There are many blogs out there about organizing & creative solutions, so I will not be going into an in depth explanation on how to organize your whole home, but simply will be sharing my own organizing tips that I have used around our home, in hopes that it will inspire you to try something new!
.jpg)
Being that we now have an almost 7 month old, our house is full of toys, books and anything to keep her entertained while she sits beside mommy so I can get some work done. Along with all of the toys, comes finding ways to somehow organize it all "stylishly". I wasn't looking to spend much money when it came to our new organizing dilemma, so I did what I do best . . . I shopped my own home first! We bought an old TV armoire for only $30 off of craigslist shortly before having our daughter, with plans to paint it, but never got around to it, so it sat in the garage. After having our baby, we moved the armoire into our room where it served a porpoise storing extra diapers, wipes and the extra "junk" that we didn't want to be seen. Pretty much it was useless. So after the toys started piling up, I decided that it would serve better as toy storage!
After shopping around my own home, I went to Target and found these adorable turquoise tin storage bins (in the armoire) ON SALE for only $4.98 each! They are from the Shaun White Home Decor line.
I was also able to score on these nautical storage baskets for the living room at TJMaxx
& these storage bins at Home Goods
& this solution is quite possibly my favorite, which is in my baby girl's room: the blue vintage trunk (that was another great find off of Craigslist) to store all of her toys and more stuffed animals!
Now that I have shared some toy organizational tips with you, it is time to move onto the kitchen . . .
Running a business out of your home, being a stay at home mom, an FRG volunteer, and Photographer, not being organized can be detrimental. Here are my solutions for an organization station in your kitchen, for all of your appointments, schedules & events that need to be easily accessible.
This part of my home is one of my favorites. I had been wanting a storage basket to organize all of my orders for my etsy shop and had fallen in love with this one from Ballard Designs, but unfortunately not with the price. You can find this item here: STORAGE - BALLARD DESIGNS
.jpg)
So when I came across this white storage basket with the same look
I grabbed it right up & at only $12 it was a steal!
The bulletin board was another great find. I found the frame (empty) on clearance at Home Goods. It was a picture frame, but the glass was missing. This treasure only cost me $4! I found some cork board at Michael's & hot glued the edges to the frame, inserted the back of the frame back in & now I have a custom cork board!
To organize my daily scheduling, I use the dry erase monthly calendar that I purchased from Target, along with the two dry erase magnetic boards that I have on the fridge.
One of my favorite items to use are my magnetic days of the week.
I am sure that many of you noticed the bucket of pens displayed in the photo above. This was a little DIY project that I did. I purchased a plain wood plaque from Michael's, painted it the color that I preferred, distressed it up a bit, then drilled a hole in the center.
I chose the style knob that I liked best from Hobby Lobby
Fastened it to the back & added a picture hanger hook
& now you have a super cute way to display just about anything!
Thanks for stopping by and reading, I hope that you were able to take away at least a few new organizing ideas to use in your own home : )
As y'all know by now, I love finding me some good deals & saving money. I suppose that is what my Grandfather instilled in me ;) I get many questions as to how I find such good deals & let me tell you, Craigslist is one of my favorite sites! It is always a hit or miss, but if you are checking the site every week or every day you are bound to find a good deal or two. Yes, it can be scary which is why I ALWAYS make sure to have someone with me when I am picking up an item. The best parts about buying used are that first off, you save money! You can bargain & hassle your way most often to the price that you want. I always first search the oldest dates posted. Many of these items people have been trying to sell and now are at the point where they will take any amount of money to just have it GONE. Second, it is great for the environment. Buying 2nd hand items means getting the most use out of a product before it ends up sitting in a dump somewhere. And my third favorite reason, is that you get to take an old, use piece and make it your own, give it a new life & make it fit your lifestyle! You walk away with a one of a kind piece just for your home.
Today's find is one of my favorites yet! I am always looking for furniture that I can re-do myself, but every once in awhile you come across a perfect piece, already done just the way you like. And in this case it was ONLY $10. Yes, just $10!!! I couldn't believe it!
So keep bargain shopping readers! You may be surprised what YOU find . . .
Today's find is one of my favorites yet! I am always looking for furniture that I can re-do myself, but every once in awhile you come across a perfect piece, already done just the way you like. And in this case it was ONLY $10. Yes, just $10!!! I couldn't believe it!
So keep bargain shopping readers! You may be surprised what YOU find . . .
These adorable painted mason jars are a unique addition to any home decor. They are great for displaying fresh cut flowers from the garden, organizing pens, paint brushes & storing loose change, or for adding a pop of color to your decor!
Super easy to make, or you can purchase them off of my shop for only $8 each
Use regular craft paint. Either outdoor craft paint for a matte finish, or use Martha Stewart craft paint for a glossy/ eggshell finish. I used foam brushes to paint and applied 3 coats, waiting 30 min in between painting each layer.
After your paint is dried, take sand paper and lightly sand the raised areas as well as areas on the glass jar that would most likely rub off over time to give it a weathered/ vintage look. You can also choose to seal it with a sealant for outdoor use & you are done!
