budget Archives - Budgeting With Boys

Buying Discount Designer Items

As I get older my closet and style has morphed and I prefer to buy quality items that will stand the test of time. However, quality handbags and clothes usually translates to spending more money. Finding the best deals on designer items has become my latest obsession. This blog post will provide you with the tools for buying discount designer items!

Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Fendi and so much more!

As many of you know I love shopping at Goodwill. Generally I shop in store looking for great designer pieces to resell. During the pandemic, I stumbled upon shopgoodwill.com and my mind was blown!

Goodwills online site has every name brand item you can imagine in one location but there is a catch. The online Goodwill store is set up as an auction. Bidding on auction items takes time and research. Once you find an item you like, search for the item on other resale sites to find out what a reasonable purchase price is for the piece. I only bid on items that have certificates of authenticity because there are tons of fakes out in the world.

After you determine the price you are willing to pay for the item, you simply place your bid. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Don’t become too attached to an item because its not yours until the auction ends. If it is an item that I really really want, I set an alarm for my auction end time so I can check on the auction progress.

While there are tons of designers and merchandise on the Goodwill site I only search for a handful of designers unless I am looking for a specific item. Prada, Fendi, Gucci, Chanel, and Yves Saint Laurent are the designers I always hunt for. Louis Vuitton is a popular brand you can find on Goodwill; however, these tend to go for well over resale price.

Item I have purchased from Goodwill Online

The first item I purchased was a Black Burberry Coat. The original purchase price of the coat was well over $1500. I paid $300 including shipping for my Burberry Coat with removable liner. This coat is a classic wardrobe piece that will stand the test of time.

Next, I purchased an all black leather Guccisimo Gucci purse. Generally I prefer crossbody bags because they are easier to carry with the kids. However, the Guccisimo Purse was easily modified by purchasing a Gucci Inspired strap from Amazon. While the strap is not the real deal, for a purchase price of $8.99 nobody will know the difference! I paid $275 for the Gucci Guccisimo all leather purse including shipping.

Baby designer clothes are deeply discounted on Goodwill! I purchased Ugg Boots for our toddler for $20 including shipping. The boots arrived in great condition with minimal wear.

The most recent item I purchased on Goodwill was a smaller Gucci wallet. The wallet had some wear on the edges but for $58 including shipping it was worth the price!

Designer Items on Mercari and Poshmark

Mercari and Poshmark can be great places to find discounted designer items but there are a few things to look for before purchasing.

Online resale sites have authenticated bag sections, only buy from that section! The authenticated designer section includes a certificate of authenticity which allows you to know you are buying the real deal. There are plenty of good fakes in the world, make sure you aren’t getting ripped off.

Mercari tends to have better deals on designer items than Poshmark. Although the item may be listed for a certain price, it doesn’t mean that is what the bag will sell for. Always make an offer for a designer item below listing price. Cross check with other sites to see what your items value is, never pay above resale value.

I have purchased a Louis Vuitton Neverfull and a matching Louis Vuitton Wallet from Mercari. I paid $585 for the Neverfull including shipping and $215 for the wallet including shipping. These are classic pieces I will keep in my designer purse rotation.

New Designer Items at a Discount

There are plenty of new designer items on discount online. The best place I have found to buy new designer items is Saks Off 5th. Saks Off 5th has almost every designer you could hope for. Yves Saint Laurent Bags are huge right now and Saks Off 5th gets them in about every month at a hugely discounted price!

Rakuten and Saks Off 5th go hand in hand. If you don’t have Rakuten already, sign up for it now! If you purchase an item on Saks Off 5th you get a percentage of cash back through Rakuten. Join Rakuten by clicking the link and get $30 for signing up before shopping!

While I have been eyeing the Yves Saint Laurent Bag, I haven’t saved up enough money to purchase it yet. However, I have purchased a few designer items at deep discounts!

The first item I bought were Valentino Slides for summer. The original price of the new Valentino sandals were $300 and I purchased them for $89.99!

