ALWAYS Check The Clearance Shelf!

It turns out summer is a lot more about doing our projects than blogging about them. I had a sneaky suspicious this would be the case but didn't know how extreme it would be...2 months since posting last...so sad. 

Our most recent thrifty find made me immediately want to blog it however. 

Checking the clearance shelf at Menards is my number one rule when I do any type of painting. I'm slowly convincing my husband of the treasure that can be found on those 3 shelves in the back corner of the store. It's a matter of being flexible and approaching a project with an "only if I happen to find the right paint" attitude. It is the epitome of one man's junk is another man's treasure. Someone doesn't like the greigh paint she had mixed? It will be perfect for my spare bedroom which I didn't want to paint if I had to spend $35 to do so. (This actually did happen and I liked the other ladys reject so much I ended up buying another gallon to use in our bathroom and behind our built ins!) 

Without further ado, because you need to go to Menards, i will nowI reveal WHY this clearance rack is so exciting.

 A gallon of paint typically costs at least $25. The good stuff that won't drip or take three coats (don't ask how we know) is at least ten dollars more.  Any gallon of paint on the reject rack (sometimes REALLY good paints) is $5. Yes. FIVE dollars. The 2 gallon premium outdoor paint i found when we were painting our barn last summer was $10. 

And, the reason for breaking my blogging silence, the 5 gallon jug of outdoor stain WITH a sealant was $15. We are using it for the new barn doors to contrast the white steel siding. We didn't get to pick the color but I look at it as the color picked us. Any thoughts that I had about wanting a shade darker flew away when I scouted out how much that darker shade would cost. See below. 

Yes, that price on sale says $124.99. NOT on sale, it would be $159.99. Can you believe it? 

So. Please. Check out the clearance paint before your next project. (Or if you want to start a project because, trust me, it works that way too.) Tell everyone about it and where you learned the secret.  Just don't take the colors i want. 

Easy Closet Makeover

When we were first married, we lived with Rob's grandparents in the upstairs of their farmhouse. I think the entire family would agree that one of of the worst features of their house is the lack of an entryway. The door opens right into the "one-butt" kitchen (as its 92 year old owner is fond of saying). There is no room for shoes, coats, or any other item it may be nice to have handy.

So, when we bought our house, I was pretty excited about the mudroom and to not to have to store all outerwear and my shoe collection (quite large because I buy almost all at $10 or less...) in the bedroom closet or somewhere equally inconvenient. I thought it was serving us pretty well until this past fall when I pulled out all our winter gear and started the annual purging/reorganizing. To make things easier, I had the curtains down. I began to realize how they were kind of a nuisance, though, admittedly not as bad as the dumb sliding closet doors I removed the first weekend we were here. (The whole idea of those doors is so silly. Half of the closet is always hidden!) Obviously doors, and curtains, hide messiness though so I needed a plan. With so many different surfaces, I decided it just might work to paint it all black. So I did.

I learned painting with black paint is harder than it seems. Painting closet shelves and rods is hard too. It was definitely worth it though! The collection of old wooden crates helps too of course. :-) I'm pretty much in love with the little tags I created after not being able to find any kind of free printable that was just right.

One of My Favorite Things

Wow, the days just fly by. I can tell already that the best approach for our new blog is not a weekly post. Maybe it'll go in spurts, although that is against every suggestion on how to run a blog. :-) With the weather finally acting somewhat nicely here in MN, we've been outside. Sorry my pretty little blog.

Now I made time to decompress a little bit...LONG day at school!

It makes me so happy to share with you something I made awhile ago but still love just as much! (Which is good because it took me at LEAST 3 days to make. This will not be the first time I mention how much I love iWorks Pages software. Fancy graphic design, the thrifty way!) It was and still is a wonderful and useful piece of decor in the kitchen. It's a measurement reference chart! We use it at least once per recipe! I decided this should be the next post because I just visited a friend's new house and saw the one I gave her hanging in her beautiful kitchen! That was fun! I will post the PDF (as soon as I figure that out) so you can hang it in your kitchen too!

Have a great night!

Click here to print your own! 

(Then go get it laminated at an office supply store with nice, thick film. It'll cost about $2.00)

The Kitchen Project. (The Inspiration for the Blog.)

What happens when you start a blog and have three or four years of projects you want to share with the world? Start with the best project naturally. In this case, it's our kitchen. Aside from putting new siding on our barn, definitely the biggest project to date. Hugely satisfied though.

(Note: Of course we think all of our projects are cool or we wouldn't do them. So, in my world, the "Best Project" is a slippery little title. It tends to be assigned to the most recent project to be finished.)

I can't wait for you to see see the (2 year) progression!
We will post individual projects at a later time.

First Visit with Realtor 

Painted Walls and Moved In

Painted Cabinets with Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations

Painted Laminate Backsplash with Chalkboard Paint

Tore Countertops Out

Built Wood Counters Out of Reclaimed Hardwood Floor

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TA-DA!!!!

Found New ($700) Sink on Craigslist for $125!

Put in New Subway Tile Backsplash

Used SEVEN Coats of Polyurethane 

One More Before/After! (With a peek of my REALLY cute rug.)

Welcome!

Hello! 

We are excited about having a more organized way to showcase the fun projects we have been doing around our house. Posting photos to Facebook gets a little messy and probably annoys people who either aren't interested or aren't in the same stage of life as us. Enter..."Pretty Thrifty Couple." We are excited to be able to inspire, delight, and commiserate with anyone who happens to find our blog and is interested in pursuing a house/yard/barn project or two. 

Enjoy!

~The Thrifty Couple