There's no denying that budgets can get very tight sometimes: living on your own in college, moving out on your own for the first time, or maybe things aren't just working in your favor. Sometimes, though, we can't help it when we need to furnish our homes. Just moved into a new place? Yeah, you kind of need a bed or a table to eat at or work at. So when you have a spare $5 in your pocket, here are a couple of incredibly inexpensive ways to spruce up your place!
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1. Put scrapbook paper on it!
You know that table you found for free on the side of the road that's a little banged up but still usable? Yeah, you know I've been there. With some scrapbook paper and Mod Podge (or even DIY this by mixing a high-quality white glue in a 1:1 ratio with water), you can completely reface the table for less than $5. If your table needs a little more love, sand it down to smooth things out, paint it, etc. Max $15 for the DIY with the little extra love, plus you feel pretty great with that little gem sitting in your room. Here's a great site to help you through the process. I also use scrapbook paper to spice up some of the simpler things like the back of a bookcase!
2. Decorate mason jars.
Mason jars (or any other sort of jar/can/container of your choice) come in many many many different sizes, shapes, price ranges, etc. You could probably get all of the materials for this project at a dollar store and stay under $5. The nice thing with mason jars is their versatility. You can use paint, glue, glitter, ribbon, etc. to decorate them, and you can even do this on the inside or the outside! This website gives a lot of amazing practical uses for mason jars, but you can also just decorate them and then come up with your own use for them -- like those bobby pins you keep misplacing or the cutest elephant toothbrush holder ever!
3. Make your own headboard.
Depending on your budget, patience, and available time, this could be fairly cheap to moderately expensive, and quick to time consuming. If you want to add a pop of color, you can simply hang a curtain behind your bed. If you already have some curtains (be it window or shower curtains), this is a really cheap hack. Otherwise it might be a little bit more expensive.
If you're feeling a little more adventurous, you could even try a more solid headboard with some tufting or more shape. This website is a really good tutorial for making a tufted headboard, and you could probably even cut down on some of the cost by using cardboard instead (depending on how stable you want it to be and for how long) and that mattress pad you only used for your freshman year of college.
This website also makes me very happy with their DIY headboard examples.
4. Skip the bed frame.
So with this, you have three options. You can either place your box spring directly on the floor with the mattress on top of it, you can find a free bed frame (sometimes Craigslist, sometimes the side of the road -- but be safe about it!), or you can do this: with some simple supplies from the hardware store and some fabric to cover your box spring (or a bedskirt or nothing -- whatever your heart desires), you can add legs to your box spring to pick it up off of the floor!
5. Easy organization.
The Dollar Store is my weakness. When I go in there, I rarely leave without some new find or a DIY hack in mind. They have some great project starters, and for ridiculously cheap. Take for example this three-tiered jewelry organizer from Target. It's $20, and that's if you can find it in stores. At the Dollar Store, though, you can completely customize how you build the organizer! Put a bowl in there somewhere, use wine glasses as tier-separators, or whatever else you can find! It can look something like above.
Or it can range to looking something like this:
If you're looking at this article because you are on a budget, you already know how valuable second-hand stores, sales, DIY, and free stuff is -- but I'm going to tell you again. If you're just looking for crafting supplies, there is no reason to not shop at second-hand stores, dollar stores, or even picking up some free stuff on the side of the road (when it's safe)! These ideas are only just the beginning, too. Once you start your DIY journey, you'll get hooked! The only limit is your imagination, so think big!
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