Small Fun Things For Less Cash

Hello All!

I just wanted to share a couple of little things that could be either fun or maybe even a solution to some of the common housing needs.

These ideas may not be for everyone but they served as an easy an inexpensive solution for us to get what we wanted while moving into our new small space. We didn't have a whole lot of money for furniture before we moved in to our apartment and some things were donated to us by Eglantine's family or were just hers from when she was living here before.

1. Bar Seated Kitchen Table 
While we searched and searched and searched some more  for the perfect dining table to meet our requirements we became increasingly frustrated. We needed a high table to be able to see out of our awesome window to enjoy our awesome view while dining. Every table we looked at in the big department stores, furniture outlets and even furniture specialty shops were all way too expensive. Ranging from 275€ to 450€. We knew we needed to find another solution. I was jazzed about making my own since I had made another piece a furniture that was functional but no where near perfect looking. I was scared to make a table that would be ugly and or collapse while we were eating and break my kneecaps. While perusing the local Castorama (French Version of Home Depot) we found the cubby storage shelves with some planks of wood nearby and decided that cubbies, plus plank equaled, storage and big table. The shelves happened to be the right height to fit some bar seats and as we only had one closet in our apartment, we gained vital storage space. The original concern was the cost, so this decision was made easier in that the shelves were only 60€ and 40€ with the plank being 30€ so we saved big bucks while gaining space.  Check it out!

2. If you have some books, movies or what-have-you's and no money for a shelf system, head to your local mill or wood distributor and ask if they have any scraps that they wouldn't mind parting with. We did that and made little wood boxes to store all of our books. Afterwards you can stack them any way you like and personally I enjoy the odd and different shapes they give. This was free :)

3. If you have an odd space that you would like to be able to add stuff, why not turn a suitcase into a shelf? Eglantine had seen this somewhere on the internet and thought it was too funny. We went to an antique shop and found a old briefcase for 5€ and then some old wooden shoe inserts. We turned this old dude into a little traveling shelf who serves as our bathroom guest. After adding some new linings and two pieces of scrap wood for the shelves, Romain is our coolest little friend.

4. This idea is more of a common idea I believe. Here in France when you buy little puddings in the store they are usually in little glass containers instead of plastic. We always save them because they are cute and look to be useful. We are constantly transforming ours into little flower pots to give to friends and just to serve as decorations for the house. If you do not have glass pudding in your area try finding anything that looks like it would be trash and give it a purpose to harness some new plant life. Too cool !

I hope that these ideas were somewhat useful to someone. Until next time!

Au bientôt, du monde!