Three DIYs that will Knock your Socks Off!

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I'm not a DIY queen. Proof of this lies in the array of unfinished projects around our house: wardrobes without knobs, half painted furniture... you get the picture.

I also have a huge pet peeve for weird cheapy looking projects. For examples, see Rue's cardboard sunburst mirror or worse Real Living's plumber candelabra...

But once in a while, a DIY really knocks my socks off. Recently, there was Michelle Armas' amazing sofa transformation. In the past week, not one, but three projects got my socks running for shelter.

1- First off, Bryn's Inspiration boards. Take simple corkboards. Cover and staple them with beautiful linen. Then trim with brass nail heads. Simple, to the point and brilliant!

2- Amber's Cloud Art is the perfect solution to inexpensive art. Take a beautiful photo of the sky (or whatever really...) blow it up nice and big, smack it in an Ikea frame and TA DA!

Doesn't it look amazing? Not to mention the rest of her dining room is stunning...

Interestingly, I saw very similar photos blown up floor to ceiling (4 of them side by side) in an exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (can't remember the artist now...) and to this day it remains one of my favorite works of art!

3- Hayley's Chevron Rug is seriously something. Take a cheap (the price that is, not the quality) Ikea  flat-woven rug. Create a pattern with painter's Scotch tape. Paint in the lines, and you've got a seriously cool rug!!

Who would've thought paint would come out so well on a rug!

If I attempted this, the chevron would be all messed up and unequal and the paint would have run everywhere underneath the tape, I just know it!! But - good on her for making it look so perfectly amazing!

Side note: her pug is just the cutest thing I have seen all year! Beats any animal on Bondi Vet, anyday!