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Project DIY: Painting my way to a carport refresh
We love a good DIY project! Not only is it fun to give new life to old things, it is a great way to keep items out of the landfill. Part of a sustainability mindset is finding ways to use what we already have and therefore purchase less. The DIY Project: My tired carport! Why I Love It I live in an older house that my husband and I (with much help from friends and family!) have renovated as over the past 8 years or so. The big things are done but there are a few smaller, though impactful, projects remaining and the carport is one of the items on…
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Words of Affirmation Gift that will Cost you Pennies!
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I’m focusing on making presents for Christmas this year. Making gifts can be a great way to reduce waste and also a great way to reduce spending. I also mentioned that I like to gift experiences and am trying to combine the idea of an experience with a homemade gift. As someone who appreciates kind words, I came up with an idea of a homemade “Daily Affirmations” jar. It is a perfect, low-cost Words of Affirmation gift for a loved one. Love Languages and Words of Affirmation While I don’t believe the idea of five love languages is perfect, it is a…
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How to Make Sustainable Lanterns from Upcycled Materials
Last month, my friend and I attended a local lantern festival called the Still Moon Arts Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival. In the lead up to the event we were inspired to create our own lanterns to take with us. I wanted a more sustainable lantern project, so looked around my house for items I could upcycle into a lantern. I was really happy with how they turned out, so wanted to share how to make my sustainable lanterns from upcycled materials. An added bonus is these sustainable lanterns are really easy to make! How to Make your DIY Sustainable Lanterns It may look like a number of steps, but they…
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Refinished Dresser: Going from Neon to Nice
I was looking for hardwood flooring on Craigslist when IÂ came across a solid wood dresser that reminded me of my childhood furniture set for a bargain of $20… Needless to say we went to pick up the dresser when we picked up the flooring! Unfortunately this dresser was the colour of a traffic cone and looked as if it was likely to have several layers of paint to be scraped to get to bare wood, but the deal was so good I had to try. Sadly I forgot to take a before picture, but you get the idea. Supplies list Paint stripper Sander and sand paper Scraper Paint Linseed oil Drawer slides Handles/knobs I’d…
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Project DIY: The Charcoal Chalkboard
The DIY Project: Turning a Dresser Mirror into a Chalkboard This is a throwback to one of the first projects Krista and I tackled together. We got ambitious for this project and decided to completely transform a piece of furniture. We took this old dresser mirror and made it into a chalkboard! Our working together actually started with furniture DIY projects, including this mirror turned chalkboard and this vintage table we transformed. Why I Love It We loved that this piece was solid wood and had a good structure. We also enjoyed the fun shape to the mirror and were immediately inspired by it. The Plan We decided to remove…
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Sustainable Christmas Ideas to Inspire you this Year
We love reading content by other bloggers, so wanted to share some of the sustainable Christmas inspiration we’ve been seeing online. From a sustainable Christmas mindset to choosing sustainable Christmas gifts, we have some of our favourite new and old posts from some blogging friends. Sustainable Christmas Mindset With a big topic like “Sustainable Christmas” it’s good to dial in and figure out what that means. We shared last year about how we wanted to approach the holidays in our post What We Are Taking Time for This Christmas. Here are a couple more posts to help you think about how you’d like to approach Christmas. 5 Ways to be…
