diy Archives - Improvised Life

Matisse’s Homemade Wallpaper

When we looked closely at this stumbled-upon image of Henri Matisse, we realized that the wallpaper behind him was really tacked up prints and drawings. Brilliant. Looking for more, we found a trove of ideas to employ.

How to Make Shadow Magic

“Just a pair of hands and a whole lot of clever imagination” perfectly describes this 1933 film from British Pathe. The performer moves his hands slowly so that the audience can see how the shape is formed. The setup is minimal: a darkened room, a bare patch of wall, a light source to cast shadows.…

Enzo Mari’s ‘Ecolo’ Transforms Plastic Bottles into Sculptural Vases

In the 1970s, legendary furniture designer Enzo Mari pioneered the idea of “autoprogettazione”, roughly translated, “self design”, projects that he hoped would empower people to create with their own hands. With “ecolo” he applied the idea to plastic bottles…

A Bed Surrounded by Flowers Makes a Dreamy Respite

When we stumbled on thisimage by photographer Jill Burrow, we thought, ‘Ah yes. We’d love to sleep surrounded by flowers, especially now, after months of guarded and circumscribed living.’ Looking closely, we found permission to do it…

Giant Twisting Balloons Inspire Furniture and Your Own Big Ideas

Designer Seung Jin Yang’s whimsical furniture appears to be made of the kind of twistable balloons used to entertain kids. OMG, we thought, could we make furniture out of balloons?

Easy-to-Make DIY Clear Face Shield

Tokujin Yoshioka created a simple, easy-to-make face shield held in place with ordinary eyewear. It gives an added measure of protection against Covid-19.

Practical Ways to Alleviate Toilet Paper Anxiety and Hoarding

We’ve read a lot theories for the toilet paper hoarding that has marked the Coronavirus pandemic. We have a few of our own + viable alternatives.

DIY Hand and Object Sanitizers to Combat Nasty Viruses UPDATE

When we found hand sanitizers sold out everywhere, we did some research to find ways to achieve what commercial hand-sanitizers would, along with a few other strategies for killing that nasty coronavirus.

Take a Lousy Book and Make it into Poetry, like Mary Ruefle’s Beautiful Erasures

We were knocked out by selections from poet Mary Ruefle’s beautiful ”erasure books”, poetry made by whiting out words in old books. We also discovered Wite-Out is a potent, paint-like art material.

My Secret Weapon for Home and other Projects UPDATE

Years ago painters left behind some sanding sponges they used to achieve a perfect finish in the high gloss surfaces. Something made me pick one up to try sanding an ugly heating pipe coated in green enamel. The ease-of-transformation was a revelation. I’ve been using that perfect sponge ever since for all sorts of fixes and projects around my house.

Linen Room Divider, Napkin, Tablecloth, Pillow DIY Without Sewing

Over the years, I’ve learned that making linen room dividers, tablecloths, napkins and slipcovers does NOT have to involve sewing…

Inspiring, Do-able Interior Design Ideas from Paola Navone

Whenever we look at designer Paola Navone’s homes, we come away with a zillion ideas that we could actually do, without a ton of dough. Here are our favorite steal-able ideas.

Annals of Bad Design: Giant Wardrobe in a Small Room, With a Fix

Many of the design suggestions in Remodelista’s “Expert Advice…for Creating the Illusion of Space” are indeed effective. Not this one. So we figured out some solutions…

Sublimely Analog Chalkboard Drawings of Mathematicians, Rudolf Steiner, Twombly Inspire Our Own

“This is what thought looks like” begins Dennis Overbye’s article about Jessica Wynne’s remarkable photographs of mathematician’s blackboards, that reminded us of Steiner and Cy Twombly…

Kraft Paper Dispensers That Let Your Write On the Walls, and Elsewhere

Kraft paper is so wildly useful that if I had the room in my city apartment, I’d keep a roll on a wall to have easy access when the mood/need hits.

Our Patented DIY Shoe and Boot Refurb, Better Than Your Shoemaker

Years ago we figured out a technique that no shoemaker seems to know: how to remove the rough blims and tears that stick up on the scraped toes prevents a truly satisfying, long-lasting shine.

Manifestations of Gold: Forest Sculpture, Poem, Graffiti, a Dusting Found on Leaves

After I started working with gold, melting, rolling, forging the 22-karat coins I bought years ago, I started to see other forms of treasure, including Karin van der Molen’s beautiful sculpture…

The Art of Collage and Assemblage: ‘Everyday, Non-Art materials…Provoke Imaginative, Even Visionary, Thoughts and Associations’.

In the images from The Art of Collage and Assemblage on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, it was the ordinariness of many of the materials used that we found both moving and inspiring…

Build A One-Page Beautiful Website for Yourself or Your Project or…Anything, Fast

If you are daunted by the prospect of creating a website for yourself or a project, check out Carrd, a free platform for building simple, stylish responsive one-page sites, fast.

A Homemade Foam Core Screen to Block the Sun or Define a Space

In my top floor space, the scorching temperatures have been pushing me to find non-electric ways of cooling the place down to mitigate air conditioner use. I turned to the material that seemed most likely to provide insulation: foam core leftover from the many life-size prototypes I’ve built …

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