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Room of the Day: Beam Me Up, Scotty.

Yes. I’m a “Trekkie“, and am not ashamed to admit it. I’m also a design nerd that can appreciate the “out of this world” attention to detail in today’s “Room of the Day”. With warm, dark wood vaulted ceilings and a juxtaposed (and exposed) array of beams that both mimic and echo the arch of the transom windows, it’s no wonder we miss the classic French doors at first glance. Clearly, this is not a room of the future, but certainly its arches are analogous to the architecture of the ‘Enterprise’ bridge (see below). All in all, this space is all about looking up to these beautiful beams…now do you get it, Scotty?

Top photo: interiorstyledesign.tumblr.com, bottom photo: mike-jess.com

Rad RepurPoshing: Home-Made Posh Pallet Coffee Table

Inspired by last week’s post “Extremely Palatable Pallets“, DiggersList friend and user Bridget Johnson took on this DIY challenge and ended up making her own version of a posh pallet table inside her own garage. Armed with a hammer, electric hand sander, paint, and a can of wood wax (she uses Briwax), the result is this wonderfully hand-made coffee table full of character and “Yeah-I-did-it-myself!”satisfaction.

Step 1: Bridget found these pallets from behind stores where they are often in trash bins. Other places you can find pallets are at box stores, grocery stores, and/or warehouse clubs. Note: She always asks if this is okay if someone is around, which we also recommend when “dumpster diving” for skids.

Step 2: Next she extracted the nails to separate the boards. A light sanding took off the rough edges to prepare it for the artfully placed paint.

Step 3: Using the original frame of the pallet, Bridget re-constructed the table by hammering each loose board back into place using the nails she had just pulled out.

Step 4: She then screwed in short table legs into the underneath corners of the pallet frame.

Step 5: Bridget made sure to paint only select boards and lightly on the legs, then slightly sanded these areas to create an aged and fun “industrial” look.

Step 6: The waxing finished off the wood in a way that brought out the natural grain color and left it very smooth and nice to the touch. Tip: If any of the board pieces have old printing, leave them exposed as a way to show-off its original purpose and history.Thanks Bridget for a fantastically “repurPoshed” project! If you have any photos of what you’ve repurposed, please send them to: skaie@diggerslist.com. We’d love to show them off!!! All photos courtesy of Bridget Johnson.

Vintage Digs: Time-Honoring Home Decor Curios

If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between vintage and antique, here’s the low-down: antiques are typically 100 years or older, whereas vintage items can be from virtually any decade, usually depicting a specific style from a specific era (i.e. a mid-century sofa, or even those 80’s fabric-covered wraparound couches). Though there have been some serious design “misses” through the years, and aside from the larger furniture pieces, there are those home goods nick-knacks our parents bought, that still give us the “warm fuzzies”. There should always be a little of that goodness when decorating our homes, so today I’m introducing a new feature called “Vintage Digs”, with some fun decor ideas to pique your curio-curiosity.

For all you shutter-bugs, pay homage to yourself with this vintage "Brownie" camera. It would look fabulous on a bookshelf or desk. Photo: thehoosiercollector, etsy.com

Really reaching back to the kid in you, this wonderful wooden "Bearbear" will have you longing for your blankie. Place on a side-table, bookshelf or in your child's room to bring it full-circle. Photo: thenewdomestic.com

Vintage books and animal prints warm any nook or cranny of your home. Photo: Skaie Knox

Perfect for those high above the cabinet spaces in your kitchen, these fun, nostalgic wooden boxes are great conversation pieces. Photo: hudsongoodsblog.com

Though these vintage kitchen tools may still be workable, they also look fantastic displayed on a shelf, inside a glass cabinet, or even hung on the wall. Photo: countryliving.com

Display some architectural history with these large sign letters. Great on a mantel, on the floor next to a fire place (but not too close!), in an office, or hung in a grouping of photos. Choose your family's initials for a personal touch. Photo: Raul Candales, fotofranch.com

