Inspiring Home Decorating Ideas: American Chronicle: Inexpensive Home Decorating Ideas at Your Fingertips

American Chronicle: Inexpensive Home Decorating Ideas at Your Fingertips
Inexpensive Home Decorating Ideas at Your Fingertips
By: Jaime Carpenter
March 20, 2007

"Home decorating on a budget doesn’t always mean having to settle for second rate. Think don’t spend. If you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and get busy, you can have a house to drool over by using these budget decorating ideas. ! You don’t have to be that handy, but a few power tools will help!
1. Shelving- buy a couple of sheets of smooth particle board. Measure the desired width and length of your shelves and mark. Chalk a line down each and then saw. You’ll want to have 5 shelves when you’re done. Paint the shelves your desired color. A glossy paint is easiest to clean. Buy 8 inexpensive terra cotta pots 8” in diameter or so. Big enough so they will support the weight of each shelf, but not so large they will fall off. Decorate the pots with paint as you like or leave plain. Place one shelf on the floor for the base then 2 pots then 2 shelves, etc. TaDa! Inexpensive home decorating ideas are at your fingertips.
2. Easy Headboard- Create a headboard effect by purchasing a curtain rod slightly larger than the width of the bed. Purchase 3 or 4 chair cushions and string onto the curtain rod and tie. Easy!
3. Here's another inexpensive home decorating idea...Kitchen curtain tiebacks- Go shopping at a thrift store for some cheap metal kitchen utensils or flatware. You will need 2 for each window. Bend them in a U shape with vice grips or with a hammer by pounding it against a brick. It’s okay if you beat it up a little. That gives it a shabby look . Make sure to bend it so the front is on the outside. Attach the end to the wall with screws so that the open U is facing away from the window. Voila! A whimsical tieback. You can even do this for drawer pulls. Just don’t bend as much. Who new silverware could turn into inexpensive home decorating ideas?
4. Another inexpensive home decorating idea is to go to yard sales to find old trunks, hard suitcases, barrels, etc. Use all around the house for storage, a coffee or end table or extra seating. You may want to try some decorative painting to dress them up a bit.
5. Inexpensive Home Decorating Ideas for a Backsplash - Collect cheap colorful dishes from garage sales or thrift stores. Flat pieces work the best. Put them in a sturdy plastic sack and crunch them gently with a hammer. Install the cement board on the wall in desired area for the backsplash. Then arrange the flat tiles in a mosaic pattern in the tile mud. Let dry and grout. Definitely unique!
6. Hard Wood Floors Need Refinishing? – Gently rub a rough grained then fine grained sand paper all over so that some of the unfinished wood shows through. Then try a liming technique to give it that French country feel. This involves slightly thinning paint and brushing it over the floor. Last, seal with a satin polyurethane.
7. Budget Rug- Buy a large piece or roll of artists canvas that has been primed but not stretched over a frame. Paint with acrylic paints in your own original style. Then paint with 2 coats of polyurethane. This is one of many inexpensive home decorating ideas and works best when placed on hard wood floors or low pile carpet.
8. Need to Make an Area Appear Larger? Buy mirror tiles ($8 for a pack of 12 at Wal-Mart) and stick to the wall in a large rectangle or other design.
9. Inexpensive Home Decorating Ideas For Wall Art - Frame a piece of your child’s or grandchild’s artwork and display like a cherished painting. It will make a terrific conversation piece!
10. Do you have a 1970’s yellow toilet and bath you can’t stand? Go with it. Retro is back! Another inexpensive home decorating idea is to choose a paint color combination that has several shades of the yellow and add a few shades of brown. Add a funky shower curtain and rug. Paint the cabinets, walls and ceiling different shades of yellow. Make it look like you’re going with the mod look on purpose!
11. Budget Flooring- Pry up the old junk ‘til you hit the bottom. Install vinyl squares yourself! You can find them at Lowe’s or Home Depot for around $1. It’s a cinch to cut with a razor knife, peel and stick.
12. Budget Lighting- Attach a hanging lamp-cord set to just about any item you can find around the house. You can buy these cord sets at your local hardware store. Use a metal bucket, wicker waste basket or metal colander as the lamp shade. Drape the cord over a simple screw in hook in the ceiling. Allow the cord to fall down from the ceiling along the wall and plug in. Wow! Another inexpensive home decorating idea! Check out the March Newsletter to view step by step instructions on how to make a light fixture.
13. Group a mixture of decorative picture frames without pictures on top of a mantle or shelf to create a sculpture-like appearance. Just lean them against the wall. Find them at flea markets and yard sales.
14. Take one large decorative picture frame without picture and hand on wall. Use your imagination to paint a landscape or portrait right on the wall inside the frame. Not much talent? You can just stamp designs inside with paint.
15. Make a collection of mittens and gloves by hanging in pairs and nailing to the wall. Each year you can add a pair that your child has outgrown. When dreaming up inexpensive home decorating ideas, anything can be wall art!
16. Make your own magnetic board by taping off a designated area. Then paint with 4 or so coats of magnetic paint, yes they do make such product! It’s very handy! If you choose you can paint it a color to match your décor. Then make your own magnets. Buy a bag of plain magnetic circles at a craft store. Use a hot glue gun to glue anything from silk flowers to photographs onto the magnets.
17. Make a royal bed head board. Purchase a semi circle wall pot rack, 2 bed sheets, 2 curtain tiebacks that attach to the wall and curtainclips.
Curtain clips have a circle hooked to a clip. The circle is designed to go over the curtain rod and the clip is to hold the fabric. No sewing required! Attach the pot rack to the wall above the bed at desired height. Hook the curtain clips to the edge of fabric at even intervals. Place the pot rack hooks on the pot hanger. Then hook the circle part of the curtain clip over the pot hooks on the pot rack. Install curtain tiebacks to the wall, one on either side of the bed. Drape the ends of the fabric over each of the curtain tiebacks. Add an oval mirror or painting above the bed, between the 2 bedsheets to complete the look. Voila! Instant royalty!
18. Save those old game boards. Attach L brackets to the wall and super glue an old Monopoly game board to the brackets. Display theme related décor on the boards. Create a masterpiece by repeating this with 3 or 4 game boards.
19. Budget Flooring Tile- Install miscellaneous left over tile in a random patchwork quilt like pattern. Call local contractors who most likely keep scraps or try searching online.
20. Turn stemware upside down and use base as a candle stand. Group in 3 or more for an elegant centerpiece.
21. Use unusual items such as coffee cups, bowls, waste baskets, pails or watering cans for potted plants.
Now you can see that inexpensive home decorating ideas can be discovered just by using a little imagination! Every day items can turn into fantastic interior design tools! When looking for inexpensive home decorating ideas , remember that anything goes! As long as you like it everyone else will be jealous they didn't think of it first."