Looking at all of the cool Pinterest crafts you have on your "DIY" board can get overwhelming. The great ideas you've pinned in a state of self-confident bliss suddenly seem like impossible feats when you're ready to buckle down and actually make them. Who comes up with this stuff? You think as you look at the 35-step "Quick and easy guide to reupholstering!"
There's good news, lazy DIY-ers: You can have your cake and put in no effort to make it, too. Here are eight truly easy DIY projects that require five steps or less, guaranteed:
1. Washi Tape Picture Frames
This is one of the easiest, coolest DIY crafts for apartment dwellers, since it serves the dual purpose of being wall-safe and incredibly simple. Use washi tape with fun decorations to adhere your pictures and posters to your wall.
You can even build a faux frame around the picture by adding extra strips of tape an inch or so away from the ones holding the pictures up. If you want to go the extra mile, you can actually use washi tape as wall decor in its own right - make geometric shapes on the wall for a cool effect.
2. Golden Touch
Give little around-the-house objects a touch of instant class with metallic gold spray paint. For a smooth look, plan to use multiple light coats instead of one heavy coat. Don't begin the spray on the object you're painting: Start the spray off to the side, and then move it over the object. This will prevent big splatters and drips. If gold's not your thing, you can use silver or looking glass spray paint instead.
3. String Art
The great thing about string art is that it looks about a thousand times more complicated than it actually is. To make this deceptively simple craft, hammer nails into a piece of wood in the shape you want your art to be. Silhouettes work nicely for this piece of decoration. Once all of the nails are in, tie a string to one and start zigzagging through the nails. If you use less string, your art will have a more translucent look - more string will make it bolder and more opaque.
4. Chalkboard Everything
It doesn't get much easier than this: To turn any surface into a chalkboard, simply paint it with chalkboard paint. The most complicated part of this process is waiting for it to dry - you'll want to let it sit three full days before you use it. Once you've waited, voila! You can use this to make a handy space for notes in your apartment, or just to have a fun, unexpected surface to draw on.
5. Veggie Stamps
Food: It's not just for eating. Strategically slice vegetables to make simple stamps you can use with paint or ink. Okra, for example, makes an adorable flower stamp when cut in half, and bell peppers work well as large flower stamps. If you're looking for a rustic-looking speckled pattern, roll an ear of corn in ink or paint and then roll it along the surface you're decorating. If you're feeling particularly ambitious, you can even carve a design into a sweet potato.
6. Fairy Lights
This project is a great way to take advantage of those mason jars you picked up at the thrift store because you "knew you'd find a use for them." Next time you're going to have an outdoor event at night, make cool jar fairy lights. Simply buy a pack of glow bracelets or necklaces, cut them open, and pour the contents inside a jar. Then close the jar, give it a good shake, and enjoy your mystical display.
7. Vinyl Decorative Bowl
Vinyl records are back in style, but that doesn't mean you have a use for all of the records sitting in your parents' basement. Don't let the vinyl no one listens to anymore go to waste: Make yourself a decorative bowl. Start with a vinyl record and an oven-safe bowl. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, and then place the bowl upside down on a cookie sheet. Center the record on top of the bowl, and bake the whole thing for 10 minutes. Take it out, and use oven mitts to shape the record around the bowl below it. Let it cool for a half an hour, and then use your bowl to hold any non-food items.
8. Pompom Push Pins
Pompom push pins are so simple that there's only one direction: Glue small pompoms to the flat part of a thumb tack. That's the whole craft. Technically you could add another step if you wanted to mention letting the glue dry, but the whole reason this craft shines is because it takes almost no work at all, but still gives you a super cute end product.
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