Decorating on a Dime

So, if you don't know. I love to decorate. I mentioned in yesterday's blog that I am painting the rooms in my new place and decorating with a lot of the home accessories I already have. One of my favorite ways to decorate is to reinvent pieces that I already own.

I'm already thinking of fabulous new ways to revamp my bedroom area. I also think I want a new fabulous color for it. I have decided a few things though. This blog entry is all about tips for various areas in my new house:

The Bathroom

I am extremely lucky in that I will have my own bathroom in the new space, however, it is tiny beyond belief. I'm going to have to be very creative when I start to revamp it. I think one of the ways I can do this is to choose a bright color for the space. I absolutely love color on my ways, you will never see me living with "Builder beige". I blame my mom. When we were little she would go out to home depot and scour the "leftover" paint bins. These were normally colors that people returned for one reason or another, or a color that was made on mistake. She'd bring it home and it would be the base of her new room design. This is how we ended up with a pink hallway one year. My dad, being the patient man that he is, never said anything about her crazy painting antics. I'm thinking my new walls will be orange. I have never painted anything orange before, so I might change my mind before I get there, but I saw a lovely orange room remodelingmyspace.com. I also dont have a tub in the bathroom but a shower with a glass door. I plan to remove the door and set up a bar for my shower curtain. I think it will add a more fem. touch to the bathroom. I'm also going with white fixtures and storage. I'll be sure to take some before and after pictures of my new space once I'm all done with it.

The Sun Room

One of my favorite decorating items are these small square mirrors I got from IKEA. They cost me $2 each and you can arrange them to make a neat display. what I did with mine was stain them to match the other woods in my living room. Now that I'm moving I plan to cover them with fabric. The mirror part is a simple glue gun glue so they come apart easy for reupholstering. I'm going to get 2 or 3 different colored fabrics to use and then reattach the mirrors and hang them on the walls. Mirrors are a great way to add even more light to a room. I think these will be perfect in the sun room. The great part of this project is that it's simple, easy and inexpensive. I've really gotten my use out of those $2 mirrors.


The Living Room


Living in DC I used the monuments as my inspiration for my last living room. I painted three pictures. Lincoln, Washington, and Capitol. My plan now is to cover these paintings in white and start over. My new theme is going to be cherry blossoms and DC. Re-using the same canvas over again is a great way to save money. I might even frame them this time to give a more finished look. If you dont have a natural talent for painting you can still use canvas in your home to create your own masterpieces. Pick simple pictures and print them out. Cut them out and trace the objects on your canvas. Fill in the paintings as if it were a paint by numbers project. You would be surprised how wonderful your projects turn out. Not to mention art is never perfect. Plus, it's always fun to have people come in and compliment your artwork.


Kitchen


I dont yet have massive ideas for the kitchen, though I am sure they will come. Instead I will share an idea I had some time ago. For Christmas 2 years ago my boss gave me a $100 cookie jar from nordstroms. It was hardly my taste in accoutrement's for my apartment. I couldnt take it back, but I wasnt sure where to put it. Instead of hiding it in a corner, I decided to give it neighbors. Lots of people use glass see-thru jars to store their sugar, flour, etc. I decided to use mix-matched cookie jars. I headed over to Marshalls and picked out 4 more jars. None of which matched, but all were fun colors with no particular theme. I LOVE them. The four of them get their own shelf. It was a fun way to add color to my kitchen without painting the walls or going to overboard. Above all I think a kitchen should be functional, but there is nothing wrong with a little color splash here and there. Also, none of these jars cost me more than $3.