ok, so I wanted to spruce up the house a little, but we're not even on a shoestring here ... we're on a bit of masking tape ...
so one thing I've done, is I went to the paint shop, and got lots of those colour cards, and have stuck them in patterns on the kitchen cupboards to liven it up a bit. instant improvement!!
what cheapy ideas have you used to home-ify your home, without spending much (or any?) spondoolies?
Depends on how hard-core an op-shopper you are. Decide on a theme then op shop/disposals your heart out. This can work well if you want to do like a shabby-chique and you're prepared to strip & paint a few bits of furniture, etc. Also, if you have a sewing machine, if you hang around spotlight near the beginning of hte week they often have a lot of stuff on their sales tables (offcuts and suchlike) which you could transmogrify into decoratin splendour. The Ikea catalogues are a good guide to mix-n-matching, often using one or two pieces in a strong colour and then matching your soft-furns to that can work. They also have plain frames you can stretch your own fabric over if you want something matching on the wall.
Our FDC lady has done a few large canvases where she has painted a base colour then attached some wall-stickers to them. Gives the impression of large art without the expense.
I get a lot of comments on the black and white photos of Melbourne I have in our front entry. They're from an artist I saw at the Melbourne Art Centre markets. His large photos were fantastic, but at $45 each I just couldn't afford them at the time! Instead I bought a postcard pack for $15, painted 3 frames I already owned black, put dark grey card behind the postcards and hung them up! I love them!
I also have some fabric over stretched canvas in my kitchen. 3 blank canvases from go-lo, less than a metre of some gorgeous material that I love and a staple gun was all it took!
paint colour rejects, go to a paint store and see what they've got in the way of paint that people have ordered and once they've gotten it home it is the wrong shade, you can pick up paint cheaply.
Canvasses from cheapo stores, some cheap paint, do your own paintings - this is a great one for the kids, yes even for your DS, non toxic paint for hand & foot prints.
I have used cute scrapbooking paper in frames as artwork in the girls rooms. There are several designs with coordinating colours/motifs. Big W & kmart often have cheap frames too.
Paint is one of the cheapest and yet something you can get the most value out of.
In my unit I've painted all the walls, repainted the old medicine cabinet inside and out with spray paint (pink in the inside!), painted furniture, pictures.
But if you can't afford paint, you can often makeover things and rooms by cleaning them. Clean as much as you can by putting things in a washing machine or dishwasher if possible.
Plants also add to a room, whether they're real or fake.
Hooking things around curtain rails.
Recycling containers to be used for another purpose.
cheap ways to decorate
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