Decorating You Can Do in a Day
Budget Tip of the Day: Grab a Tray
Trays are not only a beautiful accessory, they are the best organizers out there! Use them to corral TV remotes on your coffee table, keys and mail in the entry, and jewelry on your dresser. Like I always say, everything looks better and instantly organized on a tray. When something has a “spot” it looks like it is supposed to be there. You can use anything as a tray. Shop you house for a decorative plate, wooden bowl, or old picture frame to use as an instant tray. It couldn’t be any easier.
via House Beautiful
Come back tomorrow for more decorating you can do in a day.
Decorating You Can Do in A Day
Budget Tip of the Day: Remove Kitchen Cabinet Doors
A great solution for a small, cramped kitchen is open shelving. It visually makes the room seem MUCH bigger and more spacious. It also gives it a light and airy feel. If you love the look of open shelving, but don’t want to rip out your cabinets, all you need to do is remove your cabinet doors. It’s SO simple and can make a world of difference.
via Country Living
Open shelving doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your cabinet space. If you’re not so keen on having your items on display, choose just a few doors to remove. Organize your nicest items in the open cabinets and put everything else behind closed doors.
Add some color with your dishes or by painting the inside of the cabinet. You could put some bead board on the back or apply some funky fabric or wallpaper. Again, there are tons of options here! And yes, you can easily do this in ONE day. It takes just minutes to remove doors and only an hour or two to paint. You’ll feel like you got a brand new kitchen!
There’s also an added bonus: it might help you stay more organized!
Come back tomorrow for more decorating you can do in a day.
Decorating You Can Do in A day
In case you missed Friday’s post, this week is all about easy things you can do to refresh your home in ONE day! These are my favorite kind of tips because they are so do-able, don’t take a ton of planning, and you get to enjoy your work almost instantly. In under an hour you can easily refresh your home and make it feel better.
Budget Tip of the Day: Reimagine/Rehang Your Artwork
You don’t need to spend any money on this decorating tip, but I promise, it will be a refreshing and noticeable change. Take artwork or pictures you already have hanging on the wall and rehang them in a different way. Think outside the box and put pieces in unusual places like above a door or leaning against a mirror. You could hang a grouping of pieces in an asymmetrical collage and mix family photos with some colorful artwork. Maybe you want to take your existing photos and reprint them in black and white for a new look. Or how about taking your children’s artwork, popping it in a nice matted frame, and hanging in an unexpected or otherwise dull space. Maybe you want to take the frames you have and spray paint them a fun new color. Or just cover your existing mats with colorful paper. There are SO many possibilities here and you don’t have to spend a dime!!
Come back tomorrow for more decorating you can do in a day.
Also, don’t forget to enter the PartyLite giveaway. Just leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a $15 coupon code! The giveaway ends on Friday.
Decorating You Can Do in a Day
I’m starting next week’s theme a little early to make up for yesterday’s sponsored post. I’m SO SO excited about the tips I’ve got lined up for you. All the tips are things your can do in ONE day–not even a whole day. In under an hour you can easily refresh your home and make it feel better. So, let’s get started.
Budget Tip of the Day: Change Your Shower Curtain
Most of us are probably living with shower curtains we’ve had for a while, especially the liner. This is such an easy fix and people don’t do it enough. Shower curtains are pretty inexpensive and will give you a brand new look in as much time as it takes to hang it up. You can really have fun here with a bold pattern because it’s a small place. So, why not get a little crazy?! Even just replacing the liner is super inexpensive and will refresh the bathroom instantly. Here are some of my latest fav’s. They are on the pricey side, but SO much fun! Hmmm…maybe Santa will have to bring me one of these beauties.
Elephant Floral Shower Curtain
Have a happy weekend, enjoy this glorious season, and I’ll see you back on Monday with more decorating you can do in a day.
Party Lite
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PartyLite Simple Pleasures Holiday Sweepstakes. All opinions are 100% mine.
PartyLite is the world’s #1 direct seller of premium candles and home-fragrance products. Their products are sold through home parties, on-line in every state, and in 17 other countries. There’s always a PartyLite party going on somewhere in the world!
Nearly 60,000 people worldwide sell PartyLite products and more than 12 million people attend PartyLite parties each year. PartyLite parties are known as fun parties that can bring together friends and associates, but that’s not why people buy PartyLite candles. People buy PartyLite candles because they love the way they look, smell and the way they burn. PartyLite has always offered customers Platinum Quality! These are very best candles you can buy anywhere!
One of the most exciting things is that when you host a PartyLite party, there are so many FREE products you can earn! Just by bringing together your friends, neighbors, and coworkers you can redecorate and refresh your home at little to no cost by earning scented candles, candle warmers, home decor accessories, and more. And on top of that, if you register by December 15th, you get automatically entered into the PartyLite Simple Pleasures Holiday Sweepstakes where you can possibly win 1 of 5 $500 PartyLite gift certificates!
