Do-it-yourself projects, by the book

DIY craft books have been landing fast and furious this year, many in time for do-it-yourself holiday splendor. But are the projects really as easy to make as the authors say? Do the decoupaged chairs and stenciled lampshades and concrete candleholders really turn out as well as promised — well enough to be deployed as holiday décor or given as gifts? We put three books to the test (see links at the bottom of the post) and wanted to point readers toward other books that might make nice gifts for the DIYer:

“Vintage Craft Workshop: Fresh Takes on Twenty-Four Classic Projects From the '60s and '70s” by Cathy Callahan, better known to shoppers of L.A. mod craft fairs as Cathy of California. Think macramé plant hangers, papier-mâché gift boxes and bottle wind chimes for the Highland Park vintage vinyl crowd. Chronicle Books, $19.95.

“Stencil It: 101 Ideas to Decorate Your Home,” by Helen Morris. A rundown of techniques as well as ideas for stenciling drapes, lamps, tables, walls, pillows and more. For those who need more hand-holding, the book provides 15 stencils — dogs, agapanthus flowers, even babushka dolls. St. Martin's Press, $29.99.

"State of Craft," edited by Victoria Woodcock. In sifting through books and identifying projects that readers could pull off quickly, the Home crew set aside ideas that we hope to tackle later. Chief among them: a decoupage children's chair in this book. Cicada, $19.95.

Palm fronds recycled as do-it-yourself succulent centerpiece

The fallen palm fronds left from recent winds haven't been a nuisance for master gardener Jill McArthur. Armed with a pruning saw, the Glendale garden designer has been recycling the fronds as arresting table centerpieces using succulent cuttings.

McArthur likens the fronds to fallen fruit: "They are all over the place," she said. "I find them when I walk my dog. I try to find different things to do with them."

To create a centerpiece, McArthur first looks for a nice line. If a frond is too large, she puts it in her car and cuts it down at home. She then sprays the hollow surface with a low-VOC clear sealant so water won't leak through to the table. Next she adds cactus soil mix and succulent cuttings to make a low-maintenance, low-water arrangement.

The palm fronds, which can be as long as 12 feet, form "fabulous boats" that look great on a long table or a mantel. She also likes to pair two boats, as shown at the top of the post.

"The plants seem to be very happy," McArthur said. "You can trade succulents in and out. They are strong and not heavy, so they are easy to transport. The natural tone of them is so beautiful -- the brown is fantastic. I personally like the ragged edges of the smaller ones. The whole point is for them to look like found objects."

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-- Lisa Boone

Photo credit, top and bottom: Deidra Walpole

Photo, middle: Windstorm-blown palm fronds on a Pasadena street earlier this  month. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

 

Renegade Craft Fair: 10 top picks

For those who may be missing the Renegade Craft Fair, L.A. at Home has made its scouting runs to check out makers' holiday gifts, home accessories and other modern craftiness. Our roundup of picks from the show starts with Robert Mahar's rubber stamps for making DIYer gift tags. The one above is complemented by another that says: "I baked your gift. It's delicious. You'll love it and agree it tastes way better than anything else money could buy." The Mahar Craft stamps are $12 apiece and come in a gift tin, perfect for those who would rather give the stamp to a baker than do the cooking themselves.

The monster doll craze seems to have ebbed, we're happy to report, though mash-ups of cartoon drawings with profane messages on greeting cards and T-shirts is popping up more than one would hope. (Yes, that cute animal is swearing. How naughty.)

Foxes are the new owls, as witnessed in the booth of the Riverside outfit Peanut Butter Dynamite, right. Its menagerie of knitted pillows also included a monkey and penguin, each $45.

For the rest of our picks, keep reading ...

Christmas tree made of books at Inglewood library

When a reader wrote to recommend a Christmas tree that “requires absolutely no water and can be broken down and re-used,” I expected the usual fake type involving metal brackets and plastic leaves. But on opening the attachment from a friend of Inglewood Public Library, I discovered the tree in the photograph was clearly made of pulp, which is to say books.

It is the creation of assistant librarian Bri Webber, pictured at right. It has been a hard two years at the Inglewood Public Library, Webber said, and the place had no budget for holiday decorations. So she went online and saw that the library trend of 2011 is to build trees from books. There’s a gorgeous one at Gleeson Library in San Francisco. Even the nearby Loyola Marymount University library had one, she said. “I thought, ‘If LMU can do it, we can do it.’”

