DIY Archives - Budgeting With Boys

Wooden Slat Wall Bedroom Makeover

With the new baby just around the corner it was time to update our oldest son’s bedroom. I wanted to do a single wall treatment behind his bed since we did an accent wall in his brother’s Shiplap Bedroom Makeover. Wood prices have sky rocketed lately, so I needed to find a project that fit our style without breaking the budget. I fell in love with the Wooden Slat Wall look. I wanted to create a wooden slat wall that looked great but did not cost an arm and a leg. Follow me on my oldest son’s bedroom makeover journey!

Wooden Slat Wall Supplies

We updated the bed in the room from a double to a queen. Since the wood was running behind the bed frame, I measured the width of the bed to calculate how many wood pieces I would need to complete the project.

The walls in our house are very tall! They are approximately twelve feet tall but since we have a baseboard in place the wall distance we needed to cover was just over 11 feet. 12 foot pine wood 1×2 boards are super expensive. There is no way I could afford to complete this project with 12 foot boards. I decided to purchase 6 foot 1×2 Select Pine boards to complete the wood slat wall. In order to make the boards work in the space, I ran 6 foot boards vertically. I cut down the remainder of the 6 foot boards I purchased and ran them horizontally until I reached the baseboard. Not only did this save me money, it added a lovely design element to the space.

I ended up purchasing 50, 1″x2″x6′ Select Pine Boards from Home Depot for a total price of $250. The other items I needed to complete the project was 1.5 inch brad nails, pine wood filler, a brad nail gun, a level, sand paper, and a spacer; all of which I had on hand at home.

Constructing the Slat Wall

Using a level, I placed the first 6 foot wood board vertically on the wall by nailing it into the wall studs with a brad nailer. After the first board was up, I used a piece of scrap wood as a spacer and hung the remaining vertical wood boards.

Wooden Slat Wall being hung with wood spacer

The space between the boards is a personal preference. I chose to make the space smaller because that is the look I was trying to achieve. A larger space would cut down on the amount of wood used in the project. Ultimately the decision on spacing comes down to budget and design.

Once all of the vertical wood slats were installed, I cut down the remaining boards to the correct size. The remaining boards were attached to the wall horizontally using the same spacing and technique.

After the boards were in place, I filled all of the nail holes with pine wood filler. Once the wood filler was dried, I lightly sanded it down.

The best part of this project is there is no painting or staining! I chose to leave the pine natural because I loved the way it looked as is. This was a super simple one day wall transformation!

Finishing Touches and Accessories

Along with the new queen bed, I purchased natural wood nightstands for the room. I purchased the nightstands from Hobby Lobby for $89.59 each.

Since the nightstands were small, I wanted to add lighting without having to take up space on the bed tables. Wireless sconces seemed like the best choice to dress up the space. I purchased a two pack of sconces from Amazon for $39.99.

I added a wireless sconce above each nightstand. Check back later for my next blog post where I will cover creating and installing wireless sconces!

I found the perfect picture from Target to add to this space. The black and white photo of a Highland Cow was not only adorable but the frame matched the wood tones in our room.

This room turned out better than any of us could have imagined. The Wooden Slat Wall project was super simple to create and made a huge impact on our space. Check back later for our next bedroom makeover, the new babies room!

Updating Discounted Chairs on a Budget

Velvet Chair with Gold Accents for less than $70 a Chair!

Decorating is something I enjoy doing, and I love the challenge of decorating on a budget. I wanted to add two chairs to our living room to make the area more functional but I did not want to break the bank. There were several chairs I fell in love with online but they fell within the 300-500 dollar range. Ideally for this project I wanted to spend no more than $100 a chair. Join me on my journey for Updating Discounted Chairs on a Budget!

The above picture is my living room space after completing my DIY Barn Door Shutters project. While the space is functional, we needed more seating for entertaining. I recently purchased blue velvet curtains for my home office and wanted to continue with the same material in the living room. My online hunt for the perfect blue velvet chair began.

