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One of the biggest challenges we encountered when moving from our small one bedroom apartment to our detached family home was decorating and furnishing this new home. We now had three bedrooms and a lot more living space to decorate and tend to. Purchasing our home was the priority; we weren’t going to worry about the decorating aspect until later.
Later came, and went, and we still didn’t have an answer to how we were going to balance our financial priorities as well as making room in our budget to spruce up our new house. Basics were taken care of, couch, bed, table to eat at but our house was lacking some serious love. Like any new homeowner, I wanted to make my house feel more like a home.
Via Flickr – nadja_robot
Shopping Time
Once hubby and I were settled in our new home we were excited about being able to decorate. We set off to the stores with our tight, but optimistic, budget in hopes of returning home with a car full of pretty goodies to fashion up our home. Boy did we ever underestimate the cost of, everything…
I walked into our first store and headed right to the discount/clearance section looking for curtains. With my window measurements in hand, I was sure we’d strike gold given our open minds; after all we were trying to be realistic. Needless to say I was shocked when they wanted $50.00 per window panel and this was clearance! I needed at least eight. Not happening. This same story replayed with everything we wanted to buy, mirrors, frames, art. I suffered serious sticker shock.
Time To Get Creative and DIY
The suffrage we endured from the sticker shock initially irritated me. I wanted to have a pretty, comfortable, home but was totally unwilling to drop thousands of dollars to do it. Heck, I was too cheap to drop the few hundred to dress my windows properly. It was time to get creative.
I’m a big believer that if someone else can do it, so can you. If someone else can make curtains, why couldn’t I? I needed to get curtains up in our basement windows ASAP since there was no covering at all and it was a security and privacy concern. I found fabric at a local close-out sale in the form of a flat bed sheet, bought thicker curtain backing material at the local fabric shop and whipped out the ‘ol sewing machine. After countless YouTube videos and a few practice stitches I felt confident enough to attempt the curtains. Why they aren’t perfect they look pretty good and for a total cost of $25 I’m more than happy with them.
The curtains were just the beginning of many DIY projects that my husband and I worked on together to decorate our home. We’ve done everything from curtains to framing out and building a fully functional wet-bar in our basement. While we have great resources around us, in the form of my husband’s dad and grandfather, anyone can do it.
Whether decorating your first home, or just trying to spruce your current living space, don’t immediately rule out your own talents. With internet and library resources, it is very easy to find online videos and tutorials about how to do just about anything. Ask your family and friends too, you may be surprised at their hidden talents.
What’s the last thing you DIY’d? Did you DIY decorate your first home?
Ha!!! The bathroom sink. Probably saved $200-400 at least! Plumbers will kill your checking account.
Oh it’s true, plumbers and electricians will cost a fortune! While I think it’s smart t hire professionals for larger projects, small jobs like light switches and switching sinks can save hundreds!
I’ve done so much in this house on my own but the last thing I DIY’d was putting in a path out front with paving stones, new steps and a huge rock retaining wall all by myself. It was lots of work but saved me thousands of dollars.
One of the many ways we can do to save money. Love it.
Might as well save when you can!
Wow Mr CBB. I’m going to send you my address so when you’re done you can come over here!!Impressive!
A few months back I totally repainted the interior of my house – the previous owner had painted cream over white but hadn’t actually gone the whole way up to the ceiling! It took two of us nearly 8 days total (2 topcoats plus undercoat) but was well worth the cost saving over hiring professional painters.
Oh the cost of painting is so expensive but I HATE paining (walls) I think more than anything haha. Having said that we’ve done all of our own too.
My brother made my curtains for my kitchen because I too was in shock at the prices they wanted. My father in law is a plumber, and has saved us hundreds!
Oh having a trades hookup is a huge advantage!
I can’t remember the last thing that I did myself! Maybe that’s a sign that I need to become more creative, I bet I’ll save more money that way too.
It’s not as tough as you may think! Good luck!
Its great you have a great attitude about doing things yourself. Too many people are too lazy to even put in a lightbulb! My bf works in home repair and he tells me stories about how people are so clueless, they pay him to do something as simple as putting in a door knob.
haha Oh that doesn’t surprise me at all. Friends of mine were impressed that I changed a deadbolt…like really?!