15 easy ways to perk up a room for less than $100! Keep this shopping list handy, and keep your eyes open at flea markets, thrift shops, garage sales, consignment stores and discount stores like Homegoods.
 
 

1. Old Books – Thrift shops are loaded with old books, and they’re usually less than $1. Pick up a few and use them to elevate a lamp or other small accessory on a table.
2. Beautiful Baskets – Baskets are the ultimate for clutter control! Try positioning one at the bottom of the stairs or use a bunch of baskets to easily store children’s toys.
3. Small Lamps – A small lamp will make a big impact on a kitchen counter, and it’s a lot cheaper than fancy under-cabinet lighting. Try a lamp in your powder room too!
4. Serving Tray – Everything looks more organized on a tray! Use one for your remotes or how about a tray for your mail?
5. Pillar Candles – If you don’t use your fireplace, fill it with pillar candles (real or battery candles) for a warm glow without the blazing heat. This one’s for you Southerners!
6. Beautiful Old Calendar – What good is an outdated calendar? It’s a budget decorators dream if you love the pictures! Use inexpensive frames and group the pictures together on a wall for a big impact.
7. Pretty Pillows – You’ll most likely find these at stores like Homegoods, Marshalls or T.J. Maxx, and pretty pillows are an inexpensive way to add a little pizzazz to your sofa or your bed. While you’re at it, pick up a cozy throw to fold on the back of the sofa.
8. Seasonal Decorations – Thrift stores are full of seasonal decor, so add a little festivity to your home for less! Halloween and Christmas decorations are the most common.
9. Small Rugs – One of my favorite finds at a flea market are small oriental rugs. They’re perfect for bathmats, inside door mats or in front of the kitchen sink.
10. Knobs & Pulls – Most flea markets have a vendor that specializes in old knobs and drawer pulls. Before you shop, count how many you need and for less than $100 you’ll have an instant update for your kitchen or bathroom cabinets.
11. Old Picture Frames – Snatch up old picture frames and repurpose them as chalkboards or bulletin boards. Here’s a quick tutorial that will teach you how to make a chalkboard or bulletin board. It’s easy, I promise!
12. Interesting Accessories – If you fall in love with an accessory, buy it! Your decorating style is a reflection of you, and if you love something, you’ll certainly find a place for it.
13. Architectural Pieces – Use your imagination and you might be able to turn that old urn into a beautiful table with a piece of glass. How about repurposing a mantel as an interesting shelf? You may need to visit an architectural salvage yard for these treasures.
14. Paint – Paint is the most inexpensive way to change the look of a room in an afternoon, but choosing the right color can be a challenge. Try the free Valspar Connect Live App for a FREE 30 minute color consultation! You’ll use your ipad camera to show your consultant the room, and she’ll show you color suggestions. You might also consider painting an outdated piece of furniture…how would that 1980′s rattan chair look in lime green or why don’t you paint that dated pickled wood table black?
15. Rearrange – Remember rearranging your bedroom when you were little? Relive the fun and rearrange a room in your house!

 
What are your favorite budget decorating tricks?

~~~~~~~

Image courtesy of Luigi Diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Can’t afford an interior decorator?

Be a copycat decorator! It’s diy decorating on a budget!

Inspiration abounds in magazines, catalogs and websites…so, find a room you like and copy it for less! Copycat recipes exist and we’re forever copying designer fashions on a budget, so why not copycat decor?

4 Ways to Get Started as a Copycat Decorator

Houzz.com – Free website loaded with thousands of photos! Search by room, style or region of the country and save favorites to your idea book. My search for traditional bedrooms in the Miami metro area yielded 126 results! I put all my favorites in an ideabook that I titled “master bedroom,” so I won’t have to search through all those photos again! FYI, if I didn’t limit my search to Miami, I’d have nearly 13,000 bedrooms to explore!

HGTV.com – Similar to Houzz.com plus room ideas and makeovers from some of their popular TV shows. You won’t find the overwhelming number of photos which can be a good thing!

CatalogSpree.com – If you haven’t entered the world of digital catalogs, prepare for your new addiction! You can “flip the pages” of all your favorite catalogs! Want-to-be copycat decorators will want to choose the furniture category to browse 26 popular catalogs like Horchow and West Elm. See something you love? Click the heart and you’re favorites will all be saved together.

Magazines and Catalogs – If the world of digital decorating is not your thing, I suggest cutting out pictures of your favorite rooms from magazines and catalogs and making folders for each room. When you’re out shopping for your bedroom, have your folder in hand!

Now that you’ve found your inspiration, it’s time to copy the look for less! Check out Craigslist or try shopping at thrift stores, consignment shops, and Homegoods for the best bargains.

Remember, patience pays…bargain shopping takes time!

