DIY Home & Office Craft Ideas

In today’s environment, we have a variety of digital resources for DIY projects within our reach. DIY projects help us be more resourceful and creative with materials lying around our home.

Old doors or windows can be used as parts of a new table or turned into a memo board. Jars can be used for organizing items in your drawers. Used paper can be recycled into something useful such as wrapping paper. The ideas for repurposing and space saving are endless. What’s even better about these projects is that you don’t need special tools or courses to create something new!

One great tip when it comes to home and office DIY projects is to use adhesives. The right adhesives help prevent corrosion and, seals out moisture. Adhesives also help gets the work done faster, leads to less clean up, and gives a cleaner finished look.  

Below are a few crafting ideas that use old items – and that you can make by yourself – with the use of adhesives, that can be done both at home and the working space.  

Whether you are working from home or at the office, your designated working space deserves the attention of decorating! One item that many of us have but maybe least expected to spruce up your area – a large mirror. A mirror is easy to combine or blend in with many other items within the home or office for a fresh look.

Some advantages of installing large mirrors are: 

• It reflects light from outside, helping you to save on overhead expenses.  
• A framed mirror with ornate carvings can turn your area into a beautiful focal point. A framed leaning mirror that is made of strong, sturdy wood is also a great accent piece to your space.  
• If space is not a problem, an oversized mirror can be used as a decorative and functional element. It makes the room look more spacious and gives a sophisticated, professional feel to your area. 

Now let’s move on to how to make your DIY aesthetic mirror. 

1. What you will need: 
2. One center appliqué 
3. Two corner appliqués 
4. One leaf appliqué 
5. Gold spray paint 
6. Mirror 
7. LePage Polyurethane Wood Glue 
8. Painters Tape or  Liquid H20 
9. Sanding block or paper 

Steps: 

1. Lightly sand your mirror where the appliqués will be. 
2. Apply Liquid H20 (or painters’ tape) to the mirror and allow it to dry for at least 30 minutes. 
3. Apply your LePage Polyurethane Wood Glue on appliqués and onto the pre-sanded areas of your mirror, then hold this in place with painter's tape. 
   • Allow it to dry for 24 hours. 
4. The last step is to spray paint the mirror, and watch your mirror instantly turn into a piece of art!  
   • Be sure to allow for at least 30 minutes of drying time, or until is the paint no longer wet to the touch 

Lean your finished mirror against the wall in your lobby, hang it up, or set it on a desk. You will feel your area has instantly changed! 

If you need more space saving ideas, you may want to mount your desks. You can use just about anything as materials to build an ideal desk setup, even without legs. 

For the tabletop, feel free to be as creative as you can when choosing what to reuse. You may repurpose an old door, a rectangular kitchen tabletop, or even a refrigerator door! 

Just a few reminders before you start: 

1. Make sure your chosen spots have strong walls. You may also have to put in anchors to hold the full weight of the material used as the tabletop. 
2. Before attaching your desk to the wall, make sure your legs and the chair have adequate space under the desk. 
3. Take note of the accessories/tools or office equipment that you will put on the desk. 
4. This setup may not be ideal when working long hours. 

Steps: 

1. Measure your space and your tabletop to make sure it fits in the area you want it. From there, attach cables to each side of the table.  
   • Make sure you find the durable type from a hardware store. 
   • Knowing the weight of your tabletop will help determine if your cables can support their weight. 
2. Attach the cables with screws and glue. Depending on the material of your tabletop, you can use either LePage Polyurethane Wood Glue or  LePage No More Nails® Heavy Duty. This extremely high tack adhesive reduces the need for bracing with nails and screws in any of your DIY glue projects and repair jobs and is repositionable for 15 minutes with a cure time of 12 hours.  
   • Make sure to ask someone to help hold the tabletop in position. This will help you identify where to install the cables into the wall. Also consider using wall-mount anchors for more durability and stability.  
3. To make sure that your new tabletop does not tip to the floor, you may want to add some brackets at the bottom of the base then screw them into the wall so that the tabletop stays in place. 

Your new desk can also be folded up when not in use! Just have the right anchors and cables to keep it in the upright position, and you are good to go. 

If you have no more space in your storage area, cupboards, or even drawers, why not float your shelves? 

What you will need: 

1. Shaped wooden shelves 
2. LePage Heavy Duty Spray Adhesive 
3. Acrylic paint  
4. Scrapbook paper  

Steps: 

1. Create a template of your chosen shape and cut paper into your shape 

Before you begin, choose two coordinating pieces of scrapbook paper and a matching paint color to use for your shelves. One of the paper designs will go on the inside back of your shelf; the other will go around the inside edges. Set the paper aside for the moment. 

Place your shelf down on your work surface with the flat back down. 

Cut out your scrapbook paper into the shape of your shelves. You may use thin paper taped to cover the front of the shelf, then make a tracing to use as a template with a pencil along the inside edge of the shelf. 

Now cut out the template along the outside lines and position it inside your shelf. Make any adjustments as needed with your cutter. Make sure the paper is fits closely inside. 

2. Attach your paper 

Place the template down on the scrapbook paper and cut out the shape. Now, your paper is ready to attach inside your shelf using LePage Heavy Duty Spray Adhesive.  

This spray adhesive is recommended for middleweight bonding wood, metal, acrylic, foam, fabric, polyethylene and polypropylene, PVC, paper, cardboard, leather, felt, carpet, corkboard, glass, foil, rubber and many plastics.  

3. Hang up the shelf 

When you’re ready, use the same spray to hang on your wall.  

Because LePage Heavy Duty Spray Adhesive is acid-free, it will not damage your photographs, does not bubble, and requires no reworking for a repositionable or permanent bond. Fast acting, this spray adhesive sets in just 10 minutes with full cure in 24 hours for invisible repairs and dries clear without yellowing with age. 

Your floating shelves are now aesthetically ready to store or display your items! 

A fillet bead is triangular in shape and should be applied to a specific dimension—3/8” wide, ¼” deep on both sides of the joint and 1/8” inch center depth.