Do It Yourself | Offbeat Home

This is Offbeat Home's archive of Do It Yourself posts.

How-tos, photos and topics of DIY discussion.

Most Recent Posts About Do It Yourself

Rugs can transform a mediocre space into something more special but it's not always easy to find one you love on a tight budget. While nothing can compare to that rug you've been saving up for, this DIY is a great option for areas that need a little pick me up such as a studio, a guest room, or your front porch.

I hate ironing. Don't we all? I've avoided buying everyday clothes that have to be ironed because, ultimately, they end up at the back of the closet. It's also tough when you're used to apartment dwelling without enough space for a full sized ironing board. A few years back I bought an upright steamer which made the situation a little easier to manage. However, with frequent sputtering, I think the life of my steamer is coming to an end. So I needed a new solution. I immediately though of making a new ironing board. I could control the size and had a lot of the materials on hand already.

First things first, I needed slab of wood.

One thing really makes a place look lived-in, and that's hanging art on the wall. It takes a commitment to put a nail into plaster to hang a picture, and seeing art you've committed to hanging immediately makes you feel in control of your space.

While you're waiting for art you love to come along, you can liven up a room with your own art — or your family's! Round up the necessities, and I'll meet you in the driveway for a seriously easy step-by-step guide to making art for your home you'll be proud of.

My husband and I are getting ready to move into a smaller space with our son — right now we're renting a house, but are going back to an apartment soon. This is all part of a bigger plan to downsize our living space and therefore our possessions, and it's one that we're really excited about.

This was our first garage sale, and we were NOT prepared for the singular anxiety and crazy-making that comes hosting a yard sale. Luckily, we pulled it off, and here's how.

You have to practice spray painting. This came as a surprise to me, my sophomore year of college, my first year of art school, when I was trying to spray paint my Piet Mondrian-inspired birdhouse for Intro to 3D Design on the sidewalk outside my dorm during a very cold March. I guess I thought spray paint was magic — that it automated the process of painting — but I found out that wasn't true, and that I didn't know how to use spray paint at all.

Many projects later, I am a master spraypainter. I paint coatracks and shoes and art work and bones, and I really think this is one of the most valuable DIY skills I have. Being able to finish up a spray paint job with no drips or ripples can make the difference between a ruined project and one I LOVE. Having a good grasp of this skill means anything in my house can be ANY EFFING COLOR I WANT.

Let me teach you the right way to use a can of spray paint.

Setting up a wired LAN in your house is somewhat unusual, because most people do just fine with a wireless connection. But it does offer some distinct advantages over an exclusively wireless network, like faster speeds, lower latency, and better reliability. If you're a hardcore enough nerd, this might be your next home project.

Hands up: how many Homies have a cadre of Christmas lights boxed up somewhere? Sounds like you have some project ideas to brainstorm this weekend — especially if you're living in a dorm. These projects SCREAM "battling bland."

The laundry room has been a sticking point as we put together out house. I don’t have a true “before” picture for you because it was such a cramped, cluttered nightmare that no one would want to see it anyway.

No, really.

U to the G-L-Y.

BUT NOW, thanks to a polka dot stencil and some turquoise paint, my much-prettier washer and dryer are leading the way in laundry beautification.