These shoes have been great for summer and come with a Valentino dust bag for easy storage!

Designer Outlet Stores

The other place I go to buy new designer items is Designer Outlet stores. Near my house we have Prada, Gucci, and Burberry Outlet Stores! Gucci Is by far my favorite outlet store with the best prices.

Recently, I purchased a travel bag from the Gucci Outlet Store with a crossbody strap. The total cost of the travel bag and the strap were $400.

Designer Bags aren’t unattainable and there is no reason you have to pay full price. Hopefully this blog post helped point you in the right direction. Happy Hunting! Comment with your designer scores!

DIY Short Wood Picnic Table

Have you ever been scrolling through Pinterest looking for party ideas and notice those cute short wood picnic tables? Well I have done this plenty of times and always loved the look of them! After checking online, I found those tables sell for upwards of $200 each on Etsy. With an upcoming birthday party and baby shower, I decided to try building my own DIY short wood picnic tables.

Buying Supplies

After building a game plan in my head, I ordered 12” metal table legs from Amazon. I ordered two sets of 4 legs at $17 each because I intended to build 2 tables.

Next, I headed to Home Depot to purchase supplies. Here is what I purchased:

(1) 8FT X 4FT Wood Plywood Sheet
(6) 8FT Common Wood Boards
Wood Glue
Finishing Nails
Wood Stain
Sand Paper

After I bought all the supplies, I headed home to start building!

Building The Short Wood Picnic Table

First, you have to cut the 8FT X 4FT Plywood Sheet down the middle (making two 8FT X 2FT pieces) to make the two tables. While in the store, I asked if a Home Depot employee could do it and he tried but couldn’t get the cut right. Luckily, I own a Kreg Rip Cut Tool which allows you to cut large pieces of wood down easily with a circular saw.

Once the plywood was cut down, I glued and nailed the two 8FT common boards to each side of the plywood. Then, I measured and cut down another piece of 8 FT Common Board into two pieces for the ends of the table. Those two pieces of common board were glued and nailed to each end of the plywood. I repeated the same steps for the second table.

After everything was dry, I gave it a solid day, I sanded each table down lightly. Then, I stained each table with Walnut Wood Stain.

Once again I allowed the tables to dry overnight. After everything was set, I attached the table legs to the 4 corners of the table using the screws provided.

Putting the Short Leg Picnic Tables To Use

Originally, I made these for a spa baby shower I was hosting; however, I decided to give the tables a test run at my son’s birthday party.

The tables were sturdy, adorable, and affordable! Total cost for each table was $50. We will be using the tables for years to come! Can’t wait for the warm weather to get here so we can enjoy them outside!

Custom IKEA Closet

Built in closets look amazing and create so much storage but that generally comes with a hefty price tag. I was looking for a way to make our master closet fabulous without hiring a company that would charge me upwards of $8,000. IKEA happened to be the best bang for our buck. Here is the guide to our custom IKEA closet using both the PAX System and the Boaxel System.

Our Space

We moved into a builder grade house with a typical generic Master Bedroom Closet. The closet was large but not functional, it didn’t even have shelves. I attempted a mini closet revamp without modifying the shelving already in place. Check out our original mini renovation when we first moved in, DIY Built-In Closet Organizer. It’s amazing to see how my renovation skills have grown over the years!

The amount of wasted storage space in my closet was driving me nuts. Despite my fear of the unknown outcome, I began planning my Custom IKEA Closet.

Getting Started/Ordering

First, I measured the space and determined the size of the closet. Next, I designed the PAX section of the closet revamp on the IKEA website. IKEA is constantly out of stock for the PAX closet systems. If you plan to order check back frequently because everything eventually comes back into stock.

Finally, I placed my PAX Closet Organizer order. Unfortunately I did have to compromise on some things due to items being out of stock. For instance, I had to upgrade to the glass shelving which was more expensive because the regular PAX shelving was sold out.

