5 Tips for Decorating on a Budget (and a book sale!)

When we arrived in Leverkusen about 6 months ago, we only had our suitcases to fill the empty apartment with. There were white walls and 2 working light fixtures. Let's just say we had candle-lit dinners for the first couple of months. We were also both unemployed at the time, so money was pretty tight (and still is). But, we still wanted to turn our first home away from home into a place that would feel cozy and welcoming. Moving to a new environment is stressful to say the least. We needed out little nest to feel like a true home.

Six months in, we're still not even near having this place "done", but there's already so much I've learned about decorating on a budget. Above all else, I've learned that it's a process, and that there really are a lot of ways to save money when you're smart about it. It's definitely not the fastest way to a finished home, but I'm sure we will appreciate the outcome all the more.

The only decor item I just had to take with me from Estonia are the DIY wooden letters we used in our wedding decor. 

Here are 5 ways I've found to build our home on a budget:

 1. Ask around. People have stuff they don't need anymore, so ask around, and you might be surprised what you can get. We've had so much help from friends and complete strangers. When Rein first arrived, a friend of a friend gave us a ton of stuff she didn't need anymore. This stuff became the backbone of our new home. We had pots to cook in, plates to eat off of, and a couch to sit on. At the time, that was huge.

2. Thrift. Go to flea markets or look at your equivalent of a Graig's List. For the first month, the E-bay Kleinanzeigen was the first site I opened in the morning, and the last one I closed at night. As a result, we found a closet and our kitchen table for an amazing price. You can find just slightly used things at great prices this way.
Also, in Germany, people put there unwanted furniture on the street at certain dates, and anyone can take what they want. I don't know if there's anything similar to that in your country, but here, it's worth it keep your eyes open. We actually found 2 pieces of furniture just today.

 3. Prioritize. As sad as it is, you can't have it all - at least not at once. We still don't have a bed for example because for us, having a place to hang our clothes, a place to sit down and eat, and a corner for me to craft in were more important. We're still on the look-out for the perfect bed with the perfect price, but it doesn't need to happen today.
At the beginning, I was so excited to decorate the whole apartment in full as soon as possible. But, as time went by, I realized that was pretty unrealistic. At least on our budget. So, we discussed it and made a mental list of things we would need and prioritized it. Of course, sometimes we find things that are further down the line, but we only get them if they are either free or super affordable. Having a list in place has really helped us make smart money decisions.

4. Do it yourself. You knew I couldn't leave that out, now could I? DIY is my lifestyle! I love adding handmade touches to my wardrobe and my home. The good thing is, you can find DIYs that are really low-budget, and even use upcycled materials. My own struggle with finding budget-friendly DIY ideas was what led me to create my e-book in the first place (insert shameless self-promotion). There's a lot that you can do with the materials you have at hand. Also, DIY is a great way to add those small decor items to your home that add to the cozy and pretty factor, but that you could otherwise not justify buying given your budget.
Here's a list of DIY projects you can spot in this post:
DIY sewing table
Restyled magazine folders
DIY wooden letters
Restyled couch
Upcycled flower vases
And a couple from the book as well: a felt coffee cozy, restyled table mats, geometric coasters, restyled memory boards.

5. Have a plan and patience. Decorating on a budget is not a sprint. It's a marathon. You need to have a plan in place, because otherwise you'll just end up buying random things and in the end, your home will also look random. Rather than going for the instant gratification of buying something that's ok now, have the patience to look for the one that you'll love for years to come. When we started, I said to myself that I was only going to buy stuff that we both loved. Sure, we'll have to make compromises along the way, but I still want this home to be a place we both love to spend time in.

I hope this was helpful and inspiring to those of you trying to decorate a home on a budget. I'm cheering you on! And I can't wait to share our home with you, hopefully in the near future.

To give you even more inspiration and ideas, I'm having a 20% off sale for my crafty e-book "Hanna's Little Book of Nesting" all throughout the weekend. You'll be able to snag it for just 7.90$!
Get your book here!

Happy weekend!
xo. Hanna

Restyled Coat Rack

 Ever since I finished the e-book I've been inspired to make even more progress our our apartment. We're still missing a lot of furniture, but it's slowly coming together. I decided it's so much easier to focus on a smaller space - maybe just a corner of a room -  or a specific practical need we have and check that off the list, instead of going for a finished room, which still seems lightyears away. Decorating even a small apartment like ours takes time, especially when you start from scratch. You make progress where you can, right?

