Bob Vila Thumbs Up: Vote for Your Favorite Project of 2016!

Month after month, we've chosen our favorite bloggers to highlight in the Bob Vila's Thumbs Up competition—and you've...

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How To: Get Rid of a Skunk

Nocturnal and relatively shy, skunks aren’t often seen—but they certainly are smelled! Though the black-and-white cre...

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DIY Ombré Dyed Baskets for Toy Storage

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Plaid®. All opinions are my own.

I recently mentioned that Plaid® has several fun new products coming out this summer, and today I am so excited to share one of my favorites with you. I made DIY ombré dyed baskets for toy storage for our playroom using new FolkArt® Ultra Dye, which is hitting the market this month.

Ultra Dye is a polymer-based brush-on dye for porous surfaces (think unfinished wood, burlap, and natural fibers), and it won’t bleed, leech, chip, peel, or rub off like traditional dyes. It creates beautiful, lasting results, and comes in 14 vibrant colors. Because of it’s gel-like consistency, it’s super easy to control where it’s applied, and it can be used with stencils since it doesn’t bleed. It’s water-based and nontoxic, and allows wood grain to show through, creating a really beautiful effect. (It should be noted that it’s meant for indoor use, and should not be used on fabrics that will need to be washed or anything that will get wet.) There’s also a FolkArt Ultra Dye Satin Varnish available for extra protection, and Ultra Dye Brushes specially designed for use with the FolkArt Ultra Dye. This product is unlike anything I’ve ever used, and I am beyond excited about it!

DIY Ombré Dyed Baskets

Project Supplies:

• FolkArt Ultra Dye in “Venom” and “Tantalizing Teal”
• FolkArt Ultra Dye Satin Varnish
• FolkArt Ultra Dye Brushes
• Painter’s Tape
• Rubber or Plastic Gloves
• Styrofoam bowl or cup
• Baskets

Step 1

First, tape off the area you want to dye. I chose about a 4-5 inch section at the bottom of my baskets, and I used the tape as a general guide since it’s hard to securely adhere it to the bumpy surface of the basket.

Step 2

Paint your first color onto the basket starting at your tape line and painting down about halfway to the bottom of the basket. I used “Tantalizing Teal” and “Venom”.

Step 3

Paint the second color (using a clean brush) starting from the bottom and working your way up to where your first color ends. Blend the line between the two color so they mix a little bit, creating a transition between the two colors rather than a crisp line.

Step 4

Remove your tape, and touch up the line with your brush, adding more of the first dye color as needed. Allow to dry for approximately 15 minutes.

Step 5

Add a topcoat. If you’re using two colors like I did, you might want to use an acrylic spray sealer before adding the varnish to prevent bleeding. Since I was going for an ombre effect and therefore I wanted the colors to bleed together a bit, I opted to skip the spray sealer and just use two separate brushes for applying the varnish, one for sealing each color.

Now, here are my cute, colorful, ombre dyed baskets! These are so fun for the playroom, but I kind of want to steal them for my mom cave.

For more ideas and inspiration, be sure to connect with Plaid on Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter, and Instagram.

You can also connect with me here:

Thanks for visiting!

-Erin

The post DIY Ombré Dyed Baskets for Toy Storage appeared first on Erin Spain.

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Stay Comfortable with the Lennox® Spring Promotion!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Lennox® for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

When we moved into our home 2 1/2 years ago, we knew that we would have to replace the HVAC system at some point. In fact, we have two furnaces and two air conditioners (separate units for upstairs and downstairs), and they were all very old. Sure enough, soon after moving in, our upstairs AC conked out on us and we had to replace it. This is one of those “not so fun” but 100% necessary home improvements, as temperature is key when it comes to your home comfort level. When we replaced our AC, our local company recommended a Lennox®, since it is the best in quality and reliability, so that’s what we went with.

We’ve been extremely happy with it, and I can confidently recommend them to you, which is why I’m happy to share that you can save a boatload of money with their Lennox® Spring Promotion!

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your HVAC system, now is the time. Lennox® is offering a great deal on a complete qualifying home comfort system. You can save up to $1,700! This includes a gas furnace, an air conditioner or heat pump, a zoning system, an air purification system, solar panels, and a smart thermostat. I was really interested in learning more since I know we will have to replace our other AC unit as well as our two furnaces before too long. I really like the fact that the Ultimate Comfort System™ from Lennox® is made up of the quietest, most efficient, and smartest HVAC systems on the market. A quiet system is crucial to me since I have a baby who happens to be a light sleeper. Efficiency is obviously important too.

