DIY Projects

Homemade Laundry Detergent {DIY Laundry Cleaners}

By Kim | 4 Comments | this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure here.

In this post, see how I make a pleasantly scented laundry detergent that gets your clothes clean.

I’ve been making Homemade Laundry Detergent, off and on, for a while now. The problem was I wasn’t all that consistent with it. I was using Fels Naptha soap, and it was okay, but I never could bring myself to like the smell of it. It’s not that it smells all that bad and to many, it may smell great, but I have never been all that impressed by the scent. I think this is the reason I didn’t make it consistently.

How To Make An Easy DIY Dish Soap Dispenser

By Kim | 4 Comments | this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure here.

A super easy way to fancy up your dish soap so you can get rid of the plastic container.

I decided to hop on here and show you how to make an easy DIY dish soap dispenser since I was changing mine out. You’ve probably seen them around, but I decided to share just in case there’s this thin chance you haven’t.

I decided to change my bottle up this time. You can use just about any bottle as long as the spouts will fit the mouth correctly.

A bottle of dish soap, simple syrup, and a liquid dispenser nozzle on a white chippy wooden board.

How To Make An Easy DIY Dish Soap Dispenser

It’s so easy and you only need these 3 things.

Any bottle of your choice
A bottle spout
Your choice of liquid dish detergent

I searched around the grocery store until I found a bottle I liked. I found mine on the wine aisle where the ingredients are for mixed drinks.

Dish soap in a homemade dispenser sitting on a pedestal stand with a candle, bar towel, and a bar of unopened sweet tea soap.

I looked for.ever before I finally found a suitable bottle that I actually liked. I’m so glad I spotted it because I really am tickled with it. You see that bare mantel back there? I’ve taken everything off guys. Yep, it’s getting ready to go down. I’m in full spring mode right now. I can’t help myself. So be prepared to see some spring stuff soon.

In fact, I like the label so much that I decided not to take it off, but you can totally do that if you don’t find a bottle with a label that you like.

I always use Dawn dish soap, but the grocery store I was at didn’t have the clear. I bought the only clear detergent they had. I’ll use up this bottle and then refill with the clear Dawn.

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How To Make A Grubby Wooden Bowl Like New

By Kim | 23 Comments | this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure here.

See in this post how I make a set of thrift store-bought wooden salad bowls like new.

Yesterday, I found a set of six wooden salad bowls at our local thrift store. In the past, I’ve never looked twice when I saw wooden bowls like these, but this time a what if thought crossed my mind. What if I could refinish these bowls and bring them back to their glory while showing you How To Make A Grubby Wooden Bowl Look New?

Wooden bowls in need of refinishing on a white board.

These bowls were free of dirt and grime but still looked grubby due to not being cared for properly. The finish that was on the bowls was coming off in many places. The bowls were discolored and actually had a really rough surface. I’m guessing they were even run through a dishwasher.

Wooden salad bowls that have been sanded and waiting for a coat of tung oil.

Steps to make an old wooden bowl look like new:

Sand
Rinse
Dry
Oil

I started by laying a garbage bag over to protect the surface. Then I sanded the remaining finish left on the bowls with a 120 grit sandpaper and then finished the last coat of sanding with a 320 grit which made the surface very smooth. When I finished sanding, I rinsed each bowl under running water, gave them a good towel drying, and then set them on the back porch to finish drying. That last step didn’t take long because it is so windy here. We’re under a wind advisory all day today.

When they were all dry, I took a sponge brush and covered the inside and outside of the bowls with my favorite tung oil blend. You can read more about that in my wood countertop post here.

Wooden salad bowls that have been sanded and rubbed with tung oil..

Here, you can see the oil sitting in the bottom of the bowl. It eventually all soaked in. Once the tung oil had absorbed into the wood, I wiped them down with a soft rag to remove any excess oil.

A stack of wooden salad bowls on a white wood board with a weathered door in the background.

Didn’t they turn out great? I love the rich luster the tung oil gave them and how it pulled out the grain in the wood. The oil does not have any color in it, but it does bring out the natural tones in the wood which can make it look like they’ve been stained.

The pattern that appears to be a water stain is actually part of the wood. That is my favorite of all the bowls. Since the tung oil is food grade they are safe to use with food.

Open shelves in a kitchen decorated with miscellaneous items including a set of wooden salad bowls.

