When I was in my early 20’s, I fantasized about the idea of volunteering for the Peace Corp. There was something tantalizing about traveling abroad to an area I’ve never been, to a culture I didn’t know, to a landscape that was foreign until it was familiar, with people that were unlike me until we saw our similarities, for an experience that I would never get anywhere else, helping to support a cause that was bigger than me but that my involvement would make a difference. Serena in college, 17 years old, University of Maryland I wondered if I had the guts to participate, especially since I ha ..read more

I love thrifting (otherwise known as what I coined “thrift diving”), so I wrote a Christmas poem for the holiday season! ‘Twas the Night Before Thrifting ‘Twas the night before thrifting, when all through the house Not an outfit needed washing, not even a blouse; The laundry was folded by the dryer with care, In hopes that tomorrow I’ll buy more things to wear; My husband was nestled all snug in our bed, Asleep after accusing that I’m hoarding again; And my boys in their jammies, asleep in a snap, “Finally! I’m free!” I whisper and clap, When out in the garage there arose such a clatter, I s ..read more

How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets White tutorial is sponsored by Beyond Paint. Have you ever found pictures of what your house looked like when you first moved in? I’m talkin’ about the “before-before” pictures. You know the ones: where you gasp and scratch your head because you can’t believe it looked like that. A home goes through so many transformations over the years. I don’t think you ever completely finish decorating it; it’s more like “continuously improving” your home instead: paint colors come and go out of trend; flooring gets ripped out and replaced; and kitchen cabinets are painted whi ..read more

This tutorial on how to put up a gazebo is sponsored by Sunjoy. I’ve always had a “thing” for backyard gazebos, but I never thought I had the space for one. I also didn’t want to put up a gazebo on my patio because I didn’t want it to block the sunlight coming into the windows of my family room. Last year, though, I tried to make my own DIY shade canopy on my patio, thinking that the cloth top could easily be removed to allow for sunlight coming into my family room. It ended up not being quite as easy to remove from the canopy, so it blocked a lot of the sunlight. Plus, the canopy collected ra ..read more

I wish I had an exact number of special people like us that exist in this world.  You know the kind: the ones who can stumble across an ugly, rusty metal cabinet and know (without a doubt) that if you paint metal cabinets (after removing the rust), those babies will serve you for another lifetime in your home, office, or workshop. One of my favorite shows back in the day was Extreme Makeovers where women who have spent a lifetime lamenting over bad skin, crooked teeth, and (what they considered to be) unflattering features.  But with a bit of cosmetic surgery, and yes…..paint, makeup ..read more

Back in October 2019, I got a great idea (insert sarcasm here) that I was going to rip out my old walk-in closet and build a custom walk-in closet. All by myself. That’s right. I had a vision in my head of an amazing, well-organized closet with color-coded clothing and organized piles of clothes by season. And everything had a place of its own. You might be thinking that for me to even come up with that idea in the first place, I must have had some serious confidence in my ability to do so.  (Surely I had the tools. I even had some of the know-how; I’m not a novice with tools, by the ..read more

This project is sponsored by Arrow Fastener. I can’t tell you how proud I am of this DIY candy dispenser that I made for Halloween!! I got this crazy idea in my head that I was going to repurpose a thrifted fish bowl into a DIY candy dispenser. You know how we do here at Thrift Diving: it’s fun to find new uses for things! Actually, the idea was more like, “Hmmm….I think I’m going to make a DIY candy dispenser….” but I really had no idea how I was going to do it. I just figured a fishbowl would work pretty good, although I hadn’t seen it done before. Don’t ask me how in the world I was able to ..read more

I love pink painted furniture. Others detest it with a passion. But for me, the color pink elicits something a femininity inside that I hadn’t discovered until my “tomboy” inner child grew up. As an adult, I can’t get enough pinks, purples, turquoises–“Pass the pastels, please!” Not only have my walls been slathered with shades of pale pinks (my laundry room) and lavender (my bathroom!), but it’s begun to grace the thrifted furniture that I’ve collected since we moved in 12 years ago. Over the last number of years, though, I have come to appreciate and enjoy the look of wood. In fact, painting ..read more

This “How to Paint a File Cabinet” makeover is sponsored by Savers. I love finding a piece of furniture at the thrift store that most people have walked right on by (like this old file cabinet below), unable to see the gem that’s sitting right under their nose.  Maybe it was the rust. Or it could be the dirt and grime that speckled this file cabinet that probably has seen better days, when it used to store important documents, like someone’s Living Will or the Deed to their house.  Perhaps it was the dull, blanched color that blended into the floor, causing it to disappear as if it w ..read more

A DIY roller shade is so much better than curtains for my 16′ x 26′ “she shed.” This space will be used for woodworking, painting furniture, and sitting down to write blog posts and edit YouTube videos.  But since it will likely have “dirty” moments due to projects, I wanted a DIY roller shade for each window that can easily be drawn up and out of the way, to reduce dust collection on the fabric, and to prevent any accidental brush-ups against it, which could get ruined by paint. These pops of color, though….my goodness, it doesn’t get much better than this!! They’re perfect for the space ..read more