The holidays are approaching and I’m in a complete nesting mode. The only problem with cleaning out closets and eliminating clutter is that I now see very clearly the marks on the hardwood, out of place art and burnt-out lightbulbs. No more. There may be kids and pets in the house, but my home needs to be a sanctuary. I not only want to eliminate anything the family doesn’t adore, but I’m determined to fix my biggest pet peeves. And while I’m at it, see how much money I can save with coupons.  Here are my 5 quick home decor fixes that will spruce up life before the holidays!

Looking around my home, I came up with a list:

1. The Kitchen Floor. Living on an island where it rains half the year, hardwood floor is a horrible idea on one of the spaces leading to our decks. It was refinished 8 years ago but is scratched and horrible looking. Worse, I often photograph food and product in the kitchen and work hard to avoid shots of the floor. Renting an industrial sander and redoing it seems such a pain that it’s been on my ‘list’ for a couple of years. I need a quick and inexpensive solution for the holidays.

2. Kitchen Lighting. I need more light, and tried to replace bulb in the existing track lighting but it’s so old that even replacing the lights themselves won’t work. We have 3 tracks and I’m going to replace them all.

3. Unframed Art. While at the Dad 2.0 Summit in New Orleans, I had a live sketch done and it’s still in the tube.

4. Our house number is only at one entrance, which is a big issue in case of emergency and the fire department has to look at a map.

5. Mood lighting. The kids’ bedrooms tend to be dark and they both want to sleep with the light on.

For more cool ideas about couponing, Smart Cookie Sandra Hanna has come up with a few tips for shopping with coupons in Canada.