Front Door Redo for $120.00!!!

See what I have been working on while I was neglecting you? I don't have a before picture because I do not plan ahead like that. It was a beautiful wood door, but the cold weather this past winter put a huge crack in it :( I filled it with wood putty and sanded it down. It never quite looked right to me, and I have been craving-yes I said craving - a black door 4ever! So, my doubtful husband went to Lowe's with me and we picked out some paint, primer, and after an unfortunate experience trying to spray paint the old lock set, a new set. All in all I spent about $120.00 on this and I love the way it looks. I had originally thought I spent almost $250, but I found my receipts and added it all up.

I was really feeling badly, looking at that line where I had puttied and sanded. Small home repair and basic cleaning keeps your home from looking shabby; it also helps keep you from getting tired of things and spending a ton of money on remodeling. A small change makes a big difference in your heart!

For more low cost decorating projects visit Sara at Thrifty Decor Chick.

Home Depot Do-It-Herself Workshops

These look fun! Empower yourself while learning to save money doing home-improvement/repair projects by yourself...When we moved into our first home, my husband worked full-time and I worked part-time. We decided that we hated the carpets in the house and tore all of them up at once (one at a time would have been smarter) and started laying laminate tile flooring. The trick with this kind of floor is that the large squares must be centered all around the room and stuck down while the tiles going around the perimeter of the rooms, must all be cut to size before being locked in to the other pieces. Cutting these pieces required using a jigsaw (something I'd never even heard of before). At first my husband's 80-year-old grandfather was cutting our pieces but it really did start to prove to be too much work for him. My husband was working a lot and one evening, frustrated with the fact that there was nothing but sub-floors around the perimeter of each room, I started measuring tiles, making a list, and I finally braved the jigsaw on my own. I was scared at first - afraid I was definitely going to tear into my thigh with it (I was using a makeshift workbench made out of a small stepstool - that's what the men had been using) or chop off a finger. Anyway...I drew my border lines on, made sure I was cutting off the right side of the tile and went to town. It was a lot of work but I'm proud to say I finished most of the 4 rooms on my own. I got a little help from my husband after I taught him how to do it. I was self-taught but I think I could have had a lot less trial and error had a class of some sort been available to me. Take the class - you will feel amazing teaching your husband or Significant Other how to cut tiles or joining right in with him while he works!