Introducing: Best of DIY

By Kate Riley April 5, 2013

Hey everyone! Today I’m excited to announce a project that has been in the works for over a year. Long ago in the dark ages before Pinterest, I was bookmarking DIY tips and tutorials on my computer to keep track of all the cool ideas or helpful information I wanted to refer to in the future.

From time to time, I’d link to a few on the site, and those infrequent features led to regular series you all know as the Best of the Blogosphere. Problem was, as time went by, the features were getting buried under more recent posts, and I was getting way too many emails about projects featured in the past. Cue the necessity for a well cataloged library of all that amazingness! 

Now that Pinterest exists, I include many inspiring ideas in my DIY Inspiration board, but I wanted to create a library dedicated to home improvement and interior decorating ideas. Pinterest is great, but often research leads to a bad source or no source (grrrr), so I decided to gather up all my favorites in a reliable spot. 

Today I’d like to introduce you to the Best of DIY site – a place where I’ve gathered over 1,000 excellent tutorials and tips in one organized place. The categories range from home improvement to crafting to fabric projects and include outdoor ideas too. Drop down menus make searching by category easy.

best of diy site 

Here’s the best part – all of the galleries link to original sources which take you the right place in one click of your mouse – bookmark or Pin from the original source of brilliance as you please.

Some of the galleries are small for now (like Fall and Christmas Decorating), but as those holidays approach there will be plenty more ideas to browse – I’ll be sure to let you know when they’re packed with more inspiring blogger projects. Feel free to email us through the contact form to submit your projects for consideration to be featured, or if you know of an amazing DIY tip you’ve seen elsewhere, send it our way!

I have to give a great big shout out to my assistant in this endeavor – you all know Amanda who helps me scout the BOTB links. She has worked tirelessly behind the scenes for months to assist me in uploading all of this information. We’ve emailed back and forth and finally organized all of this DIY goodness in one place. Thank you Amanda, I couldn’t have done this without you!!!  

The new site is a really great resource and I see it as a way to continue to promote all of you – have fun exploring Best of DIY – I encourage you to come back often because we’ll be uploading a dozen or so links a week of the best ideas from around the web. The ‘Best of the Blogosphere’ series will continue, but now you know where to find all the goodies! 

Enjoy browsing the galleries – and have a great weekend!

.

.

70 comments

  1. What a job! This is an absolutely wonderful go-to for viewers. I hope the site helps many and if you have a way to track views/use (you must?) I hope it is a huge hit for all your efforts! SUPER idea–thanks!

  2. Oh I love you! I spray painted my brass chandelier and took the ugly glass cover thingamabobs off from around the light bulbs, we flipped the wiring so the lights pointed up instead of down, i was super excited about the transformation. I’ve been searching on how to make my own lampshade for it, i want one big one instead of little ones around each light and of course i can’t find that size in the stores. Enter Best of DIY. Your new website just so happens to have that tutorial for the custom lampshade!
    Love your blog by the way, I have recently “discovered” it and have been reading daily since.

  3. Just took a quick peek at the site and love it! Gotta go back and browse some more!

  4. {Clapping hands in delight} The cat’s finally out of the bag! Everything looks fantastic, and I just know this is going to be a wonderful resource for readers everywhere. It is such a pleasure to work with you! :)

    • Thanks Amanda, hard keeping this secret for so long but so happy it’s finally live, thank you!!!!!

  5. Yippee! How wonderful & what hard work that must have been. Here’s to both of you Kate & Amanda. Off to check it out.
    Kelly

  6. Just clicked over and browsed; the setup is awesome! So easy to navigate and get to where you want to go; talk about a ton of hard work! THANK you!!!

  7. What a great idea and wonderful resource!! I like that it is categorized, as sometimes that is hard with Pinterest…especially when they are bad sources. Can’t wait to dig into it!

  8. I just took a quick look at the new site and it is amazing! I’ll take a closer look when I’m not at work. ;) Also–thank you for mentioning specifically that the links take you to the original site/author. I recently read a (great) blog post about ppl “stealing” photos and how-tos without acknowledging the source, and even becoming mean when the original author requested they do so. So again, thanks!

