$100 Bathroom Makeover - Going Green!

Lest you think this is about "going green" in the trendy environmental way - no. 

As my husband likes to say: "Why do you paint everything green?" 

And, as Harriet the Spy says: "I can't help it if I know what I like."

So. If you want to watch me literally turn my bathroom green for almost $0? Keep reading. 

If you want tips on going environmentally green? I mean, we still make castile hand soap, we clean chemical-free with e-cloth, and... not showering everyday saves water? There you go. 

On to today's project. Here's the before:

$3 Christmas Wreath Hack

Want to add a little Christmas cheer to every corner of your home without breaking the bank? Me too! And this is one of my favorite hacks to get the job done. Wreaths are so versatile because they don't need any floor space, you can hang them just about anywhere, and they are super easy to put up. These little guys have an extra bonus - they're only $3 each at Hobby Lobby!

DIY Renovation - What To Do Yourself vs. What To Hire Out

I've had a few questions about what we do ourselves vs. what we hire out, so I thought it might be helpful to go into that more in-depth today and talk about not just what we personally hire out, but also how we make those decisions (and I'll walk you through how to make those decisions for yourself as well). It's always a good to have an idea of what you really can (and want to) do yourself before you begin any kind of remodeling project!  I addressed this briefly in my post about installing the recessed lighting in our kitchen if you want to check that out as well.

When it comes to home renovation, you're not only deciding how much you want to pay, but also what you want to pay. Because doing things yourself involves a different kind of cost than paying a contractor. While DIY does save money, it costs time instead. Nathan once spent a whole Saturday installing flooring in our dining room with help from a friend and they only got about 75% done. So while we saved a lot of money over having it professionally installed, it cost him a couple days of time instead. See what I mean? 

So for every part of your renovation, you need to evaluate your unique needs and decide exactly what you're willing to pay. Find the balance that works for you, your home, and your family. Today I have several tips to help you think through these decisions and I put together a free printable workbook to help you as you work through that thought process! You can get it here:

DIY Renovation Planning Workbook

Installing Can Lights in our DIY Kitchen Reno

Lighting is so important to a functional kitchen. I'll admit I'm no lighting expert, but I did plan all the lighting for our DIY kitchen remodel myself and I know that you can do it, too! So today I'll share the lighting choices we made for our kitchen (and why we made them) which should at least be a good starting point for you to jump into your own kitchen lighting project!

First Steps in our DIY Kitchen Renovation

Guys, we're well over a year into our DIY kitchen renovation. Which sounds crazy. But we're DIYing the entire thing (on top of jobs/kids/homeschooling) so it takes as long as it takes. I've been planning to share as many details as I can, but it turns out finding time to both do the DIY and write about the DIY has been difficult has not been something I really wanted to try to do. So. I didn't. 

But I think it's time. So today I'm going to kick if off by going back to the beginning to share the first steps we took toward get our dining room ready to convert into a kitchen just in case it would help anyone else planning a similar renovation. Obviously the very first step was a lot of planning, which you can read about here. Then the first actual ax-to-the-grindstone step was getting the bones of the room ready and creating a blank slate. 

DIY Modern Farmhouse Christmas Stockings

New year, new stockings... again.... How often is it normal to get replace your stockings? Growing up we had the same stockings my whole life (my parents still use them!) and I feel like that's the normal thing to do. It's all part of the nostalgia of Christmas, right? But here I am replacing my stockings for the... fifth time? I've started from scratch every time we added a baby (since we needed to add a new stocking) but almost every time I breathed a sigh of relief that I could finally ditch stockings I didn't love and try again. Here's what I've tried so far (you can read the full saga in this post):

1. Failed Sweater Stockings
2. DIY Flannel Stockings - I ended up hating these. I was on a tight ($0) budget and made them out of leftover flannel from other projects that didn't match my Christmas style. I won't totally knock this idea though - I think a cute plaid set would feel wonderfully cozy!
   