Candle sticks and bowls your grandparents may have used, add a touch of class and time-honoring elegance to any table. Fill with flowers and lighted candles to bring them new life. Photo: cappyhotchkiss.com

Design Candy: Luscious Laundry Rooms

When I was 11 years old, my mom and two brothers and I moved to a small but budding town in south Orange County, and into what I viewed was a palace of a home. It wasn’t the big backyard, the four sizable bedrooms, or the long stairway that lead up to “my” very first second-story. Nope. It was the fact that we finally had a bonafide laundry room!

I’m not quite sure why I went so ga-ga over such a utilitarian space…well, that is until now. I must have imagined its potential, like these beauties below. See how they might actually make this weekly, and for some, daily chore much, more pleasant. With just a little paint, wall decor, accessories and “electronic bling”, you, too can feel the lush-joy of this small area in your home. Hey mom, is it wash day yet?

{Watermelon Washroom}: Since this is usually an area of your home where guests don’t see, go all out with color. Photo: hgtv.com

{Soap & Soaps}: Don’t miss your favorite soap operas…install a wall-mounted tv to wash and watch away! Photo: houzz.com

{Sparkle Laundromat}: Who wouldn’t feel like a queen (or king) in this room? Details like the chandy, zebra-striped rug, and colorful paint ‘n tile make washing something quite regal. Photo: Elizabeth Edwards via pinterest.com

{Dog Wash, too}: Keeping it smart and multi-functional, this custom add-on wash room washes more than clothes. With a dog bath, and hand-held sprayer, Fido can do the “rinse cycle”, too. Photo: Smith & Vansant Architects PC via houzz.com

{Chrom-o-mat}: Talk about clean and keeping clean…with chrome backsplash and stainless steel cabinets and accents, this sleek and sanitary station will keep your laundering looking spiffy. Photo: sarahrichardsondesign.com

{Suds & Stripes}: Cream and mint painted stripes create a vintage-looking laundry room, which is then “moderned-up” with this cool graphic ironing board cover and matching baskets. Photo: Casa Greer via houzz.com

DIY Project: Cute Jute Basket Weaving

2012 is well underway, and with many of us holed up due to snow or rain storms, this DIY project may just be the thing to motivate us away from our Xboxes and remotes. Below is a fun and fantastic “how-to” that shows us an uber-easy way to create cute storage, and organize our homes for a clean and clear new year.  Mai-Brit from This Full Life gives us the unbeweavably simple steps to make a laundry basket go from plastic to fantastic!

Here’s what you’ll need:


  • Laundry basket-Make sure to select a laundry basket that has wide enough spaces to accommodate the strapping. (Target has rectangle and round baskets for $4.99 and $3.99 respectively)

    Red, black, or purple stitched jute webbing is also available. Photo and to purchase: dididothat, etsy.com

  • Jute strapping-For each basket you will need approximately 4 yards of strapping.
  • Scissors
  • Glue gun

Note: If you want to get really creative, spray paint the basket a decorative color, or go with the existing white.

All photos and to read complete “how-to” instructions, visit: thisfulllife.com

Around the Blog World: Underground Pop-Up Garage

James Bond would be the perfect client for Cardok, a London-based company who clearly caters to the affluent. Powered by hydraulics and controlled via key fob, this lavish lift solves the challenges of space, access, and security, if you’re willing to dole out the dough. Costing a mere $61,181 for the single vehicle version and upwards of $72,816 for the “multi-model”, with lower floor, in-house access available, you’ll have the best housed cars on the block. Makes ya wanna just “pop-up”, doesn’t it?

