OMG!! Flip flop, sandle and ballet flat hangers on my $0 budget

 

With two shoe loving girls in this house, we have our fair share of summer shoes (especially my daughter who loves shoes more than I do). In the winter, I hate having a pile of flip flops kicking around the bottom of the closet getting in the way and in the summer I struggle to find two matching shoes in when I am always in a hurry to run out the door.

Funny story..A couple of months ago I ran out of the house to catch my train. It was very dark outside and I didn't want to turn on too many lights, so I grabbed my knee high boots and ran out the door. I drove across town, parked and ran to the station, I was running up the stairs with the train pulling in and I realized my heels were making different sounds when I walked. It was an odd thing but didn't think too much about it, until I looked down to avoid a pile of snow and saw I was wearing one knee high black and the other was brown! To make it even worse, they were different height heels! I still to this day don't know how I managed it but at least I caught it before getting on the train and was able to go back home to change :)

Back to the flip flop hanger. I was surfing through Pinterest and saw a picture of this amazing idea. I thought it was absolutely adorable and I knew it would solve my shoe problems :).  EPBOT took a cheap wire hanger and converted it into a flip flop hanger!!! She is a genius...who would have ever thought to do this!

Materials
Wire hanger
Wire snips
Pliers
Scrapbook paper 1.5 x 12 inch (optional)
Spray paint (optional)

Method
Here is how it is done. Take a cheap, thin, flimsy wire hanger and cut off the bottom.
My girlfriend is a police officer, so she gives me her wire hanger from when she dry cleans her uniforms. I started to amass a large stash and was thinking I wouldn't find anything else to do with them.  Reinforces my craft supply hording :) 

Using pliers, I straightened out the small bend at the neck and created two new bends about 3 inches from the middle. I then created a loop at the bottom and continued to roll it up for where the flip flop will hang. For ballet flats, I made a wider circle so the toe of the flat rested on the wire. There is no right or wrong here.

I debated spray painting these a bright color, like hot pink or lime green but I liked the white. Perhaps I will make a set for my daughter's closet with bright green. We will see. But if you want to spray paint them, this would be the time.

Cut a strip of scrapbook paper to be 1.5 inches wide and 12 inches long and made a little jacket for the hanger.

Glued on a spare button or a rhinestone to finish it off.  Isn't it adorable!

 I have only done two but I knew I had to share it ASAP. I just love this. Thanks EPBOT!!!

I have an old shower rod (you know the tension mount ones) that I am going to put in the closet to hang all of the shoes. When I am done, I will post more photos.

Are you as excited about this as I am?!?!

Enjoy!
Stephanie

Help...I need your advice to finish my Master Bedroom

I really have no desire to do a house tour on my blog since my house really isn't spectacular (I love it because it is comfy) but my last post kind of lends itself to showing you our bedroom. So I thought I might as well for those of you who are interested and for those of you who have advice to help me in my quest for a ceiling light/fan and curtains.

Here are the before photos from when we bought the house.  What do you think of the wallpaper and trim on the top of the wall? I assume at some point they had matching bedding too :) :

 

 

 

 

 Here are the after photos ..still with no curtains (please give me some advice!):

 

 I was not very smart buying a 100% cotton white duvet for our massive king size bed. Just think about it, white duvet, 2 kids, 1 dog...spells disaster. I am always struggling to keep it white with the dark lines staying dark! Plus I feel like I need to iron and starch it and the pillows so they aren't full of wrinkles.  My husband would chime in right now and point our that I don't iron...so there will always be wrinkles :)

This little nook leads to the master bathroom and walk in closet (I can never show you that!).

 

What we see when we walk up the stairs.

As mentioned, I still have some items that I would love to do/replace in here. Curtains for one and the overhead light. It currently looks like an upside down mushroom. I debate a ceiling fan or a chandelier.. I hate the look of a ceiling fan but I love the practicality of them. we have hot summers and I love a fan. But we also have cold winters and hate to have a fan that is off. My debate will rage on.

So does anyone have any curtain advice? I was thinking of putting one rod the entire way across all the  windows and putting panels in between each window. Maybe drop cloth curtains or a deep brown. I have to keep some sort of blind for privacy and I do love how bright the white wood blinds make the room.  I just can't decide. HELP :)

I hope everyone has a great day.
Stephanie

Creating a Quiet Reading Nook in Master Bedroom on my $0 Budget

I have always struggled to get my Master bedroom to be the room I dream about. I like everything but I don't love how it works together. I can't really explain it.

We are lucky our bedroom is quite large but it has a really awkward bay area that you see when you walk up the stairs. Until now it has housed laundry baskets, our dog's beaten up bed and many other things that just have no home.