Moreover, Webber swiftly recognized which books were being used in most of the examples. They were the suitably green-bound National Union Catalog, volumes listing books recorded by the Library of Congress. "I thought, 'I know exactly what those books are and nobody uses them and they’re dusty and this way they’ll be used.' "

After finding different years and different volumes, she used red books for the skirt. By the end, she lost count of how many catalogs she stacked up on the ground floor near the elevator. “It’s in the high 300s,” she said, laughing that once she lost track, they couldn’t have a contest to guess how many books were in the tree.

Given that cuts have reduced what had been a staff of about 70 to something like 30, Webber said, it's a wonder that she found the spirit to do the tree at all. “Times are rough,” she said. “We’re trying to come up with creative ways to keep us happy and keep people happy.”

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Photo: Inglewood Public Library

Build your own geodesic dome gingerbread house

In a lighthearted spin on Buckminster Fuller's famous look, the Echo Park design practice Scout Regalia has created a geodesic dome gingerbread house. The kit includes a laser-cut dome template, shown below right, plus recipes for gingerbread and icing and easy-to-follow instructions. The dome is about 9 inches in diameter, 6 inches tall and as sweetly colorful as you want it to be.

We have featured Scout Regalia designers Ben Luddy's and Makoto Mizutani's work before -- the modern raised garden kits, the free DIY planting table instructions, their High Desert Test Sites project. But this architectural inspiration is too delightful not to share.

"Ben and I are both really into food and cooking and baking, so the SR Gingerbread Geodesic Dome combines two of our passions," Mizutani said. 

The kit is $25 plus shipping at Scout Regalia. If you're a visual learner, check out the fun time-lapse video below.

If you're having trouble seeing the video in our post, you also can view it on Vimeo: Scout Regalia Reel 02: Gingerbread Geodesic Dome.

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Photo credit: Scout Regalia

Portable sewing machine from Husqvarna Viking

More than 20 years ago, I purchased my first Husqvarna Viking sewing machine for $500. Looking back, I remember thinking that was an outrageous amount of money to spend, even for someone who considers herself a good seamstress and quilter. 

Today, Husqvarna Viking machines can run as high as $10,000 as the demand for machines that can tackle major home décor projects such as embroidery has increased, said Carol Ann Williams, a staff member and instructor at Pollard’s Sew Creative in Pasadena.

Husqvarna Viking’s newest sewing machine, the H Class 100Q, is priced for the rest of us: It retails for about $499, although Pollard's is offering an introductory price of $399.

At a demonstration at Pollard's last week, I found the H Class 100Q to be user-friendly. The controls are easy to read, and I liked that it did not have an overwhelming number of bells and whistles. At 15 pounds, this is a manageable machine for beginners and pros alike who want to transport a machine to a sewing class or take it on the road. 

More than 20 quilting and utility stitches are included, and a one-step buttonhole attachment takes the guesswork out of sizing. Simply place the button on the snap-on attachment, and the machine figures it out for you. A "needle up down" function allows for pivoting, a "fix knot" function automatically ties off so there is no need for reverse stitching at the beginning and end of every seam, and a start/stop program allows you to sew without the foot pedal.

The machine also has some pretty decorative stitches if that's your thing, adjustable feed dogs for machine quilting and a detachable arm for sewing sleeves.

But the best new feature for this seamstress, 20 years later? A built-in needle threader. Thank you.

The H Class 100Q comes with a hard cover and an accessory case filled with five presser feet, one-step buttonhole foot, five needles, screwdriver, seam ripper/brush, edge/quilting guide, spool cap, felt pad, second spool pin and bobbins. For more information, visit your local dealer.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo: Husqvarna Viking

Celadon & Celery workshops for DIY wedding flowers

Bess Wyrick and Ivie Joy, partners in the New York floral design studio Celadon & Celery, are teaching budget-conscious hostesses and brides how to create their own bouquets and centerpieces. The women have planned a series of hands-on workshops in Los Angeles that include demonstrations of the trends and techniques in the floral industry "while also having an eye on the environment," Wyrick said. The workshops typically go for $300, but the designers said they will have a $99 special available for 24 hours on livingsocial.com on Tuesday.

"We're in the middle of a recession and people can't afford to do the type of weddings or events they used to," said Wyrick, who launched Celadon & Celery in 2009 after designing bridal gowns in San Francisco. The studio buys from local flower farmers, composts greenery and delivers flowers by bicycle or on foot.

In the past year, Wyrick and Joy said they have taught sustainable flower-arranging techniques to thousands of students in their loft-studio in the Chelsea flower district.

