Glamumous

For the past month I've been collecting ideas and inspiration in preparation for a complete home makeover. Pinterest has proved a valuable tool for my research: I've found dozens of amazing DIY projects which are not only easy, they're pretty thrifty too!

Over the net few months, we plan to try several of these projects as we work through our home (and I'll be sure to post them on Glamumous for you to see the results). In the meantime, I've collected my favourite DIY tutorials in this post to provide inspiration and ideas for your own home improvement projects.

Hanging book display (tutorial by Penny Carnival)

This is an amazing idea for storing and displaying children's books: with the front covers facing outwards, children can easily locate the book they want to read (and they look great too!).

Transform thrift-store frames into beautiful chalkboards (via Flickr)

As a busy mum, I love the idea of having a chalkboard in the entrance hall on which I can write reminders for everyone to take note of as they leave the house. This concept provides a much more beautiful option than the standard chalkboards found in office supply stores, and is probably far cheaper too!

Simply upcycle a cheap (thrift store) frame and paint the glass with chalkboard paint! Sorry I've not been able to credit the original author - try as I might I've not yet been able to find the original link and have linked to the page on Flickr instead. Please let me know in the comments if you know the original author so I can credit them properly!

A bird's nest lampshade made from newspaper (via Catch My Party)

This beautiful lampshade would be perfect for Princess and Little Man's shared room. It's hard to believe it was made using newspaper - the end-result looks more like something bought from a boutique store! Head on over to Catch My Party for the tutorial and more photos of this project.

DIY Cedar wood bench by My Daily Randomness

I adore this idea! A bench like this would be perfect for our front yard. Unfortunately using cedar wood is a bit our of our price range, though I'm sure we could come up with something similar using palettes or reclaimed wood...

Felt and stone potholders by Teawith Bri
I have a confession to make. I don't actually own any potholders! Oddly I've never found any at the thrift stores I patron, and have never truly had cause to go shopping for such an item (though it does prevent me from bringing ovenware straight to the table). Now that I have a new (smaller) cooker, I have the perfect excuse to make these pretty potholders. Best of all, they'll cost next-to-nothing to make!

DIY Camper Van by The Merrythought

I know that Little Man will adore this project once I get around to it (though we may have to wait until the weather brightens in order to have it outside as we simply don't have room in the house!).

Baby food spice jars (by Frugal Decor Mom, via Curbly)

Even though Babyman was weaned long ago, I still have a collection of baby food jars stashed in the cupboard... This idea is an ideal way to re-use those jars, I love the idea of storing them in a pull-out drawer!

Coffee table with book display from an old wooden spool (via Design*Sponge)

I'd love a round coffee table for our lounge, and this ticks all the boxes: castors, book display, and child-friendly to boot! The image above is from an article by Design*Sponge on The Huffington Post. Here's a useful tutorial from Pink Stitches if you would like step-by-step instructions to make one of your own.

Mason Jars as wall storage (via Be Different Act Normal)
We're stealing this idea for vertically mounted storage round the mirror in our hallway. Princess uses this to style her hair each morning, which inevitably leads to hair clips and ties strewn all over the floor. The mason jars will provide a perfect storage solution, in addition to looking wonderful!

Paper Mache animal heads, by Lil Blue Boo

The trend for faux-taxidermy is perfect for children's rooms. I'm sure Princess would love to have a unicorn gracing her walls, and this tutorial can easily be adapted to create other animals too!

Recycled bottle flower pots by Breslo

We don't have much ground space for plants in our garden, but we do have lots of blank walls and fencing... We're definitely borrowing this idea to grow kitchen herbs and trailing plants which we'll hang vertically to make the most of our available space.

Make a pebble mat (image via Apartment Therapy)

Though the image above displays a bathmat, we're thinking of creating something similar for the recess inside our entrance porch. I found a great tutorial for this over at One Pretty Thing though I'd personally prefer the framed version above.

Create a light fixture from an unwanted globe, by DIY Show Off

Our cheap plastic globe inevitably split in two after a few years. This would make an ideal light fixture to replace the paper shade in Big Lad's bedroom (if I don't claim it for the dining room first!)