Purchasing the Perfect Chair

While I found several chairs that would fit the space perfectly, they were all sadly outside my budget. I found a blue velvet chair on Wayfair that fit within my budget called the Alivia Armchair.

The chair was listed on sale for $150 a chair. While this seems outside of my budget it wasn’t because I had a credit at Wayfair for $128. I obtained the Wayfair credit because I ordered an electric fireplace for my Faux Built-in Fireplace with Shiplap home renovation project from Wayfair and it came with some marks on it. Wayfair will offer to completely replace your item or provide a credit for the damage. Generally, I take the credit if it is something I can easily fix.

Initially I thought I was paying $172 for both chairs however, when the chairs arrived they both had paint damage to the black portion of the chair. Wayfair gave me $60 off my purchase price because of the paint damage. This discount brought the price of both chairs down to $112, that is $56 per chair! For this project, the paint damage was not an issue because I already had plans to repaint the chairs. The moral of this story is don’t be afraid to ask for a discount if a product arrives in a less than perfect condition.

Updating the Chairs

The chair base color needed to be redone in order for the chair to have more character and fit into my design style. I picked out a Metallic Gold spray paint made by Rust-Oleum.

I removed the chair base from the chair seat. The chair seat was easily removable and was only connected by a few screws.

Each chair base was coated with two coats of Metallic Gold Rust-Oleum paint. It took 3 cans of Metallic Gold paint for both chairs.

After the final Metallic Gold paint coat dried, I sprayed each chair base with Rust-Oleum Matte Finish Clear Protective Finish. The Clear Protective Finish helps prevent the gold paint from being scratched off.

Once everything was completely dry, I reattached the chair seats to the chair bases.

I played with the placement of my new fabulous chairs and finally came up with the perfect layout.

These chairs are comfortable, stylish, and best of all they did not break the bank. The total cost of BOTH chairs and all of the spray paint was $135. Think outside of the box and have fun revamping inexpensive furniture to fit your design style and needs. I can’t wait to see what you create!

DIY Built-in Closet Organizers

At our last house, we hired a big name closet storage company to come in and redo our master closet. We spent a ridiculous amount on built-ins for basically particle board. For our new house I knew we needed drawer storage in our Master Bedroom closet but sadly it was not in our budget. I challenged myself to think outside the box or closet in this case! I came up with a plan to build my own storage! Follow my DIY built-in Closet Organizers guide to help make your life and your closet a little more organized.

Materials:

4 IKEA Rast 3 Drawer Dressers
Paint
Decorative Drawer Pulls
Trim
Nail Gun
Brackets (8)
Wood
Peel and Stick Wallpaper
Caulk
Full Length Mirror

Simplifying the Project

Instead of building everything from scratch I found inexpensive three drawer wood dressers from Ikea of all places. The Rast 3 drawer dresser from Ikea is only $39.99 per dresser.

I wanted to build a built-in dresser for myself and my husband so I ordered 4 Rast 3 Drawer Dressers(2 dressers for each person)

I do not live near an IKEA so I ordered the dressers online and had them shipped to me. IKEA offers reasonable shipping, I had all of the dressers shipped to me for a flat rate of $9.99.

Accessories

The Rast 3 drawer dressers are pretty plain. I decided to paint the dressers with a gray paint I had leftover from another project. I love to utilize the paints and stains I already have on hand to help save money.

Amazon had some really cute, really inexpensive crystal drawer pulls that were perfect for my closest renovation.

I got 25 glass drawer pulls for $15.25. They are cute and inexpensive, which fit my project perfectly.

Getting Started

First, start by assembling all four dressers. Once the dressers have been assembled, it is time to paint. Paint each dresser with the paint of your choosing.

After everything is dry, make sure the drawers have been removed and attach the bottom dressers to the wall using the support strap that is included with the dresser.

Stack the second dresser on top of the first dresser and attach it to the wall with the provided support strap.

