Budget Decorating and Updating

This week I was not actually able to get out and garage sale. My ward (church group) put on something they called Especially for Adults Saturday morning. They had a bunch of workshops we could go to and I was teaching one of them. My class was called Budget Decorating and Updating and I have put it in a post so that I can teach all of you!!!

Here is your new moto and one I have adopted from another blogger. (I can't remember who's blog I read this on! If it's yours let me know!)

Reuse, Refinish, Repurpose!

Do your best to use what you have! It's AMAZING what a new coat of paint will do!

Paint old decor you no longer use to give it a new look. 

I bought all three of these square wooden frames at a garage for $1 thats like $35 cents a piece! 

I painted them white, sanded them down a bit and glazed them with a gray glaze. Click here for that tutorial

I used this in my Valentine decor on my mantle. Click here for that post

Refinish an old piece of furniture instead of buying furniture. 

This set of dressers was bought at a garage sale for $15 dollars! With a new coat of paint and some scrap book paper it now looks like this! (I found the paint I used to revamp these dressers at the Re-Store and only paid $1.50 for the whole can!

Click here for that tutorial!

Spray Paint Revolution

Here is what you need to know about spray paint. 

-If your doing a large piece of furniture spray paint can actually be more expensive!

-If your painting a bedroom set it is going to be cheaper to buy a $15 dollar quart of liquid paint. 

-a quart of paint will easily paint a headboard and footboard, two night stands and a dresser.
-using spray paint also limits the colors you can choose from.

-I only use spray paint when I am dealing with something that is not wood or has lots of details that would otherwise take me hours to paint by hand.

-If your doing a small project you might also be able to get away with buying a $3 dollar paint sample. I used one $3 dollar paint sample on my DIY Towel Rack project! and had left overs. 

-I just had a friend that redid her son's bedroom set. She used 18 cans of spray paint! and thats not including all the cans of primer! A quart of liquid paint would have been much cheaper.

-I do not use a paint brush to paint! Using foam rollers like these will help you to get the professional finish you want.

-You will also want to put a protective finish coat over the top of your paint. This is something that I have been trying to figure out for a while. Don't use a polyurathane! This will yellow over time and leave yellow streaks. I was just reading on All Things Thrifty and she suggests a Polyacrylic.

Where to get cheap paint

If your flexible about your paint color buy paint from garage sales,  your local Re-store Habitat for Humanity store, or the oops paint from paint stores.  Our local landfill also has a program where you can take your old paint in and exchange it out for other people's old paint they don't want anymore. Check to see if your town has a similar program. 

If you need a specific paint color, Ace Hardware runs a free can of paint day every once in a while. However, I don't believe they will be running any more free can of paint days till next year.

 - If your painting walls you will probably be a little more picky on the color of your paint. Check prices at some of the paint stores around you. Sometimes paint is actually cheaper at these stores such as Sherwin Williams and it covers better so you use less!

8 things you didn't know you could paint.
I actually pulled this off of the DIY networks website.

Glass Jars
There are SO many ways glass can be painted!

You can simple spray paint them

Pour paint on the inside and roll it around 

Or you can tint your glass using a glass paint that's fairly cheap at Michael's or even a mixture of mod podge and food coloring coating the inside of your jar. 

Fabric

This is one I am wanting to try. I love her before and after, such and amazing difference

Kristy from Hyphen Interiors used a mixture of water, fabric medium and latex paint to give this old wingback chair a facelift. After the fabric was painted, she hit the wood legs with a couple coats of glossy white for glam modern look.

Curtains

Nancy from Owen's Olivia turned plain white Ikea curtains into works of art by using four shades of paint, a few rolls of painter's tape and a lot of patience. The results are stunning, as the multi-tone chevrons look like high-end designer window treatments.

I also just watched a Nate Burkas episode where they took a drop cloth they bought at Lowes or Home Depot for $20 and made them into curtains and then embellished them with paint. GENIUS! You get exactly what you want!

Dried of Silk Flowers

Seriously?! I wish I would have seen this before I did my brother's wedding!!! I used white flowers because we were having a difficult time find flowers in the right colors! If I had seen this before I would have been painting up a storm!

Camilla Fabbri from Family Chic found the best way to preserve spent hydrangeas is to hit them with a coat of spray paint. The deep indigo she used on these makes for a striking centerpiece.

Carpet 
This is so smart. Rugs are so dang expensive! I am going to buy the next low-pile carpet remnant I see at a garage sale and give this a try!

Yes, you can paint carpet. Cover pesky stains by creating stripes or custom patterns. Here, Joanne Palmisano turned a low-pile carpet remnant into a beautiful area rug.

Counter tops and Appliances

Here is another I am really wanting to give a try!

Can't afford a kitchen makeover? Paint it! Thomas' Liquid Stainless Steel can be used on appliances, faucets and countertops. The water-based resin is stainless steel in liquid form, and it provides a brushed-stainless look that is as durable as an automotive-grade finish.

