Decorating and Stretching Your Dollars

It’s the homemaker-on-a-budget’s advantage that recycling and upcyling is such a chic thing to do. If you scour even high-end decorating magazines, you’ll see the reuse of all things old, faded and distressed. So much so that you can buy it to already look like it’s old.

As we’ve decorated our new home, we have tried to make the best of our resources and use what we had or spend very little to decorate. I get requests often to share more about decorating on a budget, so I thought I’d post a few projects we’ve done for a little inspiration (the first five are what my daughter did in her room):

And old suitcase, screwed into the wall to make a shelf.

I found this broken ladder at a yard sale for $5, already in that lovely blue.

Pallet bookshelf. Pallets. rule. We’ve made crates, smaller, hanging bookshelves and signs with words for wall hanging.

An old sheet given new life as a curtain. Pieces of elastic stretched across the back created the gathered effect.

This room is in the basement and because of all the water damage from the storm, the drop ceiling had to be replaced. We opted for Luan (cheap plywood) which my husband cut into squares, and made the grid with 2 x 4’s.

I’ve already posted this project, but thought I’d include it again for newer readers and to keep posts categorized. Old door-turned-headboard and shelf in our bedroom. Simple project–my 13-yr.old made it.

Missing some cabinets? (We were ;-)) Or just want to cut back on cabinet costs? Consider installing salvaged wood shelves.

My new favorite thing…looking out for t-shirts or skirts at thrift stores that make cute pillows.

I thought the skirt-pillow looked silly so I have since made a square one out of it and like it much better 😉