Re-do's on the cheap...

Before...

After...

My girls finally have a clean cute room! And there's something really fun about getting good deals because let's face it, we'd all rather spend money on something else. Like chocolate. Or Etsy. Or mortgages. Whatever.

Anyway, I found a pink mistint of paint at our local retailer last week and scooped it up for a whopping $8. My girls have been begging for over a year now to paint their room pink and this seemed like an opportunity to do it on the cheap. It was a light color, although a shade I would still consider "painful to behold in bulk." Fortunately I have a decent stash of paint color in our basement so I added a little red from the front door, some white from our interior trim, some yellow I painted and then painted over because I hated, and some beige from our hallway and ta-da! A color I love! It's pretty light but the girls are happy with it, and I'm thrilled it's not pepto-bismally.

Besides the paint, I also picked up a two-door cabinet at Target and installed a hanger bar (so it's a little crooked, you didn't notice until I pointed it out, right?) to become an instant doll closet. Still looking for small baskets to go on the shelves, but I'm sure they're out there. Anyway, I'm obviously new at this and thought I needed actual doll hangers, so I ordered them from American Girl and patiently awaited their arrival to fill the close. Who knew the real doll hangers only fit on a bar the size of my middle finger? So we packed them up, sent them back, and scrounged through the house for our remaining baby hangers. Guess what? They fit perfectly! Score! I love free, and Izzie loves her closet. It's really made a difference in how she plays with "Lizzie" when she can sit on the floor in front of it and choose outfits, brush her hair, or whatever. It's been cute. Oh, and what about Audrey's doll? She's still in the top of my closet with all her clothes because of a certain hair cutting incident earlier in the month. I assume when she's out of solitary they'll share the closet. (Of course Audrey was the one who cut Lizzie's hair... Julie is put away for her own safety through at least the end of the month. Sorry for the "chucky" imagery in the previous sentence and for those of you who won't sleep tonight because of it. I'd be afraid of that "elf on the shelf" dude, I think he looks creepy.)

Finally, my girls have been taping things to their walls they wanted to keep, and I finally decided it was getting out of hand. That and they're really needing their own spaces these days so besides taking apart the bunk beds and splitting that space a little, I made them each a bulletin board today where they can put their own special things. I think they turned out really cute for a little over $14 a piece. I could be a Wal-Mart commercial here, because everything I got was from there except for the ric-rac, which I had onhand from a project I thought I'd do when Izzie was an infant. Go figure. Glad I could use it now! Anyway, I purchased two cork boards and painted them white. Then I cut the fabric to the size I wanted. Okay, I lied. I cut it exactly one inch too short all the way around because I measured wrong. But it worked out. I ironed the fabric, then sprayed adhesive to the backside of each. Then it's easy - stick it on and use a glue gun to further decorate however you want. I had to paint the exposed cork because I wasn't about to go buy more fabric, so I used the color on the girls' wall. I think they turned out cute. Oh, and the push pins - I picked up cheapie flat ones and glue gunned buttons to them that match the fabric. Super fast and easy. We'll see how they hold up but it was kind of fun!

So there you go, the finished result. Well, finished for now. (View of Audrey's side...)

Last week I painted our family room and kitchen. It's a green-grey and although it doesn't show it in the picture it almost matches the grout in the fireplace. I also painted all the trim white instead of it being the same color as the walls and I'm glad I did. I like it a lot, and it's worlds better than the grimy, stained, cream flat painted walls we had before. The ceilings could probably stand a coat, but that will have to wait for more motivation than I got on this run.

Finally, I'm working on a project in the dining room, then I'll be done. I'll post pictures of that one when it's ready! Really, don't you love seeing changes in your house? For better or for worse, sometimes a little change is all I need. I redecorated my bedroom once around a nightstand clock I fell in love with. It cost $3 and was so worth the pick me up I got out of it. But once this dining room is done, I think I'll be ready to be done for a while, and hopefully it will be only a short wait until spring arrives and we can spend more time outside again!