What happens when you go shopping in your own house...

It's March-April 2020. Everyone is quarantined to their houses. Shopping is out of the question unless you are in dire need of groceries. While you have made an extensive to-do list for every day that keeps you busy, you still need an outlet.

So what do I do? I re-decorate. I find the room in my house that hasn't been re-done since 2015 and I start there. But what do I do if I can't leave my house? You SHOP your house. And that's exactly what I did. I scrounged around to find elements that would give new life to this space without having to spend a dime. And then...I spent $5. Oops.

I'll share with you all the tiny details of the little elements I repurposed or updated. Yes, I know. This isn't a "photography" type blog...it's more of a "decorating" blog. But hey, I'm confined to my house and using my house as the model in order to still practice taking photos. So thank you for cutting me some slack!;)

Here's the first step to doing a room makeover. Take BEFORE pics! Even if if you're like me and you quick snap them with your cell phone, TAKE them!

And so it began...

I was done with blue, done with arrows, done with clip strings to hang pictures. I was just going to throw away the old boards I had made years ago from foam insulation boards that I had paper mâchéd and painted. But then I didn't.

Be Our Guest Signs: I had an ivory paint cloth that I had gotten awhile ago for a project that I never did. I wrapped and hot glued pieces of it to 2 of my old insulation boards. Then I decided that I didn't like the ivory color. So I grabbed my bucket of white paint and painted the boards. (This is the first reference where you will see me using white paint. White paint is my favorite and if I never have a bucket on hand, something is wrong.) Ever tried to paint a "paint drop cloth"?? Yeah...it's interesting. After they were dry, I simply wrote the words I wanted with a black paint pen*.

*For the people who don't like their handwriting

If you're saying "AHH! I CAN'T write that!" Do this. Print off the words in the exact size/font you want. Take a piece of chalk, (a different color than your board so you will see it) draw on the back side of your paper over each letter, flip the paper over and use a pen to write, pressing hard over each letter. When you take it off, you'll see the chalk imprint of the words that you can then trace over.

The Pillows: Like I said, I was done with the blue. I really super wanted green pillows...but I would have had to buy them on Amazon.com and I wasn't about to do that. So I found a scrap of green material left over from Christmas stockings. Then, again using the paint drop cloth, I sewed some slip covers to go over the pre-existing pillows. Why isn't that one pillow ALL green you ask? Well...I didn't have enough green to cover the entire front...so I improvised. Oh! And I also painted white stripes on the one pillow. I used painters tape and a dab sponge brush. SO easy!

Old Frame (from grandparents' farmhouse): I've had this for awhile...in a box...under a bed. Now that I actually had the time pull it out, I decided it was time for a re-purpose job. The matte in the frame was brown, stained, and old. As I couldn't just replace it, I painted the matte white. The oval on the inside was too big for an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper to fit into it. So I found a scrap of white canvas materiel and drew on that.

Magnolia Wreath: Confession time. Here's where I spent the $5 in this room makeover. I like to add a bit of green to every room to add some "life" into it. But...I didn't have anything like this at home. So I found a $10 wreath at Target (AND I could order it for a "Drive-Up Pickup"!) and used a $5 gift card I already had...thus, I "spent" $5. If you're interested, here's the link!

Hello Sign: I found an old board that I had stained forever ago but never used as a sign, and wrote on it with a white paint pen. (*You can use the chalk trick for this too!)

Canvas Macrame Sign: Sorry...this isn't new. I made this forever ago to sell...and never did because I liked it so much. Don't know how to macrame? Yeah...I don't really remember how to either! Look it up on Pinterest!;)

Magnolia Flowers: The wreath I bought came with these white flowers on it. I didn't like them as I preferred just the simple wreath. So I pulled them off, planning to throw them away. And then...I had an idea. I found some wooden skewers in the kitchen which were the PERFECT size for the flower to fit on securely. I then painted them green and popped them in a glass jar. (This glass jar is a bottle I've had from my dating years with Josh. It was a peach tea drink that I'd probably bought at a gas station. It travelled with me everywhere, as we were always moving from place to place, and I'd use it to put in the single roses that Josh would buy me often.)

Milk Crate: My mom was getting rid of this old milk crate. I had no vision for it and planned on using it in my "future house" but then I decided it worked. I painted the orange handle white and a couple of old books fit perfectly into one of the slots**.

**Garage sales are awesome for finding old books!

(The desk also has a re-purpose story! But that one was done a few years ago:))

Now before you end this blog in frustration (as I have done when reading blogs like this) thinking, "I don't HAVE stuff like that in my house to 'shop' for!" Yes, I know. I get it. You might not find the buckets of white paint that I always have on hand, or the paint drop cloths, or the random antique stuff. But if anything, this is an encouragement to look at what you DO have with a different set of eyes. Who knows, but you may find purpose for things you never thought of before! And yes, stealing and switching around items from different rooms is totally allowed! So please, just have fun with it!

PS. And hey, if you want to send me a pic of your "problem space" over these next 2 weeks so I can look it over and give ideas, I would NOT object! No promises! But it could be fun!:)

All photos are property of Josh and Andrea Photography, LLC