I found this simple coat rack in out local supermarket while shopping for supplies for the e-book. It was only 1€, so of course I crabbed it straight away. I thought it would make a cute piece for out entryway. We store most of out outerwear on a bigger clothes rack, but we needed a smaller one to hang our everyday wear and keys.

Since our bedroom and living room are very black and white, I thought I'd make the entryway a bit more colorful. I thought about painting the knobs all different color at first, but I was worried it might rub off with all the hanging. Here's what I did instead:

Supplies used:

1) coat rack

2) masking tape or regular tape

3) screw driver

4) paint (I used wall paint samples)

5) paint brush or foam brush

6) screw hooks

7) gold marker

 First, I unscrewed the knobs to make painting easier. You can paint it with the knobs on, but I think it's a pain in the ass to cover up all those knobs. So, this was easier for me.

I went for a very random geometric pattern. Nothing measured or centered. Just started taping away. In hindsight, a narrower tape would have been better for this, but that's what I had at hand. I always try to use what I have. Plus, I'm lazy, so I hate running to the store for every little project.  

 Then, I painted the sections alternating between the 2 colors. I did two coats of paint. I also tested if there would be any difference between a regular bristled brush and a foam brush, but I didn't notice any major difference in smoothness or coverage. 

After I let the paint dry I removed the tape, and saw that there was a considerable amount of bleed-through. So, the marker was not the initial plan, but I needed to clean off the edges. Masking tape doesn't adhere to wood that well, so maybe using a regular tape might result in cleaner lines.

Another little project crossed off the list. I think I might have to do a IKEA hack e-book to get this apartment to where I want it to be. Just kidding! I think one decor e-book is enough for know. 

Speaking of e-books, I updated the sales page of the nesting book with a lot of extra info, so if you've been on the fence about getting the book, I suggest checking that out. Plus, I decided it's never too early in business to start paying it forward, so I'm going to donate 50% of all proceeds of the book to a non-profit I care deeply about. You can find all the info here.

Is your home ready, or are you still working on it? What's the most frustrating challenge in decorating for you? For me, it's definitely finding furniture we love and can afford.

xo. Hanna

DIY Paint Dipped Flower Vase

Happy Friday! I hope you've all had a wonderful and productive work-week. Mine has been full of projects for the upcoming e-book. Who knew creating an e-book would be so much work? Oh, so you knew and didn't tell me? That's just plain mean, sistah. Just kidding! It's going to take a little while longer for me to finish the book, but so far so good. I've only got 3 projects to wrap up, and then it's time to do some writing. 

And since I'm all about doing decor projects these days, I thought I'd share a really simple one with you today. I like my projects budget-friendly, so I'm always on the lookout for low cost materials to make pretty things out of. These syrup bottles looked like the perfect beginning for some awesome vases. Ever since I found out a bunch of roses was only 2.99€ at our local supermarket, I've been excited to have more fresh flowers around the house. Sad thing is, we didn't have anywhere to but them really. 

 I like having things in threes, so I knew I wanted to make 3 of these in different but coordinating colors. I also wanted to try out a paint dipped effect, without actually dipping them in a paint bucket. Here's how I did it:

You will need:

• glass bottles
• painter's/masking tape
• decor paint or spray paint  ( I used both: spray paint for the copper one, and wall paint for the other 2)
• foam brush

1. Tape off the upper part of the vase. To get the paint dipped effect, place the tape diagonally down on one side of the bottle, and then diagonally back up on the other side. Make sure that the beginning and end of the tape meet.

For the cleanest paint line, go over the edge of your tape and make sure it's nice and tight around the bottle. 

When using spray paint, tape off all of the top of the bottle, but when applying paint with a brush of some sort, the one round of tape is enough.  

2. Paint the lower half of the bottle. I did 3 thick coats of paint so the surface would looks smooth and fully covered.

Let dry and you're done!

Note: Do not wash these in the dishwasher. Only hand-wash, without rubbing the paint, to keep your vases looking pretty for a long time.

I love adding little handmade touches to our apartment. Makes me feel so much more at home. My weekend will be spent finishing up the last projects for the book, and maybe baking a chocolate cake for hubby. We'll see!