  9. I think this is a fabulous idea. I have really gotten fed up with Pinterest because you can spend hours trying to track down the original source of something you like. Drives me nuts. Kudos to both you and Amanda for pulling all these creative ideas together in one place–love it! :)

  10. Congrats on the new site it’s great!
    Thanks for making it easy to find inspiration. :)

  11. Bless you! This is wonderful. I’m not into Pinterest, I prefer to just bookmark tutorials/ideas for future use and I find I’m constantly bookmarking stuff from Centsational Girl! (In fact, just yesterday, I sanded and spray painted my old patio set like you did and now it looks great!)

    Thanks for this huge undertaking, can’t wait to peruse it all!

  12. Thank you so very much for all of the hard work. The site is fabulous, wonderfully organized, and intuitive- but then again, I ex

  13. You are amazing! thanks for this. You are an inspiration and I love all your tutorials.

  14. Fantastic! THANK YOU KATE AND AMANDA! you ladies are creative geniuses and are “life savers”!

  15. Kate and Amanda, this is AWESOME. Pinterest, eat your heart out. Julie from Australia

  16. What a wonderful resource. Can’t wait to explore. Thank you Kate and Amanda.

  17. What I am in awe of is…..that u my dear Kate, have been a hidden diamond for years, and somewhere along the way you saw in yourself what God clearly planted there years ago. You not only embraced your own potential but were selfless enough to share it. U r an Inspiration to so many to simply “Believe” in the “Possibility”. Thank you Amanda and Kate for your tireless hours, but especially for your many selfless acts. It’s a prettier world because u share !

  18. What a fabulous idea! The site looks amazing and I can’t wait to dive into it! Thank you Amanda and Kate for all your hard work. This will be a terrific resource for those of us who just can’t seem to stop getting our hands dirty ;).

  19. AMAZING! Love this idea and the new site is beautiful. It’s so time-saving to have all these awesome DIYs in one place!

  20. Congratulations Kate – your new site is amazing! It’s going to be my new go-to referral source now!! Thanks to you and Amanda for all of your excellent work!

  21. Looking forward to this wonderful new resource. I did have a problem, however, with this site. I have tried to follow a link to the Barnwood Headboard with Lamp (under the Wood/Stain header) – and it appears to be an incorrect or outdated link. Just wanted to let you know so that it can be corrected. Thanks.

  22. Fabulous idea! I’m a soccer mom this morning, can’t wait to check it out later tonight. I can only imagine how much work went into this, and how thankful you are to have Amanda!

  23. This is wonderful. Way to go!!! Do you plan to add an email subscribe feature like the one you have on this website? I want to make sure I’m up to date on all the DIY fabulousness! Thanks!

    • Hi Shannon, there’s no need for a subscription button right now since there is no feed, but when we add that, you can subscribe via email or RSS – probably next month!
      Kate

  24. Hi. What happened to the link that allowed us to print your post without the ads and comments? It’s no longer there and I must say that me and my friends that all follow you had considered you the ultimate. Your blohgs are amazing. You give out every single piece of info from paint to name of paint to which direction to sand. We all print it out and take with us bc so many retail stores just don’t have wi-fi. Anyway you’d bring it back? Thanks Keggy and my krew:)

  25. Gracious! This new site is magnificent. Thank you both for your wonderful work. Bravo.

  26. Congrats on your new site! So proud of you, I love how you keep it organized, simple, and easy to understand or use. I’ll definitely visit this for me to have an idea what goodies I must buy for our home.

  27. The fact that I’m over the moon excited about this is a no-brainer, but the awe I feel at the undertaking this must have been is right up there too! Wow, just awesome. :)

  28. Thanks so much for doing this! I’ve added it to my home screen so I will remember to check it often.

  29. I think I just found my new favorite site. I’ve already lost an hour and a half over on Best of DIY… This could be bad-but oh-so-good, too! Thanks so much for putting it together! (That chevron wall idea! BRILLIANT!!)

  30. Amazed. UTTERLY AMAZED!!! This was/is such an impressive undertaking with brilliant results!!

    Thanks a million gajillion to you & Amanda for dreaming up & perfectly executing such a helpful, inspiring new site (and for including me, so humbled!!)!! You never cease to amaze me =]

Leave a comment!

Keep the conversation going! Your email address will not be published.*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Lately on Instagram (@centsationalstyle)