Making it your own! As-is and hacking.

One of my favorite stops in the store is the As-Is section.  This is where you can find the scratch and dents, returns they cant sell as new and display items for sale.

CHA-CHING!


   It is a first-come first-serve kind of thing, no holds and no requests.  If you see it there BUY IT, cause it won't be there later.  Frugal folks like myself go there first.  I have found curtains, random pieces of wood and fabric. Most of it brand new or has a spot on it, for 50% off or more.  It is a DIY persons dream.

   This little project cost me some time and $8, four Ribba frames that were once displays.  The photos I took and printed out at home,  these are now in gracing the wall of my bathroom.

   I wanted to be a little more ambitious and I needed to dress up  my office.  Hot Pink and flowers.  It is bright in here now, no more drab vertical blinds.

                  The vases were what really caught my attention, the bright pink and the low price.

   This project cost me a little more.  The wood for the pictures was $.50 a piece and the fabric was a deal at $3.99 a yd, (I have some left over, using it to make a matching chair cover) the shelf and brackets were $12, the pink vases were in As-Is at $2 a pice, the flowers were originally two stem but I cut them up and divided them between the vases, $2 each.
   The potpourri inside only cost me $2 and it smells like chocolate.  Lastly the votives were $.49 each and I even had some Glimma candles on hand.  The whole thing took me about three hours, the glue had to dry on the wood before I could hang them.

 My office is really an enjoyable place now.  I got a pair of Sarita Panels for $6.99 and a pair of Lill panels in, you guessed it, As-Is, for $4.  I layered it on two curtain rods, the outside being really pretty and the underside the plain white one.  Ahhh serenity now.

Hacking


I would like to give some recognition to Ikea Hackers, its a great website and full of ideas for things you can make or repurpose out of damaged or new Ikea furniture and accessories.  It is a website dedicated to just Ikea hacks, really cool.

www.ikeahackers.net

   I have a lot of fun finding treasures in As-Is, its hard to stay out.  One piece inspires a whole project.  The best part is sometimes the items are just customer returns and there isn't a thing wrong with them, now its just marked down and you save a lot of money.  But the up side and down side is that it is always changing.  Don't come in expecting to find the Karlstad couch you want in As-Is, it won't be there, unless you are lucky.........

very lucky!


Tak,

Krister