Demo

Once the order was placed, I got to work on demoing the existing closet. Everything in the closet was removed, including the baseboards.

Assembly

The PAX Closet System is essentially a set of mini closets with backs. Therefore, I did not have to patch any of the holes on the walls where the PAX system was being installed.

The most laborious part of the entire closet was assembling all of the PAX Wardrobe boxes. Once the assembly of the shells were complete, I placed them in the closet and secured them to the back wall.

Assembly and installation of the PAX Wardrobe boxes took an entire day. When it was all said and done, I assembled and installed 6 total boxes.

Once the boxes were in, I added primed wood trim to the top and bottom of all of the boxes. Because the wardrobe boxes were so long all stacked together, I had to connect multiple pieces of primed wood for the trim. In order to ensure a seamless appearance I connected all of the trim with a 22.5 degree angle cut.

All of the Pax Systems in Place with top Trim

To eliminate the seam between the boxes, I added 1×2 primed boards.

Making this closet look custom built was a big thing for me. In order for the closet to look complete, I cut and attached wood to the drawer fronts. The added wood fits seamlessly with all of the trim I installed. After the drawer fronts were installed, I installed black hardware.

Wood Fronts Complete with Black Hardware

There are no windows in the closet, therefore I wanted to keep everything light and bright. I painted all of the trim and cabinet fronts white.

Adding Boaxel Storage

On the opposite wall of the PAX Wardrobes, I desperately needed storage for shoes and purses. I went back and forth over whether I should build the shelving myself or purchase it. One day, I stumbled upon the Boaxel organization on IKEA and decided to give it a try.

I ordered two complete Boaxel systems for the closet. Once the Boaxel system arrived, I got down to business installing. The Boaxel system was by far the easiest to install! Less than an hour of work to install each system.

Finishing Touches

After the Boaxel system was in, I began immediately organizing my shoes and purses. Just like that the closet was complete! Not to be dramatic but this closet literally changed my life for the better. I am already planning on adding the Boaxel system to the older boys closets in the near future.

Office Renovation with Wallpaper

With our third baby’s arrival fast approaching, I have been working hard to complete house projects! Recently, I finished the baby’s room by creating a Board and Batten Bedroom Accent Wall. Now that the baby’s room is complete I can move on to a long awaited project, the Office Renovation with Wallpaper!

The Office Before

Before starting this project, I realized the office had become a catch all junk room. I wanted to make the office space more visually appealing as well as a more usable space for our families needs.

The Office During Corona At Home Learning!

The office furniture was a variety of free or cheap items we had collected over the years all packed into one space. It had always been my intention to redesign the office at some point to make it a more cohesive space.

During the height of Corona, we invested in a Peloton. While I love using the Peloton on a daily basis, I don’t love looking at it while its not in use. This workout bike eyesore needed to be addressed during the office renovation!

Getting Started on the Wallpapered Office Renovation

The first thing I did was get rid of all of the furniture in the existing office. Next, I went through all of my craft supplies and materials and got rid of items I no longer needed.

After the purge, I focused on creating an accent wall. The office has a double door entry and is right off of our front entrance space. I wanted the entry wall in the office to be the focal point of the space.

I decided to add a board and batten wall with peel and stick wallpaper. Wall paper adds a nice texture and pop of color to any space. Peel and Stick wallpaper is something I have tackled before in my Pantry Renovation and Reorganization on a Budget , so I felt comfortable working with it.

The hardest part about wall paper is picking out a pattern that works for your space! Target offers a wide variety of peel and stick wallpaper options. I purchased 2 rolls of NuWallpaper Cayman Peel & Stick Wallpaper Gray.

NuWallpaper Cayman Peel & Stick Wallpaper Gray

Next, I ordered all of the mdf primed boards I needed to create a 3/4 board and batten wall, similar to the wall I installed in the nursery. For a guide to building the board and batten wall follow the guide in my Board and Batten Bedroom Accent Wall Blog Post.