3. Cheap Hobby Lobby Stockings
4. $5 Christmas Stocking Hack - I actually really liked these ones! And I honestly don't have a good reason why I didn't just make a seventh one to match for our newest addition - it was just so much red when so many of them were up there together, and! So this time I'm trying something that feels a little more organic - like a collection we can add to over time.
   

And now I'd like to introduce you to my newest stocking love: mix-and-match modern farmhouse stockings!

Boys' Closet Reveal (Low-Budget Makeover!)

Hey guys! It's time for the closet reveal! You saw a peek of it in the bunk room reveal (check that out here if you missed it), but the final details are done and this closet is already working hard for our boys. This was a 100% low-budget use-what-we-have project because seriously, guys, you don't have to spend a fortune to create a beautiful home for your family! Here's a reminder of where we started and where we left off during the bunk room reveal:

 

And here's their closet today: 

 

Bunk Bed Plans

Today I'm sharing plans for the regular double bunk bed we used in our boys' new bunk room! 

**Returning to this post more than 3 years later...we still use these bunk beds every day. They've held up great and love them as much as ever!**

We built the bunks as two separate units (a freestanding triple set and double set) so if we ever change course later and decided to split them up, we can! They also disassemble into a few large pieces for easy moving. We painted them all a muted green ("Retreat" from Lowe's) which feels perfect for a boys room without being over-powering. And I love the contrast that came with leaving the ladders and railings natural wood.

You can find the triple bunk plans here.

Triple Bunk Bed Plans

Guys, it's time for bunk bed plans!

You probably already got a look at the bunks during the room tour (if not, you can check out the full tour here) and today I've got plans ready for your to build your own. We'll start with the triple bunk today, and you can find the double bunk plans here. 

**Returning to this post more than 3 years later...we still use these bunk beds every day. They've held up great and love them as much as ever!**

We built the bunks as two separate units so if we ever change course later and decided to split them up, we can! They also disassemble into a few large pieces for easy moving. We painted them all a muted green ("Retreat" from Lowe's) which feels perfect for a boys room without being over-powering. And I love the contrast that came with leaving the ladders and railings natural wood.

These plans are based on Ana White's modern bunk beds, but I modified them to fit our needs and space a little better. Besides creating a triple bunk version, I also changed the overall height of the bed and moved the bottom bunk all the way to the floor (with slats underneath for air flow) to create as much head room as possible. I put a lot of thought into the bunk layout and decided to set the double bed at different heights than the triple to give as much headroom as possible to those bunks (especially so I can sit up on the bottom bunk for bedtime reading). 

Boys' Bunk Room Reveal

Ladies and Gents, this is the moment you've waited for....

The boys bunk room is DONE and I am so excited to share it with you! This room used to be our guest room, but we realized that we could make the space work for our family so much better if we turned this into a bunk room for all five boys and turned their old (bigger) room into a dedicated play room. I don't know about you, but there are a couple things I was tired of:

1. Boys playing with toys when they should be going to sleep.
2. Stepping on those toys when I go in to check on them at night. 
3. Boys who couldn't nap while their brothers played. Or play while their brother napped.

So we decided to ditch the guest room and create a dedicated sleeping space that is only for their beds, their clothes, and a their favorite books. This allows their bigger room to house the toys along with plenty of open floor space to play and, of course, the monkey bars + rockwall play area we built for them a couple Christmases ago. 

Ready to see how we fit FIVE BOYS (and all their clothes) into one room? Let's check it out!

**Returning to this post more than 3 years later...we still use these bunk beds every day. They've held up great and love them as much as ever!**

DIY Paper Sack Christmas Stars

Hey peeps, I've got a super easy Christmas craft for you today! We're going to make these giant paper Christmas stars: 

And the best part? This project only takes about 10 minutes and costs only $1.00! It's a great way to make a big impact with limited time and budget, and it's super fun to do with any kids who are able to use scissors on their own. We've been hanging these all over our house this week!

Here's all you need to make your own:

• 7-8 paper lunch sacks (you can usually get a pack of 40 at Dollar Tree!)
  
• scissors
  
• hot glue gun
• string or yarn (you might be able to find string at Dollar Tree, too!)

