You’ve heard the rules to frugal living?
Use it up. Wear it out. Make do. Or do without.
Making do is my favorite of these because I get to be creative. I get to take something that I otherwise don’t have a use for or no longer need and make it useful for something else. I fulfill a need in my home and don’t need to go shopping to do it.
A few examples from around my home:
Kitchen cart turned built-in shelving.
More details on the kitchen makeover here. Since we bought our cabinetry on ebay, we had to make do with what came in the set. That meant that next to my stove to the right was a big blank opening because there wasn’t another base cabinet to use. We toyed with lots of ideas from a small closet to building a cabinet to buying another base cabinet. In the end, I snagged a metal kitchen cart at a yard sale one day for $10. After living with it all over the kitchen, I was still going crazy. I needed countertop to work with while cooking at the stove.
Hubby built that cart right in by putting a top on it then putting black granite tile to match the other granite in the kitchen (that we also snagged on ebay for a great deal). It’s one of my major house triumphs. By thinking outside the box, we fulfilled a need with something already right in our home. I get my pots and pans right where I need them next to where I cook and I got another surface for preparing food.
Kitchen cabinet turned book nook
More details on this project when I first did it here kitchen cabinet turned book nook. As you can see, where our kitchen cabinetry was lacking in base cabinets, we had an extra upper cabinet. Instead of trying to sell a lone cabinet, I took the door off, turned it on it’s side, threw some pillows on top and my daughter has a sitting area and book shelf all in one in her room.
Stool turned nightstand. More info here Making Do: Nightstand
I love how simple this one was. No project required. Just using something meant for one thing and making it totally practical and useful for something else.
I love how using something from around the house is simple, frugal, practical, resourceful, and creatively fun.
If you are new to the series, you can find the first 14 posts of my 31 Days series here. For more about the 31 Days series and the other participants, you’ll find that here.
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We used bar stools as nightstands, too! My favorite part of my job is showing people how to repurpose things they already own!
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great post and I love this series. I love the nightstand. I went to a free PB decorating class a few weeks back. During the class they were highlighting how to use some of their pieces, one being a table that…surprise…looked just like a stool. After the class I was talking to one of the designers who suggested the table/stool to me, with a hefty price tag, which I wasn’t able to afford…I went to the “free” class for ideas. I passed on the stool, came home and found a perfectly good one in my basement not being used. Although my husband thought I was a little nuts at first (until I showed him the one in the PB catalogue) we love our new “table” which sits next to my comfy chair and I was able to place a reading lamp there (and get rid of the ugly floor lamp)and still have a place for a mug or glass while getting cozy. Best part of it is the stool was the “haircut” chair when my husband was a child so it has some memories and history with it.
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Emily Reply:
October 15th, 2010 at 9:39 am
My favorite part of that is that there is a history and a story in your item. Leave it to PB to have a way overpriced stool to go along with their free class.
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Great ideas. I enjoy moving things around in our home to make it feel ‘new’ and finding inexpensive/free/creative ways of meeting needs in the home.
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Love this! It’s amazing how we can use what we already own if we don’t give ourselves the option of running out to the store every time we think we need something.
-FringeGirl
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You are the best at making do!! Love that about you!! And you always do it beautifully too!
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Making do is what I do on a daily basis with a few tweaks here and there. I always thought I wanted a disposable income but truth be told, I am far more creative with less and recieve more in return. Great ideas.
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[...] another fellow 31 Dayer is on a ROLL two of my favorite posts: Better Than Yesterday and Making Due. And basically every other post she’s ever written. I love her [...]
very nice solution. I’m in the process of re-doing several rooms in my house and keep finding things to work in different places. Very satisfying, isn’t it?
just curious though, are those all LeCrueset dutch ovens and how many do you have?
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Emily Reply:
October 16th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Yes, I have a few le creuset dutch ovens. we just call them pots around here!
They were my moms and are at least 20 years old and I love them.
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i have many “make-do” items and spaces in my home. stacked suitcases serve as home school, dress up, dvd, and toy storage. a pantry became a linen closet, a linen closet became a school closet. a sliding glass window becomes a school board when a dry erase marker is taken to it. i think there is something so satisfying in finding the everyday and “making-do” with it; clothespins to close opened bags, old jars to hold left rice, pasta, peanuts… i could go on and on.
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Is that stool from Target several years back? I think I have the same one. Right now it is a printer stand next to my desk! Kelly
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