116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Iowa Made: Making things creative
Lindsay Eidahl, 38, of Cedar Rapids, might very well be the local queen of DIY. A busy wife and mom of two, Eidahl long has had a passion for creative, do-it-yourself projects - everything from giving a dresser a makeover to creating adorable country chic accessories for her home.
She started her blog, mycreativedays.com, in April 2013 as an additional outlet for her creative endeavors. The blog quickly took off and today she continues to inspire her thousands of followers with daily posts about her creative interest. Eidahl is an estate and garage sale maven, who just so happens to be coordinating a tag sale for her own neighborhood in the coming week. And Eidahl is most certainly not afraid to pick up a curbside rejected piece marked 'free” in order to transform it into a stunning, usable piece of furniture with a creative twist.
Q. So what is it that you make?
A. I do a lot of repurposed and upcycled projects and I love taking forgotten pieces and breathing life back into them. I use old wood to make new pieces, upcycle old things into new things and makeover every piece of furniture I can find.
Q. Why did you decide to start mycreativedays.com?
A. It was a little over two years ago when family and friends were telling me that I needed to get my creative ideas out into the world. I had read a couple of blogs and thought it might be a great platform to start sharing my projects. My blog journey has been a lot of fun and the most rewarding part is hearing from readers who have been inspired to makeover an old dresser they never liked or who are excited to decorate their home again.
Q. If you had only three words to describe what you do, what would they be?
A. Repurpose, renovate, DIY.
Q. Where do you find your inspiration?
A. Everywhere. I find a ton of inspiration in my favorite magazines and HGTV shows, but I can be inspired in a store, an old building or just by something I see at a yard sale that has tons of potential.
Q. What's the best part about being a crafty/creative person?
A. There is no right or wrong way to do it.
Q. Do you remember the first craft project you ever tried?
A. I have been doing these projects since my husband and I bought our first home. One of the first furniture makeovers I did was our dining room table. I did not like the finish it had, so I stripped the top and stained it a new color and painted the legs. We still have this table in our dining room.
Q. When you become rich and famous for your work, then what will you do?
A. I will continue what I am doing now, but would love to buy a big barn to create in and to expand what I am doing.
Get inspired
' Blog: www.mycreativedays.com
' Facebook: www.facebook.com/mycreative.days
' Instagram: instagram.com/mycreativedays
' Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/mycre8tivedays
Lindsay Eidahl
Lindsay created this fall mantel through a
She painted two faux pumpkins and topped them with a twine pumpkin.
This pumpkin stack was created using some faux pumpkins found in a store, painting them neutral colors, using antiquing wax. She used a glue gun to adhere them on top of each other, topping it with a twine pumping on top.
Lindsay created this DIY Barn Wood Wall Bin is one way of upcycling old pieces. She created it using a piece of red barn wood, wood scraps and old wood draw fronts with rusty hardware.
Lindsay created this DIY Garden Clock from a table found in her neighbor's dumpster. She first painted the wood table white. Then painted over that with brown and gray paint. She then painted numbers on it using her Cricut. The hands were created from some scrap wood and painted gray and distressed with sand paper.She envisions it on a side of a barn, garde or backdrop in a garden or landscaped yard.
Paint Bruch Santas are great holiday giveaways for the carpenter, DIYer or handy person. To make them she used wood handled paint brushes, paint, white pop-poms, twine and a hot glue gun.
Lindsay Eidahl photos Lindsay Eidahl created this fall decor by painting a faux pumpkin white and applying antiquing wax, wrapping twine using a hot glue gun and adding bronze polka dots. Finally she sculpted black pipe cleaners into the word fall and a spider that she glued to the pumpkin.
Lindsay Eidahl created this menu board using some plywood painted with chalkboard paint, a painted frame and teak wood costers found on clearance at a store.
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