"We want students to know that you can be sustainable and do it yourself," Wyrick said. This means eschewing green florists' foam, which Joy called "cancer-on-a-stick, because it has so many toxic ingredients." Instead, she teaches students how to stabilize stems with a taped grid over the opening of a vase or with a natural grid of angled flowers inside the vase. It's an approach that Wyrick and Joy said has won them clients such as the Kardashians, Vera Wang and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"The word 'eco' has a bad reputation implying something weedy," Wyrick said. "But we're using sustainable products, such as recycled vases, and sourcing flowers from local growers to create designs that are sophisticated, chic and tailored."

The two-hour Los Angeles workshops will be offered at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, Oct. 24 through Nov. 12, at Opulen Studios, 1309 S. Flower St., near the Los Angeles Flower District. Refreshments, two take-home arrangements, an eco-friendly vase and a tote bag are included in the registration fee.

For more information: email FloralClasses@celadoncelery.com or call (646) 675-3274.

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Photos: Celadon & Celery

Kristan Cunningham, serial mover

Such is the life of a TV designer: When we initially interviewed and photographed former "Design on a Dime" star Kristan Cunningham and Scott Jarrell at the end of July, the couple -- fresh from a move from Venice -- had finished decorating a 1925 Los Feliz house and were expecting Cunningham's new show on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network to premiere in September.

Fast-forward two months: Surprise! Cunningham and Jarrell already have up and moved once again.

Cunningham confirmed this week that the couple just moved to a downtown Los Angeles live-work loft because of a snag in their lease. "We were very proud of the way our Los Feliz home turned out," she said. "But when our lease renewal was coming up, we started having discussions with our landlord about our need to have an option to film inside the house. She really didn't want that."

So now, the loft downtown.

Despite the hassle of moving furniture, art and collections once again, the serial decorators see the potential of another blank slate. "It's 3,200-square-feet of raw, unadulterated space," Cunningham said.

The OWN show, meanwhile, remains a work in progress too, with no premiere date announced yet.

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'Design Sponge at Home': Blog is now a book

Design Sponge blogger Grace Bonney, above, has taken a break from the Internet for a moment to publish “Design Sponge at Home,” a hardback compilation of the site's best decorating ideas.

PHOTO GALLERY: "Design Sponge at Home"

The book, released last week, is the latest in a refreshing string of new design books focusing on affordable, eclectic interiors. The homes featured here are aspirational but realistic, as iconic furnishings share space with inexpensive finds from thrift stores, flea markets, EBay and Etsy.

"Design Sponge at Home" ($35, Artisan Books) is divided into five categories: sneak peeks, DIY projects, DIY basics, flower workshop and before-and-after. Fans of Design Sponge will be delighted to hear that the book is a good representation of the blog's coverage of home tours, crafts and do-it-yourself makeovers.

Although the book is 400 pages, it's not overwhelming. The projects are easy to follow, and Bonney says many can be done in an afternoon -- an inexpensive bird feeder made of bamboo dinner plates, or a succulent wall composed of bricks.

The DIY basics and before-and-afters don’t offer a lot of instruction, but it’s a good place to get ideas. Think of "Design Sponge at Home" as the ideal coffee table book for the Pinterest addict in your life: a virtual scrapbook of ideas to inspire. With its tips, resources, how-tos and 600 photos, this book will get dog-eared quickly.

As part of her book tour, Bonney will appear from 6 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 28 at a craft workshop at Anthropologie, 211 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills. Reservations required.

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Kristan Cunningham, DIY spirit in deluxe new digs

DIY decorating guru Kristan Cunningham, pictured at right with Bean, has brought her bargain-hunter style to an unexpected locale: a stately 1925 L.A. house that looks considerably richer than her old "Design on a Dime" makeover projects.

The house is more than a lesson in how modern tastes can live within period architecture.

It's also proof of how Cunningham, who's in production on a new design show for OWN, still channels her inner bargain junkie, turning out a mix-and-match look that feels more luxurious than it costs.

Photos: Kristan Cunningham's new L.A. house

Article: Kristan Cunningham, DIY spirit in deluxe new digs

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Photos, clockwise from top: Kristan Cunningham says the newly decorated house was designed to survive her two dogs, including little Bean. The bed floats in the middle of the master suite, the exterior exudes a period flavor and the living room is an eclectic mix of old and new. Click to the gallery for more than two dozen photos and detailed notes on design strategies and shopping sources. Credit: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times