Cheap Tricks For Decorating Your House or
By Mark & Annmarie Lenson
People Like Us…….People Trust Us
Put Our Experience On Your Side……..We Sold Almost 800 Homes
Just because you may be on a shoestring budget doesn't mean you have to be hamstrung when it comes to style. Your job is to shoot higher than simply making your house or apartment habitable; you want to make it comfortable, attractive and a place to which you want to come home. You'll be able to achieve a lot of bang for the buck with a staple for first-time renters and home buyers: an ordinary bed sheet. Sound strange? Read on…..
As a textile resource, the bed sheet is a relative bargain It can be cut, trimmed, disguised and reborn for all kinds of uses - decorative pillows, cafe curtains, placemats, vanity skirts, tablecloths, shower curtains, and it can even be painted as a dramatic backdrop for a living area or bedroom. Flat sheets can be found on sale almost any time of the year, and in a wide assortment of colors and patterns.
For most of these color-enhancing and practical ideas, you don't even need to know how to sew. Fabric, glue, scissors, some trim goods, and patience are all you need to brighten a sofa or a tabletop with color. Straight pins will secure your fabric as you work with it and prevent you from having gaping seams or crooked edges.
In "The New Apartment Book" by Michele Michael, Clarkson/Potter Publishers, New York, the author uses a white wall-sized sheet as a canvas to paint a colorful, bold-stroked Statue of Liberty in the season's new ocean blue, daffodil yellow and olive green tones. The effect is contemporary and breezy. cleverly substituting the painting for a more expensive and less expressive headboard against the bed. Crisp stacked pillows again visually pinch hit for the absent headboard.
You can take the idea one step further with your own painted backdrop and carry the idea through to hand-painted pillows. Practice a broad brushstroke of your favorite painter's work or a photograph. Use something you adore as inspiration - a time of year, a favorite hobby. If you aren't artistic but can follow a pattern, invest in stencils. You can use them to paint borders around your ceiling or on the backsplash of your tabletop cloths, napkins, or mats. Carry through the theme to color coordinated oven mitts and dishtowels.
When you fold fabric into a forty-five degree angle, you can add a contrasting fabric to miter corners on placemats and shower curtains. Again, fabric glue can come to your rescue if a sewing machine isn't handy. For a shower curtain, you don't need to make ring holes. You can find fabric rings that clip on at most fabric stores, hardware stores and department stores. Just make sure your clips are sturdy enough to support both a plastic liner and your fabric trim with loops or tassels across the top, or by scalloping the bottom to suggest waves on the water.
Without a large investment, you can brighten and adorn your home by having some fun with sheets. And when you are tired of the look, throw them out and start over!