I nested the bowls together in a staggered pattern and put them on my open shelves. I’m really tickled with how these turned out. I only did one coat on these because I wanted to get this post up, but I will go back and apply another coat of tung oil to make sure they are completely sealed. See that bowed shelf at the top there? Yep, we’ve been saying for a year now how we need to fix that. I really need to bump that to the top of my to-do list. And you know what, I’m thinking about going with a lighter stain the next time around.

Well, whatcha think? That’s my easy, peasy method on how to make a grubby wooden bowl like new. Have you ever refinished any wooden bowls? I’d love for you to comment below.

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How To Make A Stacked Log Fireplace Screen

By Kim | 2 Comments | this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure here.

Looking for a pretty way to style your fireplace during the summer months? We did this in less than an hour!

Have you ever wondered how to make a stacked log fireplace screen? There are several ways to do them, but we really wanted the real deal, and you know what…it wasn’t hard to do at all.

Pete cut a couple of different size saplings up into short little logs. Then we loaded them into our little handy-dandy garden cart and brought them up to the house. He then carefully cut one end of each log with his table saw to give it a smooth finish. Please be extra cautious and always were eye protection when using any kind of power tools.

Our wood measured 2 – 5 inches across. You can see in this picture how he cut the logs that went along the edges shorter because of the inward angle of our fireplace. Once we started stacking, we realized all of the logs could be on the shorter side, so we went with it.

Then we stacked…

and stacked until all of the pieces of wood fit snugly in the opening. We filled in the large gaps with smaller pieces along the way.

photo credit: Jess Lapp

We talked about several different ways on how to make a stacked log fireplace screen and decided we wanted to actually have real fire logs stacked in the box as opposed to applying pieces of logs to plywood.

photo credit: Jess Lapp

These pictures were taken about a month after we stacked the logs. You can see that in the months time the logs have yellowed some. They have also cracked as they dried out. But we love it! When you’re standing next to the fireplace you can tell that the wood is truly stacked in place. It is so natural and realistic looking.

photo credit: Jess Lapp

The stacked logs add a nice touch to the space. It’s so much better than looking at a sooty black hole all summer long.

photo credit: Jess Lapp

When we were all done, I dressed it up with a straw bag, a pillow, and a throw. What do you think?

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A Simple (New) Metal Flower Pot Makeover

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A Simple (New) Metal Flower Pot Makeover

By Kim | 8 Comments | this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure here.

A Simple (New) Metal Flower Pot Makeover / Do you have a new or old metal planter hanging around that could use an update? This simple springtime project is simple and easy to do.

If you’re like me there is always something sitting around that could use a little update or even be repurposed. This time that “something” was sitting on the shelf at the store. The minute I spotted this pot in TJ Maxx I knew just what I was going to do with it. In my case, I did A Simple (New) Flower Pot Makeover because my pot was brand new.

First of all, let me just admit that I was just a little too eager to start this project and forgot to take a picture of the flower pot before I started.

I did think to take a picture of the inside of the pot so that you can see what it looked like. I scuffed the pot up a little with a sanding sponge. Then I just sprayed two coats of chalk paint about 20 minutes apart.

This is what I used for – A Simple (New) Metal Pot Makeover:

After the pot had dried for about two hours I sanded the raised lettering with the sanding sponge to expose the dark metal from underneath along with the raised ring that goes around the pot. I was planning on distressing the pot more but decided not to after I saw how it look at this stage. I love the simplicity of just the Farmers Market lettering and the ring being distressed. After I was done distressing the pot I gave it two coats of the sealer.

Mexican Heather is what I decided to plant in my pot. I love the green with the little touches of purple all over.

I love how it looks sitting on my chippy chair on the front porch.

Isn’t the contrast of the green and purple perfect against the freshly painted white flower pot? Do you have any pots that could use a makeover? If so, go for it and leave us a picture in the comments. I would love to see how they turn out.

How To Age New Galvanized Containers

By Kim | 6 Comments | this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure here.

How To Age New Galvanized Containers / How about those galvanized containers? Don’t you just love ’em? I sure do, but I don’t love how shiny they are when they’re brand new. Read on to see how you can get rid of that bright, shiny metal with three basic household ingredients.

So, have you ever wondered How To Age New Galvanized Containers? I finally figured out an easy way to do big containers that don’t involve soaking them, and it’s super easy.

My favorite way to use galvanized containers is for planters. I love the rustic character they give a porch, especially when they’re showing off pretty flowers. But before I go planting anything that bright shine has to go.

