A Couple of Zero Dollar Home Updates
by Katy on September 9, 2025 · 17 comments
The paint on our front porch finally cured enough to put the old furniture back in place.
• Thrifted couch and matching chair — $45 Goodwill
• Throw pillows — $0 curb picked
• Rug — $0 curb picked and then painted
• Green tiled table — $3 Goodwill
• Round metal table — $0 hand me down
• Flowerpot — $0 curb picked & the plant was also $0 as my neighbor didn’t want it.
Total cost = $48!
My backyard is back to her normal self again, without all the random extra furniture and plants. Ahh . . .
I also decided to see if I could improve the top of this thrifted Ikea end table. My husband uses it next to his recliner and although I like the simple design, the top surface was ug-lee!
My first step was to wipe on some wood stain, which I found in the basement. It helped a bit, not not enough, so I got out my kids’ old set of markers. Hello . . . Pentel #S360-118!
It took a bit to color everything in, but I think it turned out pretty good. Especially since I followed the coloring with magical Restor-a-Finish.
Total cost to spruce everything up was zero-point-zero dollars, as I didn’t buy anything new to “freshen up” the porch. That, my friends, is my favorite price!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve spruced up many a piece of furniture with a brown Sharpie!!
So smart!
That porch looks so comfortable. Did you paint the floor?
Yes, my husband just painted the porch a couple weeks ago, which is why all the furniture had been sequestered to the back yard.
Your porch looks beautiful!
Thank you!
What comfortable looking spaces!
Do you have any grass, as in, do you save money by not having to maintain a mower and do the mowing?
I have no interest in maintaining a lawn, so we get a free load of wood chips every few years and spread them around the yard. No need to water, decomposes naturally and requires no maintenance.
I am so impressed! Particularly interested in Restor-a-Finish. What a difference!
Thank you, Restor-A-Finish is an amazing lazy hack.
Beautiful porch and yard, Katy! Impressive! I’ve used Sharpies to restore black enamel furniture scratches as well. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. 🙂
I’ve certainly used a Sharpie on black furniture!
It’s all beautiful. Like Sunset magazine… I use that felt marker hack on my floors, if there’s a scratch.
I’d run out of pens if I were to use this trick on our floors!
Looks great Katy!!
Love it! The porch looks fantastic and that table does too! A little effort is all it takes sometimes. Thanks for the inspiration!
Katy,
You probably do not ever see Southern Living Magazine up in the Pacific Northwest, but it is a publication that shows lots of very fancy, very expensive, homes (both brand new and vintage) throughout the Deep South, Florida and Texas, along with cooking and gardening. It features top-of-the-line decorating and remodeling (nothing cheap what they do!) and often shows outdoor spaces such as porches and verandas…this is published in the South, after all. Usually the homes are owned by “prominent” Southerners, such as doctors, lawyers, architects and wealthy business owners. Old wealth, in other words.
I’m telling you all this to explain that when I say your porch looks like something a reader would see in Southern Living, it is incredibly excellent indeed. So….
Yes, your porch looks like Southern Living! I cannot give you any higher praise than that…..except to say you are a brilliant frugalista to come up with all that on a zero budget.
Also, the round table in the living room looks brand new.
Wish I could be there to sit and visit with you and Frugal Girl Kristen when you are at Fin Con next week (?), and I hope you have wonderful weather when that happens. Enjoy!