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Decorating Tips on a Budget

Woman Doing DIY Projects

Redecorating rooms in your home doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. In fact, it can be easy to stay within a small budget and change the look throughout your home. If you are ready to transform the appearance and feel in your home, take a look at our 6 favorite tips to redecorate on a small budget.

SHOP THRIFTY

Shopping secondhand stores and estate sales can be a gamechanger when you are decorating a home on a small budget. As you are shopping, try to keep an open mind to the potential of each item. Sometimes a coat of paint or new hardware can completely alter a piece of furniture to be the perfect piece for your home.

PAINT

Repainting the walls, trim, or even door is a fast way to dramatically change the appearance and atmosphere in your home. If the cost for paint needed for an entire room exceeds your budget, consider painting an accent wall to create a focal point.

ACCENT IT

Use new throw pillows, small rugs, or new lampshades to create accents to your current furniture and décor. You can also find inexpensive hardware to transform your current cabinets and drawers.

CREATE YOUR OWN

You don’t have to be a professional artist to create beautiful pieces to display around your home. Youtube is filled with tutorials on creating practically any type of art you can think of. With some canvas and paints, you can create a personalized piece of art that will bring you joy in your home—and for a fraction of the price you would pay at a retail store. Plus, it’s fun!

MOVE THINGS AROUND

If you don’t have any room in your budget for redecorating right now, you can simply move items around in your home to change the look. You can take things from other rooms and switch them around. Repurposing items from your own home is an awesome way to change the atmosphere without spending any money.

USE NATURE

Bringing in real plants, flowers, or small trees will give your home a natural feel that can be achieved with a small budget. You can even bring in items from your own yard that will cost you no money. Ask your friends and family if you can have cuttings from their plants to use in or around your home. There are also community plant exchange groups where you often can find people offering plants or cuttings at little to no charge.

Do you have any small budget decorating tips that we missed? Stop by our Facebook page and share with us and our Zippy Shell community. If you are getting ready to move or you need a secure way to store your stuff while you are remodeling or redecorating, we’d love to assist you with a free estimate to help you get started on your next adventure.

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Fresh Curb Appeal Ideas

House at dusk

Many people have transitioned to more of a “work from home” lifestyle. In many cases, this means a much shorter commute that can add hours to your day. So you may finally have the time to freshen up your curb appeal! Of course, now you may be wondering what exactly is curb appeal? It is essentially how appealing your home looks when first viewed from the street, like a first impression. Curb appeal matters if you want to sell your house, if you want to welcome your friends and family, if you want to feel a sense of pride every time you drive up, or if you just don’t want to make the neighbors mad!

Front Door – The entry door is artistically referred to as “The Portal to the Soul of Your House” – sounds important, right? Fix minor imperfections by sanding the area down, filling it with wood filler, and repainting or staining. Speaking of paint, a brightly colored door will definitely turn heads. Check out the inspiration found here to help your front door stand out from the crowd. When you update the front door, don’t neglect the hardware. A new knocker and doorknob in a matching finish will complete the look.

Bold, Vibrant Accents – If a boldly colored front door is not your style, consider adding vibrant accessories like flowers, planters, or door decorations. Welcome signs, welcome mats, and porch furniture are also a great place to incorporate pops of color.

Exterior Illumination – Well planned outdoor lighting is essential to curb appeal. Done right it will set the mood and welcome nighttime guests. Use the right combination of wall sconces, lanterns, step and path lights to highlight your architecture and showcase the landscaping. Also, fresh new light fixtures can cast a brighter light and they give the impression that your home has been updated recently.

Make it Shine – Making the exterior of your home sparkly clean can probably add more power to your curb appeal than anything else. After everything is cleaned up, take time to repair any places that need attention. Focus on chipping paint around the windows, missing shingles, or siding that needs repair.