Pallet Living Wall tutorial by The Brew

I wish we had the wall-space to have something like this in our kitchen! Perhaps a project for the yard..?

Lace doily lampshade by Dos Family

A great project to get the children involved in, this beautiful lampshade was made using a large round balloon as a mold. I'd love to have this as the ceiling shade in my bedroom, and am sure it would produce beautiful shadows on the walls.

DIY Bracket Bookshelves by Centsational Girl

Another great storage idea for children's books, or simply to display a collection of your favourite titles!

Photo frame terrarium by Country Living

This Victorian-esque terrarium was made with old picture frames (and a few hours of work) and makes an ideal home for orchids, succulents or other plants which thrive in warmer habitats.

Make a shabby-chic lace lampshade, by The Polka Dot Closet

Only a few weeks ago I picked up a ready-made version of this in our local thrift store! It wasn't difficult to figure out how it was made, though the tutorial posted by Polka Dot Closet above makes it easy to create your own.

Stencilled ceiling/wall medallions, by Ask Anna

Our old home had plaster ceiling medallions in the lounge which looked lovely. I hadn't considered installing them here as it wouldn't suit the style of the house, but I do love the idea of stencilling medallions on the wall.

Modern pegboard shelving system by Apartment Therapy

Simple but genius! I'd love to try this in the designated "office" space in our kitchen.

Chicken wire and stone heart decoration by Country Woman Magazine
This rustic heart ornament would look lovely hung on the wall beside our front door. It is simply made using chicken wire and a collection of pebbles, and could double as a memory-keeper for stones collected on your travels.

Pencil crayons displayed as wall art (via Enpundit)

This idea would be amazing in a children's room! The page on Epundit promotes a service by Felissimo through which all of the pencils pictured may be collected over the course of several months. With some acrylic panels, you could easily produce something similar as a functional and beautiful display.

Which are your favourite projects?

Do you have any favourite projects from the list above? Perhaps you'd like to share other family-friendly projects you've created yourself?

Please feel free to leave your comments below, or for more inspiration pop over to my DIY for the Family Home board on Pinterest.

No comments

In an ideal world, we'd all be living in the homes of our dreams, with enough room for every family member, all our possessions, and a warm southern-facing view... In reality, few of us are blessed with this good fortune. We make do with the homes we can afford, which were available at the time, which are close to our place of work...

When we moved into our house four years ago, we did not imagine we'd still be living here today. Not only living in fact, but feeling as though this building is truly our home. We have barely spent anything on home improvements, nor have we magically transported our house into the middle of a lush green field in the countryside. Perhaps in the future we might be able to live in a better home in a neighbourhood more pleasant than the one we currently inhabit, but for now we're simply learning to love where we live.

For those like us who cannot simply pack up and move, here are five ways in which we have grown to love where we live. I may not be able to help you build an extra room or renovate your house on a shoestring budget, though perhaps by reading about our experiences you may learn how to love your own home too.

We made the decision to stay

Photo credit: Theen ...

For us, the most important factor in learning to love our less-than-perfect house was making the decision - as a family - to make this place our permanent home.

Until we actually agreed about this we'd always felt somewhat unsettled; I was unwilling to spend much time or money to improve our house, and was always looking out for "To Let" signs while driving through town. Now, all of us feel as though a weight has been lifted. We're more inclined to keep things neat and tidy; Princess is collecting paint samples so we can redecorate, and for the first time Big Lad is putting up posters on his bedroom walls.

Making our home feel secure

Photo credit: linda yvonne

We were luckily to find sturdy doors, secure locks and an effective alarm system installed in our house when we moved in. Yet despite this effective home security set-up, we still felt a little vulnerable. Our house looked out directly onto the street and road, with only a small front garden separating us from the public pathway beyond.

So we built a small fence around the yard, and wow did this make a difference! It wasn't a particularly expensive job, but was worth every penny we'd saved. Strangers no longer take shortcuts across our garden; Babyman has a safe place to play outdoors, and having a boundary (even though it's only four feet high) gives us a sense of privacy when spending time outside.

Another improvement to our sense of security was to install Venetian blinds and net curtains across the windows of the ground floor. I was initially discouraged as our house is North-facing and has little natural light, but trading a little light for an increased sense of privacy was well worth it.

