And now to continue my list of 100 Decorating Ideas…
11. Try not to stick too closely with any one style. Trying to make your home country or modern or French Polynesian can often make your home look a bit kitschy. If your home is extremely modern, try to incorporate a few traditional pieces or vice versa.
12. Use a Sharpie. Use a sharpie to touch up scratches on your wood furniture. I’ve been doing this for years with my black furniture, but now Sharpie even makes wood-colored markers specifically for this purpose. Look for them at Target, Wal-Mart, or your local hardware store!
13. Rid your home of mini-blinds! If you have them in your home, take them down. Replace them with larger blinds, shades, or just curtains–just do something other than mini-blinds. They scream “OUTDATED!”
14. Browse the endcaps. Some of my best decorating scores are found in the often-overlooked out of the way endcaps of my favorite stores. At Target, you’ll find great deals on home decor from the past season on items in the endcaps away from the main aisles. Prices are slashed as much as 90% on these items!
15. While we’re on the topic, learn your favorite stores’ clearance schedule. At my favorite Framing Store, they have a twice yearly buy one get one for a penny sale on every frame. This is when I stock up for the year! At Pier One, they typically have a one month display time for their seasonal items before they start slashing prices. Do your research so you can get the best deals in home decor! There is no reason you should EVER pay full price!
16. Buy original art. Ever seen the prints below before?
Of course you have! Visit a local craft fair, take a few photos of beautiful architecture and print them in black and white, or paint geometric shapes on a $7.00 canvas. Any of these options will be more original and probably cheaper than what you’ll spend on posters of the above overused images. My husband and I try to purchase a piece of art on each trip we take together. We use art as our “souvenir”. Not only does this help grow are art collection, but it also reminds us of all the neat places we’ve been!
17. Use frames to unite a photo collection. To give photos a united look in one room, use the same color of frame. Choose frames in any color or any size, as long as you unite them with color you’ll create a cohesive look! Here’s a look at the photo display I have in my kitchen:
18. Bring the outside in. In my favorite decor book, Home Rules, designer Nate Berkus suggests that every room should have a piece of nature in it. This could be a bowl of shells, a framed leaf, a piece of coral, a basket of pinecones…something to bring the outside in!
19. Avoid featuring “home decor crap” or HDC in your home. All my favorite stores sell HDC, and yes, sometimes I purchase a piece or two of HDC. What is HDC you ask? These are things that serve no purpose other than to clutter up our walls and shelves (vases with fake flowers, figurines, mass-produced faux French trays, imitation Chinese vases, etc). Everything in your home should have a story or be an accent item to a headlining piece. I look at the shelves in my living room and I have photos from my wedding, a handmade bowl that a friend gave us as a wedding gift, a set of porcelain chickens that were once my great-grandmothers, a stack of my favorite books, and a jar with notes from guests at our wedding. Also on the shelves are a bowl from Pier One which accents those books, some vase filler that sits in the bowl from our friend, a vase with berries in it next to those wedding pictures, and a cute little basket, but like I said these are supporting roles to the headliners. Don’t let the HDC become the headliner! Keep your decor personal!
20. Clean your carpets. When we got a dog, we also bought a steam cleaner. We now clean our carpets every three months or so, and I really can’t believe how much better our home looks with clean carpets. You can either invest in a steam cleaner yourself or rent one, either way you’ll get your moneys worth. Not only will cleaning your carpets extend the life of your carpet, but it makes everything else in your room pop!
Back tomorrow with more of my 100 Decorating Ideas!
Aw, I’m happy to hear the chickens are doing well since their migration.
Best post yet! Ban the cliched prints and HDC! Nothing says “I have no life” more than a home with meaningless “art” and tchotch everywhere.
AMEN!
I hope to give you a full update sometime soon!