Posted in Painting, General Decorating, Walls, Floors, Storage, Wallpaper, Painting, Decorating With Nature |
I need REALLY cheap decorating ideas
October 2nd, 2006
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Full question:
I have lived in the same little (900 sq. ft.) home for almost 28 years with very little changes because of little funds and little help. My oldest daughter is 23 and is starting to really get into the remodling or renewing our house but we are both seeing that there is little money to do anything. My biggest complaint at the moment with my house is the ugly ’70’s wallpaper, paneling and carpet they put clear throughout the house. I have tried to pull off the stuff that was coming off in the bathroom but made a big mess in there. When I was a little girl, I would go to my friends house that had paneling, and I thought only rich people had paneling. If only! What I would really like to do is paint over the paneling and strip off the old wallpaper and paint. The bathroom and kitchen need new flooring. Do you have cheap and I mean very cheap ideas?
My answer:
Ok, first off, you can use a spray bottle with fabric softener and water mixed 10 ro 1 (10 parts water to one part fabric softener) to spray on that wallpaper you tried to remove with no luck. That will soften up the paste and you should be able to get a lot of it off.
Second, paint miss-tints (paint that has been custom mixed but then not taken) are available at Lowes and hardware stores. These sell for about $5 a gallon. If that is too much, they do also sell quarts for $2. You can stretch how far that goes by using a feather duster ($1 at the dollar store) to lightly dab color on here and there, maybe over some of that paneling.
Speaking of the dollar store, they sell wallpaper borders (I think they are six feet long and about 3-4 inches wide)for $1 a piece. They also sell peel-and-stick tile. The last time I looked at those, they were three for $1.
All the home stores (like Lowes) have a Clearance area but they hide it. It is usually comprised of the last roll of a design of wallpaper, or a valance that doesn’t have curtains to match, etc.
Consider brown bag floors. Try the bags you actually get from the grocery store. I wouldn’t use the part of the bag with the print on it. This can also be done on walls using wallpaper paste. I have not priced paste recently, so I can’t quote you that one.
You can also use tissue paper and the pages of old books on your walls, secured with wallpaper paste. If you do the book thing, it’s recommended that you use four to five different sized book pages. Books at Goodwill here are a quarter a piece.
You can also use newspaper. Now, don’t laugh. I have seen it done. Stained with tea or coffee, and then put up with wallpaper paste.
Speaking of tea and coffee stains, you can dye white sheets with tea, coffee, onion skins soaked in water, juice - I have dried some glad petals to try to use them as a dye.
And now that we are on the nature kick, you can use branches as curtain rods, wall hooks (use the crotch of a branch for this), and wall covering (I saw them stapled to a wall). Leafed branches look great in a clear glass or vase.
Boxes your food comes in (cereal boxes, pasta boxes, laundry soap, etc.) can be covered with brown bags or newsprint (end rolls sometimes available for free from your local newspaper)to use as storage. Newspaper also works for this.
If all else fails, check out http://www.freecycle.org and see if there is a group in your area. People give tons of stuff away every day. Furniture, construction supplies, clothing, you name it. See if anyone has anything left over that they want to give away. That will just cost you the gas to pick it up.
Your Frugal Decorating Diva,
Nancy
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