Monday, February 2, 2009

Frugal Thinking Part One

Today we had an appraiser come by and I am praying that all my cleaning, decorating and organizing made a small impact on her opinion for the appraisal. You see, we are trying to refinance our house, we want to take advantage of the lower interest rate and hopefully payoff our house in 15 years instead of 30. We are getting older and don't want to have to pay into our twilight years.

During this massive cleaning, organizing and decorating frenzy, I was thinking about what I needed to make this house what it should be. I wanted to run out and buy the curtains and pictures that we need to finish decorating the house. The dinning room table, chairs and buffet that I absolutely need to finish off the eating area, were just crying out from the Ethan Allen catalog. I really need to get more baskets for the closets and of course new towels for the bathrooms since mine are so ratty. On and on the thinking went until I realized that I really needed to think frugally. Okay, how am I going to be frugal yet make a good impression?

Repurpose, Recycle, Reuse...


I went down to the basement and pulled up a couple of old pictures that I had laying around. I really don't like these pictures, but you know what? They looked good in the bathroom and cozied it up a bit. The old towels were just rolled up, nasty areas in the middle, and put in a basket that had originally held magazines in the study, they looked spa like. Silk greenery that didn't fit above the cabinets in the kitchen when we moved in and were also banned to the basement, were brought up and put in a few bare corners of the house. The closets really were not that bad and I had them fluffed and neatened up within an hour. Extra pillows were brought out of the linen closets and put on beds. I found a vase that I forgot I had and filled it with lemons for the counter. Lamps were moved from one room to another as well as books and candles.

One of my favorite shows on HGTV is Free Style. It is a program that have decorators come into a dull or nasty room and use all of the owners items from the other parts of the house to make it beautiful. I think I did that. The appraiser said our house was lovely, that was a nice compliment.

Now, I want to continue to improve the house the best I can with what I have available and I think that when I am out and about I will stop into thrift and antique stores or even go the local flea market. No telling what I can do!!

7 comments:

Donna's Book Nook said...

I am SO impressed! My house so needs extreme organizing and cleaning; plus I have absolutely no decorating sense. I probably have things I could do if I just had the ideas. Oh well--first things first--start organizing.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it so wonderful when you start cleaning and organizing it makes you want to decorate? You are so right to take what you have and THEN add on a budget. I had a friend recently help me do this to my home and I couldn't be happier! Have fun!!!

Anonymous said...

PS ~ We just had our house appraised to do the same thing.... I was so happy the house was clean. But I don't think it made a bit of difference. The only comment the gentleman made was that he had to watch his step in the backyard! (I'm guessing in reference to having two dogs and it being winter so my hubby hasn't picked up recently.) :)

Gina said...

I am sorry you had to have that comment. These people need to take into account that during the bad winter months you just can't get out that often to clean up. I told the woman to watch her step for the same reason. Thank you Kim and Donna for the nice comments.

Cindy said...

I love this. The idea of working with what you have instead of having to buy more stuff is great and I believe is being a good steward of what God has given.

Kelly said...

Gina, thanks for these ideas, they are inspiring. I often feel like I didn't get the decorating gene my mom did, yet I know I have things I don't use I can pull out and put out to make things look a little different (I tend to leave things the same way for a long time!) Just a little change can be refreshing!

Joyce said...

Hi- I clicked onto your blog from Kim...and Her Coffee's blog. I enjoyed your post about cleaning out and redecorating. I'm in the midst of a big clear out myself in preparation for a move. Your front porch is really lovely-looks like a great place to sit with a book.

I also enjoyed your recipe blog-that's a great idea for sharing recipes even just amongst your own family. I'd love to talk my sisters into something like that.

Enjoy your day...Joyce