Are you ready to spice up your living space but don't have a big budget? With imagination and some inexpensive or even free materials, you can create your own homemade decor and turn your home into a work of art. Does this Spark an idea?
Wall Hangings
One of the easiest ways to add interest to any room is with unique wall hangings. You can find inexpensive picture frames at dollar stores and flea markets in various sizes which you can leave black or paint any color of your choice. Inside the frames include pictures from magazines, calendars or greeting cards, pressed flowers and leaves, crocheted doilies or hankies, or memorabilia like ticket stubs, menus or napkins. You can even hang empty glassless frames painted in different colors in an interesting arrangement on the wall.
Photos also make wonderful wall hangings. Simply take a favorite photo and blow it up at your local drug store or photo shop or arrange black-and-white photos inside different-sized clear photo cubes. Shadow boxes also offer endless possibilities, which you can fill with seashells, small pine cones, dried seed pods or other small objects.
Tables and Shelves
Take an old end table or one you've scavenged from a yard sale or flea market and restore it by gluing down a new surface made out of 1/2-inch cork. Or create funky side tables using two small metal garbage cans finished off with small, round sheets of glass from a hardware store. Look for other materials that would make fun tables, such as cinder blocks you can spray paint and stack.
If you have problems finding bookshelves that are the right size for your space, or if they're too expensive or require too much assembly, consider stacking sturdy wooden benches on top of each other to make a streamlined shelf. You can also create instant shelves by laying Plexiglas over cinder blocks stacked in layers, as with the tables above.
Lampshades
Turn your boring lampshades into conversation pieces by covering them. Measure the lampshade by rolling it sideways over a piece of paper and marking the bottom and the top widths with a pencil (leave an extra inch on each side). Take any non-flammable paper or cloth and cut out your pattern, then attach it to the shade using fabric spray adhesive or a glue gun.
Another option is to mark a pattern on a plain lampshade in chalk, then use a glue gun to cover the shade in flowers, beads, leaves, glitter, or any other interesting objects from a crafts store or dollar store.
Vases, Bowls and Candles
Dress up tables and other flat surfaces with plain vases and bowls hand-decorated with acrylic or glass paint or simply fill the container with homemade potpourri using essential oils and dried pine cones. You can also make your own candles from any mold that is heat-resistant and doesn't leak, like an old soda can or a bottle and fill with melted paraffin, colorings, and fragrance and pre-tabbed wicks.
Curtains and Valances
For easy valance window toppers, hang different colored napkin rings on a tension rod and loop pretty patterned napkins through the rings. Or drape ready-made linens like bandannas, napkins, pillow shams, kitchen towels, tablecloths or pillow cases over the curtain rod folded in triangle shapes. For simple curtains, mount a bamboo pole or tree branch above your window perched on nails with large heads and drape a decorative tablecloth or baby blanket over the pole, covering the nail heads by hot gluing seashells, pine cones or large buttons onto them.
Headboards
Create an inexpensive headboard by taking an old, solid door hung sideways, either in its plain form or sanded and stained. If it has panels, paint them a different color or add paper inserts or stenciled designs. Salvaged fencing like wood picket or wrought iron styles can also make an attractive headboard, and you can simply stand them up behind the bed if you don't want to hang them. Other ideas include using folding screens, shutters, garden trellises, or window frames hung side-by-side above the bed.
Tags: also make, pine cones, cinder blocks, fill with, wall hangings
