It is amazing what you can achieve with a bit of thought, a bit of time and some imagination. Having an artistic flair always helps, but even if you are not artistic or craft-minded in any way, there are still ways you can brighten up your home on a shoe-string budget. Obviously, you can buy everything new at expensive prices in the best shops or you can scour the second-hand market, Ebay and other auction sites, charity shops and flea-markets. It is amazing what you can find if you allow yourself time to hunt. Local advertising will advise you of any garage sales in your area, or car boot sales, or other charity events where you can often pick up a bargain. Then, of course, you need to use your imagination to renovate the bargain you have picked up. There are thousands of craft sites on the internet, such as Homecrafts which stocks practically anything you can think of in the way of arts and crafts' materials - everything from knitting wool to 1kg tubs of resin powder plus catalyst to make the clear resin ornaments.
In the UK there are a string of very large arts and crafts' retail outlets called Hobbycraft which also sell just about every craft material your mind can conjure up. For renovating your bargain finds these are the places to find your materials. To liven up fabric which might have a couple of yellowed stains, use Dimensional Fabric Paints which are made by Dylon. As I have said, you don't have to be particularly 'arty' - just imaginative. If you lay the material out on a flat surface you should be able to see the extent of the yellowing. You then take the Dylon Dimensional Fabric Paints, choose a color and then outline the yellowed area with the paint. Allow to dry and then use other colors to decorate - you could use noughts & crosses in black and white as a theme. Dylon also produce a Fabric Painting Pen Set - a pack of eight assorted fabric pens in different colors to make painting as an amateur that much easier. When you have finished drawing onto your fabric, these paints can be fixed by ironing. There is also a 'non-iron fix' available now: these look like marker pens, come in twelve colors and are machine washable.
Decorating your kitchen on a budget is also easily done. Believe me, you do not have to spend a fortune buying new kitchen units. I purchased a supply of flat-pack cupboard 'carcasses' off Ebay for less than $34.00. I then went to our nearest DIY store and purchased new doors to fit each of those carcasses and, in almost no time at all, I had a completely revamped kitchen. With cork tiles sealed on the floor and some new fabrics at the window my kitchen looked completely new. Bargains you pick up from second-hand sales, nearly-new sales or garage sales are often in good condition. Even those which look a bit battered can, with a bit of TLC, get to look like new again - in fact, they often look better than new!
In the UK there are a string of very large arts and crafts' retail outlets called Hobbycraft which also sell just about every craft material your mind can conjure up. For renovating your bargain finds these are the places to find your materials. To liven up fabric which might have a couple of yellowed stains, use Dimensional Fabric Paints which are made by Dylon. As I have said, you don't have to be particularly 'arty' - just imaginative. If you lay the material out on a flat surface you should be able to see the extent of the yellowing. You then take the Dylon Dimensional Fabric Paints, choose a color and then outline the yellowed area with the paint. Allow to dry and then use other colors to decorate - you could use noughts & crosses in black and white as a theme. Dylon also produce a Fabric Painting Pen Set - a pack of eight assorted fabric pens in different colors to make painting as an amateur that much easier. When you have finished drawing onto your fabric, these paints can be fixed by ironing. There is also a 'non-iron fix' available now: these look like marker pens, come in twelve colors and are machine washable.
Decorating your kitchen on a budget is also easily done. Believe me, you do not have to spend a fortune buying new kitchen units. I purchased a supply of flat-pack cupboard 'carcasses' off Ebay for less than $34.00. I then went to our nearest DIY store and purchased new doors to fit each of those carcasses and, in almost no time at all, I had a completely revamped kitchen. With cork tiles sealed on the floor and some new fabrics at the window my kitchen looked completely new. Bargains you pick up from second-hand sales, nearly-new sales or garage sales are often in good condition. Even those which look a bit battered can, with a bit of TLC, get to look like new again - in fact, they often look better than new!
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