(sorry for the dot in my photos. There is something in my camera causing this and I can't find it!)
Now that we have our beautifully framed flat screen mounted, I knew I wanted to make this area into a reading nook/TV watching area. Since I am working on a $0 budget, I had to repurpose what I have in storage in the basement (aka the dumping ground for all homeless items kicking around my house).

I had a small leather arm chair that has been kicking around my house for a couple of years without a perfect spot. So I brought it up and it seemed to be the right size. I knew I wanted a place to put my feet up so I went hunting. I found two old stools (both bought for next to nothing at a thrift store) that I use to have in our bathroom for when we would spend countless hours a week watching the kids play in the tub. Well, now that the kids are bigger and I don't have to watch them as closely, I had put them in the basement.

The one stool was not the color I wanted, so I got out my handy black satin spray paint and gave it a nice coat of paint. I have to say this was my first spray painting gone wrong experience! Me being the patient person I am and not wanting this to be done the second I got the idea, I did not prime this piece first. So the spray paint just seemed to roll off the 'wood.' I grabbed some paper towels and quickly wiped off the dripping paint and stood back to figure out what to do. I decided to put on a few thin layers of spray primer and they seemed to stick well. After it dried (well not really) I tried the black paint again and this time it worked! Says a lot for priming. One step I won't skip again. My wonderful husband covered the seat with faux black leather that I had on hand.

The other stool, with the large cushion, looked like a tray style side table when the cushion was removed. So I tucked it in the corner with a basket underneath (to hide my never used exercise videos :) ).

I did the Pottery Barn knock off that is going around the blog world by ripping the covers off a few old books, darkened the sides with tea bags and securing them with twine. I added an extra special touch..my daughter made me a paper flower years ago so I thought this is a perfect spot to showcase it. I would love one of those little silver clocks with the feet to put beside the books but that will have to wait. 
 I can't say I am 100% happy with it but I do love being able to sit and read quietly.

 On a side note...does anyone have a suggestion on what I can do for curtains? Should I do one rod across the entire wall and put panels between the windows and on either side of the bay (so 4 panels). I am struggling with this...hence no curtains almost two years after moving in.

Full of Great Ideas $0 Budget Party

{The $0 Budget Party is below}

Here is my last $0 project for the month of March!

Have you seen the Ikea commercial for their Winter Sale? It starts with a woman looking at her receipt in shock and running out the the store yelling "Start the Car!!!"  Well that was me last week. No, I didn't cheat on my $0 budget month and head to Ikea, I went shopping at the Sidewalk Boutique (Thank you Amy at Chestnut Tree Lane for the wonderful new saying! I no longer have to tell my husband I pulled something out of someone's garbage).

So I was driving to pick up my kids at our wonderful home daycare (Hi Bonnie) and I spied a gorgeous cream colored headboard being featured in the Sidewalk Boutique :). I drove past at such a slow speed you could have walked faster. But knowing my husband would roll his eyes, I drove past.  When I got to the daycare, about 5 houses down, I knew I had to go back. With the support of another woman who loves a great deal, I ran back in my high heels to see what it was like. I was in awe...so beautiful! Well it was actually hideous but I knew with some paint it would be amazing.

Here is where the Ikea part comes in. I am a pretty tall woman and with 3 inch heels on I am a good size...well just image me running with this queen size headboard over my head down the street yelling "open the van". Hoping that no one would see me before I managed to wrangle it into the back of my minivan. Bonnie and I wiggled and pushed and somehow managed to get it in. All while her husband (thinking exactly what my husband would be thinking) laughed at us.  I knew my husband would not be overjoyed so when I got home, I carefully (meaning secretively) moved it into the garage and did not say a word. I didn't hide it but I knew once it was in the house it was easier to keep. Well it took him a couple of days to find and all I got was a few "garbage digger" comments. Well worth it in my opinion!

Here is the before (the small patch of cream is where I tested the spray paint):

And the amazing after. Look what a can of Heirloom White spray paint can do!

That is my last $0 project for this month!  What have you done with $0?

<a href=”http://fullofgreatideas.blogspot.com/2011/03/full-of-great-ideas-0-budget-party.html” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i418/fullofgreatideas/0budgetparty2jpeg.jpg”></a>

A Few Party Guidelines
*Party is open to any project you've made or created with materials you had on hand. So $0 Budget!!
*Please do not link to Etsy shops because they cost money :). Remember $0 Budget.
*Link to your actual post title (not your blog homepage). If you need help, send me a note and I can help you.
*It would be nice if you added the $0 Budget party button to your post (code above) or a link back to the party and if you Followed me but this is not required.
*Please visit other people's ideas and Leave Some Comments. We all love comments!


 I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and lets PARTY!

1 month, 15 projects, 100s of family hours, $0 = Priceless

It has been 31 days since I stepped foot in a Dollar store, home decor store and craft store! I have not spent a dime on crafts, clothing and home decorating. I am shocked and can't believe it myself!