~~~~~~~

Image courtesy of Maggie Smith / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Let’s be honest, we spend a lot of time in the bathroom. 
 
A beautiful bathroom is one of the more prominent items in a new home owner’s wish list. 
 
If you’re considering renovating your bathroom please remember that you do not have to do a complete overhaul to make a huge impact in this room. A relatively simple change in a bathroom vanity can really spruce up the room. There are many different ideas to consider and there are a variety of antique and modern bathroom vanities. An antique vanity would look great in an older home and give it that cozy feel. A sleek modern vanity made from glass with a raised sink or man-made stone may be a great choice for a condo. 
 
Do not let the potential cost deter you from making some changes. A factory direct bathroom vanity, cuts out the middle man and can save you as much as 70% of the original price.
 
When changing your bathroom don’t forget to make sure that your accessories such as mirrors, dispensers and faucet finishes slow with the overall design of the room. These small details will make the room feel more put together and the envy of the neighborhood.

My latest creation…a vintage suitcase bedside table for my son’s room! This suitcase table would also look great in an office or den, and you can make it to fit your space…taller, shorter, wider or deeper. Vintage leather suitcases come in all sorts of colors, so try to find a few that compliment each other. Another plus, use the inside of the suitcases to store things!

The only skill required to “build” a suitcase table is the ability to find treasures like vintage leather suitcases. Here are a few suggestions to get you started…

1. Try your grandmother’s attic, you just might find one that smells like mothballs! Give it a good dose of febreeze, and it’s ready to become part of your table.
2. Garage Sales…be patient and shop often to find the best treasures.
3. Craiglist.com almost always has a few, and the prices are usually really good.
4. Thrift stores abound with vintage leather suitcases, but they’re trendy right now, so the prices are trending up.
5. Your last resort is Etsy.com, and you’ll find plenty of vintage leather suitcases. They won’t be free like Grandma’s or a good deal like you’ll find at a Garage Sale or on Craigslist, but they’ll still be cheaper than buying a new bedside table.

 
Go treasure hunting this weekend, and you just might have a suitcase table by Monday!

I’m so excited to be able to share a guest post with you today because it’s about something that I hold so dear to my heart. It’s about my living room, and how I completely redecorated it for just under $200. It was an amazing journey, but the most fun I’ve ever had in all the home improvement work I’ve done.
 

How I Did It, How You Could Do It
I had a plan, and I wanted to execute my plan successfully. I only had $200 to start with to redecorate my living room, and I knew that it was going to be tough. So, I started by thinking of ways to generate more money to spend.

Sold Old Décor
Since I wanted to change the entire décor of my living room, I no longer needed the old décor. So, I gathered it all up, and held a yard sale. I made about $60 from all of the décor, along with some other items I no longer wanted. The rest of the stuff left over,I tried to sell on eBay. I didn’t have as much luck, but did manage to squeeze out $20 from that effort.

Planned Out the Room
I wanted to completely empty out the living room to start from scratch. I decided that I didn’t really need a loveseat in the room; no ever sat in the loveseat anyway, so it would be a wasted expense.

My list for the living room was:
• Couch
• Side table
• TV stand
• …and of course, décor.

