Trash To Treasure: Strike it Rich!

Trash to Treasure

This post is dedicated to my good friend Sarah Z.  She is also an artist, and has an uncanny knack for finding free stuff people have discarded and turned them into treasures for her own home. One thing for certain: I need to hang out with her more often!

This first photo is of a storage hutch that we got free from a friend cleaning out his garage. Sadly, at the time we brought it home, that ugly green actually matched our interior. But since we've gone all grey, we had to do something about that hutch:

We used an oil based Behr paint (no real reason for using oil based, that's just what we had left over from when the fireplace was painted so we used it!) and painted most of it black, leaving the pale wood color for some variation. We also removed the red wooden hardware/knobs and replaced them with brushed nickel instead. But what a difference! And it was free!

Now this will make you jealous. This is Sarah's latest find. Can you believe someone left these two beautiful pieces out by the curbside on bulk trash day?

Unbelievable!  I spoke with Sarah yesterday and she agreed to let me do a blog post on her amazing treasures and also feature the makeovers she's currently doing in her own new house.  She's in the middle of moving right now, so it could be a while but trust me, you won't want to miss that post!  I'm totally excited to share it with you!

Here is another trash to treasure transformation that I found on Pinterest:

I love how she repainted it distressed white and added the black hooks and replaced the glass with mirrors. So clever!

Next Post: My Studio (the BEST room in the house!)  :)

Landscaping vs. Blandscaping: What Sells

Blandscaping

Blandscaping is when you see a house and it has nothing, I mean zero landscaping. Basically, in the spots where landscaping is supposed to be?  Is nothing but dirt, or overgrown with grass and weeds. If there is one thing I hate to see, it's a listing that shows pictures of blandscaping. That is not going to attract anyone!

Landscaping

Landscaping a property that you own and are going to be in for a long time takes time, lots of effort, planning and maintenance. That's not what I am talking about in this article. The focus of this article is to talk about the very simple and inexpensive ways to improve your property with easy, DIY landscaping tricks.

When the property has flower beds, but nothing but dirt in them, invest in a couple of pots of monkey grass and some mulch.  Clean out any debris in and around the bed, including grass and/or weeds, using round up if you need to. Plant the monkey grass strategically so that it looks neat and symmetrical. Then mulch. We are only talking about a couple of dollars here and we're not putting any high maintenance plants in for the new tenants to stress over. You can even put gravel or landscaping stone instead of mulch if it is a really dry climate.

Take this house, for instance. To the right is a raised bed that runs the length of the porch. There is nothing but dirt in it. That's a real shame because it is a focal point when looking at the house from the street. Imagine a row of monkey grass and mulch. So simple, yet it makes the property look less "abandoned."  Speaking of the porch, there are so many cool treatments for cement, I don't even know where to begin. At least a coat of neutral colored paint, like grey. It would look cleaner, and better kept.  Now if this was MY house, I would break out the colors and paint a mandala or a Persian rug onto the concrete, like this:

or like THIS:

Do you see why I am just dying to learn how to flip houses?  I see so much potential in these poor little properties that are just begging to be bought and fixed up!  And the work to me isn't hard. I actually enjoy it.  One day, when I have the capital, I will buy a house and rescue it from a life of misery, bringing it to its full potential and let it bask in its own glorified spectacularness. Ok, that's not a word. But I think you know what I mean. :)

Here is my own back yard before and after. Blandscaping to Landscaping 101:

and my favorite corner:

See how much it adds?  Look at the before pics. So blank and lonely looking. Like no one cares. Then you see the after pics and it's totally happy and inviting! This took more elbow grease than anything. Many of the plants used we already had in other locations, we just moved them around after we extended the flower bed to follow the length of the back fence. We did spend some money on plants for this: 6 rose bushes, 2 hydrangeas, 2 flats of ivy, 4 hostas, 2 elephant ears, a crepe myrtle, some brown eye susans, rose moss and monkey grass, my favorite border plant. And MULCH so much mulch. But it was completely worth it. I actually enjoy going out into my back yard now, whereas before I avoided it. Our next project for the backyard is installing a pergola over the back porch and adding outdoor furniture for entertaining. I will, of course be posting that when we do it!

Next Post: Room Makeovers!