Cutlery


I will be honest, I was not a fan of this at first. I thought "why would anyone do that, who cares that much?!" BUT now I see the light! I love all these pictures I found on Pinterest!

And finally the 8th thing you didn't know you could paint is
Toys

I again was not a fan of this. Why would I hang painted dinosaurs on my son's wall? Maybe it's just a boys thing that I wouldn't understand because I don't have a boy but again I jumped on Pinterest and found some other great photographs

Loveing these ideas!

Repurposed Items

Think out of the box. Before you chuck something out think, Can I use this in a different way to make it useful? Spray painting the toys to use as decor is a great example of repurposing an item. Here are some other great examples I found on Indulgy.com

 Here is an old ladder used as a book shelf

 I love anything that is reused and made into a light fixture!

I love all the ways you can use old chairs! 

Old suit case made into a seat. LOVE!

Here are a few of my own project that I have repurposed

DIY Chandelier

 From lamp shades bought at D.I. to a pink and teal ruffled chandelier for my daughters room.

DIY Cake Platter

From a candel holder and a plate bought at D.I. to a spray painted cake platter for Paisley's birthday pictures!

From a twin head board found at a garage sale for $3 dollars to a  front porch bench.

Tutorial coming! Click here for my Front porch makeover.

If you can not reuse, refinish repurpose then Garage sale, head to second hand stores! 

My entire house is decorated with items I have found at garage sales! Take a look.

Wall Collage

This is the wall collage I have on my wall above my table. Click here to see how much I spent on each individual item.

The entire wall cost be about $100 dollars and 75% of that was spent on the clock and vintage frame on the top right corner!

Shelbie's Decorative Shelves 

The total cost of everything on Shelbie's shelves is $17.25! Click here to see how much each item cost!

Fire Place Mantel 

This is my fireplace mantel in my living room. I found this fireplace at a garage sale for $75 dollars. The sconces on either side I bought at a garage sale for $15 dollars a piece and the Mirror sitting on the mantel was found at a garage sale for $17! 

UPDATING

Updating your house on a budget can be hard to do but if you have the right resources this can be easy,  cost effective and help you increase the value of your home! 

 Kitchen's and Bathrooms are what sells a house. Updating your kitchen with a new coat of paint and hardware can be an inexpensive update. Take a look at my kitchen renovation.

Before:

After: 

 Rockler.com is a great website for buying handles. I have a friend that orders from here all the time and says it's much cheaper than buying them from Lowes or Home Depot.


Lighting Fixtures
Lighting fixtures are really easy to find at garage sales.  I have replaced all of the light fixtures in my house for next to nothing because I have bought them at garage sales.

We have found a lot of light fixtures like these for $2-4 dollars a piece. Here is one thats really similar for $26.88 on Walmart.com

I bought this light fixture for $20 dollars. Check out this one that is very similar for $159.88! 

How about a ceiling fan? We bought this one for $20 dollars! 

This is the chandelier in my kitchen. I paid $350 for it. Here is one on walmart.com that is a similar size for over 1,000!

Tile 101

-Do not buy tile from Lowes and Home Depot! They are over priced!

-Costco has much better prices. I have been pricing out tile because we are getting ready to renovate Shelbie's kitchen. Costco has a box of 5 square feet of small mosaic subway tiles for $30 dollars a box. Lowes charge's $10 dollars per square foot. If I buy from Lowes I will be paying $50 dollars for 5 square feet of tile opposed to Costco's $30 dollars for 5 square feet. They also have a coupon every once in a while that takes your price down to $20 dollars a box! 

-Shop discount tile stores in your area.

These are the 4x4 square tiles I used in my kitchen backsplash. I found them at a tile outlet store down in Vegas for $4.38 per tile These SAME tiles are sold at Lowes for $26.60 PER TILE! Check it out here. I could not believe it! I saved $22.22 PER TILE!

-Check your local restore. I just bought enough tile at the restore to do the entire shower and floor in my little girls bathroom for $60 dollars!

-Check Craigslist or Freecycle.org people are often willing to give you their extra tile

-Keep an eye out while garage saleing

-I also had a man in my class that told me to check with managers at job sites. He said that often times they have left over tile and just throw it away! He got enough tile to do his kitchen backsplash for FREE from a job site.

Bathroom Vanities

 Bathroom vanities are also something that is outrageously overpriced. Here is one I found at Tai Pan that is very similar to one I found at a garage sale.

Here is the price tag.

$700 dollars!!!! OUCH! Here is the one I found at a garage sale. that has similar detail, the same black granite counter top and similar faucet.

I paid $40 dollars for mine at a garage sale!!!!

People often overpay because they don't know any better. You don't have to buy all of your renovation materials from Lowes and Home Deopt!!! In fact your probably over paying if you do! Check out some of these other places I have suggested and get out on Saturday morning and garage sale! You could save yourself $100s! Here's a little encouragement if you need it!