Day 25 - Knock it Off

I can't believe we have less than a week left in the series already. October is flying by!

You may remember last week when I talked about building your own furniture to save money. Today I've been thinking about all the other things you can knock-off to get big ticket style for low cost. Everything from making your own curtains, to creating your own accessories, to making a DIY rug! Here are a few ideas I've been eying recently:

Knock Off Decor
I just found this website that hold hundreds of knock off projects! Everything from furniture to mirrors to accessories. It's a great place to find tutorials for the great pieces you seen in catalogs. You can even search by company (15 to choose from! Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, etc.). I'm already making a list of projects to tackle.

(rope spool side table - via Knock Off Decor)

Window Mistreatments
This blog is a collection of window mistreatment projects. Most of the projects are no-sew, and many are knock-off of name brands styles. I'm planning to try one of these tutorials for our guest room...I just have to decide which one!

(hanger drop cloth - via Window Mistreatments)

Rug Tutorials - via Babble
I never thought of trying to make my own rug until I saw this! Whether you sew, crochet, or paint there is a tutorial or two for you. We've been looking for an affordable rug for months, and I think this may be our answer! Now I just have to decide which one I want to try. :)

(big stitch crocheted alpaca rug - via Babble)

Have you had your eye on something you'd love to try to DIY? What are your favorite resources for DIY home projects?

Day 24 - It's the Little Things

Sometimes a simple little change can make a big difference....

Take, for example, our old porch light. Yuck. And Halloween-esque black fixture with yellow glass that casts a creepy glow all across the lawn. Oh, and it doesn't match ANYTHING in or on our house. It's such a small part of our home's facade, but it sticks out like a sore thumb (especially when it's lit up!).

We knew it would be a simple change that would really make the front our house look better. Fortunately, the Electrician Extraordinaire (aka my mom) helped us make the switch! And by that I mean "made the switch for us while I handed her screwdrivers." Once she had the old light down, she found out all the gizmos (that's the technical term) she would need for the new light were already up there.

So it seriously took her about 5 minutes to go from the witch-of-Halloween-past to this beautiful new welcome-to-our-happy-and-totally-not-scary-home light.

Project Cost:
$3 - light (from a yard sale)
5 minutes - time spent by Electrician Extraordinaire

And here it is all lit up. And not yellow. Beautiful.

And here is a shot from further back. I feel like it really matches the style of the house now. And adds a little class to our front porch. :)

Do you have any small changes that could make a big impact in your home?

Technical Difficulties

Turns out we were having some website problems last night. So if you tried to view my website and saw a warning page instead, I'm sorry!

One of the websites I linked a project to was hijacked and shut down, and apparently google decided I was a threat to since I linked to them! Boo!

The important thing is, you were never in any danger by viewing my blog. It was just Google overreacting a little. So sorry for any inconvenience that caused!

Now that we have everything cleared up (I removed any links to hijacked site) we can keep moving forward with our 31 days! Woot! I'll be back later this afternoon with today's post.

Day 23 - Know Where to Shop

One of the most important ways to improve your home on a budget is to shop smart. Here are some of my favorite places to find great deals for my home.

Yard Sales - by far my favorite place to shop during the summer months. You don't always find what you're looking for, but with a little patience and hunting you can get some great deals on some great stuff! You can see my tips for yard sale shopping over at Active Fingers, and check out some of my yard sales finds here.

(serving stand - $0.50 from a yard sale)

Thrift Stores - a nice alternative to yard sales in the winter. Merchandise usually isn't quite as cheap as at a yard sale, but you know you'll have a huge selection in one place and that it will get updated often.

(bag made from a duvet cover - $4.00 from the thrift store)

Craigslist - nice because you can look search for specific items. I've found Craiglist prices to be generally higher than the former options, but it's nice to be able to shop from home and look for exactly what you need. And the prices are usually better than buying something new.

(crib - $50 from Craigslist)

Freecycle - my parents have gotten some really good stuff from their local freecycle network. I haven't had tons of luck with freecycle yet, but it's because things go SO fast. I don't check frequently enough so most things are gone before I even know they're there. But, if you're diligent, you can get some great stuff totally free.

Clearance Aisle - in all the places you normally shop. Most stores have at least a small clearance section and, while some things there seem to be hardly marked down at all, sometimes you can find a steal!

(drawer pulls - $0.30 each from Lowe's clearance)

How do you save money and stretch your budget when you shop for your home?