Category Archives: DIY

If you’re looking for DIY inspiration, you’ve come to the right place.

Find DIY projects and craft ideas that will make your house a home. With step-by-step projects, tutorials, and how-to’s we’ve got everything you need! And if there’s something we’ve missed, just ask us! We’d love to help.

DIY encompasses all our projects here at Birdz of a Feather. You’ll find home improvements, home decor and crafts, furniture projects, outdoor projects, free pattern & printables and upcycling.

Here are a few of our DIY projects to check out:

Home Improvements

Under home improvements, we’ve got ideas for renovating and storage solutions plus maintenance and repair.

Home Decor and Crafts

Home decor and crafts has projects like fibre crafts (crochet, needle felting, sewing and window treatments) planters and lighting.

Furniture Projects

This is where we show you how we transformed our favourite finds. We’ve also got IKEA hacks and will show you paint techniques, such as how to milk paint for beginners and stencilling projects.

Outdoor Projects

Here you’ll find water features, landscaping ideas and garden decor projects such as trellises and privacy screens.

Upcycling

We like to think we’re making the world a better place one upcycle at a time. After all, good planets are hard to find!

Free Pattern and Printables

All our project patterns are free with your subscription.

Outdoor Privacy Screen – with Junk Find!

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An outdoor privacy screen is sometimes all it takes to keep the peace. You know the proverb: the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!  Well, our house in the burbs has a wooden fence that surrounds it. It’s great that it defines the boundaries, but it’s not so great for privacy. As you can see by the picture below, we have a distracting view of our neighbour’s pool in the back yard. No grass – just a cool, refreshing, inviting pool that we don’t have access to 🙂 As if the sightline isn’t bad enough, noise transference is an issue too. Continue reading →

How to Get Milk Paint to Stick to Anything!

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I always avoid indoor paint projects because of the fumes. Even with low VOC paint, I don’t want to pollute what precious indoor air quality I have in my basement craft studio – especially in the winter months when I can’t even crack a window open. Did you know that there are no VOCs in milk paint? Because it’s truly non-toxic, I get to keep every brain cell so I can keep dreaming up new projects! Continue reading →

Succulent Display from Thrift Store Finds

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I’m on a succulent craze and I just can’t get enough of them! Every time we visit a nursery, the first thing I look for are the succulents. That’s because I don’t need much of a green thumb to keep them alive; they don’t need to be watered as frequently as other indoor plants. Continue reading →

Crackle Paint Finish – Transformed Ikea Cabinet

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Have you ever thought about a crackle paint finish to upcycle an Ikea wall cabinet? Neither have we: this update was a fluke! Hubs and I are supplement users so when our local pharmacy started a twice a year anniversary sale, we wanted to take advantage of the huge price savings. Unfortunately we didn’t have anywhere to store a 6-month supply of supplements until the next sale! Enter Ikea! Continue reading →

Computer Hard Drive Clock

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Ever wonder what to do with old hard drives? Then this is the tutorial for you! I got the idea for this computer hard drive clock from my niece. She used to make and sell these clocks for spare pocket change. Since her father (my brother) owns a computer repair shop,  there are always dead hard drives around ripe for the picking.

My wife’s first computer was a PC with a whopping 40 MB hard drive (I’m a Mac guy myself). I have to laugh at that now because these days storage devices can hold many thousands of times more memory – and we can easily fill a 3GB hard drive in just over a year with all our blog photos!

We took her old computer apart for this a one-of-a-kind computer hard drive clock. Continue reading →

How to Install a Ledger Board: Tile a Wall (Pt 1)

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A ledger board is a must-have step for supporting the weight of the tile as it dries when starting with a clean slate (no lower cabinets). If you’re as indecisive as us and you want to move ahead with tiling a backsplash, keep this post handy. We’re going to explain how to install a ledger board to keep wall tile level when installing. Our updated how-to guide for tiling a patterned backsplash will follow here tomorrow!

Continue reading →

Milk Paint for Beginners – Paint a Shelf!

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Today we’re got a tutorial on how to milk paint for beginners. Are you more eco-conscious than you used to be when it comes to paint? So are we! Many manufacturers are touting products that are made to be low in VOCs (volatile organic compounds), but did you know that there’s an ancient product still in use today that’s been low VOC all along? It’s good old fashioned milk paint!  Continue reading →

Level a Basement Floor with Levelrock

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A level basement floor rose to the top of the priority list many years ago when we applied to be on one of those home reno shows. They chose to renovate our basement! – or so we thought. In the planning stages of the reno, the show’s contractor discovered that the slope of our basement floor was too steep to build on. The floor was inconsistent and out of level by over half a foot in some areas! There wouldn’t be enough time in the production schedule to fix it properly so they were going to have to take a pass on us. Continue reading →

Engineered Hardwood vs. Hardwood – Shopping (Pt. 1)

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Some people are confused about engineered hardwood vs. hardwood. Are you thinking about installing flooring? Whether it’s below grade or above, an engineered wood floating floor is the way to go. Especially so if you’re planning on installing it over a concrete slab, like in a basement.

Nothing adds beauty and warmth to a home like hardwood. In this first of our series on how we installed engineered hardwood flooring in our basement, we’re exploring how to shop for it. We wondered if engineered hardwood would be as good as solid wood and were surprised to learn that neither one is better. Only by weighing the pros and cons of each can you determine which one is a better fit for your own situation. Continue reading →