Tag: DIY

D.I.Why? Making an Ugly Coffee Table Into A Simple Work Of Art

Beautiful Photographs by Sean Gin. Ugly Photographs by Orlando Soria. Dear Old Coffee Table I Got from Emily Years Ago, You taught me a lot of things. Firstly, you taught me that it’s important to take care of things or they’ll turn into garbage. I remember the day years ago when Emily and I looked at each other and were like “What are we going to do with this piece of garbage?” This once-beautiful royal blue lacquer coffee table got scratched after we moved it around in our storage for two years. Which reminds me, I HATE LACQUER. Yes it…

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How To Plant a Succulent Garden Without Making a Giant Mess in Your Apartment

Photographs by Sean Gin Dear Other People Who Live in Urban Apartments, Do you ever feel sad about the fact you have no outdoor space? Like no yard with a hose to water your plants, a space to run around in? That you can’t just go outside and dig your hands in the dirt and feel SO connected to nature just like you did in your forest upbringing? I do. As someone who was raised in a land where I could stick my hand in dirt whenever I felt like it, without the risk of getting a lethal strain of…

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Restoring a Rain-Destroyed Dresser in Three Easy Steps Without Exerting Any Effort at All

Photos by Sean Gin  Dear Diary, I had a wonderful trip to New York a few weeks ago. If you haven’t heard of it, New York is a large metropolitan American city where residents are known to complain about winter for six months out of the year and then flee the city for the entire summer to go to the Hamptons or Fire Island. Anyway, while I was in New York there was a monumental rainstorm in Los Angeles which I named “Rainmageddon.” Rain is a  big deal in Los Angeles. Like as soon as it starts raining cats start…

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What’s Going In My Sunny Bedroom?

Photographs by Sean Gin  Dear You, Do you ever wonder what my bedroom looks like? Me neither! Because I live in it! Well your wondering can stop because my glamourphotographer Sean took some great pics which I will share with you now. My bedding is from West Elm. It’s hard to find something that classic and simple, so I love it. The stripe throw is from NineSpace, the lamps are from the Rose Bowl Flea Market, and the giant cactus is from my childhood. My ex founds these awesome nightstands at Pepe’s Thrift Shop. And then he went away forever….

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D.I.Why? How To Make A Giant Paint-By-Numbers

Photographs by Sean Gin  Dear Reader, Are you curious how I made this giant painting? And then stuck it in my normal-size bedroom? Read the full story on Refinery29! More shots of the finished bedroom next week! Love, Orlando Miss the refinery link before? It’s RIGHT HERE!

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Extreme Makeover: Pinecone Lamp

Dear Smokey The Bear, Do you own any lamps? I bet you don’t. You don’t even have a shirt. But if you did own a lamp I bet you’d want to own a lamp like this awesome pinecone lamp I found recently at American Way Thrift in Burbank: That’s right. I snagged this piece of garbage for $12.99! At first I thought it was the worst thing I’d ever seen. But just like Freddie Prinze Jr in She’s All That, I knew a makeover was possible. I started fantasizing about spraying it matte black and putting a simple drum lampshade…

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D.I.WHY? Mobilando

Dear People Seeking Balance in Your Lives, Does your life feel crazy, imbalanced, and out of control? Do you ponder why work either feels like a pitching machine throwing raw eggs at your face OR a lonely horse standing in a field wondering if anyone is ever going to come and pet him? Like you’re either way too busy or way bored because there’s nothing to do? Well if you’re feeling this way it’s probably because you don’t have a driftwood mobile to stare at. If you did you’d realize that all is right in the world. That there are…

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