Attach the top dresser to the bottom dresser using 4, 2 inch brackets (2 on each side). These brackets will help keep the dresser stabilized.

Once the dressers were in place, I attached a piece of decorative trim to the gap between the two dressers to give it a more customized look

Using a nail gun, I attached a piece of wood to each side of the dresser. I decided to run the wood on each side all the way up to our existing closet shelf. Running the wood up the side gives the built-in dresser a shelf to place belongings.

I added trim to the wall along each side of the unit using a nail gun. After all of the trim pieces were in place I caulked and touched up paint on the unit.

I assembled the second built-in unit using the guide above.

I had left over Peel and Stick Wallpaper from my Pantry Renovation and Reorganization on a Budget, so I decided to incorporate it into my closet renovation.

I used the Buffalo Plaid patterned Peel and Stick Wallpaper to line the sides of the built-ins and the back wall behind the unit.

I decided to add a full length mirror to the built-in unit. Target had the perfect mirror for $16.99. I attached the mirror to the built-in dressers with Command Strips.

These DIY built-in Closet Organizers cost less than $300 total and completely changed the functionality of our space.

DIY Rolling Umbrella Stand

Recently, I have been doing a lot of renovations to our backyard but because we purchased a new build we are seriously lacking shade. I wanted to buy a movable umbrella stand so I didn’t have to lug a stationary umbrella stand around the yard. After doing some online research I discovered one thing–umbrella stands are super expensive! While on an impromptu shopping trip to Hobby Lobby, I found a really cool metal rolling laundry cart that was 75% off. I knew I had to buy it and turn it into a cool outdoor farmhouse umbrella stand. Follow me on my journey to the best budget friendly DIY Rolling Umbrella Stand.

Materials:

Metal rolling cart or bucket: $20
5 Gallon Home Depot Bucket: $2.98
50 Lb bag of fast set concrete mix: $3.98
1″x24″ PVC Pipe: $2.34
Duct Tape
Filler
Pea Gravel or decorative element
Umbrella: $30
Spray Paint (optional)

*I purchased all of my materials from Home Depot, except for the rolling cart which I purchased at Hobby Lobby. If you can’t find a cute metal laundry bucket on wheels, there are several metal buckets online you could purchase. If you find a bucket you love without wheels, you could always purchase small wheels at Home Depot and attach them to the bucket.

Step 1:

Take the PVC pipe and completely Duct Tape one end of the pipe. The Duct Tape is added to the end of the PVC pipe to prevent cement from coming into the pipe while mixing. The PVC pipe will be what the umbrella is placed into so you want to ensure nothing will obstruct the umbrella pole from going into the pipe.

PVC Pipe Covered in Duct Tape- Go Longhorns!

Step 2:

Take the Home Depot 5 gallon bucket and place it on a level surface. Place the PVC pipe duct tape down into the center of the bucket. Hold the PVC pipe in place while you add the entire bag of quick setting cement into the bucket.

PVC pipe in Home Depot bucket with quick setting cement

Step 3:

Follow the directions on the bag of quick setting cement and add the appropriate amount of water into the Home Depot bucket. Once the water has been added, work quickly using a scrap piece of wood and stir the quick setting cement without disturbing the PVC pipe in the center. Mix until the cement is well incorporated. Let this set for several hours.

Quick set cement drying in bucket with PVC pipe in the center

Step 4:

Once the cement is dry I took a can of black spray paint I had in the garage and used it to spray the PVC pipe black. I didn’t want the white PVC pipe to stand out like a sore thumb against the black umbrella base.

PVC Pipe set in the bucket painted black

Step 5:

Place the Home Depot bucket inside of the rolling metal bin. Because I was adding pea gravel to the top of the metal bin for decoration, I had to add a lighter filler to the surrounding areas so the bucket would not be too heavy. I decided to cut up an old moving blanket I found in my garage and layer it inside the metal bin. I poured a thin layer of pea gravel on top of the moving blanket. Simply place your umbrella of choice into the PVC pipe and enjoy the shade!