Creating the Wall Papered Board and Batten Wall

The first thing I did was install the wood for the board and batten wall with the exception of the top edger. I left the top edger off until the wallpaper was installed to maintain clean wallpaper edges. Next, I painted the board and batten wall. Since I wanted to keep the office bright, I went with a white paint I had from a previous project.

After the paint was dry, I hung the peel and stick wallpaper. The most important part of hanging wallpaper is making sure you have enough to match up the pattern and to make it look seamless. Hanging wall paper takes patience and practice but the best thing about peel and stick wallpaper is you can pull it off and manipulate it if there are air bubbles or it isn’t lining up correctly.

To begin hanging the wallpaper, I started on the left side of the wall and worked my way to the right. Make sure to leave overhang to the top and bottom of the wallpaper. Having more wallpaper is better than having less! You don’t want to run into a situation were you are too short and have to recut the wallpaper section. Using a box cutter, cut the excess wallpaper off to maintain clean edges.

I continued the wallpaper all the way to the right edge of the wall.

Once the wallpaper was installed, I added the top ledge to the board and batten wall. The top ledge was a design choice I added to allow me to place plants and decor on it.

Finishing Touches

To create a desk large enough for the space, I purchased three white file cabinets from Home Depot. For the desk top, I purchased a wood butcher block counter top from Home Depot and placed it on top of the evenly spaced out file cabinets.

For desk chairs, I used the same faux leather chairs I have in my dining room. Using my dining room chairs in the office allows me to store the excess dining chairs for holidays while maintaining a cohesive look.

To create the light fixture, I found a basket I loved at Home Goods and transformed it into a basket light. For a step by step guide to creating a basket light, check out my DIY Basket Lights on a Budget blog post.

In order to hide the Peloton, I purchased a screen from Amazon. When we use the Peloton, we simply move the screen to the side and when we are finished, we put it back.

I created a small seating area with chairs I had in my bedroom. The chairs needed to be moved for the baby’s bassinet, so this was the perfect spot for them!

For all of the accent pictures and decor, I took things I already had around the house as well as purchased items from my favorite store Goodwill!

I could not be any happier with the way this room turned out. It went from a catch all room to a fully functioning office/work out space!

Board and Batten Bedroom Accent Wall

If you have been following the blog, then you know we are expecting our 3rd child! After an exhausting back and forth we ultimately decided to create a Board and Batten accent wall in the nursery.

Recently, we decided to make over all of the kids bedrooms. For my oldest son’s room we created an amazing Wooden Slat Wall.

For my other son, we created a Shiplap Wall while keeping his Americana themed room decor.

For the babies room, I wanted to do an accent wall as well. I decided on Board and Batten after exhausting several other options. Originally, I thought I would do a wall of symmetrical squares but soon realized it would be lost with the daybed I was planning on putting in the room. Board and Batten was the perfect fit to add a nice accent wall without compromising on style and design.

Materials:

(5) Primed 1x4x12 MDF boards
(1) Primed 1x2x8 MDF Board (Window Trim)
1.5″ brad finishing nails
Nail Gun
Caulk
Wood Filler
Paint
Miter Saw

This entire project cost less than $100 which is amazingly awesome for my budget! I used primed MDF as opposed to real wood because it is cheaper and since we are painting and not staining it, nobody will know the difference!

Creating the Board and Batten Wall

I measured the wall to determined where I would place all of the vertical boards to ensure there was even spacing between them. Once determining the vertical board placement, I cut down 3 of the 12 foot MDF boards to create the edger. I did 45 degree angle cuts on all 3 of the boards so they would line up seamlessly. I attached the boards to the wall using my nail gun and 1.5″ brad nails.

Once, the edger was in place, I cut down 2 of the 12 foot MDF boards and attached them to the wall vertically.

Around the window, I created a small trim piece so it would connect with the board and batten seamlessly. To create the trim, I cut down the 1x2x8 MDF board using a 45 degree angle cut and attached them around the window with the nail gun.

