Being thrifty is something that Matt and I really enjoy, so we made a game out of it. We took what little money we had and set out to see how inventive we could be. We expect a call from Donald Trump to be his next apprentice! Between ideas of our own and the freebies from family- we hit the jack pot! If any of you know my mama and my papaw they have just about anything you will ever need to decorate a house. Yard sales are prevalent in their area so they are always grabbing good finds. Decorating on a tight budget isn't as bad as it may seem- you just need a little creativity, teamwork, and coffee as needed!
Matt and I have a personal style of decorating like every one does. Our goal with the house was to make it as welcoming and comfortable as possible since we love hosting out of town (sometimes out of country) guests. We wanted to make it especially welcoming to family since we hadn't had the opportunity to live close to family and host them until now. We wanted to avoid over-crowding the walls, shelves, and tables with excess decorations to give the house a relaxing atmosphere. With little money and a lot of space to cover, we also didn't want the walls to look bare and cold. I'm really proud of the solutions that we found.
Below are two art pieces hanging in our living room. These frames are simple white frames that we bought at IKEA for $2.99/each. Inside the frame, I displayed sheets of scrap booking paper that I found at Michael's for .89/each! That's less than $5 for this project! I simply cut the paper to size and put it in the frame. This was a cheap alternative to buying a 'travel theme' art piece. We made our own! Craft stores have plenty of scrap booking paper to choose from- There are a lot of themes and colors to choose from. This also makes your art pieces easy to switch out when you get tired of them.
The one below is one that is going to be used in our kitchen (yes, it is turned the wrong way-sorry!):
The photo below is an old advert from a 1950's National Geographic Magazine. The magazines were bought at a yard sale for only .25/each! Total cost of this project is les than $3.00! The advert reads: How to win the battle of the bulge. Perfectly ironic for a kitchen art piece!
For the office, we knew exactly what we wanted. We wanted to do a clash of modern meets antique. It was important to us to use bold colors and make it a good work environment. Matt and I wanted to use this room to incorporate all things English since that is where our story together began.
This antique typewriter was given to us by my papaw. The 'Nat. Geo.' magazines (1951-1959) were $2.00 for all of them! The table is from IKEA and was $7.00. That means that this little nook was less than $10 to create!
Our English Office is coming together nicely. More photos to follow. The desk wasn't what we had wanted in the first place. Originally, I wanted a HUGE oak antique desk, but with difficulty being able to locate what I wanted for the price we needed, we threw out the idea and went for something a little more modern. We found this IKEA desk at a Habitat for Humanity store for less than half the price they are sold for at IKEA! We scored the desk for $50, which was a great price for something we are going to use and keep for a very long time! The gray paint was left for us by my mother-in-law (thanks Ma!). The other three walls are painted a neutral cream color which gives the room a bold look-having the gray wall stick out. The only thing bought at full price in this room was the painting on the wall and the red desk chair-total of both together was less than $70!
So, there you have it! You can decorate any space with little money and little effort.
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