10 DIY Hacks that TRANSFORM Basic Homes! *Budget Friendly & Easy*

Today's video is sponsored by Simply Safe. There's no safe like Simply Safe. Hello everybody. Welcome back to my channel. Drew here from Lone Fox and today I have a very, very exciting video because I put in the time and I went through a bunch of my videos, probably around a hundred of my makeover videos and pulled out 10 of my best hacks that I have used in makeovers that have made the process go so much smoother, made the process look so much better, and in the end was a DIY way to do something that was also super coste effective, which I know a bunch of us like doing projects ourselves, which is why you're here on the channel. And if you happen to be new here, definitely click that subscribe button. It is somewhere on the screen. Today we have 10 hacks that are going to blow your mind. They're truly going to change the way that you do your makeovers. This first one's probably my favorite. And just from this one, you're going to see the caliber of these hacks. So, let's dive in to number one. This is all about molding and baseboards. Also kind of crown molding as well. It can work in either orientation, but a lot of times when I go into a space, I love the look of a chunky baseboard. I think a taller baseboard, it kind of just looks a little bit more elevated, but that also comes with cost. With a taller baseboard, you'd have to rip out the previous. You'd have to get a taller baseboard and then install it. So, that's going to be a whole cost. However, something I've been doing to just intensify the look of a baseboard is to stack a piece of trim directly on top of the current one. Let's just say you have a 3-in tall little chintzy baseboard that was installed because it was the most cost-effective option. You can go in with a piece of trim and stack it directly on top. Or you can leave a little space, stack it up here, paint all of this the exact same, and it's going to look like one piece of molding was applied to your wall. And you can really make it however tall you want. And I love the idea of leaving a little bit of space between the molding. That way, the wall is just painted in to the exact trims on the top and bottom, and it kind of just looks like one fluid piece. I actually featured this in my hallway makeover, and all of the original baseboards in my 1920s house were in the hallway, and I didn't want to rip them out because the floors were refinished. They already had all of the little like quarter rounds added. I wanted to make them look more detailed and a little bit taller. So, all I did was purchase a decorative trim piece and I stacked it right on top and then I painted it into the baseboard so that it matched. And it looks like one really tall baseboard, which this baseboard, if I was to purchase it as is, would be super super expensive. Valaria, when we were in New York working on our projects, I'll pop up a video of her space. You can kind of see she did a crown molding detail where they actually just left the ceiling empty and then they added a little piece of trim at the bottom and painted that all together which in the end makes it look like a tall piece of crown molding. But all she had to purchase was a little piece of trim and just kind of mount it a little lower. So there's things that you can do to trick the eye. Hack number two is really great for renters because there are so many times where I'm out at a flea market or a thrift store or I come across a pair of wired sconces and let's say I want to install them in a rental but there's not spots for the wired sconces. I don't know if you guys know this but you can turn any hardwired sconce into a corded sconce. And also vice versa, you could turn any corded sconce into a hardwired sconce if you find a hardwired sconce that you like. I remember so many times in the past where I found lights and I was like, "Oh, I don't have a spot where I can actually install this and I just kind of left it behind." There is a really easy solution to actually just attach a light cord. Just a simple twisted light cord. You just twist it on as you would mount it traditionally to the wall. It's a great way that you can use vintage lights, European lights, or just hardwired lights that don't have the option of being corded. You can basically turn any hardwired light into a corded one. You can also use the cord color and style. Maybe do like a pop of red or something as a little detail. So, it's a way that you could think about the cord in your design as well. My third tip here is one I actually have not got to do yet. However, I am installing it currently in a project I'm working on which I'm going to be sharing with you guys very very soon. And this is picture rail molding. I love the look of picture rail molding in houses when you can hang pictures actually from the rail. That's what it's intended for. It's so that you don't have to hammer into plaster walls or just hammer into the walls in general. You can kind of switch up your artwork and hang them from chains or from strings. I've also seen people use towel bars or curtain rods as well on the wall to hang art from. It's just a unique way to display art and it's also a way that you could switch up your art constantly without having to hammer into the wall or just like make any markings in your wall. Style of hanging art dates far back. So, it's actually a very historical and kind of charming way to display art as well, which I think is fun. And before diving into tip number four, I'm actually going to share with you guys a bonus tip, which happens to be today's video sponsor, which is Simply Safe. And you all know, you've heard it from me in the past. 