In addition to upcycling and crafting, I’m also really passionate about cooking. Blame my mom- she’s a pastry chef, so I inherited my kitchen genes from her. When I started planting my plot in our community garden in the spring, I came across a neat idea online for my herbs. Since herbs are more of a last-minute need for cooking, I didn’t want to have to walk or bike four blocks away to snip some parsley for my spaghetti, so I decided to make a simple contraption for growing my herbs right in my apartment. This project includes mason jars, pallet wood and organic herbs, so what’s not to love?

If you read my burlap curtain DIY post, you might have noticed that I had been doing some pretty heavy hinting toward a new project that I had started.

It took four months of measuring, ironing, painting, procrastinating and measuring, but I finally finished my new duvet cover.

One of the things I absolutely love about my new apartment is the gorgeous corner windows. My bedroom is always incredibly bright, I have a great view of University Avenue and the beautiful pink Emma’s building and I never have to turn my obnoxious tube lights on.

But- my windows came with blinds. Horrible, terrible, yellowing, hard to maneuver, tacky and gaudy blinds. Have I mentioned how much I hate blinds?

Luckily, the previous tenant had left a ton of curtain rods stashed in my closet, and the mounts already stuck into the cement walls around my windows.

I’m trying to keep a theme of vintage industrialized rustic (aka: Pinterest) going in my apartment, and I knew I wanted to throw in a touch of burlap. Ceiling-to-floor burlap curtains sounded wonderful, not to mention easy.