Inexpensive decorating ideas?

Parent Cafe
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<p>“Edad, I agree. I prefer personal art, but it takes a life time to create and an artist in the family (unless you’re rich)”</p>

<p>I am a scientist, not an artist. Even so I have walls full of stuff I have made myself: all sorts of hobby equipment, fishing lures, powder horns from my muzzleloading rifle days, and now tons of photographs. I have so many photos I don’t even bother with frames. I just put them up with tacky putty and change them frequently. I also have some “real” artwork, including an original print that a friend gave me and some things I bought or won. </p>

<p>I think I would rather have bare walls than some inexpensive stuff or the junk that passes for artwork at the home decorating centers. Although I do like maps and at one time had one on the kitchen wall. That was mainly so the kids developed a sense of geography. Then there is the worst: repetitive patterns or scenes on paper covering the walls.</p>

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<p>Some people have a better eye for what will look good, whether a fishing lure or a poster. Others don’t. That’s why they ask for advice. My SIL has a wonderful eye for color and made a beautiful wall decoration with some yarns of wool (not macrame). I used to knit, too, but it would never have occurred to me to use yarns of wool to decorate my walls.
Also, not everything has to have sentimental significance. We’re talking decoration, not commemoration.</p>

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<p>Have old quilts hanging on my walls. Same deal with old plates. All shapes and sizes. Acquired them throughout the years, some have memories attached and some I just liked!</p>

<p>Have a huge crazy hat collection, feathers, beads… Some given to me by my grandmother and great aunt. Others came from garage sales and thrift stores, just crazy silly hats. All really bright colors.</p>

<p>Pics of the kiddos in back/white throughout the years in scenes they wish didn’t exist! (well at least not when they were teenagers) Have them with pics of my grandparents as children. Hope someday to put them with pics of my grandchildren…I can hope!</p>

<p>Have a small but very special to me collection of teddy bears ( all given to me by dad when he was deployed). Blankets knitted for myself and my children when they were babies by both of my grandmother’s. And books, loads of them. Most have a home, most have been read over and over, well-loved.</p>

<p>The drapes/curtains were mostly all purchased from Ross Dress for Less, Big Lots or TJ Maxx/Marshalls/Homegoods. Just bought some last weekend for $7.99 a panel Wamsutta and lined. Like the drapes really full, so usually put up a few!!</p>

<p>Needless to say the clean, modern and uncluttered look doesn’t thrive in my home.</p>

<p>But daughters always reinforce everything in its place, in a place of respect (especially if I am holding onto something for sentimental reasons). So a neat and tidy, comfortable old little shoe!!</p>

<p>With a ton of kiddos and all their friends here there needed to be places to sit and eat, dance, throw footballs so nothing to expensive, just comfortable. Lots of beds, linens, chairs, plates…functional yet fun and kiddo friendly.</p>

<p>Only one rule, silly one, but mine…no posters on the walls. They can have posters but have to be in some kind of frame. One they make, buy, find but in a frame of some kind.
My way to determine whether its a fad poster or one the want for a while. Older son had one since birth so this year I had it reframed. He was thrilled! One of the Blues flying in his birth month and year. Had it that long!! When he was home on leave it was up in his room and he was speechless and THAT is a first for him!</p>

<p>I decorate with what I love and what my children love. Seems to be easiest that way and the most fun. Comfortable too.</p>

<p>Good luck. And yes we paint with OOPS paint from Home Depot, sometimes mix them together in a big bucket, then the color is a surprise. Fun and silly, a reflection of me, I guess.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

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<p>Sometimes what matters to an individual is not the particular piece of “stuff” that is on a wall, but the overall ambiance, the colors, the feel of the room. Therefore, it is possible to use individual objects that you have no personal connection to, and still end up with a very personalized living space.</p>

<p>My H is the practical sort, and I know that if it were up to him, we’d probably have a calendar on the wall, and not much more.</p>

<p>My sister thinks my taste is “cheap” (because I don’t do “decorator” objects); I think hers is impersonal (rooster statues in the kitchen and bowls of random spheres???). Neither of us loses any sleep over it. We are happy in our own space.</p>

<p>My favorite piece of decorating advice is “Use what you love.” If you only buy pieces you love, hang pictures you love, you can’t really go wrong.</p>

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<p>Another tip since I think you are in the Boston area: Ten Thousand Villages in Central Square, Cambridge. It has useful and decorative stuff produced by crafts people in many different countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The chain was started by Mennonites and the staff are all volunteers. I’ve found lovely things there.</p>

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<p>I like a cluster of old mirrors (or not so old mirrors in interesting frames)</p>

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<p>“I like how it looks in my home” is all the meaning it has to have for me! It doesn’t have to necessarily take me back to a trip, or represent my deepest feelings or emotions, or represent something I or a loved one has hand-made. It just has to represent my aesthetic.</p>

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<p>I know this may sound awful, but I’d rather have “meaningless junk” that I think is pretty hanging on my walls than meaningful stuff that I find to be butt-ugly. It’s like gifts of Christmas sweaters from Grandma – they may be sweet and meaningful, but nobody’s going to wear them to school or the office.</p>

<p>Marite, thanks for that tip. I’ll have to check that out. I haven’t explored Central Square very much, so I’ve never been to that particular shop.</p>

<p>Binx, your statement about unimportant objects adding up to a personal room as a whole is right on.</p>

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<p>^^
I think you can find balance, mixing personal stuff with things that have no particular meaning but fit your taste.
Personally, I hate the “model home” look with huge vases, and those “bowls of spheres.”
Anyway, I use a lot of photos I have taken to decorate. Lately, I’ve been using black and white pics. I get frames at Joanne’s - real cheap.
I get throw pillows at places like TJMax and change them to match the seasons.
Tuesday Morning has some cool stuff…but it’s hit or miss. I bought a rug there a couple of years ago, tired of it after a while. Brought it to the local consignment shop, and got more money back than I paid for it!</p>

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<p>Physicsmom: You can look up Ten Thousand Villages on the internet before venturing into Central Square. I like their African baskets a lot.</p>

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<p>I have seen some great old funcky metal pieces go up on a wall and look great. An old piece of a metal headboard, and an old metal wrough iron porch door hund sideways(without the screen) can make a great piece for a wall. You might have to see it to appreciate it. Sometimes it goes up as is, sometimes you spray paint it. You find a piece at a yard sale.</p>

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<p>katwkittens, nice post. I bet I would like your house, even if hats and teddy bears are not my thing.</p>

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<p>in a room. So I went to a fabric store and found a piece of very colorful fabric I loved. Happened to be wide stripes. I stretched it over a wooden frame like an artist canvas and hung it on the wall. Then painted a nearby bookshelf in a bright color that picked up one of the stripes. Made it a happy and interesting room to be in.</p>

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<p>^skyhook, that’s a great idea. I think something like that could fill this empty wall at the top of my stairs.</p>

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<p>You can find some neat inexpensive tapestries on eBay and other sites. S1 got a Tree of Life one that covered his stark white, cement block wall. I sewed a couple plastic loops on the top hem, and he was able to hang it up using those 3M stick-on plastic hooks. He’s used it two years already, and will use it again next year. It could also double as a lightweight bedspread…</p>

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<p>And re: tonerangers beef with the big bland vases and ‘model home look’ stuff that people buy-- I agree 100%!! They look uniform and bland. And why would anyone buy more stuff like that when we all accumulate so much without even trying?
Cue the George Carlin ‘stuff’ routine…</p>