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I'll have a link at the top of the description box. It's perfect for the holiday season approaching. There's no safe like Simply Safe. Massive large scale art can be extremely extremely expensive. Now, you totally can get away with diying it yourself. you know, going and buying a massive canvas and painting something yourself. That's a cost-effective way to do it. But I feel like there are some other ways to actually hang up items that can look like large scale art. And tip number four is actually hanging rugs and quilts on your wall as art. And it's something that I've been seeing a lot more lately in the realm of interior design. And it's actually something we also did for my collection with Jun Laloy. We created a tapestry inspired rug which can go on the floor, but you can also put it on the wall. And I love the idea of hanging rugs or quilts on the wall to act as large scale art because a lot of the times you can find really unique vintage rugs or vintage quilts on Facebook Marketplace or at the flea market or anywhere. And a lot of times you think you have to put it on the floor or, you know, on a bed, but you can actually put it on the wall. And I've seen some designers frame these in the past. Just think outside the box. Not everything has to be put on a canvas or painted. There's different ways you can display fabrics, textiles, rugs. And I definitely feel like this also kind of goes back to the essence of a tapestry. Hack number five is one you have seen me do so much in this house and that is paint accent doors or accent ceilings. Kind of like contrast doors or contrast ceilings as well. I've done it in so many spaces. Um I feel like the main one is my bedroom. I did an accent ceiling in there and I painted it this really beautiful kind of golden amber color and I love it so so much. It feels like a sunset is always occurring in my room which is so nice. But believe it or not, unintentional color placement a lot of times makes a space feel a little bit more designed. And that sort of goes back to the unexpected color theory when people were placing like red item in their space and it instantly made it look better. It's when you have that little pop of contrast or that little bit that kind of isn't supposed to be there, but it creates a bit of tension and that's what instantly makes the design kind of look a bit better. And I feel like this works really well in tight spaces that need a little bit more personality. So powder rooms, hallways. I myself did bright red lacquered doors in my hallway upstairs and it's one of the biggest conversation starters of my homes. But I thought just painting this space that had so many doors and painting those doors an accent color. We allow the hallway which I feel like is a room that kind of acts as a transition between many other rooms like a beautiful design space. It's not just a transition from room to room. It's now a designed space that also has interest and personality. Whenever I share tip number six, everyone loves it. It is window mullons. And I tend to do this in almost every single makeover because my house actually is from 1920, but the windows were redone about 10 years ago. So they pulled all of the original windows out and they added just some simple vinyl windows. They don't have any interest. There's no window panes or anything. And I find that to be so boring. So something I've been doing in my entire house is adding window mullons to all of the windows. And I just order these right on Etsy. I measure the inset of the window where it's going. And you can actually order these with borders. You can order them without borders and you can do custom styles as well. But in the kitchen upstairs and downstairs, I did some diamond mullons which I love. I think they look so good. It almost makes it feel a little bit like a castle. And in other spaces of my house, like the lounge room and the living room upstairs, I actually just did simple like gritted window panes, and it just adds a little bit more interest to the room. If you're curious on how they stick in the window, too, I just pop some little double-sided like mounting adhesive in the corners, and I just pop it right in, and you can pull it out when you need to clean. and it's super easy. Sometimes I'll swap the adhesive if they get like a little bit too gross after a while, but it's very, very easy to upkeep. It's a great way to add historical charm to a new build space. This next tip is one that I have not really gotten to do yet, but I plan on doing it, and it's always been in the back of my mind, but it's swapping out the legs on furniture or chairs, because not always you'll find a piece of furniture and you'll love the leg. And a lot of times you can easily swap this out. It's not as hard as you think. Changing really bulky furniture legs to a more slender silhouette or vice versa. Going from slender to something more chunky can completely change the silhouette and refresh the look of the piece. I also feel like this is a great way to make affordable cheaper furniture also feel more custom and more vintage inspired when you can add those turned legs. So if let's just say you get some cabinets from IKEA, you can get some really great turned legs and add them to the bottom of this simple