How about you? What are you up to this weekend? Have any creative plans? What ever you do, have a great one!

xo. Hanna 

DIY Geometric Pendant Light Fixture

Happy Friday, friends! So, I know you're looking forward to some creative time this weekend, so I thought I'd share something to get your ideas flowing. This is a project I've had on my mind for a while. Well, ever since we moved into our Leverkusen home. We had no light fixture (or light for that matter) in the kitchen for the first couple of months. Then, we bought a simple light bulb on a wire from IKEA, and that's been it for the past 2 months. So, needless to say, it was time to finally finish this part of our kitchen. 

I know I say this a lot, but this is the best project ever. I mean, it just looks so cool, I didn't even expect it to look so good, but it does. And I love it! Apparently, I'm really into geometry these days, as my hubby pointed out. I've been browsing geometric pendant lights on Pinterest, and ran into a couple of Himmeli wreath projects that gave me the idea to use the straw technique for this project. It worked like a charm (well, after some tweaking). 

 This is what you need:

• Cocktail straws (mine were wide, and 13cm long)
• Crafting wire
• Wire cutter (or you could use your scissors for the wire cutting, if possible)
• Scissors
• Thick felt
• Glue (for mounting the fixture)

First, prep your materials. You'll need 18 long straws, 12 half straws, and 12 quarter straws. Be as precise as possible with the cutting, as it does affect the end result a little. My first fixture kept getting a little tilted, so I made another one, and made sure to cut the straws all exactly the same length, and I think it helped, cause the second one is much straighter. It does still need some bending and straightening once it's done, but we'll get to that part.

The process is way harder to put into words, than it actually is to do, but I've tried to make it as clear as possible. So, in the pictures you see a lot of colors. In every photo, the straws added in that step are black, and each preceding step has it's own color, so you can get a better idea where you are at. Later, I only highlight the parts that are relevant to the step at hand. But, note that the color for that particular set of straws is always the same for easy reference once we get to the second story.

Cut a long piece of wire. I found that 3m was an ok length to work with, longer than that, and it starts to get tangled. Whenever you run out of wire, just wrap it around the corner you end at a couple of times and leave a tail. Then cut another piece of wire and attach it to the corner where you have to continue adding straws. When you're done, just tuck the wire endings to a nearby straw to hide them.

1. Add 3 long and 1 half straw onto the wire and connect them into a rectangle. 

2. Add 1 half and 2 long straws, and connect up to the orange rectangle.

3. Add 1long, 1 half, 1 long straw and connect to the next corner of the orange element. 

4. Add 2 long, 1 half straw and connect down to the next corner of the orange element.

5. Feed the wire back through the short straw of the last added element (blue).

6. Add 1 half, 2 long straws and connect up to the next corner of the previous (blue) element. Then, add 1 long, 1 half, 1 long straw (yellow) and connect to down to the next corner of the element just added (red).

 7. Almost done with the first round. Add 2 long and 1 half straw, and connect down to the corner of the red element.
8. Feed the wire back through the half straw of the last added element (purple). Add 1 half straw and connect to the green element, forming a hexagon.
9. Feed the wire up through the green elements long straw. Add a long straw, and connect to the purple element, creating the upper hexagon.
10. Add 1 long, 1 half, 1 long straw, and connect down to the mustard yellow straw. Feed the wire up through the just added element.
11. Add 1 half straw, and connect to the next rectangle (marked with light pink).
12. Add 3 quarter straws, and connect down to the next corner of the light pink element.
13. Repeat steps 11-12 twice with the next elements, so that you'll have 3 levels of connected hexagons. By this time you probably already no system. feed the wire up through the last-added quarter straw, add a quarter straw and connect to the next little rectangle, feed the wire through the upper quarter straw of that element, add another quarter straw and connect with the next little rectangle until the fourth hexagon is formed. Secure the end of the wire by wrapping it a couple of time, cut and feed the tail into a nearby straw.
14. Hide all the wire ends.

What you'll probably notice now is that the finished pendant doesn't look that pretty, it sort of lopsided and the straw ends are a mess. So, you product right now looks like the one on the left above, yet, you want to make it look like the one on the right. Believe me, I was pretty frustrated at first, since all the DIY versions of Himmeli wreaths and similar geometric pendants looked so much better than mine. But, I figured out a solution.

All you need is to cut some Tetris pieces out of felt. Cut a 2x2cm piece of felt into a cross, and then replicate another 11 of them. So, all in all 12 crosses. Then cut another cross, but cut one side off, so it's more of a T. Make a total of 12 of those as well.

