How to Decorate - Cheaply!

• Seems impossible but it can be done! It just takes a little savvy and imagination to create a look that represents your style, your personality and your wallet! Follow these simple tips to help you pull together your perfect environment on a small budget:


• Hop on the trend bandwagon and cover your walls in fabric! It’s cheaper, easier and more versatile than wallpaper, plus it’s a great alternative to painting, especially if you’re not allowed to, as in a dorm or rented apartment. It’s also a terrific option for when you’re ready to move or just want to change to a new look. Plus the pattern possibilities are endless! Coordinate an entire room by using extra fabric for toss pillows, slipcovers, table linens, anything!


• Create your own artwork from free items. This doesn’t mean keeping the sample picture that came with the frame! However, you can cut out pictures from magazines, use postcards and greeting cards, press flowers or leaves, even try some free hand sketching. Arrange everything in different sized but similarly colored frames and create a collection of art with your own personal interpretation. For a patchwork feel, use old fabric strips to outline a grid on a large piece of canvas. Fill in each square with anything you can get your hands on: hot glue extra buttons, seashells, coins, and voila, instant artwork for your walls. Whether your style is modern, classic or country, just the fact that you’re making it deems it as art.


• Don’t wait for the bargains to come to you! Go to thrift stores, consignment shops, garage sales and flea markets every chance you get. A little footwork and effort can pay off nicely - just be sure to stay open minded and forward thinking. A brown plaid sofa in good condition can be easily transformed with a slipcover. A scratched and dated night stand just needs a little sanding and a couple of coats of paint or stain, plus some updated hardware. The total price of these minor projects should add up to a fraction of what a new item would cost.


• Recycle, recycle, recycle. Lots of opportunities lurk right under your nose. Your parent’s basement or attic, for example, can contain a bevy of ideas. Trunks that can be placed at the foot of your bed for extra blanket and pillow storage. Curtains that can be dyed a new color. Shelving units that can be cut down or reassembled to be used as entertainment storage. If it isn’t completely destroyed, it can serve some sort of purpose.


• It doesn’t take great talent or tremendous imagination to outfit any room. Once pieces are matched by paint, pulled together with fabric and accented with color and style, no one will know how much (or little) you spent to accomplish your look. It also doesn’t hurt to have a sewing machine!