So, if you're anything like me (which I am going to presume you are) you don't like to waste money or resources on "frivolous" things like decorating your rented house.
Even if you aren't, wouldn't it be nice to know how I managed to turn a boring magnolia living room into a teal heaven for less than £10?
Yes, LESS THAN £10.
Of course you do!
Now I won't lie, and I'll be totally honest that when I used to read things like this I used to think "yeah, but who on earth would give away that for free" or "that was just a one off event that comes rarely in my area." And I used to sit about, accepting that because I was short on money, and didn't want to contribute much to the environmental crisis the planet is in (I don't claim to be perfect) that I had to live in a house that does not make me happy and does not feel like home.
It started with a local company giving away paint. That's all. The paint tins were stored incorrectly and had gotten so rusted, the rust was creeping over the label. So they could not sell them. My readers, this company had a BARN FULL of paint. I was in my up-cyling, money-saving element! I came away with all sorts of satin wood, eggshell, matt emulsion and gloss. And they were GOOD brands.
I originally wanted to paint my children's rooms so I had some standard colours that they liked and a few wild cards. One of these wild cards became the colour I based my whole living room around.
We had one tin of a teal Crown Elegance Paint. It was the texture of ice cream and I couldn't wait to get it on the walls! After masking the corners, skirting and ceiling, we double coated the previous wallpaper with two coats of magnolia. Remember, readers, we are renting and did not want to risk removing the paper to find something even worse underneath, or have to spend anything to do improve our home.
We painted the opposite wall in the same colour and touched up the magnolia on both sides. It makes such a difference! I loathe magnolia but with big burst of colour like this, it doesn't look so bad!
I asked my family if they had any old picture frames lying around and they delivered. I mean really, look at my gallery! I had all of my photos printed from Free Prints - an app that gives you free prints every month, you just pay for postage. It is seriously such a great thing but be careful you don't end up one of those people who have more photos than you have frames. (ahem - ME)
I visited a charity shop with my mother the following day to find curtains to replace the very uncoordinated red ones we had and found these beauties, tag still on, for £2.99. I forgot my measuring tape but had the measurements with me. Luckily, my mother is exactly 5 foot tall, so I used her to measure them against to ensure they would cover our massive window. Although people had a giggle, I like to think that they were in awe at our ingenuity ;)
I then found six throw pillows (£1 each!) in beige, brown and grey. Always winning colours to match anything.
And that's it! We had tools like rollers from a previous painting project (Poundshop) paintbrushes from a previous project (Poundshop) tape (you guessed it, Poundshop) and nails for the wall (who knows where they came from, they just turn up, amirite?) so if you don't have these, it may cost a little more.