First Project of the New School Year: Chicken Wire Window!

A new year, new projects, same thrifty chic results! As college girls we love taking pictures of our outings and our new friends we make each semester. We are always looking for ways, or getting new cute ideas thrown in our face on Pinterest, to display these pictures. Putting them on Facebook is fun at the time but having them displayed in your apartment means you get to see them everyday, not just when you scroll down your profile. And don't we all what to look at those pictures where we were having fun and dressed cute everyday? We sure do!!
The project idea for this wall in our apartment changed multiple times  but i can not imagine it turning out better than it did. We stated with an old three sectioned window we found buried in an antique store basement for $15. It was already green and already missing the two side panels of glass. Ideas on what to do with this window immediately started to flow, once again thanks to Pinterest.

Pinterest inspiration

 We settled on the chicken wire idea. It seemed like, and was, and cheap and easy way to display multiple pictures on this one window. We chose to add bright colored clothespins from the dollar store to hold the pictures.

Our $25 picture display!

This brings out more color and makes it extremely easy to change out the pictures displayed on there. The chicken wire was purchased from Menards in huge roll form $7. There is a ton left so don't be surprised when more chicken wire projects pop up! The slowest, most patience consuming process of this project was cutting the chicken wire. We simply measured the two side openings and cut out two sections of wire with wire cutters. The new wire however looked way too shiny and new to go with our cool old window so we brainstormed ways to induce age fast.
The resulting idea was very effective and fun for all. The idea of waiting to create real, natural rust seemed way too long for our impatient selves so we decided to burn it. Plus burning it meant there had to be a fire and honestly who doesn't like bonfires? We took our wire, left over project wood, and friends to the beach one night and the results couldn't have been better. The wire lost its shine and has many different shades of brown, gold, and black on it. Once happy with the wire color the wire was added to the back with a staple gun and the sides of the wire trimmed up. Two small screws were added to the sides on the back of the window. Definitely use a drill bit first to prevent splitting your window frame. and then wire was wrapped around the screw creating a nice durable support for the window to hang from. Some string was added to the back of a dollar frame so that can hang from the wire as well. there are many things to hang on there, not just pictures. Flowers, cute magazine clippings, anything that you want!

The end result!

A large picture will be added to the middle glass section but we were too anxious to show all of you that we couldn't wait for it to be printed. Now for the cost run down of this project. The window itself was $15 at an antique store. The Wire was $7 at Menards and has left us with plenty extra. The pictures were printed from Snapfish which gave us our first prints for free besides a $2 shipping fee. The white frame was a dollar from Goodwill. This gives us an overall total of $25! And very minimal work. We couldn't be happier with our $25 photo display.

What can't be a shelf?

There are so many creative and inexpensive ways to make decorative shelving. Before this project my room had four very empty white walls and something needed to be done. First came the idea from Pinterest to hang a shallow create on the wall for shelves. I was able to find my very dark and graying crate at one of our favorite antique stores for $12. The color and size were perfect. Still, something to accompany it on the wall was needed. During one of our many Goodwill hauls I came across a perfect desk chair, more on this later, however in order to transport this in one of our small compact cars two of us needed to stay behind at the store. While me and one of our personal contractors Caleb were waiting we walked around the side of the store. Our Goodwill has an  old railroad yard running right up to the side of the building. This is where we found the huge, thick pieces of railroad wood and the idea to create shelves with them happened. After that it was just purchasing some large 60 cent screws that were long enough to go through the entire shelf and then adding the décor.


The finished under $20 unique décor wall.

 

All of the glass vases on the shelves were from the Salvation Army or Goodwill for a dollar and filled with free stuff collected on the beach. The total cost rundown for this wall, $12 for the crate, The wood was free, four long screws to hold the large shelves $2.40, and roughly $3 in décor items. Complete cost $17.40 and I couldn't be happier with my under $20 wall. It fits in perfectly with the rest of the room and really adds a wonderful uniqueness to it. Much more personality than just adding normal book shelves. 

Is it a crate? A basket? Or a shelf?!

