At the start of this year, I challenged myself to get all of the little jobs done around the house that have needed doing for ages but never seem to get done and to decorate one room or do one ‘big job’ (to us it seems big anyway) every month. We don’t have a huge budget so we’re trying to do things as cheaply as possible and get as much for our money as possible.
So far, we’re not doing too badly – we did Master Frugal’s bedroom in January, the Living Room in February (no major changes though) and a giant garage clear out. In March we had a mini makeover in our bedroom which is what I’m going to share with you today….
Our bedroom was the only room in the house that hasn’t had any attention since we moved in other than painting the back wall a deep plum colour to match some curtains that we brought with us from our last house. Everything else was very blah and the room was one of those that makes you want to shut the door every time someone comes round so they don’t see it if they go upstairs (which is the reason you won’t be seeing a before picture)!
With only a small budget, I didn’t want to be buying new furniture but our old bedside cabinets had clearly seen better days. Replacing them with new ones wasn’t an option because (a) new ones of a similar style cost a fortune, (b) none of the ones I could find looked as strong and sturdy as the ones we had and (c) I didn’t want to spend money on replacing something that was still doing it’s job perfectly well other than looking awful.
So, I popped down to B&Q and bought a small pot of Craig and Rose Eggshell in Linen White along with a tester pot of a plum shade (which I can’t find anywhere on their site to tell you the exact colour) and for both paints it came to about £14 which I thought was really good – especially considering I have plenty of the Linen White left.
We started by taking off the drawer handles and giving the cabinets a good wash down. I didn’t bother sanding them but it is recommended when something has a varnished finish so it’s something to bear in mind if you’re painting furniture.
We used a paintbrush then to paint the drawers and the cabinets themselves although I would probably invest in a small roller if I was doing it again as you can definitely see the brush marks if you look closely enough.
We left everything outside to dry for a couple of hours while we tackled the drawer knobs (which was a messy job) and I had a big tidy out upstairs.
Once the first coat was dry we gave the cabinets a second coat which was left to dry while I finished my big clear out and Miss Frugal got busy painting some old frames we had in the garage for a photo wall she planned to make.
We screwed the handles back in when everything was dry and Mr Frugal kindly carried everything back upstairs for me so I could get busy making it all look pretty.
The bedside cabinets look so much better now and really do make a difference to the whole room….
Miss Frugal’s photo wall looks great although I think we might need to add a few more photos as and when we come across some nice frames at car boot sales or in charity shops. I love that most of the photos that she’s used are of me and Mr Frugal together….
And finally, to finish off my little mini room refresh, I bought a sparkly light shade from Argos which cost £9.99 but looks like it cost more in my opinion. I love it….
So for under £25 and not too much work, I have a lovely new bedroom that I actually want to spend time in.
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