DIY Felt Acorn Garland

One of my favorite things about this time of year is collecting fallen acorns as I walk around my neighborhood.  I love using them in my décor and fall crafts, like my Acorn Tree or Glittered Acorns or Giving Thanks Wreath… and my latest addition, a DIY Felt Acorn Garland.

One of the bad things about fresh acorns is that they eventually begin to dry out and shrink and then fall out of their caps, so making a garland out of the real deal would be beautiful but it wouldn’t last long.  I decided to use some leftover felt balls to create a longer-lasting acorn garland.

To make this, you will need:

• Acorn caps of varying sizes
• Felt balls of varying sizes
• Twine or Yarn
• Hot Glue

This project is very simple – simply hot glue the felt ball inside the acorn cap.

Next, hot glue the acorns to a thin piece of twine or yarn for your garland, leaving room at the ends for hanging.  So simple and such a sweet touch of fall.

I added mine to my Dining Room Hutch, along with a glittered apple garland.

I look forward to using this garland for many seasons to come… I’m already thinking about making another with all white felt balls – wouldn’t that be pretty?  I could even find a way to work it into my Christmas décor somehow…

Have you been making anything with fallen acorns?  Link up in the comments so I can see!

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White Cabinets and a Laundry Room Reveal

I am so excited to finally show you a room that has been in progress for a long, long time… my hard-working, sweet little laundry room.

Here’s a little glimpse of what it looked like before:

See those almost orange cabinets?  They were the catalyst for this little makeover.  They actually used to be off white, but because the painter sprayed them with an oil-based gloss (a band-aid to make up for painting these in the wrong paint finish), they ambered over the past four years to this.  Every time I walked in there I wanted to vomit, mostly because I was so dang mad about it.  He even sprayed them while they were hanging, so there were obvious drip marks.  *Fuming*

So, I did what any DIY gal would do: I stopped getting mad and started painting.

See the inside of this cabinet?  That’s the color it’s supposed to be.

Yeah.

Anyhoo… after deglossing, sanding, priming, and painting these cabinets, I’m thankfully no longer seeing orange.

The cabinets are painted in Sherwin Williams Pro Classic paint in Alabaster – it’s the perfect creamy white, and the paint finish is really smooth since it self-levels as it dries.  I used a trim brush to get into corners and details and rolled the rest with a foam roller.

My laundry room is really more like a laundry hallway, as it is the entry point to my home from my garage (no glamorous mudroom here folks) – and although I really wanted to get front loaders when we replaced our washer and dryer, I knew that keeping the washer door open to discourage mildew growth would likely lead to a broken washer in this thoroughfare.  We went instead with a traditional top load washer, but upgraded to high-efficiency to save water and we’ve been quite happy with our choice.

I use the tops of the cabinets for additional storage by adding baskets – these hold bulk paper towels, seasonal items, and seldom used appliances.  I made the cute patchwork grocery bag dispenser a while back and it’s still hanging in there!

Since this is the door my family walks through as we leave our home to start our days, I wanted it to be fun and inspiring so there’s a message to be awesome and a fun little fabric garland on the door.  The laundry chalkboard printables were free from the Simple Things and Sweet Bellaroos.

One last peek…

So there you have it guys – the little laundry room that could, made much more cheerful with a nice coat of bright, white paint.

Next up, some kitchen cabinets that fell victim to the same awful painting mistake will be getting a fresh coat of white paint as well – this time, I’ll be trying my hand with a paint sprayer.  Whoop!  If you have any tips for using a paint sprayer, please share – I’m a little intimidated by the whole thing.  Talk me off the ledge?

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DIY Oilcloth Fridge Liners

Hey hey friends!  Happy Friday to you!  I’m back from my unplanned but much needed summer sabbatical with a fun project that totally changed the look of my refrigerator: DIY Oilcloth Fridge Liners. 

Our refrigerator had some sort of mishap last week that involved the smell of something burning (according to Mr. home.made.), so we unplugged and unloaded it to investigate the issue… luckily it was apparently nothing major so we were able to put the fridge back in service, but not before cleaning it.  Ew.  I don’t think I realized how gross things had become in there until it was completely empty and out there for all to see: spilled yogurt, dried up lettuce leaves, and Lord knows what else.

After removing and scrubbing shelves for what seemed like forever, I was ready to not do that again anytime soon.  I found these great Fridge Coasters online, but I wasn’t ready to invest in them until I knew the concept would work for my family.  Instead, I got out what remained of my oilcloth stash.  A few measurements and cuts later, I had my own version of fridge liners that were just as cute and functional but didn’t cost me anything.  The plan is to remove these liners when soiled and simply wash/dry/replace.

I lined my produce and meat/cheese drawers with the liners, as well as the shelves on the refrigerator doors.  I chose to not line the additional glass shelves as the oilcloth is light-blocking, which makes it difficult to see what’s on the darker shelves below.

I made the door shelf liners by tracing the shelf onto the oilcloth, cutting in an inch from the outer front edge so the liner would fit the inside of the shelf.  Super easy. 

I couldn’t leave you without a shot of the organized, clean (and empty) fridge *hallelujah!* – the liners really go a long way to making it appear much cleaner and neater so I’m hoping it will stay that way. 

Note: must get wine to fill that empty bottle holder.

Hope you’ve had a great week – enjoy the weekend!

Linking here:

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