Budget-friendly Home Decorating
After a move, all the boxes have been unpacked, and we are settling in. The last twenty years we have moved quite often. I never know whether the house will be an upgrade or a downgrade from what we have had before. Moving can be frightfully expensive and trying to make so many different houses work on a budget can be challenging. The times I have not added those personal touches, because I was discouraged with the situation, I have felt displaced a lot longer. In my commitment to make each house feel like home,I have a few basic crafts that I make and some decorating tips to share.
A bulletin Board is a great inexpensive way to create a family communication center that you can change seasonally for little or no money. To create a bulleting Board you will need:
- 1 or 2 poster boards
- A border, this can be an old picture frame with no glass or just scrapbooking borders. Before, we had an old picture frame that I would make waves of different colors to glue around the board.
- To make the board less floppy I usually glue the poster board paper to one of the picture frames boxes from our move.
- Your choice of decorative items, I used some left over stickers from another project.
Making your board:
- Glue your poster board to the cardboard.
- Then glue down your border, if using an old picture frame place your layout into the frame.
- I decorated my board with stickers I had left over from another project.
- I also include an 8 by 11 dry erase board in one corner.
- A calendar I attached with kitchen clips that I glued to the poster board.
If you find that you have a lot of wall space, I just love the idea of using 3m strips to place game boards with special meaning to the walls. We have a game my baby made at bible camp. It is encouraging to see it displayed, and I know it pumps him up to see the things he has created. To hang with the 3m strips just attach one of the Velcro strips to the item, I have found it works better if you then attach the other Velcro strip to the Velcro strip on the item, makes it a lot easier to line them up on the wall.
A first for me with this move was making my own soap dispensers. I had been collecting different jars just waiting for this moment. All you need to make a unique dispenser is a jar with a lid, something to make a hole in the top, a cheap bottle of soap for the pump, some paint, and super glue. I added stickers for the guess bathroom.
- Put together your pump by creating a hole in the lid that matches the size of your pump.
- Super glue the pump in place and wait for it to dry.
- Fill your jar with soap or lotion; replace the lid and you are done.
- If you are planning on painting the lid, it is a little easier to do that before you glue on the pump but after you make the hole.
- In the picture below, I only painted one of my lids — they are both jelly jars.
Making a dishwasher sign is another terrific and quick project. To make a dishwasher sign you will need:
- A strong magnet
- A large decorative item
- A small item that can be written on
- About 6 inches of ribbon
- Glue
When your choices have been made, do the following:
- Attach the ribbon to the back of the decorative item; let the glue dry.
- Then attach the magnet.
- Once dried, attach the smaller item to the end of the ribbon with glue.
- When everything is dried, you can write Dirty on one side and Clean on the other. For this part, I use stickers, and it says, “Unpack me” and “Run me”.
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About Eileen
I am allowing Christ to transform my life. He has made me a military wife, stay-at-home-mom, home school teacher, baker, cook, housekeeper and executive personal assistant to my husband of 17 years. My Boys are 14, 12, and 8 year old. I love reading, writing and trying new ventures.
How to Do Art for Walls: DIY Wall Art Without Vinyl
Vinyl wall art: gracefully-written scripture, phrases or poems to display on the walls of our homes are downright stunning. I’ve long admired such beauty. Knowing that it wasn’t exactly in the budget, I finally realized, that with a bit of effort, and perhaps some trial and error that I just may be able to do something similar myself!
So I did! And I am more than pleased with the finished results. It took very little time, and because I already had all the supplies I needed on hand, it literally didn’t cost me a dime!
Do you have something you would like to see on your walls? You can do this! It was so incredibly easy. I truly couldn’t believe how simple this project was. I want to inspire you to try this easy and rewarding DIY project!
Okay, here is what you will need:
- Paint (try to choose a color that blends with your home)
- Small paint brush
- Tape (masking tape is suitable for your walls, but any tape will do)
- Pencil
- A level (if you don’t have one you can still do this, although it will take a bit more time)
- Paper
- Scissors (Umm, adult scissors. Kid scissors will hurt your hand after a while, believe me, I know)
- Access to a computer with a word processing program and a printer
First, you’ll need to select what you’d like written on your wall. Is there enough room? Do be sure to think of font size, if it is too small it will be difficult to read. If it is too large, it may be overpowering.
