I recently embarked on a creative and eco-friendly journey, transforming used paneling into hauntingly good Halloween decorations.…
DIY
Summer is quickly approaching, and it's time to contemplate how to optimize your outdoor living area. The warmer weather presents abundant opportunities to entertain and unwind outside, such as hosting backyard barbecues or throwing pool parties. …
We built a raised planter box to introduce our son to the responsibilities of tending a garden and enjoying the fruits of his labor.…
Anyone can build this DIY project from a few pallets into a cooler stand that's ready to chill your favorite drinks…
Our family loves road trips. Living in Los Angeles we are blessed with a myriad of day trip options as well as fun weekend trips. But before we embark on any adventure we always check to make sure our…
A raised redwood deck is an easy way to upgrade any outdoor patio.…
Start ripping up your old sofa with these upholstery tools for beginners…
You can build this basic sawhorse table in a couple of hours and have money leftover for a night out on the town.…
Here's how we cut down an old tree in our backyard and used it for firewood. We built a simple firewood rack to keep all of the freshly cut wood secure and accessible.…
This wood planter makes a simple and stylish home for your gorgeous succulents.…
Clean pallets make a great and sustainable building material that can be used to build a DIY shed.…
Succulents look great in these DIY cement planters that set quickly thanks to Quikrete.…
Our new home has a beautiful pool, but the pool shed we inherited is nothing more than a frame and a tin roof to cover the pool filter and non-working heater. After staring at the ugly pool equipment all…
Home security is important to us, which is why we wanted to add another lock in addition to the deadbolt on our front door. We decided to replace the old chain lock with a swing bar lock from National Hardware.…
The tricky thing about gentrification is that you may not notice that that's what you're looking at when potentially buying a home to renovate. …
Don't overlook checking your brake fluid and washer fluid, before your next road trip.…
On Saturday July 30th, I'll be at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Torrance, CA, leading a workshop demonstrating how to build quick and easy sawhorses. …
DIY home security can be an effective deterrent to criminals and thieves.…
Build your own beer caddy for Father's Day or other summer adventures…
Running toilets are a common problem but the solution is simple.…
A tiled floor completely changes the look of a room. You can choose from tiles of endless colors, textures and patterns, and complement them with a grout in the perfect hue.…
Save these decks as inspiration for your own DIY deck build.…
Whether you’re an avid DIYer or just getting started with tackling your own home projects, it doesn’t take long to learn that there will always be that one project that never quite gets completed. …
These folding stools are easy to make and up your style rep by 10…
The best work bench is the one you build yourself.…
Protect your wood projects from water and UV rays with Olympic Elite Advanced Stain+Sealant.…
Vancouver Canada is full of amazing Victorian homes and the city has the do-it-yourself resources to build and maintain these fine works of art.…
Just because a website says adding to existing plumbing is as easy as 1-2-3, doesn't mean really anything without the experience to back it up. Find the best resources for your next DIY project.…
The East Bay is chock full of DIY resources with everything from lumber, awesome hardware stores, educational resources and upcycled home supplies…
Our Delta Faucet is 50 years old but replacing the seats and springs is still an easy fix for a dripping kitchen faucet…
Easy to install and super bright, these LED under cabinet lights are perfect to illuminate those dark spaces.…
Since this isn’t my first time being pregnant amid approximately a million home improvement projects, nor is it the first time that being pregnant necessitated some of those projects, I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned…
There are a lot of plans available for building backyard BBQ grills but this is this is the first do-it-yourself smoker we’ve seen and it’s courtesy of Popular Mechanics. They’ve provided a great step-by-step tutorial that requires a few…
Installing new countertops is an ambitious do-it-yourself project no matter what type of material you choose. These homeowners shared their journey to install stainless steel countertops which look great and are a huge upgrade to their previous formica. They…
We’ve got the perfect woodworking project that you can build in time for your Super Bowl parties. A reader submitted this project and you know he arrives at BYOB parties in style with this DIY beer case he made.…
