Our Home Makeover on an Almost-Nothing Budget
Only a few weeks into home school, and we realized life would be easier (and less cluttered) if our home had a designated space for school, and some storage and organizational items for school supplies. We had a limited budget--like practically nothing. These were all out of budget expenses, so I had to be creative. Here's what our spaces looked like before:
House Full of Faith and Furniture before
We decided to nix the formal living room, make it the "family room" and transform the family room into a school room/play room.
The calendar for "Circle Time" replaced the TV. Calendar supplies = $14. Fabric bins from target replaced Texas decor on the already existing shelf. Cost = $18.
We used my Grandma's old mason jars for holding our art supplies. Cost = $0.
I really wanted a bookshelf or hanging shelves. My friend Jenny spray-painted old rain gutters and attached them to her wall for bookshelves = brilliant! But I didn't have any rain gutters lying around. I DID have Grandma's old plate racks--they cluttered up my laundry room for 6 months. Voila! Bookshelves. Cost = $0.
I also wanted the school room to feel wide open--lots of space for play, craft tables if we so desired, and nothing on the rug so we could sit for Circle Time.
We rearranged the furniture like this:
The world map and other wall decor are garage sale finds purchased for previous projects and now lying dormant in my closet. I count that a cost of $0 (since they were not purchased for this space). But if you want to get technical they cost a total of $6. :)
Trampoline and see-saw are recent Christmas and b-day gifts for the kids. I love that there is space for them in this room. We pull them out on the rug if we need more space. Thomas the train and princess folding tables come out of the closet for painting and play-dough times.
I felt like the window treatments needed to be bolder and more uniform. Again, Grandma saved the day with these old cornice boards from her previous home. They had dingy, outdated fabric. I recovered them (and by "I", I mean "Karl and I"--I needed his help to hold and staple....and then of course to mount them--they are heavy!).
I love love this fabric that I found at the outlet downtown. Cost = $25.
Total Space Makeover = $57
House Full of Faith and Furniture before
We decided to nix the formal living room, make it the "family room" and transform the family room into a school room/play room.
The calendar for "Circle Time" replaced the TV. Calendar supplies = $14. Fabric bins from target replaced Texas decor on the already existing shelf. Cost = $18.
We used my Grandma's old mason jars for holding our art supplies. Cost = $0.
I really wanted a bookshelf or hanging shelves. My friend Jenny spray-painted old rain gutters and attached them to her wall for bookshelves = brilliant! But I didn't have any rain gutters lying around. I DID have Grandma's old plate racks--they cluttered up my laundry room for 6 months. Voila! Bookshelves. Cost = $0.
I also wanted the school room to feel wide open--lots of space for play, craft tables if we so desired, and nothing on the rug so we could sit for Circle Time.
We rearranged the furniture like this:
Trampoline and see-saw are recent Christmas and b-day gifts for the kids. I love that there is space for them in this room. We pull them out on the rug if we need more space. Thomas the train and princess folding tables come out of the closet for painting and play-dough times.
I felt like the window treatments needed to be bolder and more uniform. Again, Grandma saved the day with these old cornice boards from her previous home. They had dingy, outdated fabric. I recovered them (and by "I", I mean "Karl and I"--I needed his help to hold and staple....and then of course to mount them--they are heavy!).
I love love this fabric that I found at the outlet downtown. Cost = $25.
