Just call me Picasso...

Well folks, we're down to the last two weeks of renovating our rental house before the new renters move in. I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed with all there is left to do! Still need to paint pretty much the enitre basement, install all new light fixtures, and I can't forget to finish sprucing up the backyard. Makes me exhausted just thinking about it! Sounds like a lot of work, but we're determined to get it done! I just keep reminding myself that once we're finished with this house, we don't have to mess with it again for at least another year or maybe longer since a lease has already been signed.

I wanted to share a little money saving tip that we discovered while trying to decide on paint colors. I spent several afternoons at Bucheits and Lowes trying to decide on a neutral palate to color the entire house. We opted to leave the kitchen and bathroom white, but wanted to bring some color to the bedrooms and the living room. One afternoon outside of Bucheits, Daniel found these two cans of paint on the sidewalk, free for the taking.

A bright orange and a muted yellow were not the neutral colors I was envisioning. But mixed together with a lot of white primer, here's what we came up with for a fun bedroom color:

Not too shabby huh? It's a little brighter yellow in person than in the photo. I think it's still neutral enough for anyone's taste.

We then found an old can of brown paint in the basement. Remember those awful brown baseboards and trim? We assumed the paint we found was what the previous owner had used to destroy the natural wood. But mixed together with white primer, the brown became the most beautiful shade of delicious neutral tan I have ever seen.

So we ended up not having to buy any new paint for this income property, and the money we saved on paint can be used to plant some bulbs in the backyard. Got any other home renovation money saving tips?