I love to look around my local swap shops and transfer stations for great free items.  I am the kind of person who will go to the dump on a Saturday to see what is good enough for me to take home rather than for me to drop off.  It may seem odd to think that a person would actually like going to the dump, but most of the people I know do the same as I do.  Believe it or not you can get some great stuff, and best of all, it’s FREE.  I have seen people get Bicycles, Tables, Books, Machinery, Computers, Furniture, Kids Toys and so much more.  I could list everything I have gotten from my local dump, but it would be a very long list!

A couple of Summers ago I got a great find at my local swap shop.  Someone had dropped of an antique dresser.  As soon as I set my eyes on it, I grabbed it!  Not only was it in fabulous condition, but it was my style.  I am drawn to antique furniture and items, I just love it.  When I got it home I turned it into a diaper changing station.  All I had to do was give it a nice wipe down, get a few new knobs and put my changing pad on top, and voila, a great looking diaper changing station with lots of storage.

It has been used as a changing table for the past year and a half and it was now time to move it to my daughters room and use it as a dresser, but it needed a little updating.  I had lots of paint from previous projects, so I painted it a nice antique white and then I painted the knobs with purple and pink dots.  It fits perfectly in my daughters room and I think it look great.  Best of all it only cost me a few dollars for some wooden knobs, and I had a great looking dresser.

Below is the before and after photo of the dresser.

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Make your dresser drawers smell scent-sasional!  Keep you drawers fresh and clean smelling all year long by doing these inexpensive and easy tricks.

Place a small fragrant soap in your dresser drawer and smell the refreshing scent each time you open it.

Place cut pieces of Cedar in your closet or dresser for a cedar scent.

Place some drops of perfume on a cotton ball and place in your dresser drawer.

Place a dryer sheet on the bottom of your drawer for a fresh linen scent.

Take home the sample perfumes from magazines and place in your dresser drawers.

Fill sachets with potpourri and place in your drawers.

To get rid of odors in your drawers try these tips:

Place a piece if chalk in your drawer to get rid of bad odors.

Place a small pouch of baking soda or Borax in your drawer.

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Tile floors can be outdated and just plain old ugly.  I found this out when I purchased my home about a year and a half ago.  My home was build in the 70’s and apparently the colors of the 70’s are blue, blue, more blue and some orange mixed in.  Our new home has two bathrooms, one which had a blue tub/shower, blue toilet, blue sink and blue tile floor and the other had a blue tile floor.  Now, in the day and age we live in now that is not a very appealing color for a bathroom.  I had to figure out a way to get rid of my “blue nightmare” bathroom on a budget.  The best thing to do is to rip out your old tile flooring and replace with new tile flooring, however this is costly and I just did not have the money.  The first thing I did was rip out the blue sink and blue toilet and replaced with inexpensive ones from the Home Depot.  I bought a white toilet for about $75 and I bought a white pedestal sink for $50.  Next, I needed to tackle the ugly blue tile floor.  I researched online and found that people were saying that you could paint your tile floor.  I was so amazed and so excited that I had to try this out.  Especially since I had some different colored paints leftover from painting my walls and such.  I lucked out and found a nice medium brown paint that I had leftover and I decided to use it on my tile floor.

First thing you need to do to prep the tile floor is to vacuum and then give it a good wipe down.  Then paint a first coat of primer.  Let Dry.  Then paint your final color and let dry.  If needed paint a second coat and let dry.  That’s it.  It;s really easy and I finished painting my bathroom floor in just 1 day.  This project cost me nothing because I had the paints already, but you can do this to your own bathroom or kitchen tile floor for just a few bucks.

My painted tile floor has held up now for more than 1 year and it looks better than BLUE!  Now, this is more of a temporary fix, but it WILL make your tile floor look better than BLUE, red, green, yellow or whatever ugly color your tile floor happens to be.

Photo: About.com

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