In the ongoing spirit of the Uber Frugal Month Challenge, which is much harder than I anticipated but going well, I have put together a list of inexpensive DIY projects that can give you a lot of bang for your buck, or can possibly even be done for free if you have the right skills or resources. These are all projects that have achieved me great results in a very frugal fashion, because I reused and recycled, and in-sourced.

1. DIY Photo Wall Art

This post is an overview of how to acquire any kind of gallery wall, photographic art, or graphic art economically and very easily with the right online tools.

2. Paint Washing Brick

I updated our entire basement with the cost of a $35 gallon of grey paint. The transformation to our fireplace was breathtaking, and an extremely easy project. This could easily be accomplished by using paint already piled in your garage, I just didn’t happen to have any grey paint on hand at the time.

3. Drop Cloths As Fabric

I wrote this post last year to explore the pros and cons of using drop cloth as a craft or upholstery fabric. The list is pretty exhaustive, and though through my own research I discovered that it’s a little too absorbent of spills it is still a really frugal way to get that modern farmhouse grain sack cotton look for the appropriate project.

4. Rustic Industrial Shelving

You can turn a basic 5-tier wire shelf, which are really economical especially if purchased during a Home Depot or Canadian Tire sale, into a rustic industrial style storage space with some elbow grease and leftover materials from other projects. New shelves with this type of look can run upwards of $500, I’ve seen shelves of questionable construction and faux materials marked at $1200 before. This is a project that cost me less than $20 because I already had everything I needed laying around, but even if you didn’t it would still be an economic alternative to buying a new rustic industrial shelving unit.

5. Free Printables

Using free printables to decorate your space, make greeting cards for friends, or seasonal decorations is really fun and simple, and beyond what I have available for download on the blog there are so many online resources for sourcing this kind of material.

6. DIY Pallet Coffee Table

Making a DIY pallet table out of an old coffee table you no longer love, and a free pallet sourced from a local store yard is a really great example of getting a “look” in a frugal and self-sufficient way.

Hope you enjoyed this review of some of the Crux’s inexpensive DIY projects that can help you bring a little more frugality into your home decor projects.