I don’t like Pinterest too much. I find it overwhelming. I DO like the Pinterest Fail sites with the hashtag #nailedit. It’s normalizing and hilarious and I applaud folks able to share their failures in such a public way.
So when I come up with a DIY design idea myself and post it to my personal Facebook page, I can get defensive when someone comments “gotta love Pinterest”. No. No, I don’t. I didn’t get this idea from Pinterest. I had an idea on how to solve a problem or do something differently, perhaps for a creative repurpose.
Still, I have a friend who every time she comes over to my house points to something I’ve done and says, well, demands really: “Pinterest that, Katherine”. So, little by little, I did. Mostly for her. But I still don’t Pinterest often. I just get in, quickly post, and get out. My profile is kinda indicative of that drive-by approach:
I love doing projects. After all, place starts at home and it should reflect who you are and your favorite things. Home is place on a micro scale – the same rules apply.
However, I’ve had to be extra creative in how I develop projects. You see, I don’t really sew, I don’t know how to use a drill, and I don’t like permanent things that can’t be easily switched out by season or because of a #nailedit (not) experiment gone wrong.
So when Grace wanted to be Maleficent a few Halloweens back, I didn’t like the pre-fab costume options (or price). So decided I could probably make the horns using a headband, modeling clay, and black trash bags. I then created her infamous Maleficent wings using wire hangers and spray painted coffee filters. Add some very aggressive contouring make up and a lantern lit stick I created from a found stick, I had a pretty good costume for her for less than $10.
When Christmas rolled around a couple of years ago, I was in my decoration storage room in the basement when it occurred to me my tomato plant cages look like Christmas trees. Why should I store both? Voila! I present tomato cage Christmas trees for the front entryway:
Fall two years ago, Grace mentioned that pumpkin stems sometimes look like funny noses. Add to that the fact that all my pumpkin carving tools were still packed away from the move, I present “Old Man Fall” on my front stairs:
This was a huge hit with visitors, but not so much for Grace’s dad who thought I was making a statement about his newly grown beard. I don’t know what he was talking about:
A few of my ideas have come from not wanting to duplicate my efforts. Because who has time for that? So I used Christmas tree ornaments and Valentine decorations to create a meaningful decoration for Grace’s birthday party:
I also love a good repurpose. When I won an auction of old, broken light fixtures from the now defunct North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, I wanted to find a creative way to honor them and have them visible in my home, so I created terrariums for the kitchen table. (I am still working on the repurpose for the beautiful iron chandeliers I also won.):
I also created an American Doll House out of wire shelving, old fabric, vintage postcards, and string lights, which was a big hit with Grace and her friends. Not so much with my fellow moms who told me to knock it off:
And I created a lit herb lamp using an old lamp base and plant basket that has been featured on blog and design sites. (Tip: using an energy efficient bulb allows for the heat to send herb fragrance into the room. Don’t burn your house down.):
This Summer, a living wall on the deck is on the agenda. And who know what else. Here’s the starter module for the living wall rooting currently before hanging. I wanted the wall modules to be easily removable for watering and transplanting. And of course because I don’t like permanent anything, just in case.
I’ve started doing tutorials for friends and others, so now as The City Doctor brand is expanding into a little lifestyle dabble, I can share some of my favorite yet easy projects and ideas. What you see here is just a sample! But they will not all end up on Pinterest, for reasons you now know. So I will be sharing with The City Doctor family in other ways, so be on the lookout. Would love for you to share your favorite yet easy projects and ideas with me too!