Here are the products that make up the Ulimate Comfort System™:

• XC/XP 25 Air Conditioner/Heat Pump, which is the quietest and most efficient air conditioner and heat pump you can buy.
• SLP98V Variable-Capacity Gas Furnace: The quietest and most efficient furnace you can buy.
• iHarmony® Zoning, which lets you control the temperature in different rooms of your home for precise comfort.
• iComfort® S30: The smartest Wi-Fi touch screen thermostat on the market.
• PureAir™ system: Cleans the air in your home better than any system you can buy.

The Lennox® Spring Promotion includes several great deals, including up to $1,700 in rebates on a qualifying home comfort system. You can also receive a tax credit of up to $500 on qualifying heating and cooling equipment. So here’s the thing—I like saving money, and I hate being too hot. I live in the South, so a functioning AC is a must. After meeting with our local HVAC company and discussing all of our options, we know that when the time comes to upgrade the rest of our home comfort system, we will be going with Lennox®.

Want to find a qualified Lennox® dealer near you so you can take advantage of the offer? You can use this Dealer Locator to find one in your area.

Here’s a cute video about the Lennox® spring promotion.

So what do you think, will you be taking advantage of this promotion? Leave a comment and let me know!

You can also connect with me here:

Thanks for visiting!

-Erin

The post Stay Comfortable with the Lennox® Spring Promotion! appeared first on Erin Spain.

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DIY Lite: A Beginner's Guide to Building a Wooden Planter Box

Some lucky homeowners with enough property for a large plot of land to be dedicated garden space; for the rest of us,...

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12 DIY Home Improvement Project Ideas {The DIY Housewives Series}

Once a month, I get together with a group of blog friends and we each share a project that fits with a specific theme. This month’s theme was a bit of a wild card, so we are sharing 12 DIY Home Improvement Project Ideas! I had a tough time narrowing down which project I wanted to share for this month’s series, but ultimately it came down to one of my most popular posts to date, and one of the most inexpensive but high impact projects we’ve done in our home so far. I shared a tutorial for how to whitewash a brick fireplace, which I did shortly after moving into our home 2 1/2 years ago, and it is still one of my favorite projects I’ve done in our house.

Here is what it looked like before:

And here it is now:

How to Whitewash a Brick Fireplace

Be sure to check out the other bloggers’ projects below!

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia  Southern State of Mind  CiburbanityHeathered Nest  Erin Spain  Domestically Speaking

____________________

Redhead Can Decorate  Refresh Restyle  Debbie DoosThe DIY Village  Life on Virginia Street  Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body

Check out all of the participating bloggers’ projects here:

An InLinkz Link-up

You can also connect with me here:

Thanks for visiting!

-Erin

The post 12 DIY Home Improvement Project Ideas {The DIY Housewives Series} appeared first on Erin Spain.

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Lennox® Spring HVAC Promo Helps Save Energy & Money

Now that summer’s officially here, you may be considering upgrading your present HVAC systems to help you stay cool in between pool parties and barbecues. Lucky for you (if you live in the US or Canada), between now and June 10th Lennox® is running a great Spring Promotion that can save you up to $1700 on their home comfort systems — that’s a gas furnace, an air conditioner or heat pump, a zoning system, an air purification system, solar panels and a smart thermostat.

The Ultimate Comfort System™ from Lennox® is a unique and energy efficient home comfort system comprised of the quietest, most efficient and smartest HVAC systems on the market. Included in the Ultimate Comfort System™ are both the quietest and most efficient air conditioner/heat pump and furnace pairing on the market, the XC/XP 25 Air Conditioner/Heat Pump and the SLP98V Variable-Capacity Gas Furnace; the iHarmony® zoning and the iComfort® S30 Wi-Fi touch screen thermostat; and the PureAir™ air purification system.

Aside from the great technological advances in their product, one of the stand-out features of this home comfort system is the great energy savings it provides not only by using precise in-home zoning settings and general regional settings to accommodate weather patterns, but it has the capability to tie into specially-designed solar panels, saving you precious budgeting dollars while utlizing new and more earth-friendly renewable energy sources.

Make sure to locate a Lennox® dealer near you and read up on all of the great promotional and financing options they have available to help you and your home be as clean, smart, and comfortable as possible this summer.

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