Category: repurposing ideas

Budget Friendly Ways to Organize Your Home

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Shop Goodwill for double-duty (and budget friendly) organizing ideas for your home.  Think outside the box!  

Shopping for new boxes, bins, baskets, and Lazy Susan’s is expensive.  However, a budget friendly way to organize your home is through creative Goodwill finds.  Wander around your local Goodwill Store to shop for creative solutions.  Here are 10 double-duty organizing ideas. 

1.  Goodwill is a great place to find used furniture. You might find a beautiful piece but don’t have room for it in your home.  Consider re-purposing the drawers as under-the-bed storage.  Just add wheels for easy access.

2.  My trip to Goodwill in search of storage items turned up mason jars in all shapes and sizes.  Jars are fantastic for storage of dry ingredients and non-perishable items for your pantry.  For instance, use the jars for tea bags or spice packets.  You can also use jars to organize office supplies like paperclips and push pins.

3.  Eyeglass cases serve as a creative way to store things while traveling. Use a vintage case for holding jewelry or earbuds and your phone charger.

4.  With summer being the time for travel, organization is important to make your trip less stressful.  For instance, pill holders can be used for earrings, rings and so on.

5. Many times I see bags of craft supplies at Goodwill, and in those bags are dozens of mismatched buttons.  Try putting your earrings through the holes of the buttons to store them  This will help keep them together.

6.  Cookie jars of all shapes and sizes can be used to store things like nail polish or kids crayons.

7.  When you find a beautiful frame at Goodwill but don’t love the art contained in the frame, consider using the frame for something creative. First, it can easily be painted.  And then, attach several rows of string or ribbon on the back, and use clothes pins to display photos or greeting cards. This could also make a creative family chore / reward chart!

8.  Find an old shutter from a home?  Use it to display cards or mementos.

9.  Is your kids bathroom a place that is in need of serious organization?  A tiered mesh basket (usually used for fruit in a kitchen) makes bath toy organization a breeze.  Hang from the curtain rod.  It keeps toys contained and allows them to dry.

10.  Two-drawer metal file cabinets are a regular find at Goodwill.  These gems have so many uses for organization in your home. Toss a pretty throw, scarf or table cloth over the top and you have an instant end table with hidden storage.  You can also paint it and apply a stencil to give the storage unit a new look   Do a Pinterest search on re-purposing metal cabinets and you will be shocked at all the ideas!

This months guest blogger is Cathy Fairchild from Say Yes to Less.

Get in touch with Cathy at:  http://www.sayyestoless.guru  

https://www.facebook.com/sayyestoless.guru/


Spring Home Project – Easy DIY Terrarium

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Spring Home Project DIY… bringing a little outside inside

Bringing the outside into your home with plants is a great way to (literally) bring some life Into your Spring home projects.  There are a ton of resources available at your local Goodwill to create an amazingly easy DIY terrarium!

With Spring upon us, I have been anxious to test my green thumb.  But at the same time, terrified the temperature changes will result in mass garden casualties! So, this easy DIY Terrarium is an easy indoor plant option.

Not only are terrariums perfect for our unruly weather, they’re also a beautiful option for decorating with thrift store finds. If you like budget friendly home décor options, you’ll love the Easy DIY Terrarium!

Easy as 1-2-3

To get started on your own Easy DIY Terrarium, here is what you will need from your local Goodwill for this project:

  1.   Glass Tray
  2.   Terracotta Pots
  3.   Glass Cloche Domes.  What is a cloche?  Simply put, it is a translucent cover used to protect plants. You can use any clear glass for this project. Be creative! Just be sure the class is tall.  This is key. Your plant needs room to grow. Some things that might work: glass jars, glass bowls, mason jars, or a fish bowl.

Get some potting supplies too. If you’re a plant expert, feel free to set up your terrarium however you’d like. If you’re not sure where to start, check out my full post HERE to see how I “layered” my Easy DIY Terrarium. I also shared a trick for finding house plants for cheap!

