DIY Design

Mike: Creativity spews from Jess on a daily basis.

Jess: Really? Who talks like that?

Mike: But sometimes her job, all Excel spreadsheets  and project management, tries to sap up that creativity.

Jess: Please stop.

Mike: So, Jess needs a creative outlet. All the time. She needs projects to work on besides the monotony of invoicing and timelines.

Jess: Not to mention the psychology of managing two dozen twenty-somethings.

Mike: So how do you stay sane?

Jess: I need to use my hands to make something new. I tried those adult coloring books, and they helped for a while. But I needed something more substantial.

Yes, running to the store is much easier than making something yourself. But, most of the time you end up buying crap unless you shell out hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Plus, working on a project and seeing it through to completion means so much more.

Here’s a rundown of some of Jess’s latest creations (with just a little bit of help from Mike). Don’t forget to share any of your favorites on social media with #JMLDIYcrafts and we might feature your post on our site!

Home Décor

Your home is your safe space. When it’s messy and cluttered (like ours is on a regular basis) it can kill your mood. But, when you enter your home and it’s relaxing, it can clear your head.

In this section you’ll find everything from storage tips to the latest door hanging or wreath that Jess has made to making the magnets for our map of America showing the places we’ve been, this section has everything home design-oriented.

In each of these posts, Jess will walk you through what she did, the products she used, and share a couple photos along the way so you can do it yourself or to spark your imagination for your next project.

And, if Mike contributes anything productive, he’ll make an appearance in the article too.

DIY Home Decor Posts

Holiday Decorations

Sure, you can host and cook the meal. But, can you make your house (or one-bedroom apartment in our case) look warm and welcoming?

Decorating our home during the holidays is one of the Jess’s great pleasures. She never seems to run out of ideas on where to put a special touch or what to add to her spring wreath to make it perfect.

Her goal is to combine her finds and her own sense of style and design to create the perfect combination and make our home the perfect mixture of style and holidays.

Recent Posts About Holiday Decorations

Furniture

It seems like in the past, furniture was built to last. The problem is that while many of these pieces had intricate designs that still look great, but the actual pieces of furniture haven’t been taken care of.

Now, that wear and tear shows in the faded stains, chips, and dents.

We’d see these sad pieces on the side of the road, next to the dumpster at our apartment complex, at garage sales and flea markets, silently pleading with us to stop, take another look, and fix them.

We’ve taken everything from end tables, bookcases, and dining room table chairs and saved them from the garbage dump.

Learn the story behind these pieces, how we fixed them, and how they fit into our lives now.

Plus, share images of your reclaimed and repurposed furniture with #JMLDIYdesigns and we might feature you in an upcoming article!S