Beat the Heat With Indoor DIY Projects
If the dog days of summer have you working up a sweat, stay indoors and beat the heat with these fun DIY projects for adults and kids! They’re affordable, practical, and will give you a sense of “I made that” accomplishment!
Tin Lanterns, Cheese Plates and Coasters
Using not much more than you can find around the house, these homemade tin lanterns can be put into service right away sitting outside in your backyard or on the deck. And whether you upcycle some soup or other food cans or follow DIY Projects’ lead and grab tin buckets from the dollar section of Target (14451 Orchard Pkwy, Westminster), you’ll find a step-by-step tutorial.
Score a slab of wood (five for $13) and you can make a DIY cheese plate/serving tray made of 12-inch disk (diameter) with the bark still attached! Brit.co shows you how using a bit of chalkboard paint.
How about Mod-Podging® a few summer-themed coasters for your drinks?! You can knock these out for less than a dollar each — if you already have some spray paint on hand. I Heart Nap Time offers a detailed how-to. With a few white bath tiles (which you can score from the Home Depot in Thornton, about 10 minutes from Colliers Hill) and some vinyl stencils, you’re only limited by your imagination.
Tie Dye, Paper Mâché and Pet Rocks
Remember papier mâché? It’s a hands-on craft, taking shredded newspaper, flour and water to mold into different objects – in this case summer fruit bowls, painted to look like watermelon, lemons and oranges! Red Ted Art issues one bit of timing advice — once you form the bowls, they need to dry (could take one week!) before you paint.
For the boomers who have a passing recollection of the 60s and Woodstock, tie dye garments are both vintage-nostalgic and now genuinely trendy-cool (think Kanye West in his video “Bound 2”). Janis Joplin, the mother of tie dye as we know it, wore the psychedelic swirls to perform and today you can keep up with the Kardashians by grabbing a tie dye kit (sold at Walmart) to DIY a t-shirt of your own. Tie Dye Your Summer shows you how to twist, tie and dye a variety of items from ombre canvas shoes and socks, to all kinds of different t-shirt design effects.
The original Pet Rocks are collectibles, created in 1975 by an advertising exec out of smooth stones from Mexico’s Rosarito Beach. They were marketed as live pets in custom cardboard boxes, complete with straw bedding and breathing holes. The fad lasted about six months, but you can make your own Pet Rock with a few ideas (and pairs of googly eyes!) from Fun-a-Day.
You could stay busy until the summer of 2020 with the curated collection of DIY projects at One Little Project. Most that you’ll find here (and there are a SLEW!) are inexpensive, easy to make and eco-friendly – perfect to keep kids and adults busily and happily occupied, from water-bottle wind spirals and stained glass art, to mason jar citronella candles and table top s’more roasters!
DIY in Colliers Hill
With lots of room to spread out, and hobby/bonus rooms to take over for DIY and craft projects, the master-planned community of Colliers Hill has homes for every interest and lifestyle. Why not explore the amenities, the neighborhoods, and the sheer variety of floor plans in new builds from Meritage Homes, Richmond American Homes, and Century Communities. Tour the model homes and many designs to find the perfect fit for you – priced from the high $300s.