Write out your verse, poem, phrase, etc in a Word type program. Spend some time experimenting with different fonts. When you have the desired font selected, apply it to your wording. Also, set your paper layout to “landscape.”
Next step is to enlarge the font. You may have to do this several times to get it just right. It took me, ahem, well it took me more than a few tries, so be sure to have extra paper on hand! Start with about a 300 size.
Lighten the font color. This ensures you don’t use an excessive amount of ink. When you have the size you want, print one sheet. You most likely won’t find the first size acceptable.
Cut out each letter. Note: you’re not trying to make a stencil to paint inside of. You’re going to trace around the letters you cut out. It is so much easier this way!
When you’ve got a few finished, take them to the chosen wall and use your tape to hold them in place. Step back a few feet and see what you think. Ask your husband and children for their opinions, as well. If the font is too small, enlarge it a bit. Too big? You know what to do.
Once you’ve got the desired size, it’s time to print! Now there are 2 ways to go about this. You can print the entire phrase, or just one of each letter you need. If it is just a few words long, you may not need each and every letter. However, if it is longer than, say, 4 words, you will be happy you printed each letter.
For example, I painted, “Walk in the Spirit” over our front doors. I only needed to print the “i” one time. Even though there are 3 in that verse. But when I did another lettered painting with 9 words, it was better having all the lettering available for correct spacing.
Now you have your letters printed out in the perfect size, you’ll need to cut out each one. I recommend using a sandwich bag to store them in, when you need to stop for a bit. You won’t want those letters getting lost or stuck to the counter with jelly.
Here is where being married to a custom-home builder has its perks. A 5 foot level proved to be a life saver for this project! It didn’t even cross my mind to use it, but when my sweet husband saw me perched at the top of his ladder tracing letters willy-nilly he shoed me aside and snapped a perfectly level chock line for me to follow. Thanks honey!
If you don’t have access to a level, a yard stick will work well. You will need someone to stand back to “eye it” for you. You’re ready to tape the letters into place! Be sure to space each letter evenly. When they are all taped up, and you’ve stood back and are satisfied, go ahead and carefully trace around each one with your pencil.
Take a step back again and see if it looks how you imagined. If it’s not quite right, the pencil is easy to erase. Once you’re content with it all, it will be time to fill in with paint! I used paint that was left over from our bedroom. Carefully paint inside each letter. Keep a damp cloth available. Wet paint wipes off easily of semi-gloss painted walls.
If you put it on thick enough, (not so thick it drips) you won’t need to do a second coat. You can be so creative with this! I didn’t outline mine, but that’s certainly an option. I can’t tell you the number of compliments I’ve received on our wall paintings!
This is a fun and immensely, fulfilling project! I hope you’re inspired to give it a try. And if so, I’d love for you to leave a comment and share what it is you’re thinking of writing on your walls!
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About Jennifer
Jennifer is the cherished wife of a very visionary man, and a home schooling mother to almost a dozen children. Her deepest desire is to consistently love her husband and children, and to be a diligent and joyful keeper at home. Her favorite pastime is to encourage fellow housewives in their highest calling of wife and mother. When she's not creating Homemaking DVDs or hosting webinars, she can be found blogging at Renewing Housewives.
Homemaker’s Challenge: Accomplish – Submit Your Posts!
How does the Homemaker’s Challenge: Accomplished blog hop work?
What homemaking challenges have you conquered and blogged about recently? We want you to share it with us. Did you figure out a way to repurpose something? Tackle a DIY project? Did you have a lightbulb moment about homemaking and care to share it with us?
Each Thursday we will host a link up. You may link up any post from your blog, past or present, that is about a challenge you are facing or have conquered. You must link back to Homemaker’s Challenge to participate.
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About Amy Bayliss
In her home, Amy is the sole expert on all things pretty and organized. She’s proud to be married to Ryan, a 6’5″ hunk who’s a pro at tackling all of her home improvement projects. She’s also known as mama to four rambunctious boys who range in age from 1-14. It takes some pretty creative engineering to keep her home in order but she does it with style and can teach you to do the same.