Buying Smart Saves
Quality Vs. Quantity: Buying Smart Saves - Looking for abundance? You can stuff a room with furniture and accessories -- an expensive proposition -- or you can buy fewer but bigger items.
Splurge on one worthy focal-point element and you won't have to spend so much on the elements around it. Try an oversize mirror instead of several small ones, for instance. Consider a large armoire you can appreciate every day instead of four tiny tables that never get noticed. Six small throw pillows won't do as much for an ordinary sofa as two 24 x 24-inch ones, which can change the sofa's profile and personality dramatically.
Splurge on one worthy focal-point element and you won't have to spend so much on the elements around it. Try an oversize mirror instead of several small ones, for instance. Consider a large armoire you can appreciate every day instead of four tiny tables that never get noticed. Six small throw pillows won't do as much for an ordinary sofa as two 24 x 24-inch ones, which can change the sofa's profile and personality dramatically.
Often, the smartest buy is knowledge. Buying a few hours of an interior designer's time could help you decide where best to spend your limited resources and might keep you from making costly mistakes you'll have to live with for a long time.
Look for ideas that are low-cost or even no-cost. Study furniture vignettes in furniture stores and design centers. Go on house tours, and visit model homes and designer show houses. Pay attention to the colors and materials you encounter in restaurants, banks, and clothing stores.
In the end, it's not how much money you spend on decorating that matters but how wisely you spend it. Imagination is your most potent ally. To make the most of finite resources, be willing to take an unconventional -- even eccentric -- approach. Make the process of feathering your nest affordably an exercise in creativity, not an exercise in making do. Explore, experiment, and dare to be different, and your home will almost automatically reflect the good sense, good taste, good humor, and good will you put into it.
For as little as $25, you can create a brand-new complexion with paint. But don't automatically resort to play-it-safe white, even if you're hesitant about stronger hues. White walls produce a gallery effect that almost demands beautiful objects and furnishings. And white intensifies the perception that something is missing if a room is sparsely furnished. Pastels and darker hues have a way of filling up a room's blank spaces.
You don't have to stick with solid colors, either. Bookstores offer volumes on decorative-painting techniques: combing, glazing, ragging, and stenciling. With a little patience and practice, anyone who can hold a brush can turn an ordinary wall into a work of art for pennies a square foot.
Paint has just as much potential on floors and furnishings as it does on walls. Two coats of deck or latex paint topped with three coats of polyurethane will produce a beautiful finish on tile, linoleum, or even old wood floors that are beyond salvage.
Look for ideas that are low-cost or even no-cost. Study furniture vignettes in furniture stores and design centers. Go on house tours, and visit model homes and designer show houses. Pay attention to the colors and materials you encounter in restaurants, banks, and clothing stores.
In the end, it's not how much money you spend on decorating that matters but how wisely you spend it. Imagination is your most potent ally. To make the most of finite resources, be willing to take an unconventional -- even eccentric -- approach. Make the process of feathering your nest affordably an exercise in creativity, not an exercise in making do. Explore, experiment, and dare to be different, and your home will almost automatically reflect the good sense, good taste, good humor, and good will you put into it.
For as little as $25, you can create a brand-new complexion with paint. But don't automatically resort to play-it-safe white, even if you're hesitant about stronger hues. White walls produce a gallery effect that almost demands beautiful objects and furnishings. And white intensifies the perception that something is missing if a room is sparsely furnished. Pastels and darker hues have a way of filling up a room's blank spaces.
You don't have to stick with solid colors, either. Bookstores offer volumes on decorative-painting techniques: combing, glazing, ragging, and stenciling. With a little patience and practice, anyone who can hold a brush can turn an ordinary wall into a work of art for pennies a square foot.
Paint has just as much potential on floors and furnishings as it does on walls. Two coats of deck or latex paint topped with three coats of polyurethane will produce a beautiful finish on tile, linoleum, or even old wood floors that are beyond salvage.
There are many different "styles" that can be incorporated in different rooms of your house. We'll try to touch on the most popular ones and help you give your home a new look.