The way this works, is that you need to feed the ends of the crosses into the straws at each joining point. Use the cross where 4 straws meet, and the T where 3 straws meet. Makes sense, right! After you've done them all, I promise you will see a huge improvement. What this also does, is hide all the visible wiring. When you look at it from afar, it seems like it's one continues fixture.

Now, the fixture might still be a little crooked, so place it on a table, and bend it which-ever way needed to align the sides of the 4 hexagons, and make sure they are level, until your happy with the result. 

For the wiring of the light, we use the cheap IKEA light sockets. My pendant came out just a tad too wide at the top, so it wouldn't stay on the wide plastic above the light bulb (I have no idea what that part is called). So, I found a metal ring from another light fixture we have in the basement, and glued it to it, and placed that one between the two parts I can't name. if your light  has a wider placement thingy, you might be able to just take that off, place the pendant, at put it back on as a stopper of sorts. Ok, I hope this whole paragraph make at least some sense to someone.

I'm super proud of our new kitchen light fixture. It's awesome! Seriously, it looks like something from a high-end modern design store, yet the whole pendant light (with the wiring) cost me around 7€. Win!

This project seriously got my creative wheels spinning. I started to come up with more and more ideas to make for our home. Something I thought about was how there are so many tutorials of DIY home decor out there, but how a lot of them use materials I just don't have access to, or that are so expensive, that I can't make them on my budget. So, I was determined to come up with project that could all be made with very common materials, which would be free or cost very little, and make awesome decor out of them. Boom! An e-book idea was formed. So, for the whole week I've been in creative overdrive, sourcing materials (which also meant going through our garbage bin), and making projects. I'm so excited to get this e-book ready and out into the world. 

I'm hoping to be done by the end of next week. The e-book will contain 10 projects, plus extra tips and ideas for altering the projects. And the cost will be around 5-8€. What do you think? Are you as excited about it as me?

Also, I'm sending my lovelist (aka the mailing list) one of the tutorials for free. So, if you haven't signed up yet, you might want to (fill in the form in the sidebar, or click on the tab below). (Or, you might not, that's ok, too. We're still friends.)

Creative10 No.2 // Customized Watercolor Wall Art (for sale!)

Creative10 is a 10-week long personal challenge to enhance my creativity through a different medium. I chose painting because it's something I haven't tried before and it challenges me to open up creatively, and find new ways to express myself. It's also a form of creative therapy to help me get more in contact with my emotions and thoughts. 

As I wrote yesterday, last week was such a good one for me both creatively and personally, so I was really in the mood for pretty colors and creating something that would express this happiness, gratitude and love I was feeling. As you probably noticed, today's art has no quote. Well, I thought about it, and decided that I will paint/create whatever I feel like in that moment, and not a preplanned project. Otherwise, it beats the purpose of this challenge.

This weeks art was inspired by something I've thought a lot about lately. Ant that is how grateful I am for my marriage. My husband is truly one of the best people I know, and I know I can always count on him. He listens, he supports, he hugs me when I need it, and pushes me when I won't do it myself. I really wanted to make this project about us. And, after making the Valentine's round-up and seeing all the pretty Valentine's themed project around the web, this image got stuck in my mind.

It came out even better than I anticipated. I mean, I'm no artist, and I can't really rely on my artistic talents to turn a vision into reality. But, I truly love this project. Somehow, it's very me. I'm especially happy about it, since it's the first project I've even painted in my life that I can't wait to hang on our wall.

Since I loved this art project so much, I thought that maybe you would, too. So, I made 10 blank ones for sale. These are all original watercolor paintings, so they vary slightly - some of them have more blurred color and others have more distinct splatter. They're painted on watercolor paper measuring 21x30cm (standard A4). I will add custom initials to each painting, and sign and number them.

The pricing for these was really hard for me since I'm not an artist and I've never sold art before, so I came up with this solution. The price is 6€/7$ +shipping (1.45€ within Germany, 3.45€ internationally). They will be sent out in carton mailers to prevent pending.

To order, please send me an e-mail to hanna@pearlsandscissors.com with the initials you'd like painted inside the heart and your Paypal e-mail address. I will send you a Paypal invoice with the shipping added shortly. If you don't have a Paypal account, we can make other arrangements.

There are only 10 of these for sale, so I'll post an update here once they're gone.

Update: Only a few left!

