Kristen has been a long time GS reader and blogs over at Whole Hearted Mommy. Her family is adorable. Those cheeks on her kiddoes…I could kiss them all day. Kristen, how do you get anything done?
She let me do a before and after photoshop makeover of her sunroom. Her house was made in 1927 and has charming arched doorways and crown molding everywhere. Read more
I’m having a lot of fun with the lazy way to remodeling (aka photoshop.) I have a couple of new clients who took advantage of the coupon code for a new room design, and while they are filling out their questionnaire, I’m finishing up the rest of my basement. I already showed you the office area Read more
I’ll never forget the first time I walked down the basement stairs in our home. There was a pair of mannequin legs leaning against the wall. I saw them out of the corner of my eye and screamed bloody murder before my brain could actually register what was happening. It was a good thing I didn’t know about the rats yet.
The basement was weird all over, Read more
My friend bought a new house down the street from us. His daughter is one of Heidi’s closest friends and there has been a lot of excitement at our house. I might be slightly more excited than anyone else, because I grew up with my 2 closest friends in walking distance. We went to school together, church together, and ended up at college together. It was a WONDERFUL way to grow up. I’ve wanted that for my kids and it’s finally starting to happen. Read more
For awhile I’ve been doing room concepts in powerpoint. I had taken a class on using Photoshop to do the same thing only better, except I couldn’t justify spending the money on the program. THEN Costco had photoshop on sale for $40. I could do that. Doing rooms in Photoshop makes me deliriously happy. I can change angles, isolate objects, change their colors….anything I want, almost.
Debbie is a friend of mine from the Cozy Minimalist Class and a reader here. She graciously agreed to let me play with her basement design. She is expecting their 4th baby and in the process of getting the rest of the house ready, her basement ended up the catchall space. Most people have a room just like this and over time it can feel hopeless to be anything but storage.
Here’s the floor plan so you can imagine the nice large space. Read more
If you’re new here: On Fridays I share a few frugal things I did during the week. Then in the comments you to share a frugal thing or two you did during the week. If you are a blogger feel free to link to your Frugal Friday post in the comments and we’ll come check it out.
Happy Friday! In this edition of Frugal Friday, I’m going to list the hacks we did in the boy’s bedroom to save money and how much they saved. If I already have the tutorial on the blog, I’ll link to it.
1. DIY Headboards: $15 each (original $149.95 each) Savings: $275
2. DIY Picture Frame: $12 (purchased around $150) Savings $138
3. DIY Trofast Toy Organzier: Ikea doesn’t sell this size or color but if they did it would be around $50. It cost me around $30 to make and not much more time than assembling one from the box. Savings $40 I used this tutorial and adjusted it for our size preference. This is the FIRST wood thing I made without help and I’m a little proud of myself.
4. DIY Sawhorse Desk: This cost around $44 to make. I can have one made here for $250. Savings $206 I used this tutorial but replaced the top with a slab hollow core door.
5. Electrical Conduit Curtain Rods and Ikea BETYDLIG Brackets. The large window used a 10 foot conduit pipe for $1.99 and the two smaller windows used 5 foot pieces for $1.65. All together the widow hardware was $15.65 for the 3 windows. Traditional hardware would have been $40 a window. Savings $104.35
6. Burlap ribbon valances: I wanted bamboo window shades for looks only. Bamboo shades are see-through at night so we use roller shades for privacy. I like the warmth and texture of bamboo shades and wanted something to hide the top of our roller shades and the gap between the top of the window and the ceiling. The large window shade would be around $70 and the two smaller ones $30 each. Instead I thumbtacked up 2 layers of burlap decorator mesh ribbon for $20. Savings of $110 Click here to find out why I hang my curtains so high.
7. Restored Night Stands: I found this pair of nightstands on craigslist for $30 (for the pair.) They had been abused with spray stone textured paint and tiles that were improperly installed then ripped off. I sanded off the texture and gave them a fresh coat of paint, pried off the old tops and made new stained wooden tops for them, and replaced the hardware with handles leftover from our kitchen contractor packs. I spent an extra $15 in wood and supplies, so $45 total for the pair. New nightstands like these are $125 each. Savings: $205
8. Switched from Ikea Duvet Covers to Target Clearance covers: Target’s were $18 each, Ikea’s were $50. Savings $64
9. Spray painted black lamps green. Old Time Pottery had nicely shaped lamps with the right kind of shade for $30, but they only came in black. The inspiration lamps from Amazon were $107.09 for the pair. Savings $42
10. Bought the sofa on Craigslist instead of Ikea: Ikea’s prices are great, but if I can save a bit more I’m on it. A motivated seller had his Ektorp Loveseat on CL for $30 because the cover was ripped and it had cat hair on it. New they are $375. I bought a new cover for $39 and that problem was solved. Savings $306
The other big savings were: keeping their original beds and flooring; removing the popcorn ceiling ourselves; and painting ourselves. Savings $3,000. Without counting those, we saved $1,490.35 on the furnishings. Not bad for a little bit of elbow grease.
