Your best frugal decorating idea

[BellasMom]

I was just wondering if anyone might have a a few good ideas for me to redo our new house. I have a TIGHT budget, and a lot of rooms to do, an office and 2 spare bedrooms. One of the spare rooms a craft room. Help me ladies!!

[Jenna]

Hi Bellasmom,

Congratulations on your new home!

I think one of the cheapest and most dramatic things you can do for a room is paint. Find a color you love and go for it! It can change the entire feel of a room!

I think a couple of throw pillows that are really colorful and great can really spark up your living room. It is amazing what a little hit of color and pattern can do for the whole room. An inexpensive area rug can really make a room as well. Places like Home Depot have a great selection of very inexpensive rugs that are really great.

I made all the window coverings for our house. It was really not that difficult and saved us alot of money. Nothing very complicated, just valances and simple panels. I bought the fabric at discount stores and bought ends and pieces.

Have fun feathering your nest!

Jenna

[otheila]

Window treatments I think is one where you can let your imagination run wild, and you can do it very frugally to set the mood for a room.
My dining room is antiques, with lots of plants and well critters. So alot of wood in this room, very natural looking.
I took the walls painted it a yellow that I got at wal-mart for $1.00 a gallon (mis-tints I figure even if you need more then a gallon you can get them to match the color again and you can get 2 for almost the price of one). I went and got twigs and sticks some longer some shorter then my windows, tied them together with a fine wire to make a valance for my window. Attached these to my window frame using U brackets, Glued some greenery and dried roses in with the twigs to decorate it. Then I used cheese cloth for the scarf to go along with it. The trick is to keep it light looking.
For my laundry room I took the plastic dryer vents and covered it with material with extra material added on to leave a pull down shade on it. ( think of a tp roll) attached these using a dowel so they could roll.

If you go to your local carpet store and look for remenants they are often cheeper then area rugs and you can get them to bind them for you, saves alot.

Stenciling is by far more frugal then borders if you are so inclined.

Plants are another great decorating tool. along with their pots and stands. Which you can let your imagination go wild with again.

Have fun and enjoy your new home

[kahana]

I agree with the suggestion of painting. I am someone who feels uncomfortable in a home with all white walls (though I know some people prefer that). I love being surrounded by color.


One idea I think is neat is to mat and frame postcards or the fronts of greeting cards. It's a great way to add some inexpensive artwork to your home.

[kahana]

I also wanted to mention a book I found at the library - More Splash Than Cash Decorating Ideas by Donna Babylon. It had LOTS of wonderful ideas!

[kimmyo]

Some great Frugal ideas:

1) Use what you already have. Rearrange furniture from one room to another. Maybe you have a piece of furniture in the bedroom that would work in the living room or vice versa.

2) Paint can be economical.

3) Fabric...slip covers, pillows, tabelcloths, runners, etc...

4) Shop flea markets and thrift stores for Trash to Treasure finds.

5) Make a great desk for an office from an old door and 2 file cabinets.

6) Use collections to decorate with....hats look great on a wall in a guest bedroom.

[Shawn]

The frugelist thing I ever did was to buy a mirror with a plain white frame around it (11x16) for about $4.00.


Then I bought some silk flowers and greens and then hot glued them around the mirror. It turned out so pretty.

Oh yeah, I sew my own curtain using top sheets. Actually it seems I am making curtains for almost everyone I know..

[redwolfe]

Think about SHEETS! Sheets are great for decorating on a tight budget. You can find good deals at local department stores or factory outlets. They make great curtains, pillow covers, table cloths and dresser scarves. I've used them to make decorative wraps on lamp bases and my mother has even made herself summer clothes out of them. They are machine washable, wrinkle resistant and easy to mix and match. Some day when you get tired of them, they make great drop cloths.

Have fun!!

[sheilaanderson]

hello. here are a few ideas that i hope will help you.

1. paint walls- but before you do-take time to pick 1 item for your inspiration -to chose a theme or color scheme for each room.
2.recover furniture w/ slipcovers-try Target stores,Burlington Coat factory stores,www.surefit.com-very good quality & good prices,or try mega craft stores or home decor stores-but watch quality at those places.-if too $-use clearance bedspreads or sheets or clearance fabric (use pvc pipe to tuck in and hold in place& sew hems or iron on tape for hems)
if need furniture-check out home decor shows for ideas for building cheap furniture or try target stores,consignment shops,reupolstery stores,or do you know any home woodworkers looking for work?they might build basic pieces for cheap price
3.some wonderful sources for cheap decor ideas are at the websites to christopher lowell show(discovery channel), decorating cents show(hgtv),trading spaces(learning channel),etc. also check out those 3 channels for other decorating shows. they have amazing- cheap ideas for everything!
4. you mentioned a craft room you need to decorate- i purchased a large fold up banquet table/conference room table at Office max or office depot for approx. $50. makes an excellent crafting table-i bought the wide one and put cheap plastic ,lightweight shelves on the back for a hutch for my plastic tubs full of craft supplies-purchased shelves at walmart - approx. $8 each- i bought 2 and put them side by side on the back of the table. the table is particle board with a laminate top-easy to clean if paint gets on-i have had mine for years. it also has a metal skirt(for that i took a roll of magnetic tape=left the backing on-fed it through a fabric valance and stuck it to the metal skirt of the banquet table for a cute,short skirt to decorate my craft table(also easy to pull magnetic tape out to wash curtain).i also used more matching curtain valances for the windows in the same room (purchased at a bath,bedding,linen outlet store for $4 each).
also buy plastic shelving and plastic totes. are great for storage for crafts also-buy the sturdy industrial type garage shelving and large totes-both are sold at home depots etc.
5. for pictures- try mega craft stores for cheap prints and frames,some sell already framed prints $10-$20 each.or shop around and you might find prints at one store and a cheap frame source at another store. perhaps paint your own on canvas or try decopage on canvas .
MOST IMPORTANTLY-TAKE YOUR TIME IN YOUR NEW HOME TO THINK THROUGH WHAT LOOK YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH-IF NO IDEA WHERE TO START-DEFINITELY WATCH HOME DECOR SHOWS I MENTIONED OR LOOK THROUGH MAGAZINES ETC.-BUT DONT EVER BE AFRAID TO START OR EXPERIMENT-SOMETIMES THATS WHERE YOUR BEST IDEAS COME FROM.

hope these give you some help-email me if you ever want to -i'll try to help you the best i can. email at TylerPbear@msn.com
sincerely-sheila ann anderson

[yvonne]

Congrats on the new home! My husband and I bought our first home a year ago, and we are still decorating it. My husband is not so picky about decroating, but I am, and I have a hard time justifying costs once I find something I like especilally if I know I can make it for less.
Curtins were my hurdle. But I found the styles I fell in love with at www.windowplicity.com. However, I couldn't afford their prices so I made my own patterns got fabric off the discount table at Wal-mart ($1.00 a yard) and went to town. I bought extra fabric so that I could do pillows in the living room and change out the fabric pannels in our end tables. I also did my kitchen and got extra fabric to make place mats and chair cushions. I also learned how to make faux chenille rugs off of Decorating with Style on hgtv and made a big area rug to go under the kitchen table.
If you have time, search the internet for ideas. Better Homes and Gardens has some pretty cool ideas (bhg.com). And, if you are the crafty type, you can make all sorts of stuff yourself saving even more. Shelving units for the bath rooms or for extra storage, Throw rugs out of scrap tapastry (look in the discount bins at the fabric store). Check out the thrift stores for Trash to Treasure items.
Also, don't try to do it all at once, you will make yourself crazy.

lots of luck and if you need more ideas feel free to email!
Yvonne