A Couple of Way Of How Not To Age Galvanized Containers

There are so many ways to “age” the finish on galvanized metal, but some of those ways use chemicals that I would rather not use. One of the most popular ways is using toilet bowl cleaner. I did my first galvanized container using that method. It didn’t work as well as this technique, and I hated the smell that came with the project. Even outdoors it was very strong and not what you would want to be smelling or breathing for that matter. Another method calls for vinegar and peroxide to be mixed. While these two ingredients are seemingly harmless, mixing the two creates peracetic acid which is not a good idea. The method I prefer uses these two ingredients but in a much safer way.

Here’s How To Age New Galvanized Containers

Here are the three ingredients you’ll need:

White vinegar
Table salt
Hydrogen peroxide

I started with four tablespoons of salt with vinegar in a spray bottle. Shake the bottle until the salt has dissolved. Then I put some peroxide in a separate spray bottle.

Get your shiny new galvanized container. Here is the container I started with. (I did these in our driveway (on the gravel) because I didn’t want the salt to kill any grass.)

I took the salt & vinegar mixture and sprayed it all over the container. Then I took the salt and sprinkled it right out of the salt box all over the container. As you move around the bucket if the salt doesn’t stick just spray it with more of the salted vinegar mixture until it’s wet enough to hold the salt in place.

I wanted the salt completely coating the container. As it’s out in the sun, it will dry. I took the spray and misted it carefully. You don’t want to make the salt run. You just want to make it damp again. I did this several times for about an hour. Here you can see how the mixture is already dulling the finish on the container that is treated.

After an hour, I switched to the peroxide and sprayed it over the dried salt and repeated the same process as before. I continued to spray them during the next hour using only the peroxide. Then I took the water hose and rinsed the salt off of both containers and let them dry. That salt really dries on hard, so you have to give it a really good rinsing.

I was super happy with the results. As you can see, both containers have a perfectly dull and aged looking patina. They are ready for planting.

And that my friend, is How To Age New Galvanized Containers. Do you love galvanized containers? What are your favorite ways to use them?

Homemade Laundry Detergent {DIY Laundry Cleaners}

In this post, see how I make a pleasantly scented laundry detergent that gets your clothes clean.

How To Make An Easy DIY Dish Soap Dispenser

A super easy way to fancy up your dish soap so you can get rid of the plastic container.

How To Make An Easy DIY Dish Soap Dispenser

It’s so easy and you only need these 3 things.

How To Make A Grubby Wooden Bowl Like New

See in this post how I make a set of thrift store-bought wooden salad bowls like new.

Steps to make an old wooden bowl look like new:

How To Make A Stacked Log Fireplace Screen

Looking for a pretty way to style your fireplace during the summer months? We did this in less than an hour!

A Simple (New) Metal Flower Pot Makeover

A Simple (New) Metal Flower Pot Makeover / Do you have a new or old metal planter hanging around that could use an update? This simple springtime project is simple and easy to do.

This is what I used for – A Simple (New) Metal Pot Makeover:

How To Age New Galvanized Containers

How To Age New Galvanized Containers / How about those galvanized containers? Don’t you just love ’em? I sure do, but I don’t love how shiny they are when they’re brand new. Read on to see how you can get rid of that bright, shiny metal with three basic household ingredients.

A Couple of Way Of How Not To Age Galvanized Containers

Here’s How To Age New Galvanized Containers

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In this post, see how I make a pleasantly scented laundry detergent that gets your clothes clean.

A super easy way to fancy up your dish soap so you can get rid of the plastic container.

How To Make An Easy DIY Dish Soap Dispenser

It’s so easy and you only need these 3 things.

See in this post how I make a set of thrift store-bought wooden salad bowls like new.

Steps to make an old wooden bowl look like new:

Looking for a pretty way to style your fireplace during the summer months? We did this in less than an hour!

A Simple (New) Metal Flower Pot Makeover / Do you have a new or old metal planter hanging around that could use an update? This simple springtime project is simple and easy to do.

This is what I used for – A Simple (New) Metal Pot Makeover:

How To Age New Galvanized Containers / How about those galvanized containers? Don’t you just love ’em? I sure do, but I don’t love how shiny they are when they’re brand new. Read on to see how you can get rid of that bright, shiny metal with three basic household ingredients.

A Couple of Way Of How Not To Age Galvanized Containers

Here’s How To Age New Galvanized Containers

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