On the side wall between the kitchen and laundry room, I decided to install some DIY shelves on the wall.

It’s a fallen branch cut up into a few pieces with raw wood “shelves” screwed right into the branches.  It’s kinda of an optical illusion because it looks like the shelves are part of the branches, but in reality it’s all several pieces all puzzled back together right on the wall.

The question is: should I paint the raw wood shelves or should I leave it raw?

Normally, I’d paint it a light shade of gray or cream if there were any other kind of shelf, but looking at the collection of raw wood items and natural wood bark, I’m leaning towards leaving it as is.

Thoughts?

There’s a very good chance that many of you reading Daily Danny just hate your showerhead.  Maybe it’s old.   Maybe it’s clogged with hard water mineral build-up.   Maybe it just, well, sucks.

My good friends at Kohler want to give (3) Daily Danny readers a chance to win their brand-new Kohler Flipshide Hand Shower.  If you can’t afford a bathroom makeover or renovation, one of the easiest and most economical ways to upgrade a bathroom is to swap out the old water-wasting showerhead for a new one with unique bells and whistles to start your day off the right way!

I love Kohler products and the company because they have a long-standing commitment to water conservation with a whole variety of WaterSense and water-efficient products for both the bathroom and kitchen.   

The Flipside showerhead features four totally unique experiences all in one showerhead:

• Koverage: traditional everyday shower spray
• Kotton: a downpour of water that feels dense, soft and enveloping
• Komotion:an exhilerating drenching spray
• Kurrent: invigorating massage spray for aching muscles.

Tell me why you need a new Kohler Fliprside Handshower.   If you’re following me on twitter @dannyjseo, you can enter twice!  Three lucky Daily Danny readers will win! 

Good luck!

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.  CONGRATS TO KIMI, MCINDC and CHRISTY.  Check your in-boxes for an email from me on instructions on how to claim your prize!  CONGRATS!

Happy Friday!  

Easy peasy upcycling idea today for vintage looking plates you may have around the house or find for next to nothing at a thrift shop or flea market.

This is inspired by plates I saw on “Visually Vod” (scroll down to see the Precious Products plates).      Start off by taping off the area of the plate you don’t want painted.

Spray paint (I know, not so eco, but it really works the best here) some “metal” paint on top.   A little goes a very very long way here, folks.

And voila!   Gold stripes.    Okay, this isn’t the same as the Visually Vod one, but this was my first attempt.  I think I need to “dip” half the plate in gold or do some kind of silhouette.   The point is, this took :30 seconds to attempt and in my crazy world, I give that two thumbs up.

So, I’ve had this image of a jar lid table on my desktop for a while now.  I snapped it when I was in Las Vegas for the bi-annual Furniture Market presentation for my Simmons Natural Care mattress line.   It’s a great display table at Barney’s New York in the Palazzo Shoppes at the Palazzo Hotel.

Anyway, I was tempted to maket his table until I realized that each individual jar lid was attached to 4 individual metal prongs underneath, and then all of those 4 prongs are sodered together to the 4 other prongs making it truly a work of art.   That is until….

I took the tablecloth off my dining room table to wash and remembered: I have a cheap outdoor table as my dining room table.

If you frequently read this blog, you know I’ve been searching for a dining room table for like—oh, I don’t know—forever now.    So, I kinda gave up and have been using this $99 LL Bean outdoor table covered in more expensive John Robshaw tablecloths for 2 years now.   Well, I got used to it and thought this was a very Suze Orman-type way of saving $2,000 from buying a new table.   Just be happy with what ya got.

Then I realized I could make my jar lid table by using the existing metal grating on table of the table.  And as you can see, I’m slowly making a pattern of collected jar lids in concentric circles in different sizes all over the top.

The question is: how on earth will I attach them to the table?  Any ideas?   The peanut gallery here thinks I should apply a thin coat of thinsete on the bottom and attach them that way and that’s that.  

Would love to hear….

In addition to the main house I live in which is mid-century modern with warm touches, I also own a cottage home on the Delaware River right outside of Frenchtown, NJ.    It’s very country and has been photographed for the pages of Country Home, Philadelphia and Life magazines.    Funny how two of the three have folded….   but I digress!

I stopped by the house over the weekend to get it ready for some guests:  a group of prop stylists from New York City were coming to Pennsylvania to work on craft projects in my craft studio.  I suggested instead of staying in a hotel, why not use my cottage house to live in instead?    This way, they can cook their own meals and stay somewhere more comfortable.  And they could bring their dogs, too!      What I love about the cottage house is that it’s still decorated as if I live there: these vintage bottles are all lined up on the front porch.  Love them.

On the stairway inside, I have a whole collection of plates I reglazed using Porcelaine paint from Michael’s Craft Stores.  These plates have been featured in lots of magazines and in my book Simply Green Parties.    I love living with the projects we create for magazines, books and TV segments.   Why put them in storage?

I brought some wonderful cookware for them to use during their stay.   The orange one is from Calphalon and the beautiful blue casserole is from JCPenney’s COOKS collection.   

Of course, all the bedding was freshly washed and prepared.  Did it all myself!    The duvet is from John Robshaw and I think it looks pretty great in the guest room.

And I semi-stocked the fridge: a bottle of Prosecco and wine from one of the best wine stores in Stockton, NJ….fresh organic sweet corn, peaches and apples from the farmers market…organic coffee…and even an eye mask just in case someone needs it.   On the side are lots of Boylan sodas—regular and diet—which I absoutely love.     I also left a note with instructions to local markets, farm stands and stores where they stock up on items they need during their stay.

Hope they enjoy their stay!