DIY Peel and Stick Subway Tile

My laundry room is small and pretty one note design wise….boring! I spent several hours searching Pinterest for laundry room ideas and decided I wanted to do a subway tile accent wall behind the washer and dryer. Then came the real problem: 1. I don’t know how to lay tile 2. The cost of the tile, materials, and labor would end up being way out of my budget.

There are great peel and stick wall paper options these days so I turned my online search focus towards that thinking I could still do an accent wall behind the washer and dryer. While searching for a great peel and stick wall paper product, I came across DIY peel and stick subway tile. DIY Peel and stick subway tile? This must be too good to be true. I read countless reviews on the peel and stick tile and decided to order the product and give it a go. Worse case scenario, I would remove the tile and paint the wall.

Picking the Right Tile

There are several brands of peel and stick tile on the market with various tile options. I knew I wanted to do a white subway tile with grey grout. I found a DIY peel and stick subway tile I loved from Tic Tac Tiles on Amazon; for $33.97 you get 10 12×12 tile sheets. After measuring the space above my washer and dryer I determined I needed 3 packages of tile.

Shop around and find the best deal. While you can order direct from the manufacturer, I am an Amazon Prime member so the price and the shipping options were better for me through Amazon.

Prepping Your Space

DIY Peel and stick tile can be used in a variety of places including the kitchen. The peel and stick tile can be placed over existing outdated kitchen backsplash, this is a great option if you want to update your kitchen but aren’t able to afford to fully redesign the space. This product is not recommended for bathrooms due to the water and condensation.

The surface you place your tile on must be given a good wipe down and allowed to dry prior to installation. The area/room you are placing your tile cannot be too cold or too hot during installation or the product will not adhere correctly. Make sure the temperature is around 70 degrees if possible to avoid any adhesive issues.

This was my wall before I began the tiling process

Laying the DIY Peel and Stick Tile

Laying the peel and stick tile is simple and can be done by one person. The directions in the package are pretty straight forward and helpful.

Like most walls, my wall was very uneven. I decided to start my project from the most level location, the bottom, and work my way up. Make sure the first row of tiles are placed in a level line, or as level as possible. To ensure the tiles are level, use a large level to guide your progress for the first row of tiles. After the first row of tile is in place you simply piece the remaining sheets together like a puzzle.

You might have to cut your tile down in places to make it fit and look proper on the wall. Oddly enough, scissors were the easiest tool for me to use to make my cuts. I tried a box cutter but it was a lot harder for me to use. Make sure you measure and mark your tile prior to cutting them down to ensure you do not cut off too much of the material.

I smoothed down my tile as I adhered it to the wall with a wall paper smoothing tool. Make sure you press all of the bubbles and creases out of the tile as you go.

Finishing the Design

It took me approximately 3 hours to complete the tiling process in my laundry room. I found a cute affordable laundry room sign for the tile wall at Michaels. The Wash/Dry sign was on sale for $30 and I got an additional 20 percent off by using a promo code. Michaels always has great discounts, promo codes, and coupons; make sure you check all of their deals online before buying!

I hung the Wash/Dry sign after the tile had been adhered to the wall for approximately 2 weeks. I placed the picture hanger through the peel and stick tile with no issues or damage to the tile itself.

All in all I am very happy with the way my project turned out. The total cost of this project was $101.91. If you want the look of tile without the cost and hassle, definitely consider trying peel and stick tile you will not be disappointed.

Easy DIY Blanket Ladder

I love my farmhouse and love filling it with great farmhouse inspired decor. I fell in love with a blanket ladder at Target, but sadly it was outside of the budget. As I stood there staring at it longingly, I thought I could probably make a version of it myself for a lot less money. Follow me on my journey to make the best DIY Blanket Ladder!

