Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose

This was the year we were going to do all the home improvements......however the money we set aside for that had to be repurposed for medical bills, so we decided to make do. Using either repurposed items from around the house or items purchased from charity shops or eBay, we have spent the last few months trying to make the most out of what we have.

The porch:

The porch was a bit dark and dingy so we decided to take out the big coat stand and paint it. Jason found a tin of paint I the reduced section and although it's emulsion and not supposed to be for exterior work, I mixed it with PVA glue and so far it seems to have worked.  We'll see if it can withstand winter! (Jason is very dubious about this working, but Pintrest said it would so it must be true!!)

The "nook":

Having got rid of the coat stand, we needed to find somewhere to put the coats. We had a redundant space next to our cloakroom, so we decided to see if we could turn this into a useful area. These shelves were bought from a charity shop and B and M and we bought the box from Argos. I used the paint we had in the garage to paint and the left over wallpaper from doing the downstairs toilet to make the picture frames. 

This cost so little to do and it's great for storing the lunch boxes and PE kits.

The utility:

The cloakroom:

For a while now we have had a toilet that wouldn't flush, so we sold a load of items on eBay and with the money that we saved in our Paypal account from these transactions we purchased a new sink and vanity.  

The bedrooms:

Eden has been asking for a big boy room. A while ago I bought some blue reduced wallpaper in a Laura Ashley sale, and had been trying to find a decorator to put it up. It was looking like it would cost around £200 to paper two walls, so Jason decided to have a go at doing it. He did an amazing job.  We sold some items in a garage sale and bought Eden some shelves and a desk so he can do his homework.  Jason has also started work in creating a built in wardrobe for him which we will add doors to when we've saved up some more money. Eden was thrilled with his new room.

Mia also needed a desk in her room. I saw this shelf in IKEA and thought it would make a great desk. Mia loves having drawers to put her many, many drawings in and we also fixed the shelf that had been on the floor to the wall which has given her more space.