Budget-Friendly DIY Projects

Invest your time and energy - instead of money - to create a beautiful home. These project ideas and info will get you started.

By Sarah Egge

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Custom Window Shades

Mirror That Rules

Light Effects

Hobby Box

Timber Vases

Color Blocking

Artful Chairs

Memorable Memo Board

Super Bowl

Table Trimming

Save Your Seat

Tea Cozy

Frosty Glasses

Flying Objects

Stick 'em Ups

Mood Light

On the Block

Hook Ups

Sitting Pretty

Original Art

Make Arrangements

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Custom Window Shades

Give a plain roller shade ($15) color and punch with a painted pattern. Using a ruler and T-square, mask off straight stripes with blue painter's tape. Apply latex paints in your desired colors using a foam roller. Let paint set, peel off the tape, then let the paint dry completely.

DIY Tip: Keep paint from bleeding into your stripes by sealing the tape tightly to the roller shade, running over it with a straight edge, and rolling the paint roller away from the tape, not toward it.

Mirror That Rules

Create your own trendy starburst mirror using yardsticks cut to staggered lengths. Purchase a round mirror, and look for secondhand wooden yardsticks at flea markets or antiques stores. You also can purchase new ones at home centers for less than a dollar each. Cut them into lengths using a handsaw. Trace around the mirror on newspaper; arrange medium-length pieces around the perimeter of the template, overlapping it by two inches. Spread wood glue on the tips, lay the mirror on top, and weigh it down with a stack of heavy books. When dry, turn the mirror over and layer on shorter and longer lengths, working a few at a time and weighing them down until dry.

Light Effects

Give a mod twist to a wrought-iron chandelier with a string of wooden balls. Select three different-size balls from the woodworking aisle at the crafts store. Screw small metal eyehooks into opposite ends of each ball. Link the eyehooks to chain the balls together, then drape from the chandelier.

DIY Tip: Use a pair of needle-nose pliers to grasp and twist the tiny eyehooks.

Hobby Box

Spin leftover yarn into pretty decoration for a wooden crate that holds crafts supplies. Embroider or hand-crochet the flower petals, adding knots at the tips. Line up two green strands for the stem. Attach the design to the box using hot glue. Don't enjoy needlework? Fashion a similar design out of scrap pieces of ribbon.

Timber Vases

Salvage old boards from a fence or barn and turn them into rustic, one-of-a-kind vases. Cut two matching lengths of wood. Then, using a table or hand saw, cut notches into the center of the boards so they fit together. Measure the bud vases' height and circumference (add 1/8-inch for wiggle room) to determine the size of the widest notches. The narrow notches need only be as wide as the boards' thicknesses.

Color Blocking

Highlight a fun collection using a bold swath of color on the wall. Mask off a rectangle that is substantially larger than your wall shelf, then fill in the outline with latex paint (a quart will work great). When dry, rehang the shelf and arrange the collection against its dramatic new backdrop.

DIY Tip: Depending on the size of your shelf, you may be able to purchase a tester-size can of paint, which typically cost $3 to $6 for about 5 ounces. That's enough paint to cover about 10 square feet.

Artful Chairs

Put your touch on off-the-shelf furniture by transferring any favorite image -- a photograph, a bit of a painting, or even a fabric pattern -- to the plain surface. Scan the image into the computer and print it on transfer paper, which you can buy online and from office supply and crafts stores (about $20 for a package of ten 8x10-inch sheets). Follow the package instructions to transfer the image. These bent-wood chairs have the perfect smooth surface for such a project.

DIY Tip: Be sure to purchase the right kind of transfer paper for your particular ink-jet or laser printer.

Memorable Memo Board

Paint your way to better organization, thanks to innovations in magnetic sprays and colorful chalkboard hues. Look for a salvaged window frame in thrift stores, salvage yards, or building-products resale stores. Replace any broken or missing panes, then mask off each piece of glass. Spray three times with magnetic paint, letting each coat dry thoroughly. Apply the chalkboard paint using a small foam brush with a tapered tip.

Super Bowl

For virtually no cost at all, you can mold an attractive centerpiece. Employ the simple technique of papier-mache, which involves dipping strips of paper into a solution of equal parts white glue and water. Turn over a mixing bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Tear strips of paper: Book pages, magazines, sheet music, wrapping paper, or wallpaper will work, but here, the artistic look comes from copies of blueprints placed facedown with a layer of patterned scrapbook paper laid right side up. Apply at least three layers of paper to develop a sturdy vessel; let dry. Remove plastic wrap and bowl, and, if necessary, smooth any rough edges with fine-grit sandpaper.

Table Trimming

Embellish an accent table with decorative trim made from old-fashioned wooden clothespins. Arrange them around the table edge, using a dab of wood glue and a pneumatic pin nailer to attach them (these cost about $100 to buy and $20 to rent for a half-day). When dry, spray the table with primer and paint.