We have a very small bathroom, not uncommon for college apartments, but this space crunch has forced us to get creative with our organization. Once again inspired by Pinterest we set out to find some cute way to add shelving above our toilet. One of those boxed shelving units at Target would just be easy too easy and generic for our taste. Walking downtown armed with Starbucks and one of the first sunny spring days we ran across our new favorite antique store. This place has it all, even sales! Our first day there were made quite a haul, almost more than one of our little compact cars could handle, but we never let car size hold us back. Someone might be riding home wedged between the new gems but we, almost always, make it work. This crate, $4, and wire basket, $8, were finds of this day at our new favorite store. Add a couple of basic nails and bam they become shelves! After looking around the antique store we decided we liked the idea of two different styles of baskets instead of two matching ones like in our inspiration pin. Luckily we were able to find two different ones which were the exact same length and look good next to each other. 

Our $22 bathroom organization

 Not everything you find at thrift stores or antique stores has to be used for it's original purpose in life, think about how it could be used for what you need. Pinterest is great at opening your mind to new creative uses for things. We added a few extras from Hobby Lobby, orange frame, $4 in the 90% of isle, and two covered boxes, $3 each when 50% off. We also stacked our extra toilet in the crate, perfect location and looks cute. These toilet paper rolls were "donated" to our apartment from our dorm building. This whole project cost $22! It's cheap, works great adding the discreet storage and decorative flare our bathroom needed.

Window Makeovers!

Putting up curtains in our kitchen and living room completely changed the entire feel of the apartment downstairs. It feels so cozy now! Our curtains were cheap and an extreme room changer, I highly recommend them. Now instead of looking stark and plain our windows look happy and fun.

Kitchen window before... sad, small, boring. 

We have just this one window in our kitchen, as you can see it started out looking really empty and boring. This just would not do for our apartment, especially not for the first room you walk in to . You have already seen the adorable little whisk candle holders we strung in front of the window, post Whisks: Not Just for Baking, but now we have added curtains and a nice lamp. We went with a bright yellow since we decided to not paint our walls. With all white walls we are really able to go all our on bright accent colors and make it all work. This single yellow curtain panel was ordered from Amazon for $3. And bigger bonus free shipping!! Seriously one of the best tips I'll ever give you is to check out Amazon. It is not just for books. The curtains

The kitchen window now! For a closer detail and
description of the whisks, check out the post
  Whisks: Not Just for Baking.

are pretty sheer, but that is perfect for a kitchen or living room. They add color and style but don't block too much of the natural light that we love. We were able to find a nice silver curtain rod at the one and only Target for another $3. The lamp was also a Target clearance steal at $8. Using our handy power tool kit we were able to put all this stuff up by ourselves and are pretty proud of it!  The curtain hides the cord from the pendant lamp perfectly. This new lamp gives off much better light at night than the standard overhead florescent lights that are in our apartment. For our curtain tie back we actual are using the small little buttoned fabric that was holding together the hand towels we bought. Also from Target, we are aware of our Target clearance addiction and are working on cutting back. But hey, we get great deals and they are paying off by looking fabulous! Total cost rundown for this window makeover: Curtain, Amazon $3. Curtain rod, Target $3. Lamp, Target $8. Tieback, Free! Total cost: $14! Only fourteen dollars for this window makeover, I think it was worth every penny! I love walking into our kitchen now, the curtains give off such a nice warm glow. And the add a much needed pop of color to the room. The kitchen was not the only room to get a window makeover though. We have two windows in our living room that were in dire need of some color and loving attention. They are side by side, but still smaller windows like the one in the kitchen. Instead of doing the same yellow curtains as the kitchen we decided to be bold and go with a bright orange. We ordered the living room curtains from Amazon also.

The sad living room window wall before
the makeover

Peek Inside Our Toolbox

I am a strong believer that every college girl with an apartment should own at least a basic toolbox. Even if you're not into the Do It Yourself projects like Ms. College Chic is, a tool box is always smart  to have and comes in handy many times. Our fashionable toolbox is from Target. A sale purchase of course, we got it for $10 and have used it regularly. Even if you don't plan to do projects, a nice hammer, screwdriver, and tape measure are usually need for standard moving and decorating. So might as well make it a cute one! Our tool box may be pink, but it gets serious work done. Now for the Do It Yourself addicts like us you might need to consider getting a tool box with a little more force behind it. Our down and dirty power tool box has a sander, a drill, which is used for many things, two saws, one which we use for our rope projects, and a big flashlight. This toolbox was a donation to our apartment, thanks Dad, so it wasn't an expense. However I do strongly suggest to get a power drill if you plan on doing projects, it is very handy, and necessary in multiple projects of ours. 