Window Trim with Vertical Boards in Place

Using scrap pieces from the project, I added my last vertical board pieces that bisected the window.

Once all of the vertical board pieces were in place, I determined where I wanted to run my horizontal board. Using scrap pieces from my previous cuts, I added a horizontal board towards the top of the wall in line with the top of the window.

After all of the boards were in place, I caulked all of the board edges. I wood filled all of the holes and seams where the vertical and horizontal boards met. Once everything was dry, I lightly sanded down the wood filler.

To make my life easier, I decided to paint the board and batten wall the same color as the existing wall. This not only saved me on cost it also saved me a lot of time!

While we are still awaiting the arrival of the crib for the nursery, we have been decorating the remainder of the room in preparation!

Room Decor

I purchased the Taylor and Olive Contemporary Fabric Daybed with Trundle in Beige from Overstock on sale for $285.77. A daybed was placed in the nursery for functionality. The master bedroom is downstairs in our house, so if I need to be near the baby’s room for an extended period of time I wanted a place to rest! It doubles as a bed for the baby as he gets older, so its a win win!

The mattress was purchased from Home Depot! I found a great deal on the Zinus Green Tea 8 inch Memory Foam Mattress through Home Depot for $146.24 with free delivery. I only purchased one mattress, we will be using the trundle section of the bed as extra storage for now.

The bedding was a set from Target and it included the blanket and accent pillows.

The accent/storage table is a Hearth and Hand Bookcase I purchased on sale from Target for $109.99. Oddly enough, the art work we used was already in the bedroom from when it was our guest bedroom. We received the art work for free from one of our neighbors!

The olive tree was also purchased on sale at Target for $75, it is the 75″ Artificial Sparse Olive Tree in Pot by Studio Mcgee.

Always keep your eyes open for great deals through Target. Target often has discounts on some of my favorite brands such as Hearth and Hand, Studio McGee and Opal House.

Finally, I located an adorable wicker accent table with removable top at Goodwill! I will find a lamp that fits in with the room to place on top of it. Always check Goodwill for cute, cheap, vintage finds!

I hope you love the baby’s room as much as we do. We will continue to fill his room as we anxiously await his arrival!

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!

Three Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies!

I have a major sweet tooth! Every year we make a Christmas cookie box for our neighbors and friends. While some recipes are more complicated than others my favorite cookie to add to the mix are these simple and delicious Three Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies!

White cake mix is $0.79 at my local grocery store. Sometimes I mix it up in an attempt to be healthyish and I buy Sugar Free white cake mix, although this is a little more expensive at $1.45 a box. Taste wise, there is no real difference if you choose to use regular cake mix or the sugar free mix; choose the cake mix that is right for you and your budget.

Check out my recipe for these amazing Three Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies and help satisfy that sweet tooth.

Ingredients:

Box of White Cake Mix
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1/2 cup of sprinkles or candy (optional)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, combine white cake mix, vegetable oil, and eggs. Mix the ingredients with a spatula until they are well incorporated.

All Ingredients Added to a Bowl Prior to Mixing

Mix until Everything is Well Incorporated

Optional: Add the sprinkles or candy to the dough mixture. Fold the sprinkles or candy into the dough, do not over mix them because you do not want them to break down.

Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto the lined baking sheet. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Dough Scooped out onto Parchment Baking Sheet

This recipe makes approximately 24 cookies.

Fun With Sprinkles

One of the reasons I love this cookie, other than the fact that they are delicious, is that they work for EVERY Holiday.

Three Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies with Holiday Sprinkles

Change the sprinkle color and shapes for each holiday season. Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day…really the possibility of sprinkle choices are endless.

Candy Couldn’t Hurt

Three Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies with M&M's — Three Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies with M&M’s

Have any leftover Halloween Candy? Just dump them into this cookie instead of the sprinkles to make them extra decadent. Any number of common candies would be great in this cookie: M&M’s, Reese’s, Snickers, Twix, Milkyway…I could go on an on.

