Ten Spring Fix-ups for Under $10.00

How do you like that headline?  Mom and I put our heads together and came up with ten things you can do to put a fresh spin on your home this spring.  And each one can be done for under $10.00.  We even have one that might be free if you have vinegar on hand.

1.  Buy a new scented candle.  It’s time to put away those heavy smelling candles you’ve been burning all winter.  Lighten up the fragrance in your home, and your mood will lighten up right along  with it.

 

 

2.  Make some art using your leftover house paints.  I showed you how to do it here.  The only thing you have to buy for this is a canvas.

 

 

3.  Wash your windows, mirrors, and light bulbs.  I can’t stand the smell of vinegar, but Mom loves it.  She mixes distilled vinegar with water, puts it in a spray bottle, and cleans away.  Over the winter months a dusty film forms on anything glass, and she swears that the only thing that will clean it without leaving streaks is vinegar and water.  This tip is free if you have vinegar in your house.

 

 

4.  Buy some new hand towels.  This is an easy way to freshen up your powder room.  You can probably buy two, maybe three, hand towels for under ten bucks.

 

 

5,  Stencil a wall or a room.  Many stencils sell for under $10.00, and the paint you need goes on sale for under $1.00.  Stencils are forgiving.  If you mess up a little, it doesn’t really show up when the whole wall is finished, and with a small investment of your time, the results will look like you spent hundreds on new wallpaper.  Here’s something else you can do while you are stenciling.  If you would like to make your crown moldings look wider, use paint to widen them visually.  You can barely see where the wood molding stops and the paint starts in this photo.

 

 

6.  Change the pulls on a piece of furniture.  I have a vintage bar in our dining room that was looking tired and unloved.  I found these cute pulls on sale at Hobby Lobby, and immediately, the look changed to young and fresh.  If you don’t want to buy new knobs, you can buy a can of spray paint, and spray a new finish onto some existing pulls.  Mom did it here.

 

 

7.  Use bandannas as napkins.  Yankee and I always use cloth napkins.  I guess it’s because I grew up using them.  It’s an easy way to make each meal a little more special, and you aren’t cluttering up a land fill with paper napkins.  Most big box stores sell really colorful bandannas, and they make great napkins at around $1.00 each.  It’s hard to believe that cute napkin in the photo is actually a bandanna that was 99 cents.

 

 

8.  Rethink furniture.  Just because a piece of furniture was born to be one thing doesn’t mean it can’t morph into something else.  I found this coffee table on the curb.  My neighbor had a garage sale, and no one bought it so she tossed it out.  When I brought it home, I immediately knew it would be a great game table.  I painted it a fun color and added chalkboard paint to the top.  Now when our friends come over for game night, we gather around my free table and have a great time!!  You can see how I repurposed a baby’s changing table into a bar here.

 

 

9.  Change the look of your photo and art mats.   Sometimes we get tired of our framed prints.  We discovered, though, that we can change the look of the mats, and we then feel better about the art.  For instance, Mom used a roll of wrapping paper she got at the dollar store to really brighten the look on some black and white photos she took in Paris.  Also, we have changed the color of mats just by using spray paint.  Mom did it here.  You could also use a map, the comics, fabric remnants, and wallpaper leftovers to change the look of mats.  And although this isn’t a mat, Mom used magazine scraps to create this huge piece of art.

 

 

10.Use vintage post cards as seasonal art.  I love old post cards, and so does my mom.  We have vintage cards for almost every holiday and season.  My great grandmother collected post cards as a young girl, and I always loved looking at her post card scrap book.  Her friends sent post cards to her just because they knew she like them.  Her cards are from the early twentieth century, and a lot of our cards are, too.  Framing old post cards is fun, and they are great conversation starters.

We hope you got at least one new idea here that you can use in your home.  We would love to hear your suggestions.  Let’s get a little idea sharing started here.

 

Cheers!

 

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