New Fan DIY Update

We obviously have BIG plans for our little home. With me doing my student teaching this fall that means that we have a limited budget for projects and home decor since we are paying for childcare and I’m not working. I knew that we would want to replace the fans in the house but I was planning on that being one of the last projects. Well when we moved in we discovered that our living room fan did not work, well it worked but only in reverse which is terrible for Texas summers. We were planning on replacing the fan with something to match our hardwood floors…another project that will be doing sometime in the distant future. Obviously we needed a functional fan so the hunt began for something beautiful, functional and budget friendly, this was obviously an impossible find. So we decided to look for a white fan that we could eventually move into our room or into little man’s room. We were still only finding fans that were decent and included a light kit for $100 or more. I decided to do some more searching and researching reviews and ended up finding a simple white fan with a light kit for $50, I was sold. Joel surprised me with it and I immediately opened up and started trying to think of ways to make it a little more beautiful. While I was brainstorming I saw our tv stand and lighting struck! I knew that a little lacy vinyl would really add a wow factor and tie in the gray tile in our fire place. I was sold!

Materials Needed

·         Vinyl

·         Cricut or Silhouette

·         Fan Blades

·         Squeegee or Credit Card

I started thumbing through my Paper Lace booklet I was not disappointed. I narrowed it down to 3 patterns and Joel and me decided on the same pattern and the crafting began. First, I cut a couple sample pieces on paper to figure out the sizing that I wanted, once I settled on a size I started cutting my vinyl. 

You will want to make sure that your blades are nice and clean :)

After all of the vinyl was cut I placed the vinyl on transfer paper so that it would transfer smoothly. This is extremely important with delicate or intricate vinyl. Then I measured where I would want to center the vinyl and marked where each piece would begin and end. This was to ensure that all of the blades would have the same placement and a very uniform look. Then I stuck the transfer paper to the blade and smoothed it out with a squeegee, if you don’t have one you can use a credit card. After this was done I removed the transfer paper and smoothed the vinyl over one more time with the squeegee. After repeating this process 5 times I was done and Joel assembled the fan! 

Measure and mark so that each blade has the same vinyl placement.

I truly cannot believe how much this simple inexpensive project has made such a beautiful HUGE impact in our living room. For under $5 it has made our fan go from drab to fab! So for $55 we have a functional and beautiful fan that really ties our living room together. 

I'm in LOVE this maybe my favorite project ever!

NEW APARTMENT SWAG

Summer time usually means endless craft and project time at our apartment. It also means that I have the time to look for good deals and change everything at the apartment!

This is my newest addition to our home...I'm in love with it

My beautiful NEW table was less than $200.00, that's as much as a USED table like this would have cost, I love sales and coupons!

It's a counter height table! Joel and I decided to stick it out at our apartment until May (when we move to HOUSTON!). This decision meant that we needed to create more space in the apartment, which lead to us getting rid of my BEAUTIFUL dinning room table, newly upholstered chairs, and my gorgeous china hutch. I was so sad to see it go, but we kept it in the family, so I can still go visit! We decided on this table because it was smaller and would give us more room in our dinning area. We have used that room to create a "pantry" under the counter, which allowed me to free up some cabinet space. When we got our new table, I really wanted to get a rug, to help better define the space. I've been trying NOT to buy things like rugs, since we're moving in a few months, and I have no clue what our house will look like or what decor I will want to use. I was doing fine until I stumbled upon this 

 

I know that it's simple, but I love it. I got this 60x84 rug for thirty dollars, meaning that even if we only use it for the next nine months, I'm paying roughly $3.33 to use it per month, not too bad! BUT I did buy gray for a certain reason and have plans for it when we move,but that's another story.

As I've stated in previous posts, and as most of you know, we're young and "just starting out". We also like having money, and don't believe in debt. I take pride in how beautiful our apartment is and how thrifty I've been in filling it and decorating it. This new table is the second piece of new furniture that we've bought. Being as obsessed as I am, I wanted our table to stay nice and new. So I began the search for place mats, since it is a rather small table a tablecloth would have been too overpowering. I was really disappointed with what I found. I love for my home to look nice, but I simply cannot justify spending $8-10 on a single place mat. Joel and me had decided to try and find ones we liked for under $5 a pop. Even then, I was having a hard time finding something that I liked, visually & texturally, and that would flow with our apartment. After searching stores, and scouring the internet, I finally found what I had been looking for. Not only did it meet all of my requirements, but these place mats were on final clearance markdown....I payed 19 cents for each one!

The best 19 cents I've ever spent!

I decided to use my leftover place mat budget for more table swag. I was able to get  the following with the money I saved. 

Nice ivory satin napkin for my new place mats!

This gorgeous pin-tuck table runner!

I was also able to get something for the bedroom.

This will go on my long dresser, and replace the one that I have there currently. Placing a table runner on a long dresser, gives you a pop of color and a little more style.
Needless to say I was glad that I waited and didn't settle for place mats that I didn't love. And I am so happy with the swag that I was able to get with the leftover place mat budget!

Our kitchen also got some new swag, thanks to giveaways! These kitchen towels, are made by Branch Handmade. The images are screen printed on white cotton flour sacks, so they are HUGE.

With Joel's obsession with bikes, I just had to get these.

I LOVE these owl towels, and know that I will love them even more in the fall!

This set of birdcage towels looks wonderful in our little kitchen!

If you've been around my family you know that we have an inside joke about Giraffes, I couldn't pass these up!

I love giveaways! Giveaways are a great way to spruce up your decor for free. Granted you have to win, but entering them is easy, and well worth the reward.

I feel like by now I've probably driven your crazy with all of this swag, so I'm going to go work on some more things for the apartment!

 

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!