by Kelly Pickerill
Many of us at Lemuria go pretty wild over our DIY and craft books. One of the latest to excite us is Design*Sponge at Home by Grace Bonney, the first book be published from the blog of the same name. Grace started the blog in 2004 and since then it has grown to a daily readership of over 75,000, along with over 121,000 RSS readers, 315,000 Twitter followers, and 30,000 Facebook followers.
On the blog there are tons of step-by-step DIY projects for crafting and improvements around the house and decorating ideas in many formats. The book is largely comprised of the most popular features of the website: the “Sneak Peek,” the “DIY,” and the “Before and After.”
In the “Sneak Peek” part of the book, we get a two or four page tour of the homes of some of the designers that have been featured on the Design*Sponge blog, including its editors. These glimpses, just like those on the blog, are packed with photos accompanied by captions that almost always say “refurbished piece from thrift store.” That’s one of the best things about Design*Sponge — all of the amazing design ideas are completely doable on a budget.
The “Before and After” section rivals the “Sneak Peek” for being the most fun to look at: before and after photographs that people have submitted to Design*Sponge of refurbish or repurpose projects.
This is a project I’ve been inspired to undertake, from the “DIY” section, the rolling storage bench.
I found this crate at an antique mall, and couldn’t pass it up because it was marked with the location where whatever “goods” it originally transported were delivered: Crystal Springs, Miss. I decided to pass on the “rolling” part of the project; for now, at least, I think I’ll prefer a stationary bench. The previous owner already made “improvements” on this crate to make it functional — the lid has a hinge. So all I have to do is create a cushion for the top and I’ll have a rustic entryway or foot-of-the-bed storage bench.