Our fashionable Target toolbox

The serious business toolbox

Whisks: Not Just for Baking

There is one window in our kitchen so of course we have to go all out decorating it. One thing we have found that we love, thanks to Pinterest, is re-purposed kitchen utensils as decor items. There are many cute ideas using this concept that can completed cheap, which makes us like the idea even better!

Our kitchen window's $4 style!

It was a pin that gave us the inspiration to use the simple metal whisks as tea candle holders. It's pretty adorable. We were able to find the whisks at one of our usual dollar stores. We looked at tea candles at our favorite dollar stores as well but this is a good example of a dollar store scam. At our dollar store you can buy ten tea candles for one dollar. At our local Pier 1 store we were able to get one hundred tea candles for five dollars! Don't fall for the dollar store scams! Dollar stores are great for some things, like finding the

The inspiration pin. We instantly loved this idea.

cheap whisks, but not everything. Just because it's at the dollar store does not mean it's the best deal, check around. (More details on our shopping tips under the post Our Favorite Hotspots.) We used some string we already had at the apartment and tied it to the blind bracket on the window. After some careful measuring we knotted our whisks on the string. After they were hanging it was easy to just pop the tea candle through the wires. I love how these look hanging in front of our kitchen window. There will be more on that window later, but the whisks are still my favorite part. Over all project cost, $4! Less than a Subway lunch! I am not counting the cost of the tea candles because it was a bag of one hundred and we already have many other places where those will be used. Just keep reading and you'll see. We're full of great ideas. This is just one more Pinterest decorating pin conquered!

We Can Even Make A Garbage Can Cute

We have a small, soon to be adorable bathroom. Finding a small wastepaper basket was key. Off to the dollar store! There we found a basic, small, flimsy, white garbage can. Well that just wouldn't do in our apartment, far too plain for us. Thanks to Pinterest we love the idea of nautical touches in the bathroom. One of the first things we thought of was thick rope. Well if you look for nice thick rope at a home improvement store you notice that rope is out of our frugal price range. This is why we love thrift stores. We were able to get a huge spool of about 1" diameter rope for $10. Add some time with a hot glue gun and boom this is what you get.

This was a plain dollar store trash can.

There was no lid for the trash can we bought. With a little cardboard, creative thinking, and more hot gluing we now have a perfect, cute, and cheap lid for our bathroom garbage.

The Window Seat Project

Seating, one key thing dorm rooms lack. These last two years in the dorms have taught us to create seating wherever possible. We both loved the idea of a cute window seat in our new living room. There are many pins on Pinterest showing easy, DIY window seats. There were many good ideas, from turning a bookshelf on its side to cider blocks with wood planks, we considered them all. But the easy, even cheaper, answer came to us one evening in Walmart.

Our beautiful thrifty window seat.

The ''bench'' is actually a $25 TV stand. It is the perfect height and we wouldn't want it any longer. The best part about this bench is that we actually got it for $15. The store was out of this bench so we were able to purchase the display, and therefore haggle on price a little bit. There is a small screw chip on the back but for ten bucks we don't care! After that the other pieces really fell into place.

This little chip saved us $10! Worth it? We think so!!

The adorable green basket was $4 at Goodwill. I wasn't lying about cheap, cute baskets, they're out there. All of the small pillows we sewed ourselves. Small squares of fabric can be bought at fabric stores, or in our case Walmart, for a dollar. Also a big bag of stuffing is $8 and lasted for several small pillows like these. In the dorms it was easy to recruit sewing helpers, everyone loves a fun project! Making pillows is much cheaper than buying the store ones. They are also very easy and fast to make. Trust us, make your throw pillows, you'll love them. We also added some fun extras to some like buttons and burlap strips. If you're like us, you will surprise yourself with your own creativity. Lastly the cushion, you can't have a window seat without a nice, comfy cushion. 

Reuse and repurpose anything possible!

We found an old twin mattress cushion at a thrift store for $6. We cut it up and were able to stack four layers of padding out or the one twin mattress pad. Then we sewed the shower curtain we used as a curtain our freshman year to the mattress pad. Shower curtains are not just for the shower. They have many great decorating uses, you just have to be creative. We love the pattern and we didn't have to purchase any fabric this way. Plus there is a ton left over for matching pillows! So the final thrifty run down for our window seat, $15 bench, $4 basket, roughly $8 in pillows, $6 in padding, and finally a free cover. So our final price for our beautiful combo...... $33!! Beat that Pinterest suggestions!