How I Made 50' of Beaded Garland for Under $1!

Bead garland is one of my staple Christmas decorations. I can't get enough! But I know it can be pricey to buy up enough of it to really make an impact, let alone cover a single tree. In fact I spent several years slowly building a collection of red beads by purchasing a strand or two at a time during after-Christmas clearance sales. I even looked into buying beads to make my own garlands and couldn't find a way to do it that was cheaper than the Christmas clearance bins... until this summer when I stumbled across what might be the greatest bead garland hack of all time. 

It's true, guys - I made over 50' of DIY bead garland and spent less than $1.00 on the whole lot. Thanks to the magic of yard sales and a little creativity! 

DIY Window Screens for our Ford Transit Camper Van

A while back I shared about how we convert our Ford Transit into a part-time camper with our removable bunk bed system, back door shelving unit, and insulated window shades. But there's still one more important tutorial to go! We'd be lost - well maybe not lost, but definitely bug-bitten - without window and door screens! And you know we DIY'd them for a perfect fit at a low cost. Here's all you need to know to make your own:

Check out the rest of our DIY Camper Van posts here.

Easy DIY Planter

I have a super easy project for you today that will have your porch looking great this summer. We're going to make these sweet little planter boxes!

Check out the rest of my free building plans here.

And the bonus for me was that I made them entirely from my scrap pile! But if you don't have a stash of scraps yet, don't worry. Each planter uses just two short boards so it's still a budget-friendly project.

These planters come together super quick and it's a very simple project that's great for beginners. It just might be the easiest project on the entire blog!

Matching Child-size Ties + Bowties

When it comes to getting a house-full of little boys dressed up, I tend to fall back on my old favorite combo - a simple button up shirt with khaki shorts. It's easy, cute, perfect for summer, and it looks nice without being overly formal (we're not an overly formal bunch). Plus it's cheap - we already have those things in the closet (Dave Ramsey approved!).

But last summer I was putting together outfits for my sister's wedding and I wanted to add a special touch. Something to dress it up just a bit more than usual and add a little matching to the day (I love when they match). 

For little boys, that naturally led to matching ties and bow ties! I found a few ties on Amazon, but the ones I liked were almost $25 each. And the few I didn't totally hate (that would arrive in time) were still $10-15 each... and I would need four. Not how I want to spend my $$ today, thankyouverymuch. It just felt like a lot of money for a little accessory.

Then my sister was like "Duh. Make your own." And she sent me these two links:

• Boy's Tie Pattern by Little Bit Funky
• Boy's Bow tie Pattern by Make It Love It

And she was totally right. With DIY, I could make ties for all four boys for less than buying one pre-made tie. And I had a whole Hobby Lobby of prints and colors to choose from.

I decided on regular ties for the three bigger boys and a bow tie for little guy (so he wouldn't get tangled up while crawling around). For my 8-year-old, I added a few inches to the tie pattern to make it a little longer. My five- and three-year-olds are wearing it true to the pattern. Hopefully that gives you an idea for any adjustments you need to make for your own sizing! I also copied the velcro strap from the bow tie pattern and used it for the regular ties, too, instead of using the elastic it shows in that pattern.

Yes. I'm the mom that let them wear flip flops and didn't iron their shirts, but I did tuck them in... and you can see how long that lasted. I'm choosing different battles, folks.

My sister's wedding themes were navy + wildflowers and the boys were all going to wear blue shirts (all different shades, just working with what we have) and khaki shorts. So I picked a yellow floral  fabric with a vintage vibe that would work perfectly with all their outfits and fit the wedding theme! It was so perfect, I could hardly believe it.

The fabric was from Hobby Lobby and cost $7/yard regular price, but their fabric is always on sale so it ended up being only $5/yard. One yard was enough to make the set of four. I also bought one pack of  5/8" velcro for $2 and had plenty to split that between all four ties, bringing the grand total to just $7 for all four!

I couldn't believe how cute they turned out! I kept looking at them like "Did I really just make these??" So cute and so professional looking. And under two hours to make the whole set.