Remember that to win this fun sweepstakes, you must enter by Dec. 15! I would love to have $500 to spend on the Clearly Creative Collection at PartyLite. It is my favorite collection they have.
If you like PartyLite on Facebook, you’ll find out about special monthly offers online for party hosts and guests.
Also, the PartyLite Winter/Spring 2012 Catalog launches on Dec. 16.
Here’s a peek at some of my favorite items in the Fall/Holiday catalog:
And it gets better, I have a giveaway for one Budget Wise Home reader! One of you will win a coupon code to take $15 off an online order! That’s FREE money to spend on whatever you like. Yay!
To enter:
Simply “Like” the PartyLite Facebook page and leave a comment on this post.
My Bedroom Curtains
I was flipping through my latest issue of DIY magazine and I came to a page that stopped my in my tracks. I was shocked to see this photo!
via DIY Magazine
Hmmm…..does something look familiar? Let me help you out.
Those are my bedroom curtains!
I’ve had a lot of people ask me where I got these and what fabric I used. Here’s the secret…they are sheets! I found these amazing sheets on clearance at Crate and Barrel. It was love at first sight and I knew they would make perfect curtains. I’ve got 3 windows in this room and I wanted 2 panels for each window. That can quickly add up when making custom drapes. Using these sheet sets was a much more affordable option for me. I bought 3 sets and each came with one flat and one fitted twin sheet. I hung the flat one’s just as they were and hemmed the bottom. I cut the elastic out of the remaining 3 fitted sheets. I had to do a little cutting and piecing together with these, but the pattern is busy enough that you can’t tell at all.
Sheets are not always a cheaper option, but often times they are. A great money saver is to make 2 curtain panels out of a king size sheet. Just cut in in half, hem the edges, and you’re good to go.
And since I’ve had these curtains hanging for a while, I’ll just pretend that DIY magazine copied my idea. Hanging sheets as curtains is nothing new, but it’s so funny that they used the exact same ones.
How to Remove Stickers from Glass
Maybe you’ve encountered this situation before, but this was my first time trying to remove A LOT of stickers from my son’s bedroom window. They have been there for quite some time, but I finally decided it was time to say goodbye.
Here are the 3 essentials you’ll need:
- Nail polish remover
- An old credit card
- Rubber gloves
Use a paper towel, to heavily apply the nail polish remover to the glass. You really want to saturate it as much as possible (and yes, be sure to open a window as well!). Be sure to wear rubber gloves so you don’t get it all over your hands. Now it’s time to WAIT! You need to wait about one or two minutes before you start scraping away. It won’t work if you start right away. Then use your credit card and carefully scrape those stickers away. You still need to give it a little muscle, but you should be able to remove everything fairly easy.
I know there are products out there specifically for sticker removal, but I didn’t want to go out and buy anything. This worked just fine for me.
It’s nice to have a clean window again!
My Advent Calendar
I hope you all had a great weekend! As promised, I’m back to show you my advent calendar tree. This was totally FREE to make and I LOVE how it turned out.
I took a drive on a few back roads and gathered a bunch of sticks. I stuck them in this white vase that I already had. It was perfect! Then I printed out the cards and numbers from this printable advent calendar, punched a hole in each corner, and attached some ornament hooks. The boys had fun helping me hang them randomly on the branches. I customized each card with an activity for each day till Christmas.
Here is a list of the activities printed on each one:
- Drink hot chocolate.
- Write a letter to Santa.
- Go on a drive to see the Christmas lights.
- Make a gingerbread train.
- Read your favorite Christmas story before bed.
- Stay up an extra 10 minutes tonight.
- Make Christmas cookies.
- Make your teacher a gift.
- Make a Christmas craft.
- Go see the Christmas train at Daddy’s work.
- Go see the lights at Temple Square.
- Play your favorite board game.
- Go out for a treat.
- You choose what’s for dinner tonight.
- Sing Christmas songs around the piano.
- Read the story of Jesus’ birth.
I repeated a few of those to fill in the rest of the days I needed. It has been so much fun so far and my boys love it! My oldest can now read, so it’s extra fun for him to discover the new activity each day.
Here’s one more look at our tree.
Stylish and Affordable Gift Ideas
Budget Gifts of the Day: Etsy Home Decor
Today I’m showing you a few of my favorite home decor finds on etsy. Anything you find on etsy would make a perfect gift. There’s just something about stuff that is handmade–it’s extra special!
These are made from hardware store paint sample cards and come in a few colorways. Brilliant!!
Dwell Studio New Peony Gray and Coral Pink Pillow Cover
This is one of the new patterns I’ve recently added to my shop.
Hopefully, this week has given you a few gift ideas and you can cross some names off your list.
Have a great weekend, enjoy this magical season, and I’ll see you back on Monday with some of my latest projects.