Favorite Hotspots

After thoroughly scoping out our local shops, we have developed our list of favorite places for deals, steals, and splurges. Target. What college girl doesn't love Target? Not only is it a good place for some cheap, cute clothes but decorating items too! Our motto on Target, never buy anything without the red discount sticker. If you wait long enough one is bound to appear on your sought after item, and if not a similar thing will come along soon enough. We have already returned everything we've purchased for full price. Sales are a necessity on a student budget.

Another store we frequent is Hobby Lobby. We both went there for the first time after signing our lease, not knowing exactly what to expect. The store was life changing. A couple of splurges have been purchased here. Every isle seems to have something absolutely adorable and therefore absolutely necessary. Most of the time now we walk around with our purses closed tight and looking for inspiration. A lot of the items here can be done yourself for much cheaper. Keeping that in mind it is easier to keep control of the number of purchases. Our Hobby Lobby tip: Never buy something that isn't 50% off. There is always multiple half off aisles and they simply rotate them. If there is an item that you just have to have, wait for that aisle to go on sale, it will. Also don't forget to check out our favorite 90% off aisle. It really exists and there are some amazing steals that live there. 

Don't forget to check you local Salvation Army, Goodwill, and other thrift stores. We find amazing things at these. Cool glass bottles, pretty mirrors, old scarves (which make great throw pillows--but more on that later), and really cheap baskets. The beauty of a thrift store is that you never know what you are going to find. Don't just look at something as what it is, but what you can make it to be. A little paint, burlap, or DIY coffee stain can go a long way! Never be afraid to completely re-purpose something, that old $6 crate could make a great shelf. 

Dollar stores, it's a love hate relationship. There are two kinds of dollar stores in this world. The real, true dollar stores, where everything is actually a dollar. These are a beautiful thing. Many good steals can be found at the dollar store. The other kind of dollar store, the liar store, is where there are more kinds of items but things are all priced differently. Don't neglect these stores, there are still good deals, but make sure you are never paying more than you have to. This brings me to our dollar store tip, be aware of the scams! There are many things at the dollar store that can be bought cheaper elsewhere. Just because its a dollar does not mean it is actually the best deal. Many things can be cheaper at Walmart. Especially be aware of this at the liar dollar stores. We only want steals not scams. 

Find your local antique stores, there will be the crazy over priced ones and then there will be the ones with fun, cute things us college kids can actually afford. Have a plan for your purchases. Odds are, if you find the right antique store, there is going to be a lot of things you like and want. Know what you can do with it before you buy it. Small college apartments have no room for excess. Some amazing antique stores have been the sight of several splurges for us. 

Other basic tips we've learned:

Never pay too much for a mirror. There are beautiful old mirrors at antique stores for cheap! New mirrors are crazy overpriced in comparison.

Baskets. Do not buy baskets at Target, Walmart, etc. Even if they are on sale they are not on sale compared to thrift stores or antique stores. Huge nice baskets can be $4 at these places, not $30. There are always cheap baskets to be found. 

And finally our best thrifty shopping tip..... Always wait out the sale! Never pay full price in the store, and even if it is on sale, it can always go on a bigger sale. Target marks down the sale items all the time. Wait for the crazy low price. If they are all gone before it gets there then that's money you don't have to spend. A better deal will come along. And its all about the deals right?!  

Project 1: The First of Many

We started small for our first project, which we admit to doing the night before we signed our lease, by trying to copy a key holder found on Pinterest. Once we signed our lease and got our keys we needed a cute place to hang them.

The Inspiration Pin

So we set off to Target! We purchased a discount frame, $6.00, and a pack of plain white screw hooks, $2.99, and created our masterpiece. With just some left over fabric, scissors, and a ruler this was the result.

Since we have used that one pack of white screw hooks in many of our projects the total for this one was just over six dollars. First Pinterest project done and we completely nailed it!

A Blank Canvas

We got the keys to our first two bedroom apartment and immediately turned to Pinterest for decorating inspiration. The main issue in our decorating is our tight college student budgets. We spend a lot of time in dollar stores, thrift shops, and antique stores trying to copy and upstage our Pinterest inspiration.

Always on the hunt for a good deal, and with the occasional splurge, our blank white apartment is starting to take on an adorable, and thrifty, shabby chic style.