Taking care of those little household jobs

Photo credit: furryscaly

There are little jobs in every home which aren't enough of a nuisance to require immediate fixing, but which niggle nonetheless. Eventually I realised that all of these little things were having a slight but definite effect on the way we felt about our home.

Spending just a few minutes each day to complete unfinished projects, fix broken light fittings; secure curtain poles; hang photographs in frames, and all those other little household jobs we had forgotten has made our home feel more complete. Sure, we still need to redecorate at least half of the house (and repaint the awful mess I made of the hallway!), but the house looks and feels better already!

Making our home feel comfortable

Photo credit: Celeste

The knock on effect of deciding to stay in our home is wanting to make our house look and feel comfortable. Without the means to give our house a complete interior makeover, I decided to focus on the smaller, more achievable goal of making sure it feels cosy and welcoming.

Starting at the front door, we considered what would make our home look and feel more appealing. Initially, we cleaned and tidied the porch and yard, then set about devising a system to ensure the entrance hall doesn't get crowded with our shoes and coats.

When friends and relatives visit, we tend to spend time chatting around the kitchen table (which also functioned as my makeshift desk), and decided to rethink our use of space. After a weekend of de-cluttering, I re-purposed my antique sewing table to a space in the corner to ensure the kitchen table was free of my computer and messy papers. It now feels much more comfortable, and I don't have to spend time clearing a space each time we want to sit down for a meal!

Slowly but surely we're working through more plans to help our house feel more cosy, such as storage for all of Babyman's toys (which currently take over the lounge) and a solution for hanging clothes in my tiny bedroom. We'll get there eventually - the main thing is that we're taking steps to make us all feel more comfortable in our home.

Getting involved in the community (if only a little...)

Photo credit: Hamed Saber

In my opinion, a sense of belonging extends beyond the boundaries of our homes. While my children and I have been making use of local amenities, I realised we weren't really getting involved.

Unfortunately, my time is severely limited. Being a work-at-home mum of three I barely get the chance to enjoy a cup of coffee in peace, let alone dedicate chunks of time to volunteering. Even attending community meetings poses difficulty without childcare!

After some consideration, I realised there are some things I can do, and that even a tiny amount of involvement can make a difference. I've offered my services as a designer to our local community action group and make time to attend local events such as jumble sales, festive fairs and other child-friendly activities.

In the future when Babyman is old enough to attend nursery, I hope to free up a little more time to become a little more involved, though in the meantime our activities are helping us feel more at home in our neighbourhood. We've met new friends, learned more about the history of our community, and overall have a more positive outlook about where we live.

How have you learned to love where you live?

Have you made a decision to live in a home which is less than ideal? What tips can you offer to make a house feel like a true "home"?

Please feel free to leave your own ideas in the comments below, or send me an email if you like. I'd truly appreciate any tips, and am sure other Glamumous readers would like to learn from your own experiences too.

Image credit (post banner): Sauerlander, via Flickr

No comments

Neatography

Inkdrops

OliveBox

Artful Intuition Picks and Parcels

Rad and Hungry Something Mighty (STMT) Collections

Antiquaria Stationery Boxes

Ginger Mail

Idea Chic Parcel Post Delivery

7layerdesigns Stationery Subscription

Haute Box

Uncustomaryart's Postcard Subscription

Letterpress Lovers Club

The Spread the Word Card of the Month Club

Keep Writing Letterpress Postcard Subscriptions by Gutwrench

The Paper Parcel by Saturday AM Vintage

The Little Pink Box

Mister Ghost’s Highly Enviable Monthly Parcel of Simple Yet Amazing Wonderments

Hello!Lucky Monthly Card Subscriptions

Nicely Noted

Book Riot

Daphne's Diary

Which are your favourite paper subscriptions?

Which are your favourite projects?

We made the decision to stay

Making our home feel secure

Taking care of those little household jobs

Making our home feel comfortable

Getting involved in the community (if only a little...)

How have you learned to love where you live?

Search

About me

Popular Posts

Follow Us

Labels

recent posts

Subscribe

Subscribe in your preferred RSS reader

Archives