Landscaping – The simplest way to boost curb appeal is to have a well-manicured lawn. Healthy looking, weed free trimmed grass, clean lines around walkways and flower beds, and trimmed bushes and trees will set the foundation for curb appeal you can be proud of. Put in a few perennial flowers to brighten things up.

Paint Your Mailbox – Your mailbox sees a lot of wear over the years as it is constantly attacked by the elements so a little paint can provide an instant curb appeal boost. You can use inexpensive craft store stencils to let the kids add a creative design.

Looking for some extra storage space to clean up the outside of your home? Zippy Shell has onsite and portable storage solutions perfect for the job! You can learn more by visiting www.zippyshell.com today!

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How to Build a Vegetable Garden at Your House

woman gardening

As we are all spending more time at home this summer, it may be the perfect time to start your first at-home vegetable garden. Gardening can bring a sense of order and calmness to the chaos of the year 2020. It is a fun activity that the whole family can get involved in to make the long days at home go by just a little bit faster. Plus, the end result is yummy home grown vegetables that will help boost your immune system!

Select and clear the area for your garden. The goal is to select enough garden space to meet your needs without taking away from your ability to enjoy your backyard with your family. You also need to take into consideration which vegetables you plan on growing as some plants take up more space. And don’t forget to check for sunlight. Most vegetables and herbs need at least 6 hours of sunlight each day. Once you have selected your spot, make sure the area is free of grass, debris, and leaves. Dig or till up the soil before planting to freshen it up as well as allow roots to penetrate the soil more easily. Another popular idea is to use raised planting beds. They allow for a longer growing season with better drainage and fewer weeds.

Fertilize your soil. The more fertile the soil, the better your vegetables will grow. Unless you are purchasing pre-fertilized soil, most soil will not contain the nutrients that your garden needs to thrive. The only way to truly determine the level of nutrients in your soil is to test it. These are usually available for free or at a low-cost from your local cooperative extension.

Choose your plants. You want to select plants that will grow well in the area where you live and in the space that you have available. Of course, if you won’t eat it and you don’t have anyone to gift it to, there is no reason to grow it in your vegetable garden! When you are planting, make sure to give each plant room to grow.

Add some mulch. Applying a layer of mulch that is 2-3 inches deep around each plant will reduce weeds and reduce moisture loss through evaporation. If you use an organic mulch, such as bark, compost, or cocoa bean shells, it will nourish the soil as it decomposes.

Keep your garden watered. A rule of thumb for watering is that plants need around one inch of water per week during the growing season. Sunny, windy conditions dry out soil more quickly than cool, cloudy weather. If you are still not sure, feel the soil 3 to 4 inches below the surface. If it feels dry, it’s time to water.

Attract the birds. For some natural pest control, incorporate birdbaths or birdhouses into your yard. Birds will help control the pests that frequently attack gardens, all while leaving friendly insects such as spiders or ladybugs alone.

We’d love to hear from you! Stop by our Facebook page and share with our Zippy Shell community what you and your family are growing this summer.

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Organizing Hacks Make Great Stay-At-Home Projects

organization

Many of us around the country are spending more time at home than usual right now. So, now may be the perfect time to open up your space and increase your productivity by getting organized. And we have just the hacks to help make organizing in the time of coronavirus quarantines less of a chore and more like a welcomed distraction. Check out these tips, create a plan, and get organized!

