June 4, 2012

✥ Reader Feature: 3 DIY Projects {That Won't Disappoint!} ✥

My email to Shannon inviting her to share her home today read a little something like this, 
"Shannon- is there any way in the whole wide world that you would be willing to share your super duper amazing projects with my readers so that we could all swoon simultaneously at your ridiculously awesome home and crazy talented selves?- um please?"
 Fortunately for all us regular folk she was able to work this into her schedule- {thanks, Shannon!}

Shannon and Dean have a cute DIY blog where they document projects and updates on their little bungalow- check out their home tour- you won't be disappointed! I asked her to share three projects from the main room in her home- although I had tons of amazing DIY projects I could have chosen from!
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In case you don't know us, we're Dean & Shannon Acheson and we're the Canadian couple behind the blog, aka design. We love to share our thrifty design finds, organization ideas and affordable DIY projects. When dear sweet Becca asked me to share a few of our projects with you, I happily said yes! The tricky part was timing - we're both so busy! But here we finally are to bring you highlights from a few of our DIY projects.


Union Jack Coffee Table


Our coffee table has been made over twice now ñ the first makeover was painting it and adding the beadboard. You can read about that here.  Would you believe it used to look like this!?!




A bit of a change, no?

Anyway our super handy dandy storage coffee table holds all of sorts of things, which is why we redid it rather than replace it. I prefer to leave the top clear so the kids play board games whenever they like, but found that it looked odd that way before. Now, with the addition of the Union Jack, it looks just fine au natural! (Excuse the winter decor - we tackled this project in January!)




For the full Union Jack Coffee Table how-to, go here.


Restoration Hardware Inspired Shelves




I have to say writing this particular DIY was a little tricky.

Normally our project process works like this: I come up with an idea, draw a rough sketch or show Dean some concept pics; Dean draws a plan and gets to work building; I finish up with paint and styling; and then I write the DIY. The glitch with this project was that Dean built the shelves mostly at work because of the winter weather. So I didn't see how he did it. Which means I didn't know how to write the tutorial. Anyway, we finally sat down together long enough to come up with some instructions. Yay!

Want to know the BEST part? The price of ours vs. the price of the Restoration Hardware shelves:
 

For the full Restoration Hardware Inspired Shelves how-to, go here.


 Rustic Farmhouse Table



This project totally made us want to say "Never Again."

Just kidding.

Sort of.

Let's just say refinishing a dining room table and chairs IN the dining room is a tricky thing! (We donít have a basement or a garage).

Our old pine dining room set was purchased eight years ago from IDOMO in Toronto. At the time it barely fit into our apartment & it had to go up against the wall on one side. When we purchased our townhouse, the set fit into the dining room with just barely enough space to walk around it when the chairs were pushed in.

Fast forward to this house and our dining room is about half of the 300 square foot addition (which also includes our living room), which means it was time to get a bigger set or DIY something with the old one.

And that brings us to this beautiful hunk of handsome that we scored for free!



Our plan was to remove the wood boards from the pallet, build a really large tabletop and reuse the legs from our old table as well as reusing the chairs from the old set.



For the rest of the Rustic Farmhouse Table how-to, go here. 

Thank you, Becca, for having us!

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They are so talented, huh? I love how Shannon comes up with these awesome ideas- then Dean has the know-how to make'em happen. Of course their knock offs will forever be close to my heart! ;-) I wish I had the skillz to make those shelves- maybe one day....
 Here you can see their dining portion of their living/dining room combo- I just die for the stenciled wall on the back. I think I need one in my bedroom! Of course we love the dining table- but check out the hutch! It was a super incredible makeover- check out this post for the details!
 I am ready to move right into Dean and Shannon's master bedroom. I think their headboard is slightly famous in Blogland- and for good reason! I've seen a lot like this- but there's is absolutely perfect!!

There are so many beautiful spaces in their home- not to mention a zillion great DIY projects! I hope you guys will stop by and show them some love!