CasaSugar

Love It or Hate It? Danny Seo's Beaded Hanger

CasaSugar — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:00:12 -0700

Danny Seo recently wrote that he's been getting his creative juices flowing in preparation for a new book. A recent crafty project was stringing vintage wooden beads onto a wire dry cleaner hanger. I think it's adorable, and seems like it might cause less wear on your clothes from the poking wire hanger. Do you love it, or do you pass?
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DIY: CB2 Ornament Wreath

CasaSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:00:21 -0800

The super stylists at CB2 DIY'd a stunning, colorful holiday wreath using ornaments from their holiday collection. The wreath can definitely be re-created with any standard ornaments, but I love the nontraditional colors and various shapes on this wreath. To make it, you'll need strong stiff wire to bend into a ring (like aluminum wire gauge 20 or a wire hanger), 30-90 ornaments depending on the size you want, strong tape or pliers, and ribbon. To check out the instructions, read more.

Here are the steps from CB2:

String one ornament at a time onto the wire ring, alternating colors, using smaller ones to fill in the gaps.
When the ring is completely covered in ornaments, fasten the ends together.
Use a ribbon to cover the spot where the ends are fastened together, and hang!

Tip: Best not to go too large in diameter as the wreath could become too heavy and stretch out.

Love It or Hate It? Oh Deer!

CasaSugar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:00:12 -0700

PBTeen's Oh Deer! ($129) is obviously marketed to the teen audience in this shot, but I think that with a little tweaking, it could look charming in an adult home. I especially love the idea of using this iron-wire sculpture as a hanger for scarves and hats in an entry. What do you think? Can it translate? Or are you just totally over mounted animal heads in general?

DIY: Hang Plates on a Wall

CasaSugar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:00:46 -0700

If you read my slideshow on how to decorate on the cheap with pretty plates, you might be feeling inspired to hang some in your own home. Before you get started, there are a few steps you should learn, so you don't wind up with shattered materials for a mosaic instead. While you can just hang a trio evenly spaced on a wall, you'll make more of a statement if you group them in a more unique arrangement. To learn how to hang plates, read more.

Lay a large piece of craft paper (or even tape a few pieces together) on the floor, the size of the space where you'd like to hang them.
Place around with the arrangement of the plates on the paper before you begin hanging them. Once you've settled on design, trace the plates onto the paper. If you want a more traditional look, go with a symmetrical arrangement. For something more eclectic, arrange them asymmetrically, in a flowing pattern or a cluster as shown here.
Leave a half a foot or so between the arrangement and the ceiling to give it visual balance.
Use your traced paper as a guide to mark the placement of each plate on the wall with a pencil.
Then, hang away! For a free-floating look, you can use these heavy-duty, peel-and-stick Disc Hangers, which are available in range of sizes. Or, you can use a traditional wire plate hanger, readily available at your local hardware store. In either case, you'll need to hammer a nail into the wall to hang it from, and remember to adjust your marks on the wall according to where the plate hanger's hook is.

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How-To: Organize Your Hangers

CasaSugar — Wed, 07 May 2008 07:45:43 -0700

Organizing your closet is not an easy feat, but one small change that'll rock your world visually and functionally is organizing your hangers. It also doesn't have to be a particularly expensive change, but it can be if you get picky and fancy. Since squeezing into your skinny jeans is already enough of a hassle, here are a few tips that'll expedite your daily-dressing ritual.

The Cardinal Rule: match your hangers. Matched hangers don't only create a closet that is aesthetically pleasing, but things will be equally spaced and therefore easier to find, and less likely to tangle, meaning fewer wrinkled clothes.
Use the appropriate hangers for your clothes. Use skirt hangers for skirts, pant hangers for pants, etc. Don't try to find a way around it like pinning your skirts to a pant hanger! Make sure your hangers are appropriately sized for your clothes; otherwise, they'll fall off and leave stretch/poke marks on your clothes. If you sport strappy tank tops, camisoles, or dresses, buy hangers that will actually hold them up (i.e. ones with hooks or slots). For silk tops that tend to slip off the hanger, buy fabric hangers or those with a rubber grip, so they stay hung up and not in a ball on your floor.

To hear more of these tips, read more.