  • The organizational options are endless with pegboards. Save counter space by organizing kitchen, garage, office, or craft supplies. The best part about a pegboard is you can add and rearrange hooks and rods as your organizational needs change.
  • Magazine holders are inexpensive and provide so many ways to organize your home. Use these multi-functional organizing wonders for a gift wrap station, toilet paper storage, stacking items in your freezer or pantry, to hide your router, arrange flip flops or water bottles, and so much more.
  • Instead of digging around in the back of your refrigerator or pantry to find the ingredient you need, use a lazy Susan to bring the ingredient to you! Simply place a lazy Susan on the shelf and stock it with spices, jams, condiments, or other small containers then give it a spin to find exactly what you are looking for.
  • One of the best organizational hacks is knowing that shoe organizers don’t have to be used just for shoes! Cut them to size and use them for all your organizing tasks. Toys, pantry items, cleaning items, beauty supplies, baby clothes, gardening tools, school supplies – the possibilities truly are endless for what you can organize with these space savers.
  • There are so many different smart ways to get organized using a silverware tray. Use the compartments of these handy little trays to organize jewelry, toothbrushes/toothpastes, hair accessories, the junk drawer, batteries, art supplies, and more.
  • Paper towel holders are next on the home organizing hack list. Use standing paper towel holders to stack rolls of tape, ribbon, cookie cutters, or bangles. A side hanging paper towel holder can organize necklaces, scarves, belts, and can make a roll of garbage bags easily accessible.
  • PVC pipes are as accessible and affordable as they are great for organization projects. Cut, paint, attach and use them to store items like hair tools, power tools, shoes, headbands, craft supplies, garden tools, and many other items.
  • Add a handy magnetic strip to your bathroom for bobby pins, nail clippers, and tweezers. Unclutter the toy box a little by hanging matchbox cars on the wall using magnetic strips. You can also use a magnetic strip near your power tools in the garage to hold on to your drill bits and small metal tools.

While increasing your organization’s efforts during the pandemic, you might find that your best option is to store some of your lesser-used items. Zippy Shell provides simple, climate-controlled storage solutions and our contact-free delivery will give you one less thing to worry about. Learn more by visiting www.zippyshell.com today! 

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DIY Projects to Complete While You Stay Home

Woman Doing DIY Projects

With a lot of us spending more time at home due to coronavirus (COVID-19), we thought it would be good to focus on some positives and give you some ideas for some DIY home renovation and remodeling projects you can do to make the most of this time. And with Spring having just arrived, that gives you two reasons to start on that to-do list! If you’re planning to start a more extensive home renovation or home remodeling project, be sure to get one of our secure, on-site portable storage containers. We’ll bring the storage right to you from one of our nationwide facilities so you can quickly clear out any space you’re updating without having to leave your house – super convenient and allows you to stay home!

Bathroom Makeover – If you want to start with a smaller, more manageable home renovation project, why not take a look at your bathroom – it’s a small space that can make a big difference, especially if you’re getting ready to sell your home. There is a wide range of projects you can do here from replacing larger items like the sink, toilet, shower, or flooring to some smaller projects where you focus on the décor, such as paint, lighting, and hardware. Check out some of these excellent bathroom decor ideas from Lowe’s to get inspired!

Entryway – An area that may not be top of mind when you think about a home renovation, but this is the first space your guests see, and often the space that welcomes you and your family home when you’ve been at work. Since this is usually a smaller space, it’s another great place to start if you don’t want to take on a significant project. Some paint, small furniture, and picture frames or artwork can make a big difference with a small budget! Check out some of these foyers and entryways of you’re looking for ideas!

Kitchen Makeover – One area where you can go big and make a significant impact on your home’s value is the kitchen. In this space, you can update flooring, appliances, add an island, or update cabinetry, to name a few focus areas. If you’re going to start one of these larger projects, we can provide temporary furniture storage with our portable storage units so you can clear out space and keep your furniture safe! If you aren’t ready for that kind of project, you can focus on smaller updates such as adding in a backsplash, painting or updating your hardware. Even these minor updates can make a big difference!

Bedrooms – Now is the perfect time to spend some time updating your bedrooms! One of the easiest things you can do is paint them and add some fresh, new artwork! If you’re looking for some ideas, check out these color trends from Benjamin Moore. If you want to make this project even simpler, you can rent one of our portable storage containers so you can clear out the space you’re painting. This will make it easier to get to all of the walls and ensure your furniture doesn’t get covered in paint. Our storage containers can be rented by the month, and you can keep them on-site as long as you need it!