Re-Decorating (Actually for the first time!) My Home

An Ikea is coming to Canton in summer of 2006!!! You lucky dog. (I desperately want one within an hour of Columbus.)

A fair amount is online though:

www.ikea.com

There is absolutely nothing better for redecorating cheap, IMO, though Target is doing their best to be the American Ikea.

My first thought is to give a lot of attention to curtains. Joanne fabrics and Calico Corners usually have good sales and a pretty good selection. Some great fabric curtains can make a huge difference. For the bedroom ones, you can think about having two layers -- a heavy white/ cream layer, and then a layer over that -- so you don't have to use heavy dark fabric.

Making a trip to the Houston Ikea tomorrow....

They have great kid's furniture and toys, too.

Penny's has good curtains, although I generally leave decorating up to Mrs. Drew. We're currently redecorating for baby #2.

Home Depot can be good for curtain rods, pull-backs, etc.

OOO, what a good idea!

Did you ever watch the Christopher Lowell show when it was on the Discovery Channel?

His background, I think, was in set design so a lot of his stuff is great and inexpensive ways to fake different things.

He's not on anymore but the Discovery Channel maintains an archive of a lot of projects: http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/christopherlowell/demos/demoindex.html

I would suggest that you start with a fabric first. For instance, in the bedroom, find a bedspread that you like first. It's easier to match the paint and flooring to the fabric than to find the perfect fabric once you've already painted the walls.

Wow! There are a ton of ideas on that website! Thanks!

Your welcome, Bella.

I always thought he had some good ideas - easy things to make and do while being easy on your budget too.

I am very excited to start this project...it gives me a purpose every day and that is very important to me. I just informed my hubby about my impending decoration and he just zoned out and said, "great, cool, sounds awesome." <<sigh>> Such a man.

Start with a large picture of me on the fridge.

Bella Dea
Bella, one way to bring lots of color to your walls in a rental unit is to:

Purchase inexpensive curtain rods as long as you can find (after measuring the width of the wall you want to cover.)

Purchase inexpensive colorful light weight fabric curtains (you make or ready made) to hang from the rods. The rods should be hung as close to the ceiling as possible.

You can cover an entire wall or a portion of it. Curtains don't just have to hang on both sides of a window.

Such a curtain accent wall might look great behind the head of your bed.

You can even hang inexpensive wall light fixtures on the curtain wall just by providing slits in the material for them. The curtains will hide the electrical cords.

If you are making the curtains yourself, save some fabric to cover pillows for the bed.

This same wall treatment can be used in your living room as well.

BBB

Or in the corner. The bathroom, maybe?



(It talks!)

http://shop.newline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_sku=AUSDRESTD&referral_id=CJP&AID=10280987&PID=1255199

A friend of mine was renting so couldn't paint either. For the bedroom, he bought several sets of sheets with a contemporary pattern and just stapled them top and bottom to the walls.

I swear, you couldn't tell they weren't wall paper! You could do it with sheets that match or complement your bedding.

I like BBB's idea, it's a good trick for making a small window appear much larger.

Try some smaller area rugs, it'll help keep the carpet underneath cleaner and is an inexpensive way to change the look of a room. One can go under the love seat and coffee table, a smaller one under the recliner.

Try different color light bulbs in small table lamps to create an atmosphere.

Do you think you could rig something on the wall that wouldn't damage it?
I'm thinking of cove lighting, tres chic.
I can't explain this well, but imagine a small shelf that goes around the entire room, maybe 6 or 8 inches from the ceiling. The shelf would have a small lip, like an inch or 2.
Run rope lights along the shelves, behind the lip, the cord would run down the wall to the outlet, but you could cover that with a vine or something.

You can buy rope lights at home depot. They are cheap, low wattage, don't use a lot of electricity, and safe. The lights are contained in a rope of clear plastic tubing, so it doesn't get hot.

It will give the room a really romantic glow. You can leave on day and night, wonderful as a night light, or for making love.

Chai Tea
Chai Tea, I like your suggestion to use the rope lights. I used them above my kitchen cabinets to highlight copper wall hangings. It is beautiful at night.

BBB

oh, I'll bet it's lovely on the copper.

BBB, what a great idea about the curtains not on the windows!

See, I knew you'd all have good ideas...a piece of all of you in my home...

And Slappy...I prefer the picture of you naked in my bedroom....

Home Depot has a computer system by Behr paints that will coordinate colors. We picked our main color, and it suggested eight different pallets, all of which coordinated with each other.

We then bought pre-stretched canvases from an art supply place (Hobby Lobby) and painted them with our color selections. Put 'em up on the wall and you have custom artwork.

We also re-painted a bookshelf to match.

Great! Thanks! I think I am going to do the bedroom in reds; burgandy, rust all those deep reds and cream to offset the red.

News! I talked to my hubby after work last night and told him my plan for the headboard. He got so excited we went to buy the materials and actually built the thing last night!! I have to paint it over the weekend and add the final touches but at least the thing is built! Once it's done, I will post it for you all too see!!

That's great Bella!!