We are big time fans of Wood & Faulk (we’re really partial with anyone who uses an ampersand in their name) and his camping stool is still one of our all-time favorites. His latest masterpiece is a basic woodworking…
Protective gloves are one of the best investments for a do-it-yourselfer. They not only protect you from cuts and scrapes but also from damage due to chemicals as well as simply keep your hands clean so at the end…
We here at Charles & Hudson are always looking for ways to be as green as possible in our everyday choices, as well as be as economical as possible too. So when it was time to replace our old…
We’ve often talked here at Charles & Hudson about things like universal design, how to DIY with temporary medical conditions (read: pregnancy), and what to do if you’re mid-project and injure yourself. But something we haven’t touched much upon…
This has been an amazing summer for us. We’ve been putting in the miles with media trips across the country and mixing in a jaunt to Paris…for a babymoon. Yes, Laura and I are expecting a boy in September!…
For a long time at our house, we’ve been discussing how to handle our basement floor. Despite being freshly (albeit poorly and incorrectly) painted before we moved in, a combination of bad workmanship, poor color choice, and the wear…
Now that the weather finally has begun to cooperate, we're back at our February project of refinishing our cast-iron and porcelain clawfoot tub. …
We’re quickly approaching hard core wedding/baby shower/graduation/housewarming season, and we have a creative solution to all your gift-giving dilemmas — give the gift of DIY! There are plenty of ways to spread the DIY love, and we have a…
We go through a lot of doormats at our house. Between the weather, outside animals, and the occassional vandal, doormats seem to be something we are always putting on the supplies list. This means we often settle for the…
Looking around at all the design and decor mags in the past few years, we couldn’t help but notice a prevalence of stenciled word art pieces adorning people’s homes. From simple colloquialisms to lyrics of entire Bonnie Tyler songs…
It’s been a little over six months since we introduced the littlest renovator to our crew, and we’ve tackled a couple of pretty large projects with more than just our menagerie of animals underfoot. With two kids under two,…
Watching home improvement or real estate shows with my boyfriend really irks me. He laughs when couples get excited over crown molding in a house. I finally had to ask him why it annoyed him so much – and…
Have you ever found yourself spending countless hours online, scouring the usual and unusual sites looking for that perfect piece of furniture? You know, the one that is the right style, size, and color — only to find it…
When we began this venture, we knew it was a gamble. This is our first turn at refinishing a tub, and we knew we might have to settle for less-than-professional results. This was okay by us, because we love…
If you’re in the process of a renovation, something that’s likely to come up numerous times is the concept of storage. Namely, creating more. Whether you live in a 200-year-old house or a 20-year-old house, more storage always seems…
As you probably already know, we have an unbridled love affair here at Charles & Hudson with spray paint. So imagine our glee when we found this project at ECABonline.com, in which Elizabeth DIYed a vintage, leaded-glass window pane…
We’ve said it once, we’ll say it again: every successful renovation starts with a healthy dose of planning. Whether you prefer the structured approach of a workbook or something a little more free, making sketches and taking notes are…
A hot, steamy shower on a cold morning — it’s one of life’s little pleasures, right? Yet there is a downside to the at-home indulgence. Excess moisture created by the steam can wreak havoc on your bathroom, warping wood…
You have your plans all set for your next DIY project — tools borrowed, paint purchased, time set aside — and tragedy strikes. You hurt yourself, and not in a way that some hydrogen peroxide and a Band-Aid can…
The Internet experience is becoming increasingly mobile, thanks to a proliferation of browser-enabled smart phones and tablets like the iPad. Although Home Depot has had an iPhone and iPad app for some time, the company recently redeveloped the application…
A home’s entryway can be an incredibly flexible space — and depending on your home, the size and shape can vary widely. Yet whether you have a nook or a sizable space, we’ve got some tips and tricks for…
Recently we posted about DIY Dads and their declining numbers. While the article wanted to point out that today’s young men aren’t learning trade and fix-it skills from their dads as much as decades past, I think it’s only…
