DIY Decorating: Part 3

Stabbed in the Block

If you’re even the slightest bit familiar with backdropmag.com, you might have recognized me as the girl who did the College Kitchen blog last year. Rest assured, dear fans, that College Kitchen will return full swing next week. Until then, however, I decided to do a few DIY projects that are kitchen-related to help satiate your hunger for all things food.

While engaged in one of my favorite pastimes—browsing the Internet for blog ideas—I came across a sales page for a knife block. But this wasn’t just any old knife block. It was the most creative knife block I’ve ever seen. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have a ton of kitchen knives. They don’t all fit into the wooden block that I have, so a lot of them wind up lying in a drawer with about a million other utensils; a disaster waiting to happen. So when I saw this knife block, I knew I’d found the solution to my problem. Instead of pre-made slots that don’t fit every knife, this block was an empty box filled with thin sticks. You can stick all your knives in the block any way you please, and they all fit! I was ready to click “order,” when I saw the price tag. Over $100 for a bunch of sticks! So, being who I am, I went straight to the thrift store to find a square vase deep enough to fit my longest knife (a nine-inch serrated bread knife, if you were wondering). I then grabbed a few packs of bamboo skewers (97 cents each at Walmart) and got to work. I did have to trim the skewers to fit the vase, which was a bit annoying. I would recommend getting the skewers first, then finding a vase long enough to accommodate them. But I finally finished it, and now all my knives are snuggled in to their safe new home.

But I wasn’t through with my kitchen yet by any means. I often make menus and grocery lists and put them on my fridge with magnets, but they’re usually just boring, flat magnets I get for free around town. So I decided to spice things up a bit by adding a personal touch. I’ve been collecting bottle caps for a few years, so I just grabbed some small round magnets from Staples and, armed with my trusty glue gun, glued the magnets into the caps. Viola! A fridge that boasts all my tastes (as terrible as they may be) is a pretty cool thing. It tells a bit of a story for me. I can look at my grocery list and remember crazy stories from the nights we were emptying those various six packs. Alternately, you can get small, flat thumbtacks and glue the caps onto those to use on your cork bulletin board.

Well folks, the week is almost up, but I’ve saved the coolest for last. Don’t forget to check in tomorrow to see what’s hanging (wink wink)!