DIY or BUY?

DIY or BUY?  We ask this question about almost everything, so when Fox 13 ‘The Place’ contacted us about doing this segment, we were all over it!  Although we choose to DIY a project more often than not, we have found there are some things we would rather just buy.  We pulled together 6 projects for the show:  3 to DIY and 3 to BUY.

The first DIY project:  Wreaths!

 If you ask us, we say ALWAYS make your own wreath!  They are so easy, and with the bajillions of tutorials out there, you can almost always find instructions for exactly what you want for SO much less than buying one pre-made.  Let me share a quick example:  Last Fall when we were selling our home, I was so sure a beautiful Fall wreath with bright colored leaves would attract the perfect buyer.  I hurried to Hobby Lobby ready to buy that perfect wreath because I didn’t have the time to make one.  Guess how much they were?  $50!! With a 40% off coupon it would still be $30, and it wasn’t exactly what I wanted.  I just couldn’t do it, so I browsed the Fall aisle and found beautiful leaves on picks for $1.49 each.  No brainer.  I bought 6 of those and hot glued them to a faded stick wreath I already had.  It turned out exactly how I wanted and cost less than 10 bucks!  This will almost always be the case when it comes to wreaths.  And seriously, all you need is the wreath form, hot glue and whatever you are hot gluing to the wreath form.

We have quite a few wreath tutorials on our site.  One of the most popular is this cute petal burlap wreath:

Also check out this fabric rag wreath:If you’re interested in a St. Patrick’s day door hang check out THIS one we made recently.  Check out THIS Instagram post for a super simple Easter wreath, and head over to our Wreaths board on Pinterest for loads of wreath ideas.  You can also type WREATH in our search bar to see more tutorials we’ve posted.

Next up for DIY:  Roman shades!

What?!  Sounds pretty hard right?  It’s not.  You’ll be shocked at how simple these babies are to make.  AND they are NO SEW!  It just keeps getting better.  😉  We have made 3 of these and loved them all three times.  All you need is a little time and some measuring skills.  See the full tutorial HERE.DIY No Sew Roman Shades

The last DIY project:  Canvas Photos.

Guys-this is possibly my favorite DIY ever!  Money saving, easy, and looks so good!  We just got a step by step post up – check it out HERE.DIY Canvas Photos

Now for the 3 projects we personally say to BUY.

First:  Girls hair bows.

We’re mostly referring to ribbon hair bows.  By the time you buy ribbon, clips, and master the perfect technique, you could have just bought 12 bows in all different colors!  I have 4 girls, so I have done it all in the hair accessory world, but when you can buy them for $1 or less a bow?  Not worth DIYing it.

Next up: Pillow covers.

I have tried making them, but like the bows, by the time you buy fabric and thread and pull out the sewing machine and learn how the heck to sew one, you could have bought one and had it on the couch for a few weeks already.  There’s also the high chance you’ll buy fabric intending to sew up some pillow covers and months will go by, or you’ll get right on it…….. and mess up, then have to buy more fabric and spend more money.  I have done both of those which helped lead to this point of just buy the pillow covers.  IKEA has killer prices and beautiful choices.  Hobby Lobby also has a wall of pre-made pillow covers.  Then there’s sites like Jane.com, Groopdealz.com, and PickyourPlum.com that often have great pillow cover deals.  All the pillow covers pictured below happen to be from IKEA. 🙂

Last on our BUY list: Cards.

Paper scrapbooking isn’t really our thing, so if you’re like us, just buy cards.  And buy them from the Dollar store!  That’s probably the best tip we have about cards, did you know the Dollar Store has cards 2 for $1?!  They are normal, nice cards too.  We promise a $.50 card is just as thoughtful as a $4.50 card. 🙂

There you have it!

3 Things to DIY:

• Wreaths
• Roman Shades
• Canvas Photos

3 Things to BUY:

• Hair bows
• Pillow covers
• Cards

Here is the link to our ‘The Place’ segment for your viewing pleasure:  http://fox13now.com/2016/02/23/diy-or-buy-which-home-projects-you-should-make-yourself-and-which-ones-you-should-pay-someone-else-to-do-for-you/

We always have such great time with Brooke and Brittany!

What do you think?  Have you found some projects you would rather just buy or are you a die hard DIYer?