I have loved this simple cottage for nearly 50 years. My grandparents bought it when I was a kid and it has been passed down from generation to generation since then. This year, it was passed to me.
Everyone in our family loves what my mother affectionately calls the shack on the lake. For the past few years, it has served solely as a vacation home. Our visits to the house are usually whirlwind and based around days spent in Disney World, which is less than 20 miles away. When we are there, we keep it surface clean and in suitable repair, but the time has come for more serious repairs and improvements.
The problem is that I have to do it all with very little time and very little money. I need to prioritize, strategize and improvise to the best of my ability. I will have to shop sales and thrift shops, upcycle what I can, and repurpose things already in the house whenever possible.
As far as prioritizing, I am starting with the things that bother me most. For example, there’s never been good place in the house to stow keys and sunglasses. So, the first thing that I bought was this key rack from Amazon.
These racks are very inexpensive but are of good, solid quality. Mine was free because I used my Amazon cashback rewards. That's a big win for the budget. I will be working that cashback program at every opportunity.
When I ordered the key rack, I stumbled upon this matching mug rack for $19.99.
I hadn’t intended to buy a mug rack but I could see that it would work well with my other plans for the kitchen, so I ordered it. That was definitely within the budget, as well.
I’m going with a Mickey Mouse theme in the kitchen, so I filled the mug rack with some large Mickey Mouse mugs I'd brought to the house a few months earlier.
There were some other Mickey Mouse items stashed in the kitchen drawers and I wanted to display them. I found this pot rack on Amazon and filled it with our Disney accessories.
All of those things are used often, so hanging them over the stove made them easy to access. They really brighten up the kitchen, too. One note: This item had a poor rating on Amazon but I gave it a five star rating. I have absolutely no complaints about it.
I spent a total of less than $70.00 (price plus taxes, etc.), and it only took a few minutes to hang and fill each rack. Now I smile every time I walk into my bright and cheery kitchen.
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