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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign. 

​As part of the Home Depot ProSpective campaign, we get sent some neat tools to try out. One of those tools this quarter is the Makita Brushless Cordless Blower kit. As soon as we opened the box, we wanted to see how this blower stacked up to our current 18v cordless blower. This fall was a perfect time to test it out, as I get a huge amount of pine straw in my front yard and normally have to use a rake to clean it up.

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​The A-frame 2X4 Christmas tree we made for 2017 was designed to come apart and fold for easy storage. With the exception of the concrete base, the tree came apart and easily stored as expected. Because of the weight and size of the base, we knew we didn’t want to try to store it, but wanted a way to use it throughout the year making storage unnecessary.

We designed a PVC (plumbing pipe) stand that utilizes the base to serve as a garden flag holder! People, at least in the south, enjoy displaying and changing out garden flags to match the season. Although the base is heavy, it’s not so heavy that it can’t be moved around to where you want it. You could even pop it into the car and reassemble it at your next tailgate and hang your team colors from it! 

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign. THD provided the Dremel tools used in this project.

​Steph has been using the same coffee table/bench since her college days. We bought the faux leather clad bench for her dorm room from Target back in the day. It held up so well that when she moved to her home four years ago it moved with her to serve as her coffee table. It was starting to look a little ragged so she really needed to retire it but didn’t want to give up the storage it provided.

She came up with an idea to make a coffee table starting with a bookcase. She had specific requirements for it including portability (it needed to be on wheels) and it needed to have covered storage. 

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Until recently, there were no hard surfaces near Steph's couch to set snacks and beverages. We had seen this idea for a flexible hard surface on Pinterest and decided to give it a try! 

Be sure to watch the video, it's really short, but it gives you the entire run down on how to make one. It can be customized to whatever size you need.

The front of my house faces east so it gets a lot of direct sunlight. The door had faded to the point that it needed new paint so we decided to give it a new coat of paint. 

Once the door was finished it was apparent that the lock and handset were looking a little dull and worn. We discussed several options and decided that we should look into installing a smart lock. We talked with The Home Depot and they offered to send us a lock and handset to try out in the brand and style we wanted!

My husband uses the front door 99% of the time. He usually has his hands full making it hard to use the key without having to set things down. With the smart lock, all he has to do is tap the code into the screen (or use his iPhone) and the door opens. Easy Peasy! 

The install was a breeze and went without a hitch. Take a look at the process. 

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There is nothing more annoying than decorating with Christmas lights and then having to plug them in to turn them on! I’ve had an outlet switch for years that I keep just to control the lights on my tree. All the lights are plugged in end to end and then the last one is plugged into the switch which is plugged into the outlet. I can toggle it on and off to control the lights. 

That’s a very low tech way to control the lights but these days there are so many ways to control those lights. There are so many options from low to high tech!

Take a look at some of the ways to control your holiday lighting. 

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign. THD provided the Diablo Hole Saw used in this post.

We've designed and created alternative Christmas trees for the last couple of years as we like the look and the creative challenge. We set out to create something new for Steph's house. I don't remember if Steph had an idea, but if she did, I ignored it and lobbied for MY idea.

A few years ago I saw a basic wood tree in a mall window display. It had shelves for merchandise but it was basically a tall skinny wood triangle. We decided to create our own version of the display tree.

Ours would have no shelves and would be supported by a concrete base. I really liked the concrete bases we made for Steph's nightstand and thought it would be a great idea to hold the tree up. Also, we designed the tree so that it could easily be taken apart for storage. 

​Take a look at how it all came together!

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This post is sponsored by Bayshore Mailbox Company.

There are some things in your home that you don’t notice that need attention until one day you look, really look, and see what a mess it really is. Steph’s mailbox was one of those things. The dirt, rust, and dangling mailbox door had all become ‘white noise’ that hadn’t been obvious until June when we painted the outside of the house. After that it was quite apparent that the mailbox was looking really sad and needed a little help.