To start I want by thanking everyone for their words of encouragement over the past month; we have read and enjoyed every comment and email. Just a quick reminder tomorrow is the $0 Budget link party and everyone is invited to stop by to share their ideas.

When my husband and I gave up spending for the month of March, I never thought I would accomplish what I did. I am amazed at how I was dependent on running to the store to buy something in order to complete a project. I just need this or that..but could I do it with what you have one hand? I proved the answer to that is yes.

I will admit it got tough towards the end. I ran out of hot glue pretty early on (I should have planned a little better :) ), I am nearly out of mat Mod Podge and had to resort to glue sicks..horrible little things. I ran out of black spray paint in gloss so I have had to substitute with Satin.  But in the end, shockingly, I still have enough supplies to go one more month (maybe even two-but that is just crazy talk now) which as you know is what I have to do. I am keeping this $0 budget going until Easter.

Not only did I accomplish so many fun and amazing projects this month, I also got so much done around the house. By not going shopping, I had the time to do things I thought I never had the time to do.

• I cleaned, defrosted and used up so much in my freezer. 
• I purged my pantry of all old and expired food (I am embarrassed at how much I had to throw out because it was bad). 
• I cleaned my linen closet and donated old towels and sheets that we haven't used since we moved it. 
• I purged the hundreds of books in my office and donated bags full to a local charity.  
• I cleaned my kids closets and organized a system for laundry. This is a huge step for me because I hate doing laundry!
• We spent many hours playing games and spending time as a family! This is by far the best thing that came out of this month. AMAZING.

Since tomorrow is my big party and I have one more amazing $0 budget post (you will see it tomorrow...it is breathtaking!!!!). I thought today I would do a summary page of my favorite top 10 $0 projects.  Here are my top 10 favorites..let me know if you agree:

#1. The stair basket out of an old cardboard box.

# 2. Custom cutlery drawer divider using hard board.

 

#3. Framing my Favorite Quotes

 #4. Wood Dice out of a 4x4

 

#5. Conversation Cards

 #6. Toilet Paper Roll Art

 #7. Dry Erase Freezer Inventory List

  #8. Magnetic Board with Old Picture Frame and Roofing Flashing

 #9. Recovering Old Photo Albums

 #10. Teacup topiary

My flat screen TV frame is not included in my top 10 but is my absolute favorite for the month.  I can't include it because it was not with a $0 budget. I had purchased the materials a couple of months ago anticipating making it...so I don't think it fits into my top 10 $0 projects. But I will show it to you in case you missed it.

Remember tomorrow (or late tonight) is the $0 Budget party. Please stop by to share all your craft, home decor, gift giving tips, family secrets...anything you want as long as you did it with stuff you had on hand. I am looking forward to seeing ideas that will get me through one more month with a $0 budget!

See you tomorrow.

Stephanie

The recipe for a happy life is to be organized - on my $0 budget

I love cookbooks! I will admit it, I have hundreds of them. Do I use them, not so much. Am I a gourmet chef in the kitchen, not at all! If you call opening a can of condensed soup and adding it to meat and veggies gourmet...well then maybe I am :).  So I have hundreds of cookbooks in my kitchen cabinets and what do I do when I need a recipe? Go online and print one off. So I`m left with hundreds of stray pieces of paper with all my favorite recipes on them.

Plus, when I got married, my family has a tradition at the wedding shower to send 2 or 3 blank recipe cards with the invitation. Everyone who is invited, writes down their favorite recipes and brings them with them to the wedding shower. I love this idea and have carried it on for every wedding shower I have hosted. When I had my shower, I was given a lovely recipe book with a teddy bear on it. At the time it might have been cute (not) but I loved the family recipes I received.

[Side note to anyone planning a wedding shower..this goes over really well and you get some amazing recipes. Just send 2 or 3 4x6 index cards, instructions  and when people arrive, slip them into a nice photo album. Great gift!]

So I knew I needed to organize the stray pieces of paper and keep the family recipes without having to type or rewrite everything. This is what I came up with.

I found an old photo album in our office that was destined for charity. It holds 4x6 photos and has a space for descriptions. I cut the printed recipes to fit, slide in the old recipe cards and any other stray bits. In theory I could organize the recipes by type, leaving a couple of pages empty in between so new recipes can be added, but I was far too lazy. This might be a task when I am watching TV one night.

Simple solution but it works great! So much neater.

Remember this Friday is my first link party! Please, please, please stop by and share your $0 Budget Craft and Decor ideas no matter how big or how small. If you have something to share but can't make the party, just send me a note and I can post it for you. If you have nothing to share, stop by and see how others are saving money! I hope to see everyone on Friday, April 1st.

Stephanie