house

6 TRICKS TO DECORATE YOUR ROOM ON BUDGET

Who doesn’t want to live in a “pinterest” decorated room? Huh.

But, how much will it cost me? How much effort we need to pay for this?

Wait….decorating your room won’t be necessarily costly or time consuming. Perhaps, you only need a little tweak or good catch around the house.

As a growing family with single income, we always find ourself adjusting our lifestyle again and again. We moved houses several times, but it doesn’t mean we buy new things every now and then. We love to keep things minimal yet liveable. So here are my tips in decorating a house on budget.

6 TRICKS TO DECORATE A ROOM ON BUDGET

Regular Declutter – How often do you do decluttering? I used to be a person who was very unorganized plus irresponsible to my belongings. If I can’t find things, I will straight away buy a new piece or set. I piled up so many junks around the house that will eventually become an eye-pinching wall art in my room. Till I met my organized husband, and he inspired me to be his clone. Nowadays, decluttering has become a part of my life. We do declutter every trisemester. First, the house feels light. Second, it freshen your soul. Third, ease you to find and move things around the house. Once you get cleared your house, you might find some old forgotten bits and pieces which will suit your house theme. Such as, a cute family caricature, an old newborn book journal, a traditional wooden music instrument, a handmade plate you bought overseas, etc.

Move around your furniture – Every now and then, you need to re-arrange the furniture around the house to freshen up your mood. Who would ever think that changing position of your sofa or dining table could give a different vibe in the house. Do you realize that visual repetition is boring? But changes boost your interest? Most importantly, it’s my favourite zero cost hacks in decorating a house.

Featured wall – It is so trendy nowadays. But sometimes paintings can cost much of our money and time. Another way to keep your wall on trend is by sticking a wall sticker / paper. Easy to apply on dry surface and easy to peel off without damaged. Perfect for those of you who are living in an apartment like our family. Top hack for all mums; decorate your kids wall room using duck tape/round label from officeworks. It cost less than A$5 for the entire wall in the room.

Frame the kids’ artwork – ha. This is obviously my favourite hack. We all know that a pretty wall art can be pricy sometimes. And definitely we need more than one wall arts to fill the house. Alright….why not skimming through your kids school artwork and find some best one which match the colour theme of the room. Next step is….. FRAME IT!! Voila… your new Picasso wall art is ready to hang.

DIY – One of the thing I love to do as a stay at home mum is DIY. When the house is silent, I love to express my creativity through some art and craft. Most of the time, it cost less than the off-shelf bundles. More than that, I love how DIY bundles add a personalized touch to the room. (eg: DIY Dreamcatcher)

Light it up – Invest in a good light fixtures. Light fixtures work as a vital element in decorating any room. As per the experts, the decorative lightings are the architectural jewelry pieces. So, to have the best home decoration, it is necessary to consider the shape, style, size, and color of the lights. A creative use of lighting can actually enhance any home décor project a lot. Its the hero in the room.

Hope you enjoy above articles. And be encouraged to start a new room decor project for your own house.

My last tip is to be creative. Stylish does not always pricy. Find small precious things in the house and make them stand out.

See you on the next post! X

Love,

Kenny

STEP BY STEP TO DIY YOUR PERSONALISED DREAM CATCHER

I am currently in the progress of doing the nursery for my 2nd boy. I am so excited but at the same time worry that it will cost me much.

I always wanted to have add a dreamy feel to the room. But it is simply not easy, because the newborn will share the bedroom with my 3 year old toddler. Thus, I decided to play around with the wall art rather than adding more furniture to the room.

Then, I was searching online for black dream catcher, since the theme of the room is monochrome following Jared’s corner style. I really don’t keen to change a thing. I wanted to keep the aesthetic and the feel of the room itself. BUT, I couldn’t find any shop selling a “black” dreamcatcher. Most of them selling the white or cream one, I don’t know why. Which to my preference is a way too girly for a boy’s room.

And yes!! I thought to myself, let’s make your own. DIY DREAMCATCHER. For the boys room. Thanks youtube and pinterest for the ideas. I AM EXTREMELY HAPPY with the end result! And I would like to share with you the step by step. It is low cost and easy to make, it only cost me two episodes of The Good Doctor. I bought most of the materials on Spotlight.

PS: you may use other color and type/style of ribbons according to your preference.

You will need:

Metal ring
Doily
Faux Suede Cord
Thin Cord
Cotton Lace
Satin Ribbon
Fine Lace
Pompom Ribbon
Feathers
Scissors
A ruler or tape measure
Clothespeg or paper clip (optional)

Steps:

WRAPPING THE METAL RING

Start by tying 1 piece of faux suede cord onto the metal ring leaving 30 cm tail. Use the clothespeg or your finger to hold this knot in place. Then start wrapping the cord tightly around the metal ring leaving no gaps between each wrap. When you have covered the ring, tie the end of the cord onto the ring at the same place as your first knot. Cut the end so it is the same length as the first tail. Tie the 2 tail ends together to create a hanging loop and cut off any excess.

ATTACHING THE DOILY

Measure 1 metre of the thin cord, and tie it onto the ring at the base of your hanging loop. Keep the leftover thin cord for tying on the feathers later on.

There are 12 “points” on the edge of the doily. Take your cord and weave it through a hole on one of these points. Continue to weave around the ring and through the points until you have completed the full circle. Stretch the doily as you work to make sure it is centred and covers the centre of the metal ring. Tie the cord off once you get back to the point on the metal ring where you started. Trim off any excess.

MEASURING & CUTTING THE TRIM

Measure and cut 4 kinds of the trims into 20 pieces according to the table below.