Top two photos: cardok.co.uk, Thumbnail photo: Evening Standard via cardok.co.uk

Design Candy: Extremely Palatable Pallets

The first thought that comes to mind when I hear the word ‘pallet’ is the vision of crudely constructed frames of plywood usually piled up in some dark and crowded warehouse with a forklift at the ready. Not necessarily the most sexy or “designy” of all things to visualize. Well, what’s so absolutely apparent in the world of home decor is the fact that we should never take any item for granted, especially when it comes to the trend, turned design style to stay, of repurposing. These examples below illustrate how, with an open DIY mind, efficient use of our right-brain hemisphere (for the most part, the creative side), and a stack of stackable skids, even those with the most sophisticated of palates will be impressed.

{Dining Table}

{Chandelier}

{Kitchen Island}

{Wall Decor}

{Wine Bar}

Rad Repurposing: Smart Card Catalog Coffee Table

Irony may be en vogue with hipsters these days, but we also see its presence in home decor, like this fantastically repurposed library catalog coffee table. Though, the internet played the “video-killed-the-radio-star”card and essentially turned the Dewey Decimal System into an archaic archiving mode, today’s project shared on the same “World Wide Web” turns the tables and thus, brings these cute catalogs back to life. Pin-legs and a mirrored top is all it took to graduate this piece from unsatisfactory to outstanding.

Design Tip: Use these apothecary-type drawers as storage for dice, pens and pencils, remotes, and many other items you wish to have on hand. Extra bonus: a labeling system is built right in! Smart!

Thumbnail photo: goshenpl.lib.in.us, above photos: stylebyemilyhenderson.com

Room of the Day: Bathe Under the Sea In A Yellow Sub Tub

Eccentricity can often wield a crafty sword, and today’s “Room of the Day” certainly swings with creative power in a big way. Inside the home called “Gaudi’s Beach House“, with thousands upon thousands of tiles laid floor to ceiling, a virtual underwater coral garden comes alive inside this bathroom with the help of  several artist who undoubtedly have a thing for the Beatles. From several tantalizingly stained glass portholes to a “Yellow Submarine” painted clawfoot tub, underwater telescope, sea and plantlife mosaic detailing, including a giant orange and red octopus, there is no stone unturned when it comes to this “‘Fab 5′-under-the-ocean-blue” loo. Love, love me do!

All photos: Anthony Lindsey, via jainabee.com

Bringing the Outside In: How to Incorporate Nature Into Your Home

For the many of us who love nature, we can sometimes feel a bit down in the winter months when the trees are bare. However, through interior decor, we can have access to the outdoors all year ’round. Here are some easy ways you can bring a bit of flora and fauna and all their wonderful colors and textures into your home.

Get Literal

More and more, people are finding ways to bring garden life to rather out of the ordinary places. Patrick Blanc has created gorgeous green walls that cascade like waterfalls onto the outside of homes around the world (pictured above), and the green ottoman featured in a previous DiggersList post, brings a plot of grass into the home. While these are rather extreme ways to integrate greenery into design, they may inspire you to convert that area in front of your kitchen sink into a little, indoor flowerbed, or by installing Italian-inspired plant-holders onto your windowsills.

Let Wrought Iron Do the Work For You

Because artisans often create nature-inspired designs using wrought iron, like this hanging chandelier with the beautiful shape and lines of tree branches and viny vines, you can introduce “earthy” touches into your home through furnishings and finishes such as winding bed frames, tables, swirling lamps, and bathroom vanities.

Nature in Fabric

Find nature or natural scenes in tapestry or fabric. This baroque footstool dons a squirrel that somehow blends with the rest of the design, remaining wonderfully inconspicuous.

All in all, it’s a cinch to place a bit of “Mother Nature” into your home. By integrating plant-life, naturally shaped materials, and fabrics with what’s-out-your-window patterns and colors, you’ll be sure to bring the outside in. No fool’n.

Lisa is a guest blogger, interior designer, and art historian from Texas. When she’s not writing or designing, she loves to browse the real estate scene, focusing primarily on Austin homes for sale. All photos: Charlotte Mark, Blog Content Guild.