I've been on a mission lately to redecorate my personal space. From my closet to my sitting area, I've wanted to give them all a New Year's (cosmetic) overhaul!
But I admittedly don't have a huge budget to work with right now — thanks to a bit of a holiday finance hangover — so I was looking for a way to breathe new design life into my home without breaking the bank.
So, I set out to my local Value Village store to find some pieces for a few easy DIYs.
Master DIYers, consider yourselves warned, if there's one thing I don't have, it's patience for arts and crafts.
I refuse to spend hours painting anything, let alone a DIY project, and I loathe when things come out looking homemade — which my DIY projects usually do.
So with these caveats in mind, the following home decor DIY ideas are quick, easy and relatively painless.
Without further ado, here are my four favourite home decor DIYs on a budget.
—The Haul—
I wanted to spend less than $100 sprucing up my space, so I set out to the thrift store and came home with the haul pictured above.
1) I spotted these geometric candle sticks and immediately thought of an all-white space with air plants. But I knew they needed a bit of a facelift. More on that below.
Price = $4.99 and $3.99
2 and 2b) I'm ALL about fashion books right now. I love big, bright books for coffee tables, chairs and shelves, so when I saw the Grace memoir and this tres chic, petite French cookbook, I was hooked.
PLUS I've been wanting the Grace book since it first came out but shied away from the $45 price tag. So it goes without say that I legit let out a little scream when I saw this book on the VV shelf.
Price = $4.99 each
3) I'm not overly gifted with plants, but I do have one small plant (pictured below) that I've managed not to kill, so I thought this glass orb would be a cool alternative to a traditional pot.
Price = $3.99
4 and 4b) Finally, I've been on a yellow-brick quest to create an awesome gallery wall in my room, but as anyone knows who has purchased art and frames — it's not for the faint of wallet.
Plus, I wanted a gilded touch to my room, and when I spotted these two frames, I knew they would be perfect. Bonus points for the fact that each already had expensive gallery matting in them.
Price = $6.99 and $9.99
Total cost = approximately $35
—The Extras (what you'll need)—
1) Sorry I'm not sorry, but the first thing I did with my Value Village bounty was wipe it all down with a cleaning and disinfecting wipe. Because, let's be honest ain't nobody got time for someone else's germs, house dust or mould. Yuck!
2) I picked up this Krylon gold spray paint for less than $6 at Wal-mart. Its purpose? To give those two candlesticks that aforementioned facelift.
3) I'm a sucker for cute quotes and anything by Garance Dore, so when I spotted these two prints on sale at Chapters, I just had to scoop them up. The Bonjour print is actually a greeting card from a set that cost me $10 and the larger print is from SS Print Shop and cost $17.
4) A blade was a must for breaking in to those vintage frames — and for cutting the old pieces of art from the existing matting.
5) What the rubbing alcohol? This foul-smelling liquid is the perfect solution to that sticky residue left behind by the price tags. A few sweeps of an alcohol-soaked cotton pad leaves the surface squeaky clean.
Total cost = approximately $38
And now for the big reveal ...
—Good reads—
As you can see by the stack of books above, I have amassed quite a collection of fashion books.
I love that colourfully bound style books are both entertaining to read and then thumb through later, while also looking like pieces of art.
I have the above-pictured stack of books on a table behind my sofa, where they can easily be read while curled up on the couch, or just sit there looking pretty.
Plus, this is pretty much the easiest DIY ever because, aside from cleaning the books off with the antibacterial wipes, you don't need to do anything to them. Just decide where to stack 'em and you're set.
—Get planted—
I thought this orb turned out looking like I'd purchased it from a swanky Gastown home decor boutique.
I collected a few smooth river rocks from outdoor hikes, cleaned them and then set them around the pot of my succulent. Hello, instant upgrade.
—In a new light—
Here's the after of my spray-painted candlesticks.
First, I cleaned them off and removed any old wax and lightly sanded them to buff up the metal surface for the paint to stick.
Then, I went outside (far away from any vehicles or things I didn't otherwise want to see painted gold!) and sprayed them as per the instructions on the spray can.
They only needed two coats to cover them and then I left them to dry for an hour. Voila — new gilded candlesticks!
—Fashion frames—
These are the finished frames with the prints that I purchased.
I'm not going to offend your intelligence by telling you how to place a picture in a frame, but I will say that it helps in advance to note the size of your matting and the image space.
I wasn't quite sure how big the picture opening was on either of these when I purchased them, so I had to guess about which size of art would fit — and let me just say, I came pretty close to not fitting one of them.
Peep my gallery wall below!
I hope you found this DIY easy to follow and inspirational!
Feel free to leave any questions and comments below.
Thank you, as always, for stopping by — oh, and Happy New Year!
Post in partnership with Value Village
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