Just wanted to share since it's a great little project to tackle while you're cooped up at home (and perfect if you have scrap fabric to use up!). Seriously, I can't recommend these patterns (or little boys with matching ties) enough. What have you been making lately?

How to Turn Stock Cabinets into DIY Built-In's

Our first project of 2020 is (finally) finished! We tackled a totally neglected corner of our home (a little nook off our kitchen) and added a ton of functional storage with DIY built-ins. It's a pretty simple DIY that started with a couple stock cabinets from Lowe's, so today I want to share the process we followed so you can recreate it in any space and in any size!

This project started much like every other project we've ever done: with me saying "It will be easy! We'll be done in like two weeks!" And just like every other project... I underestimated. Like, a lot. It took us nearly two to complete these built-ins. Not because this process is difficult - it's actually pretty simple - but because we were exceptionally slow at setting aside time to work on it, and because the walls in this old farmhouse are crazy crooked. I mean, DIY always takes longer than I hope (you'd think I would learn - but no) but this project was even worse because we spent so much extra time cutting and recutting each board to fit tightly against walls that just aren't straight. But as usual, that slow and steady work has finally paid off in a big way.

It's hard to believe this is the same corner:

Planning DIY Built-Ins

Our first project of 2020 is all about bringing more storage and better organization to one of the most under-used spaces in our home. Because the best way to turn your house into your home is to make it work for your family - and this room definitely isn't doing that. Yet.

We have this little nook of our kitchen - it's probably supposed to be a breakfast room or something fancy like that. But, alas, we are not fancy folks. And I have no interest in a breakfast nook, because we eat breakfast at our big farmhouse table. So I toyed with a few other ideas for the space: a playroom (but we don't have that many toys and don't need another room for them), a homeschool room (I actually set it up for this for awhile, but we always end up in our cozy library/office for homework), and a craft room for the kids. So far, the craft room is the thing that seemed to stick. I'm a crafty mom and I have so far produced three crafty kids (and I expect the fourth will follow his brothers), so we have no shortage of art supplies and half-completed projects. But we do have a shortage of storage space and organizational genius to corral those things. Hence our first project of the year:

We're building DIY built-ins!

Storage that's not working for us.

DIY Easy Headboard Shelf

Remember the $50 low-budget bedroom refresh we did in the fall? I know, it's been awhile. But today we're throwing back to that fun project and showing you how to build that sweet (and super affordable) shelf we installed above the headboard! It's so easy to build and totally makes the space. Plus it's easy to customize to any length you need!

 

Want more refresh ideas on a super tight budget? Check out these room reveal posts:

• $50 Home Office Refresh
• $0 (ish) Bathroom Refresh
• Kitchen Revamp on a Budget

For this refresh, we also DIY'ed the easiest upholstered headboard EVER. You can see how we made it here. Other than that we just tweaked a few details and accessories to totally transform the space! You can check out all the details - the budget, what we bought, what we moved around, etc - in this post.

To make your own shelf, this is all you need:

• 1x8 board for the shelf - the length you want your shelf to be
• 1x6 board for the back - the length you want your shelf to be
• 1x4 board for the brackets - scraps or a 4' board would be plenty (you need more brackets for a longer shelf, less for a shorter shelf)
• 1 1/4" wood screws
• optional: Kreg Jig + 1 1/4" pocket hole screws (definitely don't need it but I used it so I didn't have any holes to fill) 
• optional: finishing nails (I just really don't like to fill holes, guys)
• wood glue
• wood filler, if needed
• sandpaper and whatever paint/stain/sealer you want
• screws for attaching the shelf to the wall (we used 3" screws and drilled directly into studs)

Start by cutting the shelf and back the length you want your shelf to be. I was planning to do my shelf the full width of our King bed (76") but my longest 1x8 board was like 72" and... the budget. I didn't want to spend the money on a new board for an extra 4" so I went with what I had. It's close enough. Just make sure your 1x8 shelf and your 1x6 back board are the same length.