After finding out that I was pregnant with a Girl, it didn't take long before jumping right into decorating her nursery. I wanted to create a space that could grow with her, as well as would be calming, feminine and simplistic, all done on a very small budget.
Living in military housing, we were not able to paint any of the walls, so adding personality and character to a very blank slate of a room with white walls was a challenge. I knew that I wanted to go with a shabby chic feel, so my first step was to find a crib and furniture to set the mood for the base of the design.
The crib ended up being a special gift from my grandmother. She was there with us, along with my whole family, at my ultrasound appointment to find out the gender of our baby. Nearly everyone was convinced it was a boy, so when the ultrasound technician announced "it's a girl!" we were all in shock, in a good way. We all went to lunch together after then headed off to go shopping for the perfect crib. Being on a small budget, we started our search at a local children's furniture shop in San Diego that was going out of business. Off in the corner was this beautiful crib. It was a floor model and had some discoloring on the back side of the spindle slats but other than that, it was everything I had ever wanted. I loved the curved feminine back, and the fact that it was a 3 in 1 crib, which transitions into a toddler bed, then a full. The pricing was at the top end of what I had wanted to spend, but we could still make it work. Originally this was a $899 crib, which we were able to get for $320! At checkout, my grandmother graciously stepped up to pay, and gifted it to us. A gift I will forever cherish.
For those that are wanting to know more about the crib brand and style, unfortunately there ended up being a recall on this specific style and is now discontinued, so I do not have a link. But I have linked similar styles at the bottom of this post that all have great reviews and are small budget friendly!
As for the bedding, my vision was all things floral and traditional shabby chic. I was able to find this shabby chic floral crib bedding set from Target for just $119! Unfortunately it is no longer available and while I was not able to find anything identical to link, I did do some shopping and found a handful of other shabby chic styles that are adorable and affordable!
Scroll to the bottom of this post to shop
Scroll to the bottom of this post to shop
This little corner is where I spend the most of my time: The glider and ottoman were also a great purchase that was a floor model closeout at Babies R' Us. It is so comfortable and I have spent many long nights rocking baby in it, I would say it's my most favorite piece of furniture in our whole home! (update: I have gotten so many questions about what brand this glider and ottoman are, so below I have linked THIS ONE from Amazon since Babies R' Us no longer exists)
The embroidered pillow was created by my sweet Aunt for baby M. The vintage baby dresses were a thrift store find for $2 each. The gallery wall frames are all from Michael's, I then filled the larger 2 with vintage book pages from a children's picture book that I found at a local antique store for $4 and the smaller frame holds baby M's birth announcement which I created using Minted.com. Lastly, the large wooden frame on the wall was a Home Goods find for just $12 on clearance.
Let's talk details:
Creating little special vignettes is my favorite thing to do, photographing them is probably my second favorite. I love bringing personality into a room using a mix of old and new finds. This plain white picture frame was another one that I found at Michael's then just hot glued a pink bow to it. The mason jar was a local antique find, and the glass vase and faux florals were again from Michael's.
Have you seen the collections of mirrors from Pottery Barn Kids, that literally almost cost as much as the crib bedding that I purchased... Well, as much as I loved them, they were not in mu budget! So I found a way to DIY them. I found all of these mirrors at Michael's for $2-$7 (for the largest one), along with the ribbon that coordinates with the pink and blue color scheme in the room. I hot glued the ribbons to the backs, and hung! It was that easy and cost me under $25 for all 5 of them.
This print, is another one of my favorite things in her nursery. I no longer have the link to this shop, as she no longer makes them, but there are a ton of great options for birth stat printables both on Etsy.com and on Minted.com's Little Mint Line
This monogrammed canvas was another DIY done by yours truly. I painted the base of the canvas using the same paint that her blue armoire is painted in, then using drop cloth fabric, I drew my letters onto it, cut them out and hot glued onto the canvas. I finished it off using flowers I had made out of paper and old buttons. This entire project cost me less than $10 to create.
Here is another perfect example of mixing old and new together. The largest dress form on the right is from TJMaxx, the one on the left is also new, from Michael's, and the one shown in the center is an antique one. The porcelain vase on the left belonged to my great-grandmother Jenny and holds such a special meaning being in my baby girl's nursery.
Alright, let's finish this tour up...
Again, living in military or rental housing has it's restrictions, and when it came to the ugly big brown closet doors... I wanted them gone! We were easily able to take them off of the track without damaging them, and it their place I hung a set of pink satin curtains from the Simply Shabby Chic line at Target onto a tension curtain rod then placed the rod up into where the closet tracking is to hide it all. This is a great solution for anyone who is renting. When we moved out, we just placed the doors back in and it was exactly how it was when we moved in!
Another tip for all of you military housing/ rental dwellers, because we often are not allowed to paint, you can bring in color by painting your furniture. This is so simple to do and will completely transform the look of a room on a small budget!
