DIY Perpetual calendar/journal

Back toward the beginning of the year I posted about the shelf I made from a book. I hinted at a little project that you could see in the photos. I'm finally back with a better look at that project: A market basket perpetual calendar/journal.

I first saw the project on design*sponge and loved it. I second saw the project on Sarah Marguerite and loved it. I third received a ceramic market basket as a gift and loved it.

 

I cut down the pages from a beautiful letterpress calendar from 2012 to use as my dividers. After much stamping and cutting (you could easily write in the dates instead but the stamp was fun and fairly inexpensive), I now I have my very own ongoing journal that requires little more than a sentence or two here and there. You can see the full, detailed instructions over on design*sponge.

I think it will be fun to cycle through each year and see what I was getting up to in years past.

Home project: New door

Tada! I've been hinting at it on Facebook and showing little peaks on Instagram, but now the boy and I finally have a new rolling door hanging and ready to show you. It was a new year's post last year where I first showed you some of the inspiration shots I had pinned on my Home board on Pinterest for a sliding barn door type thing between our living room and bedroom.

We had switched some doors around so that we no longer had the split louvered doors seen above (from inside the bedroom) ... but still wanted something a little more fun and that would gain us some floor space in the bedroom.

If you've researched the hardware for these things, you know that they are pricey. More than we wanted to spend. So the boy found a local welder who agreed to fabricate it for us. He did a great job, we supported a local guy and saved a little bit of cash. 

Next up, we bought cheap lumber (since we were painting it anyway) and the boy built the door itself. Here's a look at it while we figured out the hanging scenario. Because of the uneven lines of the logs, nothing appears level even when the equipment is telling you it is. Constant refrain: "Are you sure?"  

And here's it is open and closed -- it slides right over the bookcase. I debated with myself over the color for ages. Bright school bus yellow? Dusky blue? Charcoal grey? I am really happy with this lovely blue-grey shade we settled on: Benjamin Moore's New Born's Eyes (cheeseball, much?!). It really pulls the room together nicely.

We still have to pick out hardware but that's just the icing. Hooray for DIY! We're at work on a kitchen floor project, so stay tuned for that one (it could be a few months yet!)

Book business: Books as shelves

Tada! That's how I felt when I finished this sweet little book-as-bookshelf DIY project, so I thought what better way to start the the 2013 Book Business column? While I missed the boat on the concept of the shelf's hidden brackets until I had finished the whole thing (the brackets should point up so that a couple of books stacked on top cover them rather than being visible below), I still consider it a great first go-round and can't wait to tackle a few more for around the house. (The adorable plate hanging above the shelf is from the talented Janae Easton of Platypusfile.)

It started when I saw this photo on Poppytalk. Drool … slurp … gawk. The Poppytalk post linked to instructions by Meighan O'Toole on Wired, which are the ones I used. However, I would recommend having a look at this version on Instructables, too.

I think one of the most important notes was to put in the screws inside the back cover by hand, rather than a power drill because it is very difficult to keep the pages from twisting with the drill.

All-in-all, an easy fun project that I managed to use as an excuse to pick up a few silly books from the thrift store. Doesn't my terrarium from The Foraging Florist fit perfectly? Let me know if you try this yourself. And stay tuned for another little DIY next week (there's a sneak peek of it in the top image. Can you guess?)

Nautical toilet paper holder

Last fall I was in a home that had nautical cleats as drawer pulls in the kitchen. It was so simple and clean, I fell in love. Some day we may do a kitchen remodel that includes this clever idea, but in the meantime, I stumbled on this idea on Pinterest: a nautical cleat as toilet paper holder. Brilliant!

The Pinterest photo was a good starting place and we did some improvising with a dowel, red and white line and mini clamps. Kinda cute, right? There seems to be more and more red creeping into our home, which is funny because I think of myself as a blues and greens kinda gal … but I like this change!

Above is a (dark) peak at some of the art in our bathroom: The elephant was bought by my mom on the street in New York in the 1960s for $1 and the awesome cross-stitches are by Jenni of From J. Loo to You.