Home — home — Homebody DIY

This is our first apartment with a dining room, or as some call it a “bonus room.” This room flows perfectly off the living room and is big enough to fit a table as well as some other fun things. I knew moving in here that the space was going to have to be multi- functional and serve more than just the purpose of dining. Not only did I want each of us to have a space for our activities, but also I needed a home work space. Our dining room quickly turned into the place we eat, play and work!

DIY, Life, HomeCarissa MelilloJune 25, 2020decor, home decor, dining room, dining, space

Wooden Sofa Sleeve With Remote and Glasses Holder

I loved how this turned out so much that I actually made one of my own house and one for my parents house! It was just so simple and easy and now I want to make one for literally everyone that I know.

DIY, HomeCarissa MelilloJune 19, 2020woodworking, wood, tv, tvsleeve, sofa, sofasleeve, snacks, remote, glasses, fahter, dad, fathers day

DIY Clay Rainbow Door Stopper

researched plenty of door stoppers but I really did not like any of them. Most of them reminded me of being at school or in a gymnasium. I wanted to make something that could act as a doorstop by day but then turn into a decorative item at night (though I don’t want it to hang on the door). Right now I have an oversized pom pom that is doing the trick but I wanted something more long term so here we go to make one out of clay! It is super simple and so fun but just keep in mind that it is a multi day project!

DIY, HomeCarissa MelilloJune 18, 2020DIY, diy, clay, sculpture, doorstopper

A Living Room Worth Living In

n this apartment, this is the first time that we have a separate living space and bedroom space, which has been something new and fun to navigate for us, especially because now there is no bed in our living room and vice versa. The fact that we also moved during a pandemic and quarantine, meant that we were going to be spending A LOT of time at home and we wanted to make this living room space the most comfortable and inviting.

DIY, Life, HomeCarissa MelilloJune 10, 2020living room, decor, home decor, prints, art, color, music, records

DIY Nightstands

The best part of this night stand is actually how easy it is to build. The build took a quarter of the time that it took to prep the wood, so keep in mind that if you want to keep the wood raw, this table will literally take you no time. Also good to know, you need no power tools because you can get all the wood cut at your local Home Depot and you can use sandpaper to hand sand but you also could get a power sander for forty dollars. Let’s get this show on the road!

DIY, Life, HomeCarissa MelilloMay 31, 2020building, tables, woodworking, wood, DIY, nightstand, nightstands

Making Shelves

I have been pretty open about my experience with buying furniture during this pandemic. It has been basically non- existent, but I am not upset about it. This whole situation has allowed me to be able to really lean into the love that I have to make and build furniture and also build up my collection of tools! Currently have a power sander and a saw. Hopeful to get a jigsaw soon as well. With all of this in mind, getting furniture for a new home has been quite difficult, so I decided to build it myself. I started with some shelves, the original plan was to have two shelves, but the wood I used was a little thin so I needed to layer the shelves to make it be the thickness that I actually needed.

DIY, Life, HomeCarissa MelilloMay 19, 2020shelves, DIY, woodworking, wood, shelf

Organized Art Supply Storage

When you make as much art and as many crafts as I do, having a perfectly organized art supply storage is a must. To be honest, there is truly nothing worse than looking for supplies and not being able to find them. Also, a pet peeve of mine is not having easy access to all materials. In our last apartment, my supplies were in a long hallway and though there was plenty of space, there was just truly not enough for what I needed and I could not access it all.

DIY, Life, HomeCarissa MelilloMay 18, 2020DIY, Home, storage, art, artmaking, supplies, supply, artsupply, building, furniture

Organizing A Pantry

When we first looked at this apartment, one of the biggest selling points was the kitchen, how large and bright it was and the fact that it had a full walk in pantry. Not just a cabinet, but a large closet sized pantry with extra prep space and a window. It was full of shelves that went floor to ceiling and I knew that I just had to have this apartment as a result of it. One of the things I wanted to make sure of though, was that if we were going to have this amazing patry, that everything and I meant everything had to be perfectly organized. Everything had to have a spot and things had to look and bright and inviting as the rest of the space.

DIY, Life, HomeCarissa MelilloMay 12, 2020home, pantry, organizing, moving, DIY

Pack Like A Pro

Moving, which is like getting a tooth pulled or driving a long distance with a small child asking, “are we there yet”- is something that all people must face. It is sometimes unpleasant, never any fun, but usually leads to a positive outcome. Naturally, with moving, the success of the endeavor, really depends on avoiding moving mistakes and planning ahead to make the moving process as smooth as possible!

Life, HomeCarissa MelilloApril 22, 2020moving, move, packing, pack, pro