While browsing through Internet articles, magazines and design solutions on TV, I’ve found so many of these ideas require huge budgets, huge spaces as well as tool skills and equipment many of us don’t have access to.
Since I need to redo most of my house with basically no budget, I’m frustrated when confronted with such articles as ‘Candice Olson’s 10 Must-See Bathroom Redo’s’. Of course they’re gorgeous and are great for mapping design trends and visualizing colors and textures but they are pricey redo’s, requiring a good contractor and big bucks. Who can’t do a fabulous bathroom makeover with $25,000? Also, many of these suggestions are for large spaces. I always have a good laugh when I read articles about making the most of a small space. These people are obviously spatially impaired and have never been in my house or decorated and designed a house like mine. If I had rooms the size they consider small and a budget they consider ‘reasonable’, my house would be a showplace. Ah, but that would be too easy! For those of us who enjoy a challenge, whether out of necessity or the lack of something better to do with their time, then read on…
Don’t despair, Moms! I just completed ‘new’ window treatments for my living room for $16.00 and I think they look pretty spiffy! What do you think? (Photo below)
I purchased two twin bedspreads at the local thrift store at a 50% off sale for $6.00. I then sewed a pocket seam on one end of the bedspreads and stuck a $10.00 rod from a Wal-Mart clearance table through them. The final touch, a very nice pair of tie-backs given to me by my sister-in law (thanks!), Voila!
By hunting the thrift stores and yard sales you are also re-using instead of buying new, so while saving money, being creative and improving the look of your house, you are also being environmentally conscious!
For those of us currently ‘square footage challenged’ and ‘budget challenged’ yet wanting a fresh updated look that doesn’t look like you decorated your house from the ‘dollar store’, a little ingenuity can go a long way.
Ask Mom, She Knows 