OK, we know — the iPhone as an actual home improvement tool? It’s a bit of a stretch. But with so many DIY-focused apps on the market, handy devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad can increasingly service…
For most of us, one of the hardest parts of a large-scale renovation is dealing with the mess, confusion and chaos created by the project. Take the kitchen, for example, which is often the center of the home. If…
If you follow along with DIY blog Young House Love, you’ll know that they have decided to move and are selling their home themselves. After three years of renovations, decoration, tweaks, and even adding a baby to the mix,…
The Telegraph raises an interesting point that we continue to hear whispers of each year. Are current 20-30 year olds less capable as do-it-yourselfers than their fathers? One could argue the modern man has many more resources to turn…
ReadyMade Magazine recently announced a big contest called the ReadyMade 100. This ambitious contest is seeking to celebrate the best 100 projects from around the world of DIY. They’re calling on the DIY community to submit their most “functional,…
A DIYer without tools is like an artist without a paintbrush; a writer without a pencil; a blogger without a computer — well, you get my drift. The importance of tools to home improvement projects is undeniable, but the…
We wall want to save big during a renovation and because we feature reader tips, tricks, projects and inspiration as often as possible, it’s no surprise that I love taking a voyeuristic peek into someone else’s home to follow…
Boosting your homes value is important to us all and we all know that DIY projects require a fair amount of planning: budget, specifics, tools, decor, etc. Yet it’s also worthwhile to plan farther out and decide when–or if–you…
Although I’m sure many of us dream of having a huge, open, airy kitchen in which we can cook culinary masterpieces and comfortably seat a small army of friends and family, sometimes the practical–and budgetary–realities say otherwise. When DIY…
I came across a great DIY bathroom project from the brilliant minds at Better Homes and Gardens. Instead of purchasing a new vanity, consider converting an existing dresser into the perfect sink space, complete with plenty of drawers! The…
Sometimes a renovated kitchen doesn’t have to mean breaking down walls and relocating to a different spot in the house. When I spotted this kitchen reno on CasaSugar I thought it was a great example of smart, small changes…
Recently, my husband and I embarked on an epic adventure in our home renovation. We — actually he and a friend, because I’m nine months pregnant and can barely bend at the waist — completely DIY’ed a hardwood floor…
Whenever I am visiting my family at home, my mother has the same complaint about her house: the wood floors. She’d love to refinish them but with an elderly dog, other projects to tackle and a limited budget, it’s…
Contemporary design is hot, no doubt about it. And many modern designs are slim, subtle and sustainable. But when I looked at this award-winning design from Kristin Laass and Norman Ebelt, I began to wonder. Does having a sustainable…
If you’re eager to alter the color of your hardwood floors but prefer a more classic, timeless hue, consider a gentle alteration using two techniques: whitewashing and pickling. Whitewashing, an ideal treatment for pine floors, brightens wood while allowing…
Mosaic tiles are found in many different sizes, materials, colors and textures. In this NYC bathroom, the mosaic used here is a beautiful ocean hued matte stone finish. What impressed me was the notion to keep it SIMPLE, people!…
Installing your own home security system no longer requires the expertise of a skilled technician. You can still invest in a full-featured system from one of the leading home security firms but you now have more choices when it…
Now that summer is officially here, we’ve got 5 projects that anyone can do that will improve your quality of summer living. Build a wooden trellis Install a screened in porch Make a glass ball chandelier…
When my husband and I bought our house, we did so with every intention of getting all HGTV on the place. Despite neither of us having any home renovation experience, we naively looked around and assumed that small repairs…
Buh, bye basic browns! Why stain that old adirondack chair in a basic wood when you can choose from colors like avocado and purple velvet? Olympic exterior stains has added to their wood tones with great colors for the…
It’s amazing how versatile an $8 Ikea lack table can be. I spotted Kyle Freeman’s DIY kitchen island on Apartment Therapy last year and I still think about how clever he is. He used extra strong, double-sided foam adhesive…
I know, I know, I have a thing for putting weird stuff on the ceiling — which is why I was SO EXCITED to see a link pop up in my Twitter stream about someone actually doing what I’d…