Say no to rotating hooks and wire hangers. As much as you may enjoy saving money by using the hangers that come free from your dry cleaner, please return them to your cleaners and don't put them anywhere near your closet! These hangers are the source of most tangling between hooks which not only complicates things functionally but also just looks bad. The same goes for hangers with rotating hooks. You may think that rotating hooks help you hang your clothes in the right direction, but they really cause more problems than they solve. Just get in the habit of putting your clothes on their hangers the correct way in the first place.
Don't double up. Don't double (or triple) up with more than one item per hanger. This not only looks bad but it hides your clothes, so you don't even realize what's in your closet. The only exception I'd say to this is if you use a bar hanger to hold both the pants and blazer for a pantsuit (which men tend to do). Buy enough hangers for all of your clothes, and keep some extras in storage, and you'll be all set. If your closet is getting too packed, assess what really needs to be hung. Winter sweaters? No. Thick fabrics that don't wrinkle? Probably not.
Thick always beats thin. Plastic, fabric, and wooden hangers, which tend to be thicker, will keep your clothes spaced evenly and far enough apart so they don't wrinkle. Thicker hangers are also better because they simulate how your clothes would hang on your body, so they don't get out of shape.
Be consistent with pant and skirt hangers. You have a few options when it comes to pant and skirt hangers (i.e. clips, clamps for both, and also bars for pants). I prefer bars for pants because it cuts the length of your pants in half in your closet, so you have more room for storage below. Clips, which rotate, tend to tangle and leave indents on your clothes, but they also adjust for the width of your skirts/pants, which is good. Clamps, especially wooden ones, don't hold fabric as tightly, but they don't tangle as much, leave indents on your clothes, or need to be adjusted for clothing width. Choose which hanger type to use and stick with it.

Got any tips to add to this list? Comment below!
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DIY: Upcycled Clothespin Bag

CasaSugar — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:00:28 -0700

Spring breezes, combined with Spring cleaning, are perfect excuses for abandoning your dryer for a clothesline, don't you think? The windy weather provides quick drying, and clearing out closets while Spring cleaning has probably yielded an old dress and a few wire hangers. Don't toss or donate them quite yet. Save a hanger and a dress to make this cute clothespin bag. It's super easy to whip up on your sewing machine, or you could try a no-sew version of the bag using fabric glue.

For this DIY, you'll need a sleeveless dress, a wire hanger, scissors, thread, and a sewing machine. Or alternately, replace the thread and sewing machine with fabric glue.

For directions, read more.

Place the dress (turned inside-out) on a flat surface. Cut a straight line approximately four to six inches below the bottom of the arm opening.
Now, using your sewing machine (or fabric glue) sew up the arm holes and the line you just cut, while the dress is still inside out.
Flip your dress top right side out. Insert the wire hanger into the dress. Now, using either your sewing machine or your fabric glue, sew/glue a line under the shoulders of the hanger. This will hold your hanger in place on your dress.
Fill your new clothespin bag with clothespins, and hang it on the line.

DIY: Organic Fly Trap

CasaSugar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:00:13 -0700

If you don't feel like spending your endless Summer chasing flies around with a swatter, a fly trap may be more like it. I recently came across a DIY for making an organic fly trap, and since this season goes hand-in-hand with the little pests, I decided to summarize it for you. You should have most, if not all, of the supplies already in your home.

Supplies:

A two-liter soda bottle (used)
Sharp knife
A wire hanger
Match, lighter, or stove gas flame
Electric tape
Bait (like a small piece of meat or dog poo mixed with water!)

To hear the steps, read more.

Remove the bottle cap.
Cut through the bottle a third of the way down.
Place the bait in the base of the bottle (the bottom two-thirds).
Invert the top third of the bottle, and slide it into the base.
Tape the two pieces of the bottle together.
Bend some wire into a U shape (for hanging), with ends angled inwards.
Heat up the ends of the wire, and bore two holes into either side of the bottle by pressing with the hot wire.
Make sure the wire is securely hooked into the bottle.
Now, hang your fly trap and relish in fly-less, chemical-free bliss!

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Steal of the Day: Fred Flare Cloud Hangers

CasaSugar — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:00:30 -0800

These sweet Fred Flare Cloud Hangers ($4.99 for three), which are imported from Japan, have a silver lining: they're on sale! Stock up on a bunch before they float away. Even if you're having trouble fitting into your skinny jeans, you'll smile every time you open your closet. Pink, white, or blue will contribute a girly touch of color and shine light on the overcast of those horrid wire hangers you've been collecting from the dry cleaner. The sky's the limit on how much you can spoil your wardrobe . . .