I Did It

SOLVE IT DIG IN TRY THIS TAKE A TOUR We love do-it-yourself projects. It’s inspiring and empowering to see the creative and stylish solutions homeowners come up with for everyday decorating and organizing problems. That’s what this magazine is all about. We share real problems and real solutions from homeowners around the country. Many are favorites from Better Homes and Gardens® popular “I Did It” column. To make it easy to use these DIY ideas in your own home, we’ve divided the issue into five chapters. Each has the same four sections: Solve It—Find solutions for common home pain points. Dig In—Discover simple makeovers in this workbook. Try This—Get detailed project how-to instructions. Take a Tour—Meet homeowners who pulled a look together throughout their home. Turn inspiration into action and…

PROBLEM Danielle Driscoll was missing a play surface where her two fun-loving boys could build things and draw without having to worry about marker damage. SOLUTION She transformed a $5 garage sale coffee table into a right-height drawing table for her sons with a bright coat of paint and a chalkboard paint top. MEET DANIELLE There’s not much that Danielle Driscoll won’t paint— except the dark wood trim in the 1927 Dutch Colonial home in Massachusetts that she shares with her husband, Luke, and two sons. She’s passionate about reimagining old furniture with paint, and she blogs about her creations at Finding Silver Pennies. “When I see a piece of furniture that’s sad and no one wants it, I know it can be so much more than it is,” Danielle…

PROBLEM Emily Clark’s high-traffic entry was a snooze. It needed to serve as a music room yet still make a strong first impression. SOLUTION Emily taped off lines on a boring entry wall and filled in with black paint to create dramatic stripes. To further dress up the large expanse of wall, Emily sprayed inexpensive frames from a crafts store with metallic gold paint, filling them with custom-cut mats from eBay and botanical prints pulled from a coffee table book. The piano is tucked beneath the art, capped with lamps and decorative jars and flanked by storage ottomans to mimic the look of a traditional console table while providing a functional place to practice music. MEET EMILY You’d never guess that much of the Charlotte home that Emily and Keith…

PROBLEM Blank nursery walls left Erin Mufford uninspired when cradling her daughter, Kenley, in her Waterport, New York, home. SOLUTION Erin brought on the smiles with a whimsical wall treatment created using raindrop shapes cut from colored sheets of adhesive vinyl. A Cricut electronic cutter made quick work of crafting 187 droplets, but old-fashioned scissors could also do the trick. No need to measure or stress about math—Erin just firmly stuck up the cutouts. MEET ERIN Former English teacher, now stay-at-home mom, Erin Mufford has learned that a little imperfection only makes a room more charming. “Even though I didn’t measure anything before I started putting the raindrops on the wall, somehow it still worked out,” Erin says. “There’s something rewarding about taking a risk and being bold.”…

PROBLEM Charlotte Smith lacked drawer space for stashing entertaining supplies in an organized fashion. SOLUTION Charlotte converted a metal office cabinet into dining room storage for napkins and silverware by painting it with a paint card’s worth of purple hues. The pièce de résistance: an elegant homemade wood base, stained dark, that gives the piece a style boost. The ombré effect on the drawer fronts was created using three shades of Chalk Paint decorative paint by Annie Sloan—Henrietta and Emile mixed with Old White as needed. The paint was applied directly to the metal, no priming required. MEET CHARLOTTE Fun, frugal, repurposed, and eclectic—that’s how Charlotte Smith describes her decorating style. She’s spent the past few years getting used to living in the suburbs after previously calling New York City…

MEET CASSIE Cassie Freeman wanted cute rooms for her husband, John, and kids, Jackson and Sloan, to call home, but she prefers spending money on travel rather than home decor. So she started making over her home one room at a time on a tight budget. She blogs about her projects—and more—at Hi Sugarplum! GET THE LOOK! Outline a bare mirror—think boring builder bath—or create your own custom frame with pre-taped frames that simply press onto a wall. Available in dozens of styles, starting at $104 ; mirrormate.com HANG CURTAINS ABOVE WINDOW FRAMES TO AMPLIFY A CEILING’S HEIGHT. THE PALETTE CEILING SHOW STOPPER SHERWIN-WILLIAMS.COM WALLS VERBENA SHERWIN-WILLIAMS.COM ACCENT INDIGO SHERWIN-WILLIAMS.COM MAKE GRANNY’S CHAIR HIP AGAIN BY WRAPPING UGLY CUSHIONS IN NEW FABRIC. HOW TO PAINT BRICK 1 To ensure paint…