17 Simple Home Decor Hacks That Will Save You Money - Thistlewood Farm

I went down a rabbit hole this week and started watching fashion hacks on YouTube.

They showed me how to fake hem a jacket and turn a sweater around for a new look and tie a shirt in new ways.

And all that watching made me think of the hacks I use all the time.

Not fashion hacks, but home decor hacks instead.

And I decided I needed to share.

After all, we are friends, right?

I mean, we talk almost every day and drink coffee together and talk about words and Venn diagrams and blinking and missing french fries and why I’m never going to be like Emily Gilmore.

And friends show the easiest way to do everything.

So today?

I want to share more of my favorite home decor hacks.

Here are 17 simple, easy, inexpensive ideas to help your home live large.

1. How to line your curtains the easy way

Do NOT overthink your curtains.

Trust me.

This is so much easier.

All you need is $6.77 and this post on how to line a curtain in the easiest and simplest and most inexpensive way

2. How to make your own white pitchers

These pitchers didn’t always look like this.

Not even close.

I think one of them started with a bear face.

Here’s the easiest way to make your own whiteware from thrift store finds.

3. Make your baskets look old (or older)

I saw these vintage baskets with numbers and wanted to recreate them.

This is such an easy hack to do with thrift store baskets.

See how to spray paint baskets here.

4. Transform builder grade windows

This is still one of my favorite home decor hacks ever.

It’s as simple as plywood and crown molding.

When we moved into the farmhouse, there were all these windows without molding on top of them.

Plain ordinary windows without much drama or character.

Until we did this.

5. Reuse vintage windows

Remember this space?

It was our kitchen at the farmhouse.

*sigh*

Hello friend.

When we remodeled this room, we opened up the walls and created an opening between the two rooms. I was trying to figure out what to do up there. I tried adding corbels and more molding and leaving it blank—but it needed more.

Here’s a step-by-step on how we created this transom out of old windows.

6. Painted plywood subfloor

See that floor with its giant checkerboard pattern that looks like it just rolled in from the country?

It’s just the plywood subfloor that we painted.

I know, right?

I can hear you asking yourself—can you even do that? Can you actually paint the plywood floor? Yes. Yes, Virginia, you can. It was one of the best flooring decisions we ever made.

Here’s how to paint a plywood subfloor.

7. How to restuff a couch cushion

If you have cushions that attach to the back of your couch and they start to slump?

No worries.

I have the FIX.

Here’s how to fix slumping couch cushions here.

8. Spray paint curtain rods

If you have ever priced brass (or gold) curtain rods then you understand you might need to take out a loan for window treatments.

Gold curtain rods like these are so on trend right now.

But the price tag? YIKES. Whhhhhhhy gold curtain rod people? Why the cost? We have children to take through the McDonald’s drive-through and put through college.

So I bought these curtain rods in the scratch and dent section of the store and spray painted them gold.

You can see them in the room here.

9. Using drop cloths for curtains

And if you need something to hang on those spray painted rods?

Drop cloths aren’t just for painting anymore.

They are one of the simplest (and cheapest) ways to have floor to ceiling curtain panels in your home.

I’ve painted them and stenciled them and washed them and thought about bleaching them and hung them on short rods and hung them on long rods and sewed them and no-sewed them and decorated my house with them for over a decade.

Here are all the questions and the details and how I make my drop cloth curtains.

10. Turn paint sticks into a table top

This table top was pitiful.

It was covered with splattered paint and rings of where the spray paint can used to be and scratches and big chips in the veneer. Wobbly and woebegone and just waiting for a make-over.

Nothing is better than a before and after.

Or one of my favorite home decor hacks.

Like this one.

Here’s how I used paint sticks to completely transform this tabletop.

11. Make anything look like metal

Did you know that you can make anything look like metal.

Anything?

All you need is this product and this home decor hack.

12. Clean outdoor cushions with this simple tip

Do you have cushions that look like this?

Yikes.

Can we still be friends if I tell you I do?

Here are my outdoor cushions and how I cleaned them.

13. Spray paint your wreath

Yes.

You can spray paint wreaths.

Here’s one that I spray painted gold.

You can spray paint twigs and branches, too.

I know, right?

LIFE CHANGING.

14.Creating a faux wood tabletop

I had this plain white table and wanted something a little different. So I used painter’s tape and a wood graining tool to create another of my favorite home decor hacks.

Here’s the finished table.

See how the top looks like wood?

Here’s the step-by-step on how I transformed this tabletop to look like this.

15. Transform a builders grade door with paint

How do you transform a hollow core builder-grade door when you’re budget has already been spent on the ceiling and the floors and the walls and cute nail polish?

The answer?

Meet a door’s best friend—paint.

Paint can help us pop out those panels and give the door visual interest and make it shine and look high-end and make the neighbors to sit up and take notice and say, “That is some door.”

Here’s how we transformed this door from ordinary to amazing with paint.

16. Make your own farmhouse cutting board

If you have a piece of old countertop?

Or even a plain cutting board.

You can take it next level here.

Here’s how to make a farmhouse cutting board.

17. How to make a faux roman shade

I just shared this home decor hack.

But it’s too good not to share on repeat.

Here’s how to make a faux roman shade.

Even if you never make a single one of these projects, I want you to leave today with this.

Decorating doesn’t have to be fancy.

Decorating doesn’t have to be expensive.

Decorating isn’t all about spending a fortune.

A beautiful home can be yours with a few home decor hacks, a little imagination, some old windows, some paint sticks, a few drop cloths and a little paint. 🙂