Small price, big style

I love the idea of taking something cheap and making it look expensive.  I want my home to look Pottery Barn-esque, but I hate the price.  These are just a few great ideas to spruce up your house at an extremely reasonable price!!

1. You can easily re-create this look by purchasing a cheap floor length mirror and some strips of wood and embroidery hoops.  You can get a floor length mirror from Walmart, Target ... or Walmart (probably the cheapest ... I love Walmart).  The embroidery hoops you can also get from Walmart and the wood strips are readily available at Home Depot or Lowes.  Start by finding a glossy spray paint and spraying the embroidery hoops and the strips of wood at least twice to make sure they are fully covered with the paint.  Use a small amount of hot glue to attach the hoops and wood to the mirror and voila - Pottery Barn style.

2.  This is another idea that I love.  I adore the idea of using small amounts of wallpaper in unique ways.  Plus, my husband hates wallpaper so I want to make sure I can easily remove the wallpaper myself if I ever need to :)  Like I have said in previous posts, you might also be able to get a deal because you can use left over scraps or a small amount that is left on a roll.   It depends how many stairs you are using.  You could even wallpaper every other stair or every third one and still get a beautiful effect for less money.  What I like about this particular DIY trick is that the wallpaper is subtle because it is the same color as the stair trim, yet very intricate if you really look at it.

 3.  When we tiled our basement (all 800 sq ft) a year and a half ago, it was a PROJECT.  It was back-breaking, time consuming, and a plain-and-simple pain.  It took us a LONG time and after it was finished, wiping away the grout made me want to hurt someone.  We wiped and wiped and wiped ... you get the idea.  And because my husband was in the paint business, he knew what he was doing.  I kept thinking that the process would have been bearable if we weren't stuck with all of the cloudy grout.  And now I have the solution!  Instead of using grout, put a small strip of cuttable tiles in between the large tiles.  And, this is so much prettier and easier than grout.  It doesn't get dirty and it is easy to clean. 

4.  This is a really simple DIY.  You can find these shelves in all different sizes and lengths at Christmas Tree Shop.  I actually just did this project and it turned out great.  The shelves are good for things that you use a lot and want to keep out, but you don't want all that stuff on the bathroom counter.    Or, this is also perfect to add a little bit of style with items that you don't plan on using at all ... things that will just add some style to your space.