Your home or bedroom is a reflection of your interests and personal style, and curating a cozy and personalized decor can start right at home with items you may already have! Between thrifting and repurposing items, you can breathe new life into your home with some truly unique DIY projects. We spoke with the apartment experts at Utopia Management, who offered up these creative decorating ideas they’ve noticed that won’t break the bank.
Give that Ladder a Second Life
If you’ve retired a wooden latter, consider repurposing it in your home decor! You can restain it or leave it as is, depending on your preference. If it has signs of wear and tear, it can add a rustic touch to the room if that is the look you’re going for. Use it as shelving for plants and keepsakes, or lean it against the wall and use it as a rack for spare blankets.
Repurposing Wood Crates and Pallets
Upcycling wood is a great way to introduce natural materials into your home. If you can get your hands on some wine crates, these make for great side tables or can be stacked to make a simple shelf. They are also lightweight and can be mounted to the wall to make floating shelves! Painting the crate or applying wallpaper to the backsplash of the crate really captures the eye and adds a splash of color to the room. The same idea goes for wooden palates. These can be easily upcycled and turned into a coffee table or book rack if mounted to the wall.
Colorful Coat Hooks
Craft stores always have tons of cool and colorful knobs typically used for cabinets and drawers. Consider buying a few, mix and match or stick with one style, and mounting them to a piece of reclaimed wood for a beautiful and unique wall-mounted coat hanger.
Repurposing Old Picture Frames
Spare frames can reinvented as a whiteboard for the kitchen or a chalkboard in the kid’s room. Repaint the frame and remove the glass shield and replace with a properly measured whiteboard. If you want to repurpose as a chalkboard, you can replace the glass with a piece of wood and apply black chalk paint.
Breathe New Life into an Old Piece of Furniture
Think about the items you may already have in your home. Do you have a chair who’s only sole purpose is to collect laundry that hasn’t been put away yet? (No judgment, we all have one of those.) Or is there an old dresser collecting dust in the garage? You would be amazed at what a fresh coat of paint can do for a drab piece of furniture. Turn that chair into a statement piece with a bright sunny yellow or robin’s egg blue. Choose some funky fabric to reupholster the cushion and bring it back to life! If room allows, a standard waist-high dresser or hutch can find a new home in the kitchen as an island. Apply a fresh coat of paint and a butcher block to the surface and voila!
Reusing Glass Jars and Bottles
Glass jars and bottles have tons of uses after finishing the contents of whatever was once inside. Wine bottles make for a sleek and minimalist flower vase, and jars can be used for plant propagation to house new clippings while you watch their roots grow! Jars can also be used for storage or pen holders and can even be painted if you are looking to bring it to life with a fun design or pop of color.
Backsplash Your Bookshelf
Applying a fun wallpaper print to the backsplash of a bookshelf can elevate a large piece of furniture and bring a playful and unique feel into the room.
Expanding Your Wall Art
Wall art is a great way to express your taste and style, and acts as sort of glimpse into your interests. Aside from displaying family and friends photos, another great wall art addition may be floating around your home already. Cards from loved ones, or colorful creations made by your children or grandchildren are personal and unique and can spark dear memories. Cool book jackets or magazine covers are also another great way to preserve written work that you’ve held onto over the years. If you’re a vinyl collector, some vinyl sleeves are a work of art on their own. These floating shelves are specifically made to display vinyl on the wall, and the best part is you can constantly revolve the art depending on what you might be listening to at the time!
Executing a home makeover can be done on almost any budget, and while it does take time and patience, can be a very rewarding journey!