It’s your turn. Inspire us with some of your frugal activities this week.
Before we moved, in an effort to squeeze a lot of kids in a tiny space, I bought these beds so we could store their clothes unerneath:
It looks handy to use in the photo with the covers all tucked in. In real life we like our covers to hang over the sides of the bed, which would get caught in the drawers. We now store bedding in the drawers and their clothes in baskets in the closet.
The beds aren’t super high quality, but they’ve survived moving twice and are the perfect height off the floor for young boys. If you consider these beds in your own home, have a plan from the start for replacing the drawer pulls. They are sharp enough to draw blood if you bump it just right.
In an effort to use what we already have (to stay within budget) I knew I’d be keeping the beds for the room refresh. I wanted them to have a headboard to ground the bed area, but it had to be inexpensive and short enough to fit below the window.
This headboard from Peir 1 Imports was my inspiration. I still love it a little more than my DIY headboards, it was just out of our price range and too tall for this project.
I had originally planned to buy enough jute rope to weave a smaller headboard just like this one, but the cost was prohibitive. Instead I purchased 5″ wide burlap ribbon with finished edges to weave with. It was less than $10 a headboard and still gave the texture I was hoping for.
I used the same 1×4 pine from the picture frame in yesterday’s post to build a simple rectangle for the headboard frame and pocket hole joined it together. It was all going to be hidden, so I didn’t worry about mitering the edges or anything fancy.
Then I hot glued strips of the burlap ribbon to cover the frame. I had to hold it in place for a few minutes until the glue set to make sure it was stretched tightly. That was HOT!
I figured out I could use a plastic shopping bag to protect my hand from the heat. The bag peeled off pretty well from the glue without leaving a mark.
Then I went back the other direct with the ribbon and wove it through, securing the ends on the back side with more hot glue.
Here it is all finished. They’ve been using it for a couple of months and the burlap has gotten a little stretched out on the edges. If it doesn’t hold up for the long term, the frame will be easy to upholster in a more traditional fashion.
The original plan was to just screw the headboard to the wall, but I prefer how it looks with the curtains flowing behind it. For now I have it propped up inside the bed frame, but am working on a hanging system that will secure it a few inches from the wall and high enough to touch the trim of the window. I’ll update when I figure it out.
Have you ever made a headboard? I’d love to hear how you did it.
When I was searching for inspiration for our shared boy room, I found a photo of this rustic frame and loved it instantly. I needed a custom size to fit the canvas map I ordered from Amazon.com and to save money, I built it myself. The map price fluctuates, I paid $29.
Here’s a close-up of the corner detail:
2 boards of 1x2x6 select pine $2.57 each
2 boards of 1x4x6 select pine $4.24 each
sliding compound miter saw (but a mitre box would work)
electric drill
Wood glue
Distressing tools (a bag of screws and a rough in hammer)
Wood Stain I used minwax provincial
I had everything but the pine on hand, so this project cost me $13.62
Cut 2 more in a similar fashion to match the measurement of the height of the frame.
2. Drill pocket holes onto the back side of your wood. Take your time with this. On my last piece I drilled holes on the front of one side and the back of the other. There was no way to fix it without buying new wood. Since it was a rustic frame and I’m cheap, I assembled it with the holes on the front and filled it with a plug. You’ll never see it unless you look for it….but it happened. If you don’t want to use a pocket hole jig, you can glue and staple it together. Tutorial here.
3. Clamp the 45 degree edges together to a piece of scrap board and use your self-tapping screws to assemble the frame. I didn’t use glue here. It’s up to you.
Here’s a video that was helpful to me:
4. The top pieces are going to be glued and clamped into place. Cut 2 pieces of 1×2 the length of your frame (red), then cut 2 pieces the inside width and 2 tiny pieces for the outside corners (blue). I’ve outlined the wood pieces here to make it easier to understand.
5. At this point, I recommend stopping and distressing and staining your wood now. If during the gluing process any glue squeezes out onto the face of the wood (it always does), the wood won’t take stain there. Even if you wipe it off before the glue dries. I didn’t do this and have some naked spots on my frame.
To distress the wood I whacked it with a rough edge hammer and a bag of screws a few times. Here’s a more detailed tutorial on distressing wood.
6. Now it’s time to glue your trim wood to the face of the frame. Add a wavy bead of glue then clamp the first trim piece in place. After 30 minutes you can remove the clamps and glue the next section. I only had 2 clamps so this part took the longest. The trim hid one of my mistake pocket holes completely and partially covered the other one. Whew.