Attach the back board to the shelf board - the shelf should rest on top of the back board, not butt up against the side of the back board. Attach it with wood glue and by drilling down through the top board into the edge of the back board with 1 1/4" wood screws. Or use pocket holes along the back of the back board to attach it - then the holes will be hidden against the wall!

So in this pic, since the whole shelf is upside down right now, the shelf board is laying down and back board resting on top of it and attached with Kreg Jig pocket holes:

You can see the pocket hole along the bottom edge. Those two screws on the left were used to attach the bracket - we'll get to that later.

Don't forget the glue.  And don't forget to put the glue up when you're done or a little helper might make himself helpful.

 

 Look at that precision. Totally don't need any glue there, though.

Next you need to make the brackets. Start by cutting pieces of 1x4 that are 6" long. I cut four for this shelf, but you can do more or less as needed for the size of your shelf and to fit the look you want (but remember more is always better if your shelf will be carrying a load!).

Then you need to cut each of those 6" pieces into the bracket shape. I set my miter saw to a 30 degree angle and cut a practice bracket to make sure I liked the proportions. I'm pointing at a pencil mark. That will be important in a minute.

The piece on the left is the bracket. I cut it so that there was a straight edge left at both the front and back (it doesn't go all the way to a sharp corner like the scrap piece on the right). Once I was satisfied with the bracket shape, I lined it up against the saw blade and used a pencil to mark a line at the edge of the board. That line I was pointing at two pictures back. Then I just had to line up each of the other 6" boards with that mark and knew I was getting perfectly matched brackets. You could also trace your cut bracket onto the top of each piece of wood instead. Whatever floats your boats, peeps.

Go ahead and cut as many brackets as you need. Actually, I think I cut five but when it came time to install them I decided I liked it better with four.

As is always the case, but especially when your miter saw is set to an angle you're not accustomed to... PLEASE DO NOT CUT YOUR FINGER OFF.

K, thanks.

Perfectly matched brackets. Not perfectly stacked brackets.

Now you can install your brackets. The long side of the bracket goes against the shelf (remember that's on the bottom in this pic) and the short end goes against the back board.

I did one bracket flush at each end, then spaced the other two evenly in between. Use a square to make sure the are straight. 

To attach my brackets - since I don't like to fill holes - I used 1 1/4" wood screws to attach the back side of the bracket by drilling through the back board into the end of the bracket. I wanted to use screws for at least part of it to make sure I got a good, strong hold. Then I flipped the shelf right-side-up and nailed down through the shelf into the top of the bracket with finishing nails. You can attach the top with screws if you don't have finishing nails, or if you want to reinforce the hold a bit more.

*cough*don'tforgettheglue*cough*

Second helper helping. Still don't need glue there, folks.

You're almost done! To finish your shelf, fill any visible holes with wood filler (be sure to get a stainable type if you're using stain instead of paint) then sand everything down really well. This is the most important step for a professional finish! Start with a rough sandpaper, then go over everything with a medium paper, then again with fine paper. Once it's super smooth, finish it with whatever paint or stain and sealer you like.

I tried out a few leftover stains on a scrap board to see what would work with my walls and headboard (budget project = no $$ for new stain). I tried Early American, Weathered Oak and Coffee, and decided on a layer of Weathered Oak topped with a layer of Early American. It hit that sweet spot of not-too-gray-but-not-too-brown.

Full disclosure: I used to read about people mixing or layering stains and think it was flat out crazy. Like who has time for that? Just pick a stain already! But here I am. Turns out it was the best way to make the most of what I had.

Weathered Oak going on first.

Once it dried we hung it centered above the headboard. We drilled straight through the back board into studs in the wall. Yes, the screws are visible, but we're sleeping with our heads under this thing and didn't want any chance of a shelf-falling wake-up call. We used black 3" drywall screws since we knew the heads would be show (still not super pretty, but better than shiny silver heads!). 

All done!

I know I've shared this before, but it's still my favorite side-by-side before + after of the space. What a difference a few simple changes can make!

And here's an update with it decked out for Christmas:

Now I'd love to hear - what's your favorite thing about your bedroom? Is it a special piece of decor? The layout or flow? Something you made yourself? Let me know in the comments!