A new room guide every day
Home decor ideas and DIY projects, room by room
Decorating guides for every room in the house, with the measurements and costs that decide whether an idea fits your space. Older guides are sorted by room under all topics.
Featured guides
10 Scandinavian Bathroom Ideas That Make a Small Bath Feel Lighter
If your small bath feels cramped, these scandinavian bathroom ideas add a pale oak vanity, full-width mirror and clear glass shower screen to open up the room.
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Newest guides
12 Boho Entryway Ideas for Busy Families With Kids and Pets
Twelve boho entryway ideas with hooks, a bench, and washable rugs for homes with kids, dogs, and muddy boots. You'll see how to set up each one step by step.
15 Mediterranean Kitchen Ideas for Backsplashes, Islands and Open Shelves
Your backsplash, island, or open shelves look flat? Browse 15 mediterranean kitchen ideas with warm tile options, island layouts, and shelf styling tips.
How to Pick Small Bathroom Paint Colors When the Room Has No Window
Without a window, paint looks different at night than at the store. Find which small bathroom paint colors keep their tone under bulbs and exhaust fans.
8 Cozy Living Room Window Seat Ideas for Rentals Where You Can't Drill
Renting with a window that begs for a seat but no drilling allowed? Here's a look at freestanding living room window seat ideas that you can take with you.
13 Warm Mid Century Modern Studio Apartment Ideas With No Walls to Hide Behind
Your studio has no walls to hide clutter, so this guide uses sofas, rugs, warm wood tones and low lamps to mark zones in a mid century modern studio apartment.
Brighten a Dim Dining Room With Art Deco Lighting, Layer by Layer
Skip the lone ceiling fixture. Layered art deco dining room lighting, with sconces and a pendant, makes the chrome, brass and fluted glass glow after dark.
14 Evergreen and Ribbon DIY Christmas Garland Ideas That Fill a Mantel
Your mantel garland should look full, not thin or sagging. These 14 diy christmas garland ideas mix evergreen and ribbon, with a shopping list for each.
11 Rustic DIY Christmas Planter Ideas for Front Porch Steps
Short on step space? These diy christmas planter ideas use low, heavy pots with evergreen, red twig dogwood, and pinecones that stay put in strong wind.
How to Clear a Cluttered Home Without Buying a Single Bin
Small apartment, no drilling, no new bins. Work through this declutter your home checklist to clear the hallway, doorway, and that wall full of leaning stuff.
15 Mid-Century Modern DIY Furniture Ideas for Small Apartment Living Rooms
Skip the bulky pieces. These 15 mid century modern DIY furniture ideas cover a sofa frame, TV stand, and fold-down dining table for a 12 by 14 foot room.
12 Minimalist Bathroom Ideas for Windowless Rooms
Windowless bathroom short on light? These minimalist bathroom ideas cover paint shades, mirror placement and hidden storage for a room with no daylight.
13 New Year Home Organization Ideas for Busy Households Starting Over in January
These 13 new year home organization ideas tackle entryways, pantries, and closets with steps you can finish in one afternoon, no full-weekend reset needed.
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Where to start in each room
Every room has its own page with all of its guides. If you only read two, start with the ones listed under each room.
Bedroom Ideas
Most bedroom posts deal with light after dark, the wall behind the bed and storage that keeps surfaces clear. Read these two if your bedroom still feels unfinished.
Living Room Ideas
Layouts that seat everyone and leave a clear path through the room, plus reading light and paint colors named by brand. Small living rooms of about 200 square feet get their own guide.
Kitchen & Dining
Hardware, lighting, open shelving and backsplashes that hold up to daily cooking, and dining rooms planned around the table and chairs. None of it needs a renovation.
Bathroom & Laundry
Storage, lighting and finishes for small rooms that steam up every day, and laundry layouts planned around the clearances the machines need.
Entryways & Home Offices
Entryway posts cover where keys, shoes and bags go by the door. Office posts start with the chair and the screen height, since you sit there for hours.
Small Spaces & Apartments
Studio layouts and furniture that does two jobs, plus changes you can undo when the lease ends. Each idea starts with the measurement that decides whether it fits.
Budget & DIY Decor
DIY posts list their tools, materials and price range, along with the safety steps that matter, such as testing old paint for lead before you sand it.
Free tools
Measure before you buy
A rug one size too small and curtains that stop short of the floor are both measuring mistakes. These six free calculators on homecraftblog.com take your room's measurements and give you the size to buy.
- Rug Size Calculator
The rug size for a seating group, a dining table, a bed or a hallway, with the floor left showing at every wall.
- Curtain Rod and Panel Size Calculator
Rod height, bracket-to-bracket span, panel width for the fullness you want, and the stock length to order.
- Wallpaper Roll Calculator
Rolls to order, counted wall by wall in whole drops, with the pattern repeat and match included.
- TV Mounting Height Calculator
Where the screen and the wall plate go, and the viewing angle you will live with.
- Ceiling Fan Size and Downrod Calculator
Blade span for the room, the wall clearance check, and the downrod that puts the blades at the right height.
- Bathroom Exhaust Fan CFM Calculator
The airflow rating to buy, by floor area for small rooms or by fixtures for large ones.
About this blog
What Home Craft Blog is for
Home Craft Blog helps you turn a decorating idea into a finished room. Most ideas start as a photo, and a photo won't tell you what size rug to buy, how high to hang the curtains, where the lamps go or what the room will cost. Each guide answers those questions, so you can plan the room before you spend money on it.
We write for people decorating real homes: rentals with rules about nails and paint, first apartments, busy family rooms and spaces that are smaller than the ones in the photos. Each guide follows the decisions in the order you make them, with the measurements and typical price ranges for each step, plus the mistakes that most often spoil the result.
A new guide is published every day, edited by Maya, the pen name of the blog’s owner. The easiest way to use the blog is to start with the room you want to change, save the ideas you like to a Pinterest board, and come back to the guide when you are ready to measure and shop.
More about Home Craft Blog →Save these for later
Follow along on Pinterest
Every new guide is pinned the day it goes up, so you can save the rooms you like to your own boards.