an apron trim on the bottom.)
Then she mounted the shelf above the TV.
She didnt want to pay an electrician to wire them, so she got creative.
COURTESY OF ALEXANDRA GATER
I had an aha moment, she says.
What if I viewed the cords as an extension of the fixture itself and had fun with it?
Now the cords look intentional!
COURTESY OF HATTIE KOLP
Oh, and the whole project took less than 30 minutes.
Spice Up Your Grout
COURTESY OF ALLANN ARNOLD
Grout is not the sexiest thing in your home.
(Thatd be you!)
COURTESY OF ZOE HUNT
She suggests applying two coats of outdoor paint and grabbing a one-inch brush for crisp edges.
A three- or four-inch brush is good for filling in the larger areas.
Now go forth and release your inner Keith Haring!
COURTESY OF JENNA LEBLANC
I loveusing limewash paintbecause you dont need to be precise, which makes it super easy, she says.
Once the final touches were done, everything blended in seamlessly.
The molding is the icing on the cake of my Parisian-inspired apartment, she says.
COURTESY OF RYAN MCENANEY
Build Some Wine Storage
COURTESY OF ZOE HUNT
No wine cellar?
She covered both sides with shiplap panels from The Home Depot!
(Shiplap is thin and fairly easy to cut.)
COURTESY OF JENNI YOLO
After rehanging the doors, she applied an oil-based primer and painted them.
Thats partly why DIYer Jenni Yolo ofI SPY DIYadded them to her 1875 Milwaukee home.
A lot of people think they have to do the big, heavier beams.
I love that, but these smaller beams were much simpler to install, she says.
She and her husband cut them to fit the ceiling length and screwed them into the joists.
Call In Professional Help
The REAL SIMPLE crowd is a handy crowd.
Sometimes, though, an expert knows best.
Ask for referencesand call them!
Confirm your contractor is licensed and insured.
it’s possible for you to useAngis search toolto figure out your states requirements.
Have the contractor walk you through the expected timeline.
Find out if theres anything that could derail the schedule, Hicks says.
You dont want to be surprised.
