Need some decorating advice
Sweetrose664
My husband and I rent an apartment and I need some inexpensive ways to decorate without making it perminant (like painting). Is there anything I can do besides putting pictures on the walls? Thanks!
Princesstoo
Add a bright color to your pillows on your couch, your curtains and accessories. The color you choose will have to go with whatever color you already have going on your furniture. The other thing that works well is to pick a design theme and stick to it. Find what works for you, whether it is ocean, botanical or modern, etc, and add pieces that go with that theme.
catwoman708
You might find the focal point of each room, play that up, and take elements from your focal pieces to decorate the room and walls. For example, if you have a fireplace in the living room, play it up with a great mirror or painting over it, decorate the mantle, and add some accents to the hearth area. If you have a nice window with a good view, then play up the window treatments and possibly add an accent table or some great artwork next to the window to draw the eye to the window. If you have a plain room, the furniture or a beautiful rug can be your focal point, using colors from the rug or that compliment the furniture in your decor.In a dining room, the table and/or china cabinet or buffet table can be the focal point if you decorate the dramatically and have something on the walls that rounds out the effect.You can get ideas from furniture store displays, catalogs, and design magazines. Find some resources like a design book that has a color wheel, and explains the elements of design, like scale, balance, harmony, repetition, color, contrast, etc.... As always, start with the "bones" of the room (the larger furniture and end and coffee tables, lighting, window treatments and textiles, artwork), then add the little things like plants and knick knacks as you find them.For inexpensive things to use, take stock of what you already have, there are neat "finds" available at garage sales, thrift shops, consignment shops, stores like Ross, TJ Max, Big Lots, and even Wal-Mart and Target if you know what you are looking for. If you have a friend who's taste you admire, ask them for ideas and suggestions. Sometimes just using something you already have in a different room or for a different purpose can liven things up.
Sweetrose664
Thanks, these are all great ideas. I can't wait to put them to use
catwoman708
P.S. You can also ask friends and family if they have any forgotten treasures in their attics, basements, storage buildings, or items they don't really use. You can offer to pay them or swap them a favor, but often they will just give them to you. And flea markets are often a good source for unusual finds.I'm in the process of helping my elderly parents clean out their overstuffed house (they are "hoarders"). A lot of it is junk, but my mom has "collected" some really neat stuff over the years that would be really cool to decorate with. Old trunks, antique suitcases, art Nuveau era jewelry boxes, baskets, quilts, vintage tablecloths and doilies, antique lamps, teapots, material and yarn, kitchen gadgets, you name it, she's got it (and can't part with it, but will give it to family). We are in the process of putting a little cabin on some family land in the country, and will be able to almost completely furnish it without buying anything! Between my own house and my parents house, we have everything from towels, linens, kitchen furnishings and a few pieces of furniture. All the "country" themed stuff that I've gotten tired of is going to the cabin, where it will look just right. I recently traded for an almost brand new mattress set by babysitting, and bought a used frame for $15.
ju-ju
How about a really colorful or interesting rug and some coordinating accent pieces? You don't need paint to add color! Or try this one:I have a friend who (instead of painting her new basic white apartment) had her beau build her some large frames of cheap (or even scrap) wood over which she stretched some pretty, and inexpensive fabrics (somewhat like a painter's canvas), and hung them on all of her walls as panels, and used some of the colors from that fabric for throw pillows, curtains and accessories. It looks great! And wasn't difficult or expensive either!
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