Once you have your supplies from Goodwill,  start putting together your Easy DIY Terrarium.

Step 1

It’s super simple. First, get your plants into the terracotta pots.

Step 2

Then, arrange on your tray.

Step 3

Finally, add the domes!

Tips

Tip 1:  Because the covered terrariums create a greenhouse effect, there will be some moisture build up. Which is why I highly suggest the glass tray like I used.  This will create a moisture barrier between your Easy DIY Terrariums and whatever surface you’ll be putting them on.

Tip 2:  When you pick out your supplies at Goodwill, make sure the dome fits over the terracotta pots you use. A couple of mine were a pretty snug fit, and I had to experiment with which dome worked best with each pot.

Tip 3:  Goodwill has a ton of great glassware options that would be perfect for Easy DIY Terrariums! You could also try tall vases for open terrariums, or jars and bottles for a more Boho look.

Tip 4:  This can be a fun project for kids to get involved with. Let your kids help choose the plants, and get their hands dirty potting.  They will love watching something they created grow throughout the Spring and Summer.

 

 

 

 

This month’s guest blogger is Amanda DeVries.  Get in touch with her at This Growing Home or find her on Facebook.

 

DIY Jewelry Organizer

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One of the things I seem to struggle with is wearing all of the great accessories I’ve collected over the years.  It seems I always wear the same few pieces…because I can see them, they are on top of the pile (know what I mean?).

The notion of being able to see all of my jewelry coupled with a good storage option has been something I’ve been frustrated with for a long time.  I’ve tried hanging everything on a necklace tree, I purchased a piece of furniture that held my jewelry, I even invested in stack-able trays thinking that was the ticket to storing all of my jewelry pieces.

None of those things worked.

When a modern mom has a problem like this, what does she do?  She turns to Pinterest of course!  I saw some DIY jewelry organizers that I thought might work, so I decided to make my own.  And I must say, it is working very well!  The best thing about this DIY project is you don’t have to be crafty or own a bunch of tools to have a great looking final product.

DIY PICTURE FRAME JEWELRY ORGANIZER


STEP 1
First, head to your local Goodwill store and find a picture frame that you love.  It doesn’t matter what is inside (what the picture is), just look for a decorative frame (or maybe something simple) that will match your decor. The best frames for this project will be large bulky frames.  Look for something that is made of wood  and that is at least 1 1/2″ thick. I found 3 frames to use for this project.  Two smaller frames (about 8×10), and one larger frame (about 24×30).  I will use the smaller one for bracelets and earrings, and the larger one for necklaces.

STEP 2

The second step is to head to a craft store or hardware store.  I stopped by a hardware store and purchased $14 worth of supplies.  They include:

  1. A variety of small ‘S’ hooks
  2. A roll of chicken wire (sometimes called Hardware Cloth)
  3. Some heavy duty thumb tacks

STEP 3
Prepare the picture frame by removing all of the backing.

Next, measure how much of the Chicken Wire you will need to cut to fit the frame.  I cut the piece to fit the back of the frame, leaving about 1/4″ border. Using wire cutters (mine are technically floral cutters), trim a piece of the Chicken Wire to fit the back of your frame.

STEP 4

Affix the backing using a hammer and the large thumb tacks.  Next, using the ‘S’ hooks, plan how you will organize your jewelry pieces on the frame. It is OK if the chicken wire is a little loose, or not flat.  If the wire is flat against the wall, it will make it harder to hang the ‘s’ hooks.

I didn’t finish the edges of mine, but I think I might add some heavy duty tape (like packing tape) to the edges on the back of the frame. This will help secure the wire to the frame, and protect the wall from the raw edges of the wire.

Step 5

The last step is to nail your jewelry organizer to the wall.  I used 2 basic picture hanging nails. Enjoy seeing all of your jewelry pieces neatly organized!  And the best part, it takes up unused wall space in your closet! BONUS!