Creative Living For a Joy-filled Home

Practice creativity in your everyday moments — from DIY projects to seasonal tablescapes to joy-filled celebrations

Explore + Discover

A place setting with pastel pink plates, a white bowl, and a folded name card reading “Victoria,” decorated with small white flowers and sprigs of lavender. The table has a soft, elegant, spring-like appearance.A person arranges small white flowers into a peach-colored place card labeled "Victoria," using tweezers. Another card labeled "Jennifer" is visible in the background on a light wooden surface.

DIY + Crafts

A hand uses a flat tool to scrape white paint onto brown paper, creating a pattern of vertical lines that resemble birch tree trunks.A framed black and white artwork of birch trees sits on a black shelf next to a blue and white vase with green leaves and berries, and a framed photograph.

Seasonal

A books on a shelf.An open book with a blue bookend sits beside a closed book, a green teapot, and a small succulent on a light surface—perfect for styling alongside floating bookshelves.

Home Decor + Styling

herbs in vintage cocktail shakers with a recipe for mojitos and bottles and limes on a bar cartmodern landscape lighting including uplit trees and strings lights

Outdoor Living

DIY + Crafts

Two place cards with bunny drawings and gray felt ears stand on a wooden table. One card reads "Michele." Plates and terracotta pots are in the background.A pair of hands gently holds a carved wooden heart with a marbled pattern on one side, against a softly blurred background of tile and blue surfaces.
Three lit candles with floral and striped designs are placed in green glass holders on a table, with a soft-focus background featuring a painting and a red pillow. Pink decorative berries lie on the table.
A bright room with a window covered by sheer white curtains, a desk with papers and a lamp on the left, potted plants on the desk and floor, and framed artwork partially visible on the right wall.A decorative tray with a potted green plant, a stone, and a candle sits on a countertop. In the background, rolled towels are arranged in a metal basket.

Thoughtful DIY projects and elevated crafts designed to be both approachable and meaningful.
This is where hands-on creativity meets everyday life — from beginner-friendly projects to thrifted transformations and beautiful details made by hand

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Project Type

Five magazine covers are displayed under the heading "Featured In," including Country Living, Christmas Ideas, Handmade Sewing, Holiday Crafts, and Food & Wine, each highlighting DIY home decor and creative living ideas for festive decorations and crafts.

Most Recent Posts

A smiling woman with gray hair and glasses, wearing a denim jacket, stands by an open mailbox decorated with blue and white balloons and festive shredded paper. She gestures toward the mailbox contents outdoors.

Creative’s Toolkit

Let’s Make Your Next Project Easier

(with more confidence and fewer do-overs)

With my free Creative’s Toolkit, you’ll get
4 printable cheat sheets and checklists
designed to help your projects go more smoothly
— especially if you’ve ever thought, “I’m just not very crafty.”

smiling woman wearing safety glasses cutting a wide shelf with a sliding miter saw


Creativity doesn’t have to be complicated.

Hi there, I’m Diane — a practical creative who loves figuring things out.

South House Designs is where approachable creative projects come together with smart problem-solving and real-life solutions, so you can make things that actually work and look good in your home.

We focus on progress over perfection, working with what you have, and finding simple solutions that make life feel a little easier — and a lot more joyful.

(And yes, I do tend to fuss over the details from time to time.)

[Meet Diane →