Making your money work for you and your decor :)

I love to add things to our apartment. Not a month passes when something doesn't change at our apartment. Updating decor and adding small touches are something that I do constantly, but without breaking the bank. Some of my favorite things in our apartment cost less than $10.00 to do.

I picked up all of these vases at various local thrift stores for around .20-.50 cents a piece. When I got them they were all different colors, some where white, green and some where clear. I picked up some navy spray paint and went to town on my vases. They all vary in size but my favorite thing is the different textures that they have.  They sit on top of our bookshelf and not only add interest but pick up the navy tones in our rug.

 Halfway

Finished Product :)
I deiced that I wanted to add something to our room, I was thinking about doing something to our lampshades but couldn't decide what to do, so I decided to change up our headboard. This project was so simple and took about 30 minutes from start to finish, and cost me less than a dollar to do. Being a crafter I have some major crafter tools :) Joel just got me a new cricut expression for Christmas! But I used the silhouette for this (I don't have one but my mother does :)) I found a damask print that resembled our bedding, sized it appropriately, and cut the vinyl. The hardest part about this project was the application. Since it was an intricate design i used transfer paper, measured and centered it on my headboard and applied it. I was very pleased with how it turned out!

I also like to make things for other people. I made these for my sister, one of her best friends is getting married next weekend and she wanted something sentimental to include with their gift. I hope that they like it.  There's nothing that I love more than handmade gifts, it's so special to get something that someone created for you.

I'm currently planning a few projects, and really trying to think of a way to add some more sparkle and charm to our apartment. Any suggestions would be welcomed :) I'm also working on mastering the art of couponing ( I've already mastered it for home, now for food and household items)!

My First Big Project

My husband moved into our current apartment in April of 2010 and I suppose that's when my quest began. When he first moved in we had a bed, a microwave some Navy friends had given us before moving, and my tv from college and a entertainment stand from a family at our Church. Our next addition was a beautiful solid wood bookcase that I found at the thrift store. I was so excited about putting our apartment together but wanted to be mindful of our budget so I searched for deals and decided that this was not the furniture we were going to have forever so it didn't have to fit my taste. Our next purchase was a bedroom set from craigslist. I got a headboard, rails, two side tables, a tall dresser, and a long dresser with a mirror for $200.00 all solid wood. It wasn't my taste but I was excited to have a dresser, Joel had been using one form my parents guest room.

  We already had rails so we gave those to someone in our church. Our apartment was slowly beginning to come together, we also acquired a couch from some friends at Church (we have a great Church family), the week of the wedding we got our dinning room table and china hutch- again only $200, beautiful solid wood, and it came from my Aunt and Uncle which made it even more special to us! Well the wedding came and went, and of course all of our family from out of town wanted to see our place. So the day after the wedding they helped us bring all of our gifts home and saw our new place.  When I showed them the bedroom I told them that while I wasn't thrilled with the style I loved having dressers. My sister in-law told me that I could refinish it and make it my own- I told her that would have to wait until we moved closer to them so she could help!  I was nervous to try anything on my own, so months passed, and then I decided that I was going to do it. Since I was nervous, I decided maybe my first sanding and refinishing job should be small. I bought a roll top desk off craigslist and that's what started it all. After conquering the desk I was ready to start our bedroom. It took some time, and I recruited the help of my husband with the moving and some of the sanding. I chose a black satin stain for our bedroom and love how it came out! Once the sanding, staining, and sealing was done it was time for new hardware! I went to countless stores, and spent hours online looking at hardware until I finally narrowed it down to two choices. Joel helped me pick, I was so thrilled when they finally came in! Our staining makeover, and new hardware ran us $110, making our furniture $310. Since I didn't use all of our bedroom budget it got rolled over to my housewares! If you are considering embarking on a DIY project, go for it! You never know what your capable of until you try!