Make your house a home by maintaining it and decorating it on a budget. Learn how to fix-it-yourself (or give up and get a good deal on a professional when necessary)!
Newspaper. Cut newspaper to the size of every frame you plan to hang on the wall. Then tape them where you think you want them on the wall. Take pictures, move, measure spacing, align, and review until you are happy with the groupings and look of the newspaper shapes on the wall. Then nail away! This saves a lot of heart ache and provides good results every time. I forgot to take photos of the newspaper when I hung these…
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The projector shelf was doing its job, but it was very plain. I added edging (leftover from our wood flooring install last year) that I spray painted white. This was the first time I had to cut 45 degree angles and it was a learning experience. It was really tough and I splintered the wood and scraped up the paint a lot. But I discovered that it was easily touched up with a bit of white out. Then I used…
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Sometimes it’s worth it to fix up an item rather than trashing it. When you’re able to use things longer, you naturally are able to buy fewer things. With clothes, bedding, and fabrics, that’s when a little hand sewing comes in “handy!” I am not a seamstress by any means. In fact, I’m not great at sewing in general. But it only takes a couple of hours to learn a few simple hand stitches. I know this because I took…
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I’m finally getting around to making this and I’m so excited! The projector has just been sitting on the back of our couch in the basement, and it is not stable at all. Our “couch” is made from old mattresses and box springs. The back is quite wobbly and any movement would make the movie projection jump all over. Not the best viewing experience. I bought a shelf from the hardware store, and we already had everything else we needed…
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The carpet in our basement was getting really gross. We keep the litter box down there and so litter was always getting into it, plus that’s where one of our cats likes to run to throw up. And his food is really good at staining. (He doesn’t throw up as often anymore now that we’ve got him on a special diet and hairball meds, but that’s a whole nother post.) So I decided that the carpet just had to go.…
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Ever since we replaced our cream colored carpeting for honey strand bamboo flooring, my husband has hated our white air vents. To him, they stick out like sore thumbs around the rooms. But at that time, we researched the price of new wood air vents-and we stopped looking. It was definitely cost prohibitive, and that was how we felt when I was still working. ($20-40 per air vent) So, in keeping with my plan to show my husband that we…
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My daughter is one of the luckiest people. I’ve never found a four leaf clover, but she has found at least five in her short seven years of life. We picked and dried a few of them to make into these beautiful lucky necklaces. I’d never tried making this kind of jewelry before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was quite easy! I plan on trying my hand at a few other plant inspired pieces now that…
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Our master bedroom has a wonderful huge window that is rounded at the top (uh, what’s this style called?) And I love it! For me, it is the main focal point of the room, working together with the bed. But for the longest time, we debated how to even put curtains up on this window because, in addition to the round top, the ceiling is also slanted on both sides. This makes it impossible to have a straight curtain rod…
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My gas company sent me a brochure in October with tips to prepare my home for the winter to help me spend less on the gas bill! I truly enjoy when my utility companies send me tips on how to save money by giving them less of it! Ha ha, it’s quite a deal, really. I often wonder if they do this because they want their customers to be more likely to be able to afford and, therefore, pay their…
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This is another way to keep your jewelry close at hand and easy to find, and display it in a fun fashion. Just put some tacks in a box photo frame, hang your necklaces on them, and hang the frame on the wall. Voila!
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