cabinet and instantly elevate that just a little bit more. And this does not only have to apply to wood. You can also get legs that are metal if you want to change the entire vibe of the piece. Like let's say you don't want a turned wood leg, you actually want a brass metal leg. That can also be an option. So consider adding or swapping different legs to your furniture pieces to customize them more to fit your space. I think all of us can agree that lamp cords are so annoying. We are always trying to figure out a way to hide a lamp cord. But something I wanted to share with you, which I actually have done in a lot of makeovers, and I saw this tip on Tik Tok a while back. I do not know who did it. A lot of times with lamps, you can actually push the cord in the light. So, a lot of times with your light, wherever the cord is coming out of, it's actually hollow on the inside. So, a lot of times you can kind of push back on that cord itself and push the cord inside of the lamp. If you're adding a little lamp to a kitchen or somewhere like a tabletop with a plug right there, a lot of times you don't want that extra 3 or 4 feet of cord just bundled up on the table. You know, you want it to be hidden. And a way to do that is to push it inside the lamp. Also, definitely treat cords sort of like a design feature. So, make sure that you have twisted cords. You can do brass covers on them. You can also get cord covers for your cords. So, they're basically like a little tube of fabric. I got some from Pearson Ward, and I love them. They just pop right over the cord. It instantly adds like a little bit of a textural element as well. So, it's a great way to add a bit more color, a bit more design, and it's the small little tweaks like this that really make lighting or pieces feel more bespoke and custom. So, smaller cords, cord covers, things like that. They're tiny little details, but they're things that really do enhance and overall make your space feel a bit more elevated. Second to last one, we are talking about Roman shades because I have been loving Roman shades lately. You guys saw me use Roman shades in the kitchen recently. I got these right off Amazon. They're just simple bamboo Roman shades. They pull right up and down. I love them and they add some warmth to the space as well. You can literally get these in any size and they get to you in a couple days. So, I'll link the ones below I use. I actually have DIYed my very own sets of Roman shades as well. I had a whole tutorial. I did it in my last apartment in my bathroom. We did like two Roman shades in there. It's often a lot more affordable, but equally as impactful as floor length drapery. I also do feel like Roman shades look better in small spaces. So, you don't want to overwhelm like a really tight or small space with a lot of fabric hanging on the walls. So, it's great to do like a little topper on top of the window with a Roman shade. Plus, if you DIY your very own, you can pick the fabric and it just again feels more custom. You can kind of add a pop of color. You can tie it into the rest of the space. whatever you want to do. It's a great way to use your very own fabric and make them custom for yourself. And last but not least, hack number 10, which is really going to make your home feel elevated and it's something that does not have to cost a lot. It is displaying fresh flowers. I love to display fresh florals and I simply go out to Trader Joe's, you guys, and I will get like two packs of the same flower, $449 for each pack. Bundle them together, put them in a vase, and they'll last for quite a while. I will say there's this one set, these ones here that I'm sharing in the video. I don't know the exact name of these ones, but I always buy these at Trader Joe's. They come in multiple different colors. This just happens to be the white ones. These will last like upwards of a week and a half, two weeks. Fresh blooms truly do just breathe life into a space and overall make it feel more styled. And when it comes to florals, I'm not a huge arrangement person myself. I actually like to purchase multiple packs of the same flower. I really like the look of abundance of like one type of flowers. So, a bunch of roses or like a bunch of greenery. I'm not really a huge fan of like roses and sunflowers and lots of flowers mixed together. I think it's beautiful when people do it really great, but I don't feel confident in my bouquet making skills. So, I tend to just stick to one type of flower, get a few packs of it, call it a day, throw it in a vase, and you are good to go. So, I hope those tips and tricks in this video gave you a little insight and maybe it's something that you can keep in mind when you are making over or designing your next space. And I would love to know in the comments below which was your favorite tip. And if you have any tips as well, please feel free to leave them. The comment section is an area where we can all learn from. And I love talking to you guys down there. I'm not going to keep you here for much longer because I have been blabbering away. But I want to thank you all so much and do not forget to subscribe to my channel for brand new videos every single week on home decor DIY makeovers, all of the sort. And I will catch you guys back here next week. And also do not forget to check out Simply Safe. If you are in the market for a home security system, pop the link below. The Lone Fox family discount. It's only for you. So definitely take advantage. Bye guys. [Music]