[Note: Today we'll be posting the top 20 Finalists in the 2008 D*S DIY Contest. Four finalists will be posted an hour from 9 am to 1pm. Once you've seen the top 20 click here to cast your vote. Details on today's voting process are right here]

1. Lauren and Joel’s Subscription Table
- Description: Lauren and Joel have a daily subscription to the San Francisco Chronicle and the old newspapers were starting to pile up. Instead of tossing them out they turned them into a side table using newspaper, tape, twine and a clear glass plate.

2. Matthew’s Homemade Coat Hooks
- Description: Matthew made his minimalist handmade hooks using a single H-shaped piece of hand cut steel. Bent around and squeezed by a desktop vice to form the hook shape, each steel hook provides 4 spaces for hanging coats, scarfs or whatever else takes your fancy.

3. Maya’s Kids Table and Chairs
- Description: Maya’s DIY child’s table and chair set is made from a contractor-grade cardboard tube. Using materials like cardboard, foam, fabric and a pizza pan, Maya created this set than can be broken down and partially recycled/reused (the cardboard and pizza pan) when outgrown.

4. Natasha’s Baby Doll Coat Rack
- Description: Natasha’s quirky coat rack made out of doll baby parts was inspired by an episode of “Dexter“. Using a $2 thrift store doll, Natasha took apart the pieces and mounted them onto a piece of wood that she sanded and painted.
54 Comments
All are so creative! Kudo’s to you all!
wow! great submissions!
these are all so fun! I can’t wait to see the whole group.
these are all great.
i really like the coat hooks.. looks like something from dwr…
the baby doll hands remind me of some expensive coat hooks i’ve seen with molds of adult hands.
i like the table if it were a bit more sturdy.. maybe a bigger flatter glass, and the child table and chairs is cool too, but i don’t have kids, so i guess that’s why it didn’t jump out at me as much! :)
holy sh*t.
Natasha you could be selling that coat rack – in fact I can see a whole range coming out of that.
oh my goodness! That babydoll coat rack is a must! Not only will I be borrowing that idea for my kids rooms (though it might spook them a little), if you even start making them, email me, I’ll sell them in my store!
Was Matthew’s Homemade Coat Hooks designed before or after this one:
http://www.habitat.co.uk/fcp/product/browse/Coat-hook/990580
???
All great ideas. I must say that I’m a little freaked out by the baby coat rack…especially considering that the inspiration was Dexter. Something about that is quite disturbing to me.
Love the creativity along with the mid-century modern chair!
Am I the only one completely creeped out by the disembodied baby doll coat rack!! (sorry!)
i love them all…really, we can only vote for one?
i love the concept of the newspaper table, but maybe shorter, fatter and with that great pizza pan top from maya’s entry
I’d go with Maya’s kids table and chairs!
Tea party must!
I think that there are 2 no 7!?
I love the baby doll coat rack, it has a lot of personality. I’d buy one.
Does anyone know if those outdoor scones are still available at home depot? I love them.
I am so NOT loving that baby doll coat rack. Let’s see . . . there must be something clever to do with the leftover head and torso.
Love the clean + modern, Eames styling of Maya’s table and chair set for kids. So affordable. It rocks! I’m thinking playdate pizza party!
i love natasha’s baby doll coat rack! brilliant idea!!
I love the baby doll coat rack, I love that it makes you do a double take…and go, “Huh?” It makes you feel a little uncomfortable and awkward, that’s why it’s great!!
I’d buy one for sure!
i’m a coat rack fan, too – spooky in a very good way! reminds me of margaux lange’s “plastic body series” jewelry made with disembodied barbie parts. and of the random mannequin leg that lived on our fire escape (i’d decorate it for holidays – fishnets for halloween, lights for christmas, and so on) until my mean super confiscated it. lovely work, everyone!
At first I thought the doll coat rack was creepy… but I keep coming back to it laughing. It’s starting to grow on me, As long as the hands and feet don’t move :-)
Lauren and Joel, what a cleaver idea!!! Also, where did you get those pillows on your couch?
I would love to know how the doll parts are attached? Great and whimsey design.
Love Maya’s table and chairs, so cleverly designed. The idea of a top made from a pizza
tray was ingenious. Such clean lines, fabric print was a perfect choice! Really does look like an Eames design as stated by
someone named Nancy.
I love the kids tables and chairs. They’re totally awesome and the recycled aspect is another bonus.
I really love the newspaper table! It’s so simple and wonderful.
Maya’s design is adorable and very unique, but then – so is she!
I really like Lauren and Joel’s Subscription Table…My dogs would love it and so would my 3 toes!!!!