PIECE #	TYPE OF TRIM	LENGTH OF PIECE
1	COTTON LACE	82cm
2	COTTON LACE	82cm
3	SATIN	78cm
4	SATIN	78cm
5	FINE LACE	74cm
6	FINE LACE	74cm
7	POMPOM	70cm
8	POMPOM	70cm
9	COTTON LACE	66cm
10	COTTON LACE	66cm
11	SATIN	62cm
12	SATIN	62cm
13	FINE LACE	58cm
14	FINE LACE	58cm
15	POMPOM	54cm
16	POMPOM	54cm
17	SATIN	50cm
18	SATIN	50cm
19	FINE LACE	46cm
20	FINE LACE	46cm

TYING ON THE TRIM

Fold each piece of trim and tie onto the ring so it makes 2 hanging tails. Start with pieces #1 and 2 at the bottom centre, then add pieces #3 and 4 to the left and right to it. Carry on with piece #5 and 6 and continue to add 1 piece the left and 1 piece to the right, until you finish with piece #20.

If you measure and tie your trim correctly then your dreamcatcher will have a v-shape when you have finished. If not, just use scissors to trim the ends to form a V.

ADDING THE FEATHERS

Measure and cut the remaining piece of your thin cord into the following lengths:

PIECE #	LENGTH OF PIECE
1	40cm
2	30cm
3	30cm
4	20cm
5	20cm

Tie one and of each piece of cord around the shaft of the feather.

Take piece #1 and tie it to the bottom centre of the metal ring. The feather should hang evenly with the bottom of the trim. Tie pieces #2 and 3 to the left and right of piece #1. Then tie pieces #4 and 5 to the left and right of #2 and 3. Snip off the ends of the cord.

TADAAAA….

Your dream catcher is ready to hang.

What do you think about this? Yay or Nay? Leave your comment below. Create your own personalised dreamcatcher for your little ones is easy at low-cost.

Love,
Kenny

10 SMALL SPACE HACKS YOU MAY NEVER CAME ACROSS BEFORE

Whether you live in a small apartment or have a tiny room in your home, it’s quite likely that you’re going to get yourself into some trouble figuring out how to make your space livable. – Shelby Wax

Our growing family lives in a 800 feet; 2 bedroom apartment. There are 3 (soon to be 4 ) living under the roof; 2 adults, 1 toddler, and 1 newborn’s on the way.

Not to brag that we have a LOT of stuffs. toys and music instruments, since my boys are musician buddies. For more than a year since we moved in, we have never felt comfortable with the space that we’re staying in. You will see stacked stuffs on every corner of the room. Or perhaps some squeezed things in between the cupboards. Trust me, the view was really unpleasant to the eyes and soul. Limited storage is mainly the only problem we could jot down on the list. But then, I realised, if we didn’t try to make things work, it won’t do any good to us, especially with the next living human addition is going to enter the house.

Thus, this year, we made a new resolution to create a livable home for the family.

After spending 264 nights on pinterest, we came up with 10 hacks of making small spaces livable. Hope we did something right, and may inspire you to start revamping your space.

10 SMALL SPACE HACKS YOU MAY NEVER CAME ACROSS BEFORE

TALL THIN LEGS – Furniture with tall thin legs are the go-to solution for the storage issues. They looks light, they don’t use up a lot space in the room, we are able to tuck away stools or extra storage baskets underneath.

VINTAGE CRATE – Do you have some unused crate? Do not throw them away, store your magazine and books there. And in case you need a coffee table, it will do too.

SKIP THE FLOOR LAMP – proper lighting is really needed in the room, but sometimes a floor lamp could be very burden. Instead, hang the lamp next to your bed or working table. Then, you may have more free space to work on the ground.

HIDE THEM SHOES – Who love shoes? I DO!. Too many is never enough to me. I loose count on my black shoes. Duh. But, seeing them placed on along the doorway is way too heavy, plus it leaves stains on the wall too. So, why not hiding them at the back of the door and leave your doorway clean and tidy.

CLEAN STATE – Visually open up your space by painting your walls white. The neutral works wonders at making a home feel bigger and brighter.

MULTIFUNCTION FURNITURE – It’s all about functionality. Be smart in choosing your furniture and homewares. Pick high-tech things which covers 2-3 functions for the house. For example, I bought this bedside table/coffee table/speaker. It has Bluetooth and phone charger too. Perfect for a relaxing night in my room.

COLLECTIBLE JARS – You may have no space for another boxes or baskets in your room. No worries. Collect more pretty jars in your room, and store your jewelry, cables, and stationaries in there. Other thing, these jars will add some aesthetic look to your room.

EMBRACE MIRRORS – Invest on some mirrors. It will definitely adding reflective surfaces to open up a tiny space.

FLOAT UP – Shelving units are great for adding some much needed organization to a home, but they can also take up quite a bit of space. Consider using floating shelves instead that let you place other furniture pieces below.

STICK ON THE WALL – Great way to store your outfit master-piece is by hanging them on the wall. Make them a statement in the room.

Motivation is a horrible leader. So, don’t wait to be motivated. be active and motivation will follow. – @crtvchurch

Above are some results of our “active response” towards the new year. We are still waiting on some deliveries and giving some finishing touch to some rooms here and there. We are extremely happy with how it turned out so far. It’s not the best compare to other houses. Yet it is livable for the whole crew of The Tjungs Squad. (well, isn’t it the end goal, is it?) Both adults and my kid are happy to stay longer in the house while creating beautiful memories here.

What about YOU?! Are you still waiting for some motivation to do your house or are you ready to make some move to make things happen?!

Full house tour blog is coming up in a few months time, predicted to be out before the 2nd baby arrives. So, stay tuned for more. And if you’re happy with the home decor contents and wanting more of this, please like and share this blog and follow my motherhood journey being unfolded every single week. Bye for now. X

Love,

Kenny