Getting the Perfect Wood

I went home and took an inventory of my wood supply. I find tons of free lumber and scrap wood through my neighborhood Facebook groups. A few months ago, I acquired 6 intact wood shutters from the exterior of an old house for free. The shutters were brown on one side and green on the other side. I went back and forth over whether to keep the paint on the wood shutters or strip the paint completely and add a stain to the wood. I decided to leave the paint on the shutters and sand it down in places to give it a rustic farmhouse look. However, if you don’t have any scrap wood you can buy your wood of choice from Home Depot, I would recommend buying furring strips because they are the best bang for your buck, but any wood will do.

Shutter I used to create the blanket ladder-I had to remove some exposed nails prior to cutting!

Materials/Supplies:

scrap wood or furring strips (I used three 6 ft long boards)
miter saw
nail gun
hand sander/sand paper
wood stain of your choice
measuring tape
pencil

Cutting and Preparing the Wood

Before you begin, decide on the height you want your ladder to be. I chose to make my ladder 50 inches tall. Using the pencil and measuring tape, I took two pieces of wood from one of my shutters and marked off 50 inches on each piece.

I chose to add 4 ladder rungs to my ladder; you can add as many or as little ladder rungs as you like depending on the height of your ladder. I took a third piece of wood from my shutter and marked off 4 separate 1 foot long pieces with my pencil and measuring tape, these would become my rungs.

After I had all of my wood pieces marked I proceeded to make my cuts. I wanted the bottom of my ladder to sit nearly flush with the floor while the top half rested against the wall. I set my miter saw to a 15 degree angle. I cut the marked ends of both of my wood pieces using the 15 degree angle cut on the miter saw. I set my two base pieces to the side.

I set my miter saw angle back to zero so I could cut all of my ladder rungs. I cut the 4 ladder rungs along the lines I had marked earlier, each rung should be 1 foot in length.

Sanding and Staining

I chose to sand down the existing paint on my repurposed wood using a corded hand sander. The corded hand sander made the project go a lot faster, however, if you don’t have a corded hand sander you can use regular sand paper. If you are using wood without paint no sanding is needed.

I added a layer of gray wood stain to my sanded wood to give it a rustic aged look. There are a variety of wood stains and colors, pick the stain that is right for your style.

Assembling the Ladder

After the stain dried completely on my ladder bases and rungs, I began the assembly process. I measured and marked the location I wanted each rung to be placed on the ladder on both ladder bases. The markings on the ladder bases should be exactly the same.

I placed the ladder bases on the ground parallel to each other. I placed each ladder rung in between the ladder bases in the pre-marked locations. I angled the first ladder rung towards the ground. Using my nail gun, I placed four nails on the outside of each ladder base into the ladder rung (eight nails per ladder rung). I continued angling the remaining ladder rungs towards the ground and attached them to the ladder base as indicated above.

Finishing Touches

I did not patch the nail holes on my ladder. I went with a rustic farmhouse ladder and thought the nail holes gave it some character. However, if you want to patch the nail holes you can always fill the holes with wood filler and sand it down prior to staining.

I added a thick felt adhesive to the back of the ladder that would be resting against the wall to prevent the wall from becoming damaged. Buy the felt adhesive I used for this project using the link below.

Everbilt Heavy Duty Felt I used for the back of the ladder.

I placed the ladder directly into my living room and added various blankets. That is it! This is a super simple budget friendly DIY project that only took a couple of hours to complete. Time to get out there and start building!

Board and Batten or Bust!

Board and Batten Dining Room Accent Wall

I wanted to update the walls in my house and add character without breaking the bank. I could have painted the walls and added accent colors but I wanted something with a bit more character. I love the look of board and batten but sadly it was not in my budget. After some research, I realized I can do this myself for a lot less than it would cost me to hire someone to install it.

I told my husband my plan to add board and batten to the downstairs living and dining room and surprisingly he loved my idea. I immediately got down to business and started drawing out a plan. I decided to install board and batten in the dining room first so I could get a feel for the look. My motto for this project is “Start small, dream big.”