Natasha’s baby doll coat rack is hands down(no pun intended) the most genius design I’ve seen! If you do not get the humor and are actually creeped out about what gave her the idea, then you should really ask yourself, “am I truly an artist?…Do I actually understand the fact that any artist that ever meant anything in the world struggled with that fact that people just don’t “get it?” Seriously…Do you really think Natasha is going to go out slicing and dicing people because she had an idea to make a coat rack?…That’s just plain silly!.. Now, I think it’s time you put on your black turtle neck, grab your cloves, go to an art show and talk a bunch of crap about the meaning of the work you’re looking at…even tho YOU and no one else besides the artist have a clue of what really went through their head when they created something…Basically, everything you know is wrong… At least it’s original…We need some originality in this bleak and boring culture we live in…I’ll let this one slide…this time. ha ha
How did you choose what got in and what didn’t?
Thanks, JuliaL. Glad you like our table! Our pillows were all bargain finds from a festival in Seattle back when we lived there a few years ago.
To Jet Jones — that Sid kid musta been a “real artist,” then:
http://eschenck.typepad.com/ernie_schenck_calls_this_/images/sid_toy_story.jpg
Big fan of Dexter so I’m seriously in love with the baby doll coat rack. Delightfully macabre.
Love 4. Natasha’s Baby Doll Coat Rack. It gets my vote. I too see the correlation to Margaux Lange’s barbie part work, also to the seller of ‘baby doll hand soap’ (super great, in my wishlist, but the artist’s name slips my mind) that I’ve seen on Etsy.
I also really apprecited the lace bowl, the forest wall mural and the jewelry cabinet.
All quite lovely.
Zina…FYI: Buzz Lightyear and Woody aren’t real. Sorry to break that to you.
Pass the teapot! I would love to have a tea party sitting at Maya’s beautiful table and chairs. Their elegance and clean, modern lines, combined with the warm, colorful fabric are fantastic.
natasha’s baby doll coat rack is so simple yet speaks volumes! that was definitely the only project that made me do a double take, and i definitely appreciate that fact! it is just too cool for school, i can see a whole line of items coming out of this one! great job =)
Alice, are you saying that Sid can’t be a great artist unless he finds a way to escape his cartoon existence? I think a lot of would-be artists feel that way.
I’ve seen exhibited art made from doll parts before that I thought worked really well, but on the whole I don’t usually have a strong affinity for playful dismemberment in decorative objects. (Not that I really have very strong feelings about the doll-parts coat rack, one way or the other. )
I absolutely LOVE Maya’s table and chair set…the colors and design would go in almost any decor..and it looks so fun and child friendly. What a genius idea to have the top out of a pizza pan~so creative and functional!!!
I love Natasha’s baby doll coat rack, wonderful.
Zina: I don’t really get what you’re trying to ask or say in the first part there, but I think Sid was actually a very creative fella…
Natasha’s baby doll coat rack is pure genius!!! Art in its rawest form. Reading the discription of her work I’m glad it didn’t cost her and arm and a leg to make it!!
My favorite is Lauren and Joel’s subscription side table– it’s unique and customizable (you can use your own city’s newspaper, and choose to show the part of the paper you like most) and i think the coolest part about it is that you can make it using ONLY things that you have around the house. Who doesn’t have old newspapers and a glass plate lying around? Awesome.
Natasha’s baby doll coat rack is simply genius. I’d buy it.
I love the subscription table. Would be great to have a pair of them. Great, green idea. I’d buy two.
This would be GREAT… in the foyer…of THE ADAMS FAMILY house!
I like Lauren and Joel’s subscription side table. Great way to recycle old newspapers!
Maya’s Kids Table and Chairs get my vote!!!
Lauren and Joel, Love the subscription table…. Not limited to a specific age of people, could be used in ANY room, with ANY decor…
great idea
Love Joel and Lauren’s subscription table. Great way to reuse!
what a fun coat rack! Natasha, i think you should look into getting them produced.
Cute coat rack though I have seen similar.
I just had to make a small comment to the kids table a chairs! – Love them by the way ;-)
My mom made some similair for my dollhouse when I was at litle girl, she simply used the cardboard roll inside the toiletpaper, cut it out and paintet it – perfekt for my dolls.
Sorry my english is not perfect, hope you understand though…
I’d buy it.
Love the macabre coat rack!! Bit eerie but brilliant idea.
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