Delightful DIYs
Meet three Spokane women whose home design Instagram feeds inspire devoted followers
Household do-it-yourself projects — big or small — can seem daunting. So much so that it often appears safer, and tidier, and just plain easier not to do anything at all, or, if necessary, to hire someone else to do it for you.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Three Spokane women who share their do-it-yourself triumphs — and struggles — with devoted Instagram followers are proving that with a little elbow grease, lots of paint, and a healthy dose of patience and thriftiness, dramatic transformations are possible, even on a budget.
@livingwithlady
When the Morscheck family of five moved into their Five Mile home five years ago, Shannon Morscheck was eager to start transforming it into a space that felt like theirs.
Armed with her most trusty DIY tool — paint — a creative vision and determination to do as much of it themselves as they could on a budget, the Morscheck family’s traditional-style, six-bedroom home is now almost aesthetically unrecognizable from the day they moved in.
Morscheck shares exactly how she does it all on her Instagram account @livingwithlady, which has more than 21,800 followers, as well as her lifestyle blog, livingwithlady.com.
“When we moved into this home, I wanted to make it feel ours, but I didn’t want to just fill it full of stuff,” Morscheck says. “I wanted it to be things that I loved, and wanted to get the look for less, and that resulted in doing projects ourselves and learning how to do them.”
@indie.boho.nest
Until about 10 months ago, Gianna Caputo could only do so much DIYing in the rental she and her husband Mark Braun lived in before purchasing their first home, a 1954 rancher on the border of the Shadle Park and Indian Trail neighborhoods in North Spokane.
She could paint and decorate and hang curtains, but that was about it. In the new home, however, the DIY possibilities for the self-taught interior designer and home stager are now endless. The first thing that she had to change? Paint colors, of course.
When the couple bought it, the midcentury home’s interior was stiflingly dark, with lots of deep burgundy paint — including on the brick fireplace — emerald green countertops and dark wood finishes throughout. Painting the entire house a clean, neutral palette of white gave Caputo a fresh canvas for her Scandanavian, boho and midcentury inspired decor style that fills each room. Many of these transformations are featured as striking before-and-after photos on her Instagram, @indie.boho.nest.
Through frequent posts shared with her more than 2,700 followers, Caputo documents her DIY journey and offers decorating tips using the cozy, textural and sunlit spaces of her home as an example.
@themindfulhaven
Decorating and DIY-ing is Danielle Loft’s zen mode. The mother of three young boys uses her Mead-area home as a constant creative outlet, whether that’s renovating a definitely outdated basement bathroom for around $400 or repainting thrifted furniture she found on Craigslist.
“My therapy for balancing motherhood is projects and crafting and anything DIY,” Loft says. “I just hung hanging planters last night and it made my whole mood better. Some people like to read a book or take a bath or buy new shoes, and I like to make stuff and make things pretty.”
Loft shares her creative pursuits, DIY tutorials and snippets of family life on Instagram as @themindfulhaven. She and her husband Ryan purchased their 1985 home in the Fairwood development in Mead four years ago, and knew making it their own would be a continuing process. Nothing had been updated since it was built.
“Every square inch of this house I painted myself. Every room needed the carpet ripped out, wallpaper torn down and walls retextured,” Loft recalls.
Besides adding a fresh coat of paint whenever possible, Loft’s go-to strategy is shopping at thrift shops and garage sales, and scouring Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for cheap furniture and decor pieces with hidden potential.