DIY Tip: For a level line of clothespins, slide a scrap of 1/2-inch-thick board around the tabletop, lining up the clothespins with the top of the board as you work.

Save Your Seat

Give a staid or stained chair a cheeky new outlook. Start with a fresh coat of bright paint for the frame. Then remove the seat and replace the fabric with a neutral pattern, stapling it in place on the underside. Space several widths of grosgrain ribbon across the seat, stapling them along one underside edge; lay several ribbons crosswise across the seat, stapling them on one underside edge as well. Weave the criss-crossing ribbons together, using dots of fabric glue to hold intersections together. When you reach the opposite sides, wrap the ribbons to the bottom and staple in place.

Tea Cozy

Dress your windows quickly and smartly with tea towels turned into caf� curtains. Simply clip drapery rings to the top edges of the towels; thread the rings onto a curtain rod. You'll want the curtains to hang down to the windowsill, so mount the rod accordingly. If you have a double-hung window, position the rod so the top edge of the curtain lines up with the sash.

DIY Tip: If necessary, trim the towels to length and hem using a sewing machine -- or iron-on fusible webbing for a no-sew option.

Frosty Glasses

Boost the sophistication of a set of clear glass vases by adding subtle stripes. To get the etched look without messing with caustic etching cream, mask off stripes of different widths using painter's tape, then spray with paint that mimics the look of frosted glass.

DIY Tip: The more coats of frosted-glass paint you apply, the more opaque and noticeable the stripes. We applied two coats to our vases.

Flying Objects

With this clever idea, you can showcase an artful mobile without the gallery price tag. Form orb shapes using the inner rings of different-size embroidery hoops. Hot-glue them together at one central point and hang from a loop of twine or ribbon. Or, so they appear to dangle mysteriously in midair, use clear monofilament fishing line.

Stick 'em Ups

Vinyl wall decals come in an array of patterns and motifs. From big-box stores to niche online sites, there are plenty of places to find designs that tickle your fancy, and they can cost just a few dollars apiece. Order them in black so they pop against a mod neon wall color. When you get bored with the look, peel them off and pick something new.

Mood Light

Create a chic, mid-century pendant fixture using just string and a balloon. Purchase a 35-inch balloon from a party goods store, and blow it up to about 30 inches. Brush it with a thick coat of fabric stiffener, which you can find at fabrics and crafts stores. Wrap the balloon with white crochet string, brushing on more stiffener as you work to ensure a thick coating. Let dry for 24 hours, then pop the balloon.

DIY Steps: Illuminate the shade using an inexpensive light kit for hanging lanterns. First, tie a knot in the cord about 7 inches from the bulb. Thread the plug end through a slit in the center of a plastic butter-tub lid. Using kitchen shears, cut a hole in the top of the globe slightly smaller in diameter than the butter-tub lid. Insert the bulb and lid in the globe. Hang the cord from a hook in the ceiling.

On the Block

Raid the scrap bins at the local lumberyard or home center to salvage free material for these handy little coasters. Cut one 4x4-inch wood block down to different segments using a handsaw and a miter block to ensure straight cuts. Sand the edges and corners smooth, and apply a coat of natural wood stain and sealer (starting at $15 for a quart) to show off the grain.

DIY Tip: Stick felt pads or cabinet bumpers in each corner on the bottom.

Hook Ups

Boost the decorative appeal of plain garment hooks. Cut two lengths of a 1x4 piece of wood, and sand them smooth. Trace them onto a piece of flexible, 24-gauge sheet metal. Then use compound snips or old scissors to cut the metal just inside the lines. Glue the metal pieces to the wood blocks, and use the sandpaper to rough up the surface. Mount the hooks to the wall, screwing through the wood blocks.

DIY Tip: Use longer screws than those that come with the hooks to accommodate the depth of the wood block.

Sitting Pretty

Customize an off-the-shelf pillow with a design of your own making. For this chevron pattern, cut the zigzag out of cardboard, and use it as a guide to trace on the pillow with a white fabric marker. Then fill in the outline with white fabric paint.

Original Art

Stick your way to bold and colorful artwork that will brighten your walls. Purchase or reuse a large picture frame, and cut a piece of foam-core board to fit inside. Wrap different colors and widths of tape, including duct, electrical, and painter's tape around the board, leaving spaces to create white stripes. Frame the foam-core board and hang.

DIY Tip: Electrical tape shrinks, so cut the pieces longer than you need.

Make Arrangements

Think beyond a flat arrangement of wall art to create an arresting 3-D display. Start by hanging a slender shelf or demilune table. Then paint a color block or decorative outline, such as this ribbon design, on the wall above it to give it sizeable presence. Hang a small mirror to reflect an array of pretty collectibles or a vase of fresh flowers.

Budget-Friendly DIY Projects

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