Lastly, to fill the large white wall space above her crib, I took a shower curtain (you could also use a sheet) from the Simply Shabby Chic line at Target, stretched it over a large piece of cardboard and hot glued it on the back side. I then placed the fabric covered cardboard into a large thrift store frame that I had spray painted silver. This whole project only cost me basically the price of a shower curtain. Such a great bank for your buck!
Thank you for hopping on over to my blog and visiting my sweet baby girl's nursery. I hope that these tips have helped to show you that you don't have to live in your forever home or have a huge budget to create your dream nursery! I have linked a few more of my favorite items that we have either used in her nursery, or similar ones, and all that fit a small budget
(linked at the bottom of this post)
(linked at the bottom of this post)
If you are interested in learning how to make the DIY shabby chic lampshade that I created for her room, you can find that tutorial HERE
Don't bother searching through catalogs and online for the perfect home decor letters, do it yourself and save $$$. For under $15 you can create all 3 of these
Super simple and took me only about 45 min
The "D+J" are actually ones that I did previously for our Wedding, and decided to add a "C" and hang all 3 in our living room.
I bought all 3 plain letters and supplies from Michael's then covered them. A great way to personalize any room in your home! Cover with moss (pre-bagged at Michael's) & rope (also from Michael's) using hot glue. And there you go, in less than an hour you have created personalized wall art
I have often found myself searching through home decor magazines and always wonder... "How can I get my living room to look like THAT?!" Every page is filled with rooms which look perfectly put together yet comfy and lived in all at the same time. Being that the living room is the first room that you see when you enter our home & where we spend the most of our time as a family, watching TV, playing, reading, etc... it becomes the room which I analyze the most. I feel as if it is never done, and quite possibly never will be. Over the past few weeks I have gathered magazines and inspiration to "spruce up" our living room and add some character & on a BUDGET!
Living in Military Housing, there are many things that can be hard to overlook, like the plain stark white walls for example. In most military housing areas they allow you to paint, just as long as you re-paint back to the original color before moving out. For many military families, this seems like a huge daunting task since we never know how long we will really be in one home! In our home, we have painted a few accent walls, but in our living room, we have vaulted ceilings, so painting would require a large ladder and scaffolding, so paint is out of the question! Searching through my inspiration magazines/ and online inspirations, all of the rooms had been painted. So, my challenge: create a living room with character & warmth without the use of paint. Just because you may live in military housing does not mean that you have to live in a world of "plain". Bring in color with your accessories!
Here are my shopping savvy tips for saving money on a room re-do:
First, start by shopping your own home. This is the best way to SAVE MONEY!! Go around your home, see if there are accessories in which can be better used and put together in another part of your home. Maybe you have picture frames sitting in boxes? a mirror under the bed? Candles hidden away in a closet? You may be surprised what you find!
Second, shop at consignment stores, thrift stores or re-sale shops. You would be amazed at the treasures you can find & all that fit within budget!
Third, head off to TJMaxx, Home Goods, Marshalls, Target, Wal-Mart or any other store where you can get a good bargain on home decor items to finish off the room.
Here is what the room started out as before
a little plan, a little boring, but overall. . . not so bad
& here is is AFTER
COUCH: Living Spaces ($799) OTTOMAN/TABLE CUBE: Craigslist ($20)
add in some new pillows, rug, mirror, ottoman/ table cube, and accessories and you have a whole new look! And all on a budget
MIRROR: Craigslist ($30)
YES only $30! We bought this awhile back and have been storing
under our bed, but we finally found a good use for it!
CHAIR: Living Spaces ($199)
PILLOW: TJMaxx
SEASHELL DECOR: TJMaxx ($14.99)
TOPIARY: Consignment ($10)
MIRRORS: Home Goods
LETTERS: DIY TUTORIAL HERE
DISTRESSED CANDLE HOLDER: Home Goods ($4.99)
on clearance because 2 glass panel was missing
PILLOWS: Home Goods & TJMaxx ($14.99-$19.99 each)
BASKET & GREENERY: Consignment Store ($8.99 for both)
WHITE CANDLESTICK: Home Goods ($8.00) <-- another clearance section find
MERCURY VASE: Home Goods
GOLD CORAL: Home Goods ($2.00) <--- YES only $2!
This is what I mean by a good deal! There were some pieces broken off when I found this in the clearance section. All I did to fix it was paint the white parts that were showing with some gold metallic paint and it looks brand new
DECORATIVE BASKET: Consignment Store ($6.00)
TABLE: Target CURTAINS: TJMaxx ($14.99 for both)
PICTURE FRAME: re-used from another room
NAUTICAL ROPE DECOR: Home Goods ($9.99)
BURLAP BASKET: TJMaxx ($7.99)
WOOL RUG: from TJMaxx - (Orig: $399 On Sale: $99.00)
Whatever room you may be wanting to re-do, money doesn't have to stand in the way. Simply re-arrange what you have, and change things up a bit! Make your home your sanctuary.
Come see how I decorated my daughter's nursery on a budget too! HERE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