She has one of those metal boxes that is securely imbedded into a concrete/brick mailbox. She started searching for a way to replace it and happened upon the family owned, Florida based BayShore mailbox company. What makes their product unique is you retrofit the existing mailbox so you don’t have to remove the old one. She was intrigued and reached out to the company to see if we could partner with them to showcase their unique and very easy DIY product for homeowners. 

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Living in Florida, professional pest control service is a must. We have ALL the bugs and critters in Florida! My friend, Roger, of Rock Solid Termite and Pest Control has been my "bug man" for over 25 years. He comes once a year and takes care of all things creepy and crawly! 

When it was time for this year's annual service, we asked him if he would be willing to talk about pest control service for Mother Daughter Projects. He agreed and we asked him a whole bunch of questions resulting in three different videos!

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This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign.

Right after The Home Depot's gift center went up, we got a tour from our local store manager. We enjoyed seeing all the tools and accessories for the holiday season, and also really enjoyed getting to spend time with the manager. He showed us around the gift center, opened a couple of products for us to test out and shared a little history about The Home Depot and his journey with the company. It was obvious he cares about the company and most especially, his Home Depot colleagues!

When you head into your local Home Depot you'll find the gift center near the front entrance--it's not hard to spot. There you will find tons of tool deals and accessories. Check out the front aisles as you'll find some fun stuff there as well. 

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This post sponsored by Diablo Tools.

In April 2017, we were introduced to a new product that just blew us away! Of all the tools and accessories that we saw at the event, this was the one that had us wanting to try it ourselves. That product was sandpaper from Diablo called SandNet. 

I guess what surprised us the most was Diablo took a very low tech product--sandpaper--tweaked it and vastly improved the life and function of it. Who knew sandpaper could be improved?!

We were thrilled when Diablo asked us to partner with them to demonstrate SandNet. It was easy to say yes as SandNet has truly become our 'go to' sandpaper of choice. 

We needed the perfect project that would showcase it's ability to be more efficient and last longer than what most of us are used to using. A recent yard sale find of a piece of live edge cedar proved to be the perfect piece of wood. We decided to make a sofa table for Steph's house with it. 

Read on to see how we put the table together!

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This month we were challenged by some of our blogger friends to create a gift that could be completed in 30 minutes or left. (Links to the other participants can be found at the end of the post.) The "Half-Hour Holiday Challenge" really had me thinking about how to make something simple enough to be completed in a short amount of time but still be useful and gift worthy.

​As an attender at the Haven blogging conference, we were given several sheets of M-D Decorative Aluminum Panels. They have many different styles but when we saw the one below, with it's symmetrical design, we thought it could be used to cover a mason jar and cut to fit the center ring to serve as a "frog" for making a simple flower arrangement for gift giving. 

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After we finished the pallet peel and stick headboard, Steph surveyed her room and thought, "it just doesn't look finished! I know what it needs, curtains!" She shared her idea and I was on board. After thinking about it overnight, I came up with an idea using wood dowels and metal pipe caps. 

She started working on the project with her ideas and mine and it came together as planned! Also, a few weeks prior, we were given a sample of Eclipse Block Out panels to try out. When we got them we didn't know where we were going to use them, but realized the color and length would be perfect for her bedroom! 

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At a conference this past summer we were introduced to a new product from the Aspect Tile Company--a peel and stick pallet tile! We were already familiar with their peel and stick stone tile as we had used it to tile Steph's kitchen backsplash. That was a really successful project so we knew working with the new wood tile would produce good results as well. 

Each workshop attendee got 30 sq ft of the tile of their choice- and we had to go with the wood! We tossed around several ideas as to what to do with the wood tile but ultimately decided to make a headboard for Steph's bed. 

The tile can be stuck to the wall, but we wanted to be able to remove the headboard when she decides to move, so we built a frame on which to attach the tile. 

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After the completion of our first EL Wire project we were hooked on the unique lights and wanted to use them in additional projects. When Apple announced their new phones would have wireless charging capabilities, we knew we had found our newest project! We could combine this new technology into a table with EL Wire lighting. 

We decided to make two end tables for Steph’s bedroom, one with the charger and one with the EL Wire only. Take a look at how it all came together.