DIY Projects Revisited + Updates

Over the past 3 1/2 years of blogging I have conquered numerous DIY projects here on Modish & Main. Some of them have moved house to house with us while others will remain a permanent fixture here in our current home. I thought I would go back and share with you some of my favorite projects and how they are holding up today.

Let’s start with one of my all-time favorites, the DIY toboggan bench. As crazy as the idea seemed to be when buying a toboggan from a SoCal flea market, the end result will forever stay with me. I’m crazy obsessed with this bench and the story behind how it came to be (read the original blog post)!

It was a touch too big for the end of our Queen size bed in our old townhome, but the look and functionality was there.

Now when it’s placed up again the foot of our King size bed, it’s absolutely perfect. At night it holds our excess pillows from lying on the ground and during the day I’ll use to fold laundry or put on my shoes. It’s one-of-a-kind and all mine!

This next DIY project probably serves the most functionality out of all of them! When I was trying to come up with a solution for my vast collection of fashion jewelry, I knew I needed something that would allow me to see it all at a glance. Hence, the concept behind my DIY shiplap jewelry wall was born!

Over a year later it still is the most used DIY project to date. Nothing much has changed on it except maybe some new pieces of jewelry!

Don’t forget, this DIY project included making your own kraft paper earring display cards too! I haven’t had to make any new ones because I’ve stuck to a good rule that if I bring in a new pair then an old, less used pair needs to go. It’s been a pretty good system so far!

Let’s move downstairs to the most used room in the whole house, my home office. There have been quite a few DIY projects in this one room and I still love every single one of them almost 2 years later. First and foremost, we must start with my DIY butcher block desk.

This is how my office looked just a few months after moving in. I was still figuring things out, but now I think I’ve got it!

I tell you what, this desk has held up tremendously over the wear and tear I put it through on a daily basis. I have multiple devices working on it at one time, I might be eating my lunch off to another side and I always have my piles of notepads and planners. If you’re wanting to keep the wood grain perfect, I would make sure that you apply a butcher block oil every 8-10 months and invest in a set of coasters and maybe even a placemat if you plan on eating at your desk! I’ve given my desk quite a bit of character over the past 2 years but as my motto goes, “it’s perfectly imperfect.”

Speaking of those gorgeous DIY industrial wood shelves back there, that is another one of my projects that has served up a ton of functionality in my home office! The decor may have changed a bit, but the M&M still stands proud and we’ve only had one minor issue over the years.

The only problem we encountered is the one day I came into my office and I noticed that one of the shelves was heavily slanted. Thank goodness I noticed it when I did because one of the brackets had pulled away from the wall and it was literally moments away from crashing down (which would have been on my head). What happened is that one of those screws didn’t hit a stud and was only in the drywall. That’s a big no-no when it comes to using this metal pipe flanges. They are heavy in general and then you are adding the weight of the wood + decor, it needs to be in a stud. It was a simple fix and we’ve had no problems since.

An office project that was fun to make but didn’t make the cut when moving into our new house was this DIY magnetic bulletin board. It was such a functional piece to put in a home office for clipping any coupons, inspirational images, to-do lists, etc. Unfortunately the whole white and gold look just didn’t go with the industrial, rustic decor I was aiming for in the new office. Man, it’s been awhile since I looked at these pictures and I really loved this bulletin board! Maybe I should have repurposed it to the garage wall or something instead of tossing it. Whoops!

We are out of the office and into the kitchen for one of our most eye-catching DIY projects that we did in the new house. Our stainless steel mosaic tile backsplash is certainly unique in its own right and it works so well with the overall decor of our home. I will not sugarcoat it and tell you it was easy to do. It wasn’t. It was a labor intensive project for 17 hours straight! I hated the grouting process so much that I have yet to start on another one of our future backsplash projects because of it. The results are well worth it though!