Decorating FrugallyWritten by Rachel Paul
The trend these days is to discover extremely innovative ways to decorate interiors on a budget. The tips provided below are just a few of many ways one can inexpensively achieve a truly original look for a room.Borders on a wall are an elegant way to change look of a room. The easiest way to do this is to paint two parallel lines either at eye level or about a foot above floor. Deciding on what motifs or designs to paint or stencil between these two lines will depend entirely on who occupants of room are. For example, if it is a child’s room then you could dip child’s hands in paint and make hand prints between lines at regular intervals. I am yet to find a kid who doesn’t enjoy this activity thoroughly! Also, kids love to display their school art projects on their bedroom walls. Try hanging up these projects on their room walls and watch their eyes light up! Another option for border design is block printing using vegetables or fruits. Capsicum, okra and apples when cut in half horizontally, dipped in paint and stamped onto surface produce readymade floral designs. String beans can be used to print tiny leaf designs. Use your imagination to cut up a design on potatoes or carrots. Then use this as a homemade stencil to reproduce design. Here is another great way to add design to your walls. Choose any old toy car or truck in your child’s toy basket, dip wheels into paint and roll it along surface to create parallel lines; or you could zigzag them for a cute effect! Step outside for a walk. Pick up a few leaves that appeal to you. Now dip leaf surface into paint and press it onto wall to create a naturally stenciled leaf design. For a genuine work of art, try this. Dip an old toothbrush into paint. Hold brush close to surface you would like to produce this effect on. Now pull back bristles and release them gently so that a fine spray effect is produced on desired surface. Test out spray action on a piece of paper before trying it on a wall. Sponge painting is another surface painting method to create special effects inexpensively. Sponged-on designs actually let you personalize your space with minimum effort, cost and time. All you need is a plain wall, some cheap acrylic paint, a sponge and lots of enthusiasm! If you can’t afford expensive sea sponges, then don’t fret yet, there is help. Just get any old/new sponge, randomly pinch out pieces so you get an uneven plucked out effect. Now hold this piece of ‘personal art’ comfortably in your hand and dip it into paint. Then dab paint-soaked portion onto a scrap of paper, just to get excess paint out. Proceed to applying sponge onto wall at regular intervals. Stand back and view your artwork before touching up design. Have fun!
| | Remodeling Tips Should You Do The Remodeling Yourself?Written by Judi Singleton
When we decide to remodel often we have tastes that outway our budgets. We have a vision of just what we want, then we get bids from contractors, they are far beyond what we can afford. So we suddenly see ourselves as do it yourself contractors. We can save labor costs and do it ourselves we think. But should you do work yourself? Well we have to look at a number of things. Do you have skills or can you aquire skills, do you have tools and safety gear? Can you rent tools and safety gear and still save money? What about your time can you take time it is going to take to complete job? What is your time worth in dollars and cents? Do you really want to do labor? We have to look at these questions and decide an honest answer to each one before taking on tasks at hand. Unless you are a highly skilled do-it-yourselfer, avoid taking on jobs that may be dangerous, particularly difficult, or where a mistake can be quite costly. Some jobs simply are not worth risk. For example, think twice before doing: Unless you are a highly skilled do it yourselfer then you should avoid jobs that could be dangerous or that take a lot of skills because mistakes can be more costly than hiring someone else to do job righ in first place.
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