Here are some straightforward, seriously cheap tips for making your home more beautiful, from Kathy Wilson writing for Homestore.com. Even people on brutally tight budgets can use some of these tips, starting right now. No, I don’t mean after a trip to the cash machine and Canadian Tire: I mean Right. Now.
You deserve to live in a place that makes you feel comfortable and happy, and you can take action to make it more like that today.
Especially if you know that paint stores sell mis-tints for about a quarter of the regular cost of paint. Just keep swinging by until they’ve got a colour you like and drop five bucks on a bucket of colour and some brushes. Anyone who’s ever painted a room knows how incredibly satisfying it can be once it’s done, and it’s mostly the prep work that takes the time. Painting itself is meditative, and if you clean the brushes properly they can be used many times.
But enough from me: General Paint has yet to mis-tint the particular shade of aqua I’m looking for, and I’m holding out.
Go to the Homestore site to read the details in full, but here are just the bare tips themselves:
- make a plan
- paint
- find free inspiration (books, magazines, the internet)
- move things
- use what ya got
- start BIG
- fake it
- be resourceful
- give your house personality (yours!)
- let your entryway set the stage
- Start Now!
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Lauren
May 30, 2007
Those are some great tips for someone on a tight budget. But there are people who are into making their homes look as elegant as possible yet can’t afford that. I know a few people like that and it’s hard to see that so I always tell them to just fake it. You can probably get something that costs thousands for literally a fraction of that price at a department store when it’s on sale. Just little tips like that. I’m trying to get my perfect home idea from watching Bought & Sold that airs on HGTV every Sunday at 10pm. Ideas you get from that show are amazing. Have you seen or heard of that show before? If not, check out their preview: ttp://web.hgtv.com/webhgtv/images/pac/59889/start_at_home.html?section=boughtsold,panel=videos
raincoaster
May 30, 2007
There are all different kinds of elegance, though; it isn’t automatically expensive. Look at Gustavian style for example: very little furniture, pale colours, and lots of light.
If you have your heart set on copying a particular style, there are indeed ways around paying straight retail for brand-new stuff, although they often involve a lot of hard work and new skills, like learning to reupholster things. If you want it that badly, it’s reasonable to think you should be willing to work for it.
timethief
June 2, 2007
These are really great tips. Thanks for posting them.
raincoaster
June 2, 2007
Glad you liked them. No matter where a person lives, they deserve to have a place that is attractive to them, even if they’re only going to be there temporarily. Moving stuff around can actually be life-changing, and it’s free.