Blog - at home with Ashley

DIY House Shaped Mailbox

One of my favorite motifs is the house shape. It just does it for me! So I thought I could make a DIY house shaped mailbox to hold my mail. As a fun detail, I’m going to make it look like my house too!

inspiration

The inspiration for this project is the house shaped mailbox from the movie Little Women (the 1994 version). I LOVE how Laurie gives Jo the mailbox as a gift for joining her society. It’s so cute! So I thought I’d re-create the idea in my colors.

My current mailbox is absolutely fine, but I want something spectacular, so let’s start building!

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How to Rebind Books

I love beautifully bound books that feel amazing to read and look gorgeous on a shelf. But I also love books that only come in paperback versions. I thought I’d take some of the softbound books that I read as a kid and rebind them to majorly upgrade them. I thought I’d take you along and show how to rebind books.

For this project I’m rebinding my favorite books I read as a kid. It was so fun to think about which books I really loved and then buy them again. I’ve been reading them to my son and it’s magical reading them again!

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How to Marble Paper

Marbling paper is a centuries old craft where you create a pattern with paint that looks like marble and then dip paper into it to create decorative paper. I’ve been wanting to get into book binding and love when the end papers or book covers are made with marbled paper. So I’m going to show you how to marble paper.

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DIY Medicine Cabinet

I’ve recently finished renovating my bathroom. One element of the room I’m really proud of is the DIY medicine cabinet! We made it ourselves, but honestly, never finished the inside. So I thought I’d show how to create one. Plus this will give me the motivation to finish up the inside!

Let’s talk about medicine cabinets. For awhile, it seemed like they were out of style. I think they felt old fashioned and usually the store bought ones are pretty ugly. But the reality is that medicine cabinets are the best storage because they are at eye level! Perfect for everyday use items. So I’m making my own so it’s cute and functional.

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Pastel Bathroom Reveal

In January I started redoing my bathroom. Now, four months later- it’s done! My goal was to take the same floor print, but upgrade it in every way I could dream up. I had issues like a leaky roof, an exposed pipe, peeling flooring, and a gap from a small vanity. All those issues are fixed and the room is so cute! Ready to see the pastel bathroom reveal?!

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Picture Frame Repair

I love going to the antique store and finding beautiful old frames. Or art with intricate frames. They used to be made so well and you just can’t buy anything new that touches it! But sometimes, the frames are damaged. I thought I’d try my hand at picture frame repair and show you how to do the same!

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Ikea Sektion Hack

My bathroom renovation is coming together! This week we are adding storage with a tall cabinet that’s actually meant for the kitchen. But storage is storage so I’ll be doing an Ikea Sektion hack. We’ll build a base, have a scallop detail, add a pediment on top, put on pretty hardware, and attach a carved onlay. It’s going to be pretty! Let’s get started!

before

This is the corner that we’ll be working on. The tile is only partially done because we didn’t want to fully tile behind the cabinet. I had wallpaper up, but decided it was too dark so I took it down. So here’s where we are starting.

Here is the cabinet in the space without any alternations (and the blue protective plastic still on it).

Note, I was not a fan of the wallpaper I selected. It was too dark for me, so I started my week by removing it.

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Outdoor Tub Ideas

I have an awkward spot in my backyard. It’s shady so things won’t grow well, there’s a lot of random concrete, and I haven’t known what to do with it. Since renovating my bathroom, we took out the old clawfoot tub. So I figured it could stay outside! And I could decorate it to make it cute. Here’s some outdoor tub ideas!

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DIY French Doors

I’ve been working on my bathroom and one thing it’s missing- is a door. To save space and to help showcase a focal point, I thought I’d use double doors. This post will be on how to DIY French doors for an interior space. I won’t be making my own, but repurposing old sidelights I found from an architectural salvage store. This would also work with bi-fold doors.

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How to Create a Bathtub Nook

We’ve been working on our bathroom renovation for a few months now. I decided that for the clawfoot tub, I’d like to add an alcove and really make that part of the room look special. I thought I’d share how to create a bathtub nook in case you like this look and would like to recreate it too.

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