Blog - at home with Ashley

DIY Electric Fireplace

If you’re looking to add a DIY electric fireplace to an empty wall that is traditional and beautiful- this tutorial if for you! It is a also an affordable project too. Learn how to frame and finish a fireplace with this detailed tutorial.

We’ve started working on my 7 year old son’s room. It’s big so I decided to take up some of the square footage with a DIY electric fireplace flanked by built-ins. In the winter, his room is cold so I thought this would be a great cozy edition! I’ll show you how we framed out and built the mantel for our electric fireplace.

This is our third fireplace build so we are experts at this point! You can see the first fireplace tutorial from my kitchen here and the second DIY fireplace from the main bedroom here.

[Read more…]

Sublimation on Ceramic Tile

I am starting work on updating my son’s room! One thing I really want for the space is a little electric fireplace to heat up his room. We have an old house and it gets cold in the winter! For the fireplace surround, I’ll be adding tiles. I want to do something fun, so I’m making a DIY Delft tile look through sublimation on ceramic tile. I’m excited to show you how to do this!

[Read more…]

Quilt Dress DIY

It’s winter and it’s so cold here! I love wearing dresses, but only have a few that are warm enough. So what’s a girl to do? How about make a quilt dress from an old thrifted patchwork quilt?! I’ve been dreaming up this quilted upcycle project for a few months and am so excited to show you how I take a quilt and make it fashion!

[Read more…]

Diamond Dotz Craft- 3D Object Freestyle Painting

Have you heard of the new Diamond Dotz craft? You can buy kits to make the sparkly art. But I decided to buy rhinestones in the colors I like (pastel rainbow, of course!) and apply them to vintage finds. I have two that I’ll be using- an ice cream cone and a house. This is a beginner friendly project. All you need are the supplies, patience, and a good podcast to listen to.

Thank you to Jo Gik (@ohsojo_ on Instagram) for the inspiration for this project. I saw her rainbow swan and knew I needed rainbow rhinestones on something vintage!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jo Gick (@ohsojo_)

[Read more…]

How to Smooth Walls

Have you ever wanted a smooth wall in your home? I have! Especially as prep before I wallpaper- there’s nothing worse than drywall texture showing through paper. It’s also a nice look to have a smooth wall before painting. I’m going to show you how to smooth walls by doing a skim coat. This post will have DIY tips and include a video and lots of picture so you can do it too!

For this project, I’m working on my craft room. Last week I wallpapered one side of the room. The slanted walls really showed the drywall texture through the wallpaper. Which I HATE! Before I did the other side (which has worse texture), I thought it’d be good to try doing a skim coat. Spoiler alert- it worked so well! Ready to see how?!

Do all textured walls need to be smoothed before wallpaper?

If you are doing this project before wallpapering, I’m going to suggest that you look over my tutorial about if you can wallpaper over textured walls. Because MOST of the time the answer is YES! So you can usually skip this tedious skim coat step.

However, if you’ve bought wallpaper and tried it on your wall and the texture shows through or you want a smooth wall before painting. This post is for you!

Can you Wallpaper over Textured Walls?

[Read more…]

How to Make your own Wallpaper for Walls

Have you ever wanted to design your own wallpaper that you can use in your house? I have! I’ve used custom wallpaper in three spots around my home and it feels so special! I thought today I could show you how to make your own wallpaper for walls even if you’re not that artistic or great at graphic design.

[Read more…]

Best Posts of 2022 and Project plans for 2023

Hi friends! I thought we could do a recap of 2022 with my top posts. After that, I’m going to share some of the project plans I have for 2023. I’ve been on break and spent some of my down time brainstorming my next projects. There’s some exciting plans that I’m excited to share with you!

[Read more…]

DIY Puppet Theater

For Christmas this year, I decided to make my son a puppet theater. I recently saw a vintage Guignol puppet theater from the 1800’s in France for kids. The design is SO cute! But you can’t buy them anymore so I decided to make a DIY puppet theater. I hope my son loves this! If you want to make one for a child in your life too, here’s the instructions.

[Read more…]

DIY Dollhouse Nightstand

Ready for an IKEA hack?! I’ve been wanting to make a dollhouse nightstand inspired by Pottery Barn’s. I think it’ll be really cute for my son’s room (though he’s obsessed with cats, so it’s a cat house to him). I thought I’d take the IKEA Songesand nightstand and make it over to be a DIY dollhouse nightstand. Anything to add more mini houses. (my favorite motif!) around!

inspiration

To start off, here’s a look at the Pottery Barn Dollhouse nightstand. I love how sweet the legs, door, and windows are. I’d like to add more color and personality. But overall, I think this is adorable! Though too expensive for me at $449 plus the price to ship it.

[Read more…]

Do all textured walls need to be smoothed before wallpaper?

inspiration

athomewithashley