Here’s a fun fact: Alex hates plants. We don’t have those cute fiddle leaf figs in the empty corners of our home, no rooms are warmed up with greenery, nothing. He says plants belong outside, and to his credit, I’m not sure I could keep them alive anyway, but I’m damn well gonna try after…
Our Home Projects
One Year Of Shoe Makes New
It’s hard to believe an entire year has passed since we decided on a whim to start chronicling our DIY adventures (and sometimes failures) in this weird, quirky blog Shoe Makes New. Since May 7, 2020, we’ve written more than 70 blog posts and continued to share updates via our Instagram, Pinterest and our weekly…
How to build a DIY electric fireplace surround
You guys, this little cave living room was so boring only a month ago, but with our DIY electric fireplace surround and our big, bold tile, it’s totally changed the vibe in here and we spend about as much time staring at it as we do watching TV. Here’s how we did it. Who doesn’t…
DIY fireplace mantel with storage
Living in a 1,000 square foot home, we’ve quickly learned to maximize every inch of space, and when we got to working on the living room, we figured why not make a DIY fireplace mantel with storage? You can never have enough storage. To back up a little bit, when we first looked at this…
Pantry makeover: Before and after One Room Challenge reveal
We’re finally done! This pantry makeover is finished! This beautiful beast of a room is finished and has added so much functionality and storage to this 1,000 square foot home of ours. I’ve seriously been walking by a dozen times a day to sneak a peek, and not just because that’s where the snacks are…
A quick, easy DIY laundry shelf | ORC Week 5
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINAL REVEAL After about a month of focusing solely on the pantry component of our laundry/pantry room, we’re finally seeing some progress around the washer and dryer. This week saw a whole lot of storage and function coming into that side of the room, and it was mostly free since…
The best furniture paint for your projects
Note: We were provided Fusion Mineral Paint for this project by Goggins Creations, but our opinions on it are totally our own. I’m not even joking when I say I keep casually walking by the kitchen to sneak a peek at the dining bench I just built. If you didn’t catch the plans, I wrote…
How to make a faux butcher block countertop: ORC Week 4
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINAL REVEAL Ooooohhhh shit you guys, we’re finally getting somewhere! Every time I walk by this laundry/pantry room I get a little bit more obsessed with it, and I know that once we get done it’s going to look so much better than every other room that we’ll be wanting…
ORC Week 2: An awkward cabinet experience and a load bearing wall
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINAL REVEAL It’s already week two of the One Room Challenge and we have… not a whole lot to show for it. If you remember from last week, we went hard on demo day and basically emptied the laundry room/pantry we’re transforming. It’s going to eventually look open, spacious and…
One Room Challenge: Our plans to overhaul our gross laundry/pantry
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINAL REVEAL It’s week one of the One Room Challenge! If you didn’t hear us talk about it on our Instagram, we’ve joined the fall One Room Challenge and are going to spend the next six weeks overhauling our pantry into a laundry/pantry/utility room. The one room challenge, or ORC,…