Our one year birthday! A look at our favorite geek DIY projects

Well, apparently in the midst of rental-house-hunting, moving, movie-making, jobs, and just life, we missed our 1-year blog birthday! Blogiversary! We’re planning some giveaways and new geek DIY projects to celebrate (once we’re unpacked from our move), but in the meantime, we wanted to share a look back at some of our favorite posts from the past year.

(see all of our DIY projects, here)

80 blog posts in, it’s been a fun first year (with our first blog), and we’re definitely learning as we go. Here are our personal top 12 favorite geek DIY projects, in no particular order:

1. DIY Wampa Head. Of course he’s on the list. He’s going in our new office, next to our wall-mounted zombie head and some other geek taxidermy projects we’ll share soon.
2. Han Solo in Carbonite DIY Cabinet Pulls. The first geek DIY project we posted! Almost exactly one year ago. They’ve made it through the year, but don’t fit anywhere in our new place – so we’re popping the bolt/nut out and gluing magnets in for the fridge.
3. DIY 8-Bit Fire. We’ve never even had a real fireplace (it’s a fake mantel we got on Craigslist and fixed up). To embrace the artificialness of the fake fireplace, we went with an easy $2 8-bit fire, inspired by Legend of Zelda. Because it’s dangerous to go alone.

4. Legend of Zelda 8-bit heart meter DIY wood headboard. We wanted a rustic wood headboard. But also wanted something that said “nerd love”. There you go.
5. DIY mid century modern dog bed (with a twist of Star Trek). We had NO idea this post would be so popular! From Apartment Therapy to Good Housekeeping to Bob Villa to a random French magazine, our dapper little dog still loves this bed. And our giant silly lab still tries to fit.
6. Tetris Shelves! One of our favorite subtle-geek projects. Kind of subtle, anyway. Right?

7. Easy DIY Portal lamp. One of the quickest geek DIY projects ever. Still going strong, it now hangs in our bathroom for extra overhead lighting.
8. Claptrap trash can! He’s our recycling bin now. And yes, we still can’t stop playing Borderlands 2.
9. DIY Geek Pillows (Batman, Legend of Zelda). They’ve even made it though the machine-wash test (delicate cycle cold, line dried).

10. Star Wars DIY Death Star Disco Ball. It took soooo long, but was very worth it for us. We’re going to be making some miniature versions for your geek holiday tree this year.
11. DIY D20 / huge D20 book ends. We’ve now made several of these as geek gifts for friends, and they always seem to be a hit.
12. Mario Piranha Plant DIY. More people need Mario Piranha plants in their yards. We did end up taking the black tape off (it was peeling) and just painting on the black border – plus we put on a protective clear coat spray, but besides that it’s still good as new. Keeps pesky plumbers out of the yard.

But now we feel bad for leaving out the 8-bit heart magnetic chalkboard, Death Star globe, TARDIS corkboard, geek welcome mats, baroque LEGO minifigure display frame, LOTR geek dishes, and all of the other geek DIY projects (we like to anthropomorphize. These projects have feelings, okay?). Honorable mentions?

Anyway. A huge thank you to our friends who’ve been with us all year, as well as the new friends we’ve made along the way. While we’re busy moving into our house and planning new projects, keep track of our progress (and works in progress) on Instagram. We’re also on Twitter & Pinterest, and occasionally Facebook & Tumblr.