Ventured Online
I am a big online shopper, and I pride myself in my ability to find the best deals. I can find online sales, coupons, and find websites with lower prices than what you can find in even thrift stores. I’ve even been known to haggle prices with people who list their items online for sale. It’s amazing what you can get for asking someone if they’d be willing to sell something for less.

Yard Sales
For big items, I set out on a Saturday morning to all of the neighborhood yard sales. It’s a big thing around where I live, so it took me a good 4 hours to visit all of them. I came home with a new-for-me couch and side table.

Thrift Store
All I needed was a TV stand, and some additional décor pieces to make my living room complete. I only visited two thrift stores, found a TV stand, and plenty of décor that matched what I was able to get for next to nothing online.

Paint Store
I had $50 left after having all of the furniture and décor for the living room, and all I needed was paint. I wanted a new color, but I wasn’t quite sure what color. I asked the paint store about specials on paint, but then I wondered if they had some specials they don’t necessarily tell people about, such as left over paint, mislabels, etc. I was in luck too, they let me in a on a little secret that sometimes painters will sell their leftover paint for less because they want to get rid of it. I walked out of the paint store with a new contact, and before the end of the day, I had all the paint I needed in a buttercream color I absolutely love.

Mission Accomplished: Living Room Redo for Less
In about three weeks, I transformed my living room. My friends and family can’t believe all I spent was $200. I love my new living room, and I hope you can take my advice, and make a living room that’s as enjoyable to you.

~~~~~~~

Written by: Marcelina Hardy

Guest writer Marcelina Hardy lives in luxury condos, and enjoys redecorating it as much as possible. If you’re ever in the area, look for her in the condos downtown Austin TX, she’ll be the one with the huge smile on her face.

Thanks to Bridgman Blog for this great idea!

Save a trip to the furniture store and save a little money by making your own headboard! The end result will be totally unique, cheaper and more interesting than anything you’d find in a furniture store!

Need a little inspiration? I’ve gathered some pictures from Pinterest to spark the frugal decorating diva in you!

Create a Curtain Headboard

 
 
Paint a Section of an Old Fence

 
 
How about a Headboard Made with a Recycled Wooden Pallet?

 
 
Give an Architectural Piece a New Life…think old Mantel, old Bookshelf or even an old Door!

 
 
If you’re good with a paintbrush, you could paint a headboard just about any shape or any color you can imagine! Now, go forth and unleash that frugal decorating diva!

Please leave a comment to share any creative and inexpensive headboard ideas!

If you’re a do-it-yourselfer and need a kitchen update…Rust-Oleum has a new product designed to turn your laminate countertops into faux granite in 1 weekend! Rust-Oleum’s Countertop Transformation kit covers 30 square feet for a little less than $200, and everything you need is in the box other than the brushes and rollers.

The four step countertop transformation process:

1. Sand the laminate or formica countertop and wipe clean.
2. Apply the base coat with a roller.
3. Choose from 5 faux-granite colors and spread the color chips with the dispenser…it’s kind of like sifting flour!
4. Sand and smooth the dried chips.
5. Roll on the glossy top coat. After the top coat is applied, the counters must dry 48 hours before light use and 7 days before normal use.

It almost sounds too good to be true, so I read a few reviews and put together a synopsis of the comments:

• It’s a 2 person job.
• Messy!!!!
• Base coat dries very quickly so work in sections.
• The kit seems to cover a little less area than it claims, so figure on the 30 square foot kit covering about 25 square feet.
• The dessert sand color appears to be the most popular and best looking. The onyx color had lots of complaints.
• The top coat puts out a lot of fumes, so be careful with kids and pets.
• Great way to update a kitchen without spending a fortune.

Overall, this product gets positive reviews, and with Rust-Oleum’s 100% money back guarantee it’s certainly worth a try!

Please leave a comment to let me know if you’ve used Rust-Oleum’s Countertop Transformation Kit or feel free to share any other tips for inexpensively updating a kitchen.