After 7 years of teaching, I became a stay-at-home mom (now 15 years ago) which meant learning how to live on one income (sometimes as low as $30k a year). Although this was challenging, it taught me how to create beauty in my home by thrifting, shopping deals and renovating our home, with the help of my handy husband. I love intentional design with neutrals (function and beauty on a budget is my jam) and love helping others create a cozy home on a budget too.
Grab a paintbrush with me and let's do this!
How to Make Home Cozy for the Holidays I love decorating my home for the holidays but it goes beyond decorating for me. It means opening up my home for others to enjoy for a cup of coffee or a Christmas caroling gathering. I truly believe our homes don’t need to be perfect. They need […]
Goal: Create a Spa-like Bathroom for under $10k When do you know it’s time to gut and renovate your master bathroom? For us, it was the paint chipping on the vanity from when I painted it 10 years prior. We moved into our home in November, 2006 and we spent a month painting EVERY surface, […]
How Gift Guides Simplify Christmas Shopping One of the things I always try to finish before Thanksgiving are Christmas list ideas for our entire family. You know how it is; both sets of grandparents need Christmas suggestions early so they can shop for all their grandkids. It’s a giant puzzle trying to figure out which […]
How to Make Your Own Textured Metallic Bulb Ornaments These bulb ornaments by Crate and Barrel are absolutely gorgeous. However, they are way out of my price range. They cost $40 for 6 bulb ornaments and you can find them here. I had seen a few Instagram accounts copy these ornaments and had this DIY […]
I finally did it! I started this project back in August and finished it late October (as I took a long break in between). Let’s take a look at this antique children’s chair that belonged to my 96 year old grandma when she was a child. 6 years ago, I spray painted it bright […]
Simplifying Seasonal Decor When you look online at all the home accounts, do you feel as though your home doesn’t measure up? Do you feel the pressure to run out to Target and buy every new fall decor item your favorite influencer recommends? Well, I am here to tell you that you don’t need to […]
How to Add Character Do you have an outdated home? Well if you do, no worries. I did too! Last summer, I wanted to update our 1980’s master bedroom and give it custom updates to add character to the space. Below, I will outline the various ways we added character specifically in our master bedroom […]
What is the Found Cottage Mercantile? The Found Cottage Mercantile is an annual event held at the Ottawa County Fairgrounds featuring vendors from all around the United States. This happens to be just a half mile from my house which is incredibly convenient for me. I ended up meeting a fellow home DIY influencer, Maria, […]
What is one way I have recently personalized our unfinished basement? Recently, I was #gifted a large wooden USA wall map from Enjoy the Wood which Mitch and I hung on our basement cement wall. I chose a United States map because we love to travel throughout the USA and visit national and state parks […]
How do you save money decorating for spring? Budget friendly tip #1: Bring in a few new elements each season and use what you have from past years. This year, I received 3 spring prints from paperhouseprintshop I chose neutral and minimalist spring designs and sprinkled them throughout my home. I love this company […]