One of my favorite candies to add is of course M&M’s. That candy coated chocolate bite satisfies my chocolate craving every time!

Customizing Three Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies

These cookies are great to customize for parties and holidays.

Every year I make a holiday cookie box for my neighbors and every year this three ingredient cake mix cookie makes it in! I simply add a few drops of green food coloring to the three ingredient cake mix dough and place one red M&M or larger red heart sprinkle in the center of the cookie prior to baking. These easy cookies have now been magically transformed into Grinch Cookies!

ANY boxed cake mix can be used to create different flavor combinations. Chocolate Cake Mix, Lemon Cake Mix, and Spice Cake Mix are some of my favorites! What are you waiting for?

These simple and deliciously easy three ingredient cake mix cookies are sure to be a hit with the entire house!

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!

Buffalo Plaid Painted Pumpkins

Halloween time is here in full affect! We have been decorating our house like crazy trying to get ready for our favorite holiday. I decided to decorate my farmhouse porch with pumpkins and mums because it will be transitional staple for Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving! Originally, I put a mix of white, green, and orange pumpkins out on the porch of various shapes and sizes. My porch was cute but it missing something. I decided to paint the orange pumpkins and my project turned out better than I could have expected. Check out my step by step guide for these fabulous farmhouse Buffalo Plaid Painted Pumpkins!

Materials:

Pumpkin
White Paint
Black Paint
Paint Brush
Ribbon (optional)

*There is no down time when applying paint for this project, no need to wait for anything to dry just follow each step!

Directions:

Place the pumpkin of your choosing on a surface you don’t mind getting paint on, I put down some old Trader Joe’s bags to paint on.

Paint the entire pumpkin white. I had leftover paint from various projects around the house so I utilized it to make these pumpkins! If you are worried about getting paint on the stem simply cover the bottom of the stem with tape and remove after painting. I didn’t tape the stems of my pumpkins because I knew I was adding ribbons at the end of the project.

Place a good amount of white paint into a disposable plate or bowl and add a drop or two of black paint. Mix the black and white paint together until you have a beautiful gray color.

Place 8 vertical lines on the pumpkin with gray paint.

With the same gray paint, paint two horizontal lines onto the pumpkin. Place one horizontal line towards the top half of the pumpkin and one towards the bottom half. If your pumpkin is on the taller side you might need to add an extra horizontal gray line to make the pumpkin look more uniform.

Using black paint only, paint a square at each point that the horizontal and vertical gray lines meet. There should be 16 black squares on each pumpkin. Don’t worry if your lines are not perfectly straight, everything will look great in the end, I promise!

I had extra farmhouse fabric from a set of no sew curtains I recently completed (stay tuned for that tutorial). Once the pumpkins were dry, I cut the fabric into long strips and tied them into bows around the stems of each pumpkin. I placed the pumpkins onto the porch and they could not be any more perfect!

Buffalo Plaid Painted Pumpkins on the porch

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.

Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Fendi and so much more!

Item I have purchased from Goodwill Online

Designer Items on Mercari and Poshmark

New Designer Items at a Discount

Designer Outlet Stores

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Buying Supplies

Building The Short Wood Picnic Table

Putting the Short Leg Picnic Tables To Use

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Our Space

Getting Started/Ordering

Demo

Assembly

Adding Boaxel Storage

Finishing Touches

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The Office Before

Getting Started on the Wallpapered Office Renovation

Creating the Wall Papered Board and Batten Wall

Finishing Touches

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Materials:

Creating the Board and Batten Wall

Room Decor

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Wooden Slat Wall Supplies

Constructing the Slat Wall

Finishing Touches and Accessories

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Ingredients:

Directions:

Fun With Sprinkles

Candy Couldn’t Hurt

Customizing Three Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies

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Purchasing the Perfect Chair

Updating the Chairs

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Materials:

Directions:

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Materials:

Simplifying the Project

Accessories

Getting Started

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