Sponge paint your walls, or a key piece of furniture. Blues, greens, pinks, and yellows in pastel shades refresh a room, and softness of sponging gives an “impressionistic” appeal.

Take clippings from outdoor ivy, and root in water for FREE houseplants. Buy inexpensive shade annuals and pot them up for indoors- fuchsias, impatiens, begonias, and primroses are wonderful for bringing in color, and deal well with lower light indoors.

Dress up candles as natural works of art instead of putting them away for warm months. Use a glue gun to attach organic materials such as dried twigs, flowers, cinnamon sticks, worn out potpourri, pressed leaves, coffee beans…use what you have! Or, tie on raffia or ribbon and group candles on a shelf, tabletop, or on a mirror.

Paint inexpensive houseplant pots to give your room designer touches. Sponge paint over clay pots, or use a stencil or simple pattern to give interest. This technique can also be used on your outdoor pots. Hint: for a more elegant look, try using new metallic craft paints over clay pots. Simply sponging on some metallic paint (try combing them) can look extremely upscale.

Got an old wooden stepladder? Use it as a great plant stand to bring green indoors. You can paint it or leave it rustic and weathered, depending on style of your room. Full size wooden ladders can look great on patio.

Add spring detail to your window treatments by using small grapevine wreaths as tiebacks or swag holders. You can add more interest by gluing on a small bunch of dried flowers. This is a great way to reuse flowers from a damaged arrangement, or leftovers from another project.

Buy artificial plant vines at craft store, and drape them over tops of your window treatments, or wrap them around a floor lamp. Watch craft stores carefully, and you can usually catch them on sale for just a couple of bucks.

Cover cardboard boxes with fresh floral fabric, and stack on a table like hatboxes. If you utilize scraps from another project, you will have creative, decorative storage, virtually free!

Give your kitchen a garden window by installing cheap shelving across inside frame. This can be nothing more than a small wooden block nailed into frame on each side, and a simple board resting on top of them. Fill this with plants and cuttings, and you will have big impact. Bonus; plants will thrive I bright light, and moisture of kitchen. Caution: Do not do this in a south facing window…the direct sun is just too much for most houseplant.

A Questionnaire by Suzanne Falter-Barns, http://www.howmuchjoy.com

Take this questionnaire to get clear on what you may be doing to undermine your own success and happiness in life. An explanation of your score awaits at end.

1. When someone offers help you usually a) answer no without even thinking b) consider for a moment, but then decide their help would be inadequate c) consider for a moment, but then decide it would be asking for too much d) happily accept

2. Your level of organization is a) catastrophic -- you can't even find your toothbrush at night b) okay, except that when it comes to your dream you tend to keep everything on tiny slips of paper that get lost c) not bad ... you organize everything. It's just that you never act on it d) fine -- you keep a running file or list of what you need to do on your dream projects every day

3. If someone gives you a key contact, you a) tuck it away in a pocket with no intention of using it anytime soon b) stick it in a safe place in your organizer or wallet, then lose it c) put it on your desk where it sits untouched for next four months d) get in touch with that person within a few days

4. When opportunity knocks a) you get a strange feeling in your gut and do nothing b) you always manage to get sick c) you seize opportunity, but not until after several hours hair-tearing while you try to find necessary materials, correct directions, a parking place, an open Fed Ex office, etc. d) you open door and let it in

5. The idea of being prepared, i.e. keeping an extra clean suit handy, having a beeper, always keeping extra promotion materials on hand, seems a) downright silly b) like a good idea, but one you probably wouldn't do c) smart, and you may even do one or two of these things d) critical -- you even keep extra panty hose on hand, and business cards in your gym bag