7. Typical frames have a rabbet to give an inset space to hold glass and a backing (instructions here.) Since I wasn’t using glass or a backing, I didn’t mess with a rabbet and just duct taped my picture to the frame.
I used small pieces to get it stretched into place, then taped the rest of the way around for security before hanging.
8. Nail in the picture hangers and hang it up :).
I’m pretty proud of how it turned out, considering my first try at building something turned out like this:
It took me a few years to get the nerve to try building again. I’m so glad I didn’t give up completely. I built 4 more things from wood for the shared boy room and saved a BUNDLE in the process. I’ll show you about them soon.
I love the frame so much I’m thinking of other places I could use one. Like over the fireplace in Darren’s new office with a chalkboard and inspirational scripture: “Whatsoever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I’ll have to figure out rabbets for this one.
How about you? Would you ever consider building a picture frame?
I’ve been sitting on this post for a couple of months having a hard time waiting for the right time to share it. I hope you are in the mood for some home updates, because I have a bunch of them.
We moved into this house 4 years ago, not long after my husband killed the rats. The rats were just one of the many reasons the 5,000 square foot house was selling for $140,000. I vowed not to come back into the house until they were gone and told him I had to see the bodies before I would believe it. When the time came I was too chicken to look, but the kids verified their demise for me.
The house was such a disaster that Darren and I slept in the living room for the first few months. The only light source was the original hanging lamp and there were no doors for privacy. Most of the kids slept in the front bedroom upstairs. Four twin beds fit in there with room left to turn cartwheels. That sleeping arrangement gave us time to clean the other spaces more deeply and plan our remodel options while we sold our old house to raise the cash. The original plan was to do the master bedroom first, then move into that while we figured out what to do with the kitchen and living spaces.
By the time our old house sold (a year later) I was so frustrated with our kitchen that we started there.
The cabinet doors had broken off and the layout made cooking and cleaning up afterwards a nightmare. During the kitchen remodel, we discovered foundation problems that took the rest of our remodel cash. Without enough to even finish the kitchen space, we slapped it back together with some quick fixes (plywood countertops and folding table island) to get functional again.
We’ve done a few things to improve other spaces while we work on changing our income situation. Most of the improvements are cheap temporary fixes that will need to be re-done further down the road.
If you can Imagine the bedroom without the two white beds and you’ll see how the boys lived for the next 4 years. It was depressing for me to tuck them in at night. The room felt dark and empty, but we needed to focus our energy on other spaces.
After taking the Cozy Minimalist Course and working a miracle in my own bedroom, I tried a new furniture arrangement.
It was so inspiring, I drew up some plans in powerpoint to cozy up the space. The first plans used black buffalo check curtains from Ikea fabric, which I loved. I was the only one.
My facebook readers had suggestions to help develop the idea, including framing out the map to give it more definition.
And changing the curtains so they weren’t such a strong pattern.
Another facebook reader suggested that the warm tans and cool grays didn’t belong together and wanted to see it all warm. I tried that.
But it wasn’t for me. I like the depth that mixing warm and cool colors brings. Plus the actual carpet has a lot more cool blues and greens in it than this sample texture I found. (Eventually I figured out how to include the actual carpet into the drawings.)
I also tried out lots of different colors of area rugs.
green
lambswool
sisal
or gray (with a more colorful map.) A kind reader suggested that instead of trying to hide the crazy striped carpet, I should embrace it and just let it be. That worked best with our budget, and a rug could always be added later if I changed my mind :).
The Ikea bedding was more expensive than I hoped, so when I found duvet covers on clearance at Target, I tried out both color combinations.
or
I went with the gray :). This was the final design for the room, and except for being completely off with the scale of the map, the reveal is amazingly similar.
I’ll probably move the map closer to the couch later, add another piece of art (to cover the old intercom system on the right) and build a reading nook in the empty closet. Brandon really wants my mom to embroider name pillows too. For now we are resting and calling it a job well done. In the picture, I don’t love the color of the couch. In real life it looks better in the space. We did a few surprising things in here to come in under budget. I’ll share more of the details about those and the toy side of the room in the next post :).
I’m a big fan of Chip and Joanna Gaines. So big that I paid $10 on Amazon to watch Season 2 of Fixer Upper after I saw Season 1 three times. During the third round of season 1 Darren said, “Haven’t we seen this one before?” I just smiled and handed him some popcorn. Season 2 didn’t disappoint. Chip had me screaming, laughing, and cringing and Joanna made me want to appreciate my kids a little bit more.
Greenery breathes life into a room. If I step back in a space and feel like something’s missing, Read more