I have a small dining area so the space was not that overwhelming to tackle. Here are the tools and supplies I recommend to complete the project with the least amount of headache:

TOOLS/SUPPLIES:

Miter Saw

Air Compressor Nail Gun

1 1/2 inch Pneumatic Finishing Nails

1x4x8 furring strips
level

measuring tape

paint (I used the Behr Premium Plus Ultra Minimalistic in Satin finish)
Hand Sander

Paint Brushes
Wood Filler

Paintable Caulk

*I had the advantage of having flat untextured walls. If you have a textured wall you might want to consider adding full length boards of plywood or MDF if you want a perfectly flat appearance.

The first thing you need to do before heading to the hardware store is measure the space you are placing the board and batten to get an idea on how much wood you will need. My dining room wall is exactly 8 feet in length. I decided to start the board and batten 40 inches high because I didn’t want to have to navigate around the light switches. I ran the boards approximately 15 1/4 inches apart. I ended up needing 4 boards (1x4x8 furring strips) for the entire project. I purchased my furring strips at Home Depot for approximately $2.30 per board (love that price!).

While at Home Depot I purchased the paint for the project. I have two toddlers who are always touching the walls with Mac n Cheese hands so I knew I wanted to buy the more expensive washable paint. I purchased a gallon the Behr Premium Plus Ultra in the color Minimalisitc, which is a fancy name for white. This is where I spent the majority of my money. The paint cost $32 and was worth every penny!

After purchasing my supplies I got down to work. Using my stud finder I found and marked the location of every stud in the area I would be hanging the board and batten. The reason I marked the location of the studs was so I could ensure that when I nailed the wood into the wall at least some of my nails would go into a stud allowing extra support.

I marked the location I would be hanging my vertical wood boards all the way down the wall.

I painted the horizontal top board and the two vertical end caps before placing them on the wall. This is not necessarily something that needs to be done but it saved me the headache of getting excess paint on the wall edges.

I hung the horizontal top board first. My wall was exactly 8 feet in length, which means I did not have to cut this board down (score, one less cut!). I held the board at my desired height. Once the board was in the desired location, I placed my level on top of the board to ensure it was completely level. Using my nail gun, I placed several 1 1/2 inch nails into the board attaching it to the wall.

I chose to paint the wall below the horizontal top board with a coat of paint before attaching the vertical boards because I thought it would make things easier for myself and it was a task I could do while the kids were napping without waking them.

I measured the distance from the bottom of the horizontal top board to the top of my base board for each desired vertical board location. I used my miter saw to cut each vertical board to its desired size. The vertical end cap closest to my staircase required me to complete a bevel cut so it would fit flush against my stair railing.

After completing all of the vertical board cuts, I attached the boards to the wall in the same manner as the horizontal top board using 1 1/2 inch nails in conjunction with my level.

All of the boards are installed….time for wood filler and caulk!

Once all of my boards were in place, I filled all of the nail holes and seams where the boards met with wood filler. Once the wood filler was dry, I sanded down the areas until they were smooth. I also sanded down a few imperfections in the wood.

I caulked around the tops, bottoms, and edges of every board on the wall with paintable caulk to give the wall a more finished look.

Once everything was dry, I painted the entire board and batten area several times with the Behr Ultra Premium Paint I purchased from Home Depot.

The total cost of the board and batten dining room wall was $42. It cost me $10 for the wood and $32 for the paint. All of the other items used in this project I already had on hand.

It took me 2 days of intermittent work (two toddlers remember) and less than $50 to complete this beautifully elegant accent wall. I can’t wait to start on my next project!

*I provided buying links to a majority of the tools and supplies I personally used for this project. As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Category: DIY

Wooden Slat Wall Bedroom Makeover

Wooden Slat Wall Supplies

Constructing the Slat Wall

Finishing Touches and Accessories

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