Thanks for reading!
xo. Hanna

Sewn // Dots and Stripes Bedding

If you could see the grin on my face every time I walk into our bedroom and see this bedding. I seriously think this might be one of my favorite sewing projects ever. Like for realz! It's even better than I imagined in my mind. And that's saying something (cause things always look amazing in my head, and rarely do so in real life).

Some of you might have seen a little peak at this project in my Instagram feed a few days ago. It's one of the ideas I specifically brought fabric for when I moved here. I wasn't even sure I'd have enough, but I was so set on sewing us a black and white modern bedding set I was determined to make it work.

These fabrics are both vintage and I love them. These have waited for just the right idea, as it usually is with me. The more I love a fabric, the longer it usually sits on the shelf, because I'm just so worried about using it on the wrong project, and later regretting it. I was thinking of making clutches or skirt from the dotted one, but I'm so glad I decided not to.

There was just enough fabric to make the upper side of the blanket cover, and the pillow covers. I used white cotton for the bottom side of the blanket cover. As you can see, I had to assemble the dotted part from 3 fabric pieces because I didn't have enough yardage. And the third pillowcase for Rein's second pillow is made of all the scraps I had left. The very last little square of dotted fabric became a small table-runner for our kitchen table. And then, there was not a scrap of fabric left.

I'm so excited about our new bedding. Although our bedroom decor consists of a mattress on the floor and a closet, it's still shaping up in the direction I envision. As soon as we have some money to spend, I'm going to do a couple of painting projects in that room. The bed is probably one of the last things on my list. Although, if anyone in the Leverkusen area has a 140x200 bed they're not using and would part with for a little cash, be sure to contact me :).

I'm slowly getting back into a creative groove, and I'm loving it!

Sewing anything right now?

xo. Hanna

DIY Big Wooden Letters

Happy Friday, my friends! We've been making a lot of progress on decorating our new home this week, so it's only appropriate that I share this home decor DIY with you today. These letters are a very special piece of decor for us, because we originally made them for our wedding last summer. They are the perfect reminder of our perfect day.

Photo by Kerli Halliste

From the early planning stages, I knew I wanted to do our names in wooden letters as a decor element in our wedding, and they had to be golden of course. What I didn't consider, was the fact that we'd be hanging them on wood plank wall. Which is what color? And golden is basically what color? So you can imagine how that looked. You could hardly spot the letters on the wall when we hung them a couple days before the wedding. Yes, I was a "little" frustrated.

We had two options: we could either take them down and repaint them in a different color (probably navy) or paint a white boarder on them to make them stand out against the beige wall. We opted for the latter, since neither of us could really imagine navy blue letters on that wall. I spent the next 3 hours painting the letters with some left-over white paint and a random brush we could find. Did I mention this was late at night, just a little over 24 hours before the big day. But, alas, we made it and the letters looked half-decent, so I was fine with it. Until...

 ...moving to Germany. I knew I wanted to take our initials and the ampersand with me. After all, we'd put so much effort into these letters, and I loved them. And, I really wanted to have something in our new home that reminded us of our wedding day. So, I sanded the paint down, and repainted the letters back to golden. Ahh...sigh of relief. Much better this way.

Here's what you need:

• Printed letter posters
• X-acto knife or scissors
• Pencil
• Plywood
• Jigsaw
• A chisel and hammer
• Sanding paper
• Spray paint

1. The first thing you need to do, is make some letter posters. I created mine using Photoshop. Basically, created a new file the size of a A2 paper and then fitted the capital letters on that. Once I knew the size of the capital letters, I created a new file for each letter making sure they were all the same size. You could alternatively do this in Word and let the printer print it out on an A2 size.

The most difficult task at this point was choosing a font. Oh boy, me and fonts...

Order the cheapest prints of all the letters. The quality isn't all that important here.

 2. Next, cut out all the letters and trace them onto the plywood with pencil.

 3. Cut out all the letters with the jigsaw. Rein used a chisel and a hammer to punch a hole for the saw to go through inside the letters. After cutting, sand the edges with a fine sanding paper.
4. Finally, spray-paint the letters in your desired color. Do as many coats as needed for full coverage. Let dry. Hang on your wall or wherever you'd like. Enjoy!

These letters are my favorite part of the decor in our apartment. I'm not sure these will stay where they are right now, but I would love them anywhere. I can't wait for this apartment to be done, but I know we still have a long way to go.

What kind of decor projects are you working on?

xo. Hanna