- When looking at paint chips, know that the color will always be much brighter on a large area. Choose a shade paler every time.
- Making a small room look big is tricky. It takes just the right combination of colors and patterns. Cool colors such as mint green, pale blues, and shades of white and beige are best. Subtle textures of pastels or white on white or beige and white stripes will expand the look. Use white or beige for the wood trim.
- Don’t be limited by the walls alone. A fresh new color on the ceiling will change your room a lot. A pale blue, for example, will give an entire room a lovely, cool feeling. Aqua is a wonderful color for the ceiling of porches. Pale peach or a hint of pink will cast a soft glow over the room -- use it in the dining room or bedroom.
- Lighting is a decorating tool -- it influences the way color looks. Bounce light off the ceiling for indirect, soft lighting. To create intimacy in a dark room with paneled walls, paint the ceiling a mocha color and add low lighting along the floor. When lighting is bounced off warm pastel walls and ceiling, it warms the room. Pink bulbs warm up a room, making its light more flattering than white light. Blue and green bulbs are cool, making a room seem more serene. In a hot climate, bounce the light off pale blue walls.
- When choosing a new resilient floor, remember that solid colors are harder to maintain and paterns with grooves and indentations collect dirt.
- The texture of your furnishings can brighten or darken a room. Glossy surfaces like satin, glass and tile reflect light and add brightness to a room. Surfaces like brick, carpet and burlap absorb light and make a room seem less bright.
- A cornice creates a finished look over a window. You can then add curtains, side panels, cafes, a shade or mini blinds. Or, if you don’t want curtains, just use a cornice alone ... it won’t block out light.
- To add a personal note to a child’s room, attach a strip of molding and hang the child’s collection of hats from it. Also, suspending a collection of kites from the ceiling is colorful, decorative, and inexpensive.
- Change a seldom-used room into a play and toy room for kids by removing traditional furniture, adding a sofa bed, posters, a fun border and large chalkboard. This restricts all of the clutter to one special room. When the room looks too overwhelming, a small sojhi screen strategically placed hides the mess. A much better use of space for a minimal investment.
- Change the look of a room in an instant with unconventional curtain rods:
- Plastic plant stakes and bamboo poles are thin enough to weave through a delicate fabric or a narrow channel on a curtain. The dark green or natural colors are appealing.
- All it takes is a walk outdoors to come up with a curtain rod that is not only different but looks great. Use a fat branch, bark and all. Look for one that is the size and thickness to suit your window/curtain. A slightly twisted and burly one will have a wonderfully rustic look. The contrast of this pole with a delicate lace curtain is interesting. The branch can extend beyond the window on either side or can be cut to window size. Choose curtain rod brackets or large hooks in an appropriate size to hold the branch at each side of the window frame. To hold the curtain to the rod, pin or stitch evenly spaced ribbons to the top of your curtain and tie to the branch.
- For a seafaring theme, use either a fishing pole or a boat handle.
- Forged poles or wrought iron used for hanging plant hooks make unusual curtain holders. These are found in garden shops and through mail order catalogs.
- It’s easy to update dining chairs with a new seat fabric. Even if the chairs are mismatched, but are well proportioned, they will look good together with the same fabric covering. The only tools you'll need are a screwdriver and staple gun (or hammer and tacks ). Choose a pretty, stain resistant fabric. A new piece of quilt batting or foam cut to size and placed under the fabric will add “oomph” to the seat. If the paint on the chair frame needs a touch-up, do it before re-seating.
- Painters’ drop cloths are made of heavy, inexpensive fabric. They are commonly found in natural colors but also come in rose, gray, and pale blue. Use them for canvas slipcovers on folding bridge chairs, cushions, and pillows. Add decorative braids and trims for color. Spatter paint a drop cloth for an interesting table cover.
- When working with dried flowers, spray with hair spray to keep brittle leaves and petals from shedding.
- Large napkins or handkerchiefs can be stitched together for inexpensive and good looking throw pillow covers. Turn pretty silk scarves into decorative throw pillows. Choose brightly colored, big floral patterns. Stitch two together and you’ve got elegant pizzazz for a sofa or bed.
- Use long wooden dowels on one bathroom wall for holding drying towels.
- Home Office Hints:
- No shelf space? Hang slatted boxes to store scissors, envelopes, etc. Drape a shade-loving ivy in the topmost box.
- Fasten bright and colorful shopping bags to the wall for storage of art supplies and other lightweight objects.
- For office brighteners, put pencils and pens in a flowerpot and use a music stand for a magazine rack.
- Baskets are an inexpensive and interesting decorating tool. Try a basket of shells on a low table. A basketful of pinecones in front of the fireplace is especially lovely. Store your needlework or mending in a pretty basket under a side table or in the foyer to add a feeling of warmth to the area. To keep your decorative baskets looking healthy, keep them away from dry heat.
- An old kimono can be draped on the wall for an elegant splash of texture and color.
- An old dining table found at a garage sale makes a great sofa-height coffee table. Just cut the legs to the height you need.
- To achieve harmony in a room, the tops of table lamps and floor lamps should be at the same level. A table lamp should be no more than 1-1/2 times the height of the table.
- Make cheap floor rugs by stenciling canvas with nontoxic acrylic paints.
- Make inexpensive book cases out of flue tiles or conduit pipes. The cubbyholes are perfect for storing wine.
- Sometimes a picture that was positioned correctly won’t hang straight. Wrap masking tape around the wire on both sides of the hook so that the wire can’t slip. Or install parallel nails and hooks a short distance apart. Two hooks are better than one for keeping pictures in their places.
- Don’t lose a perfect picture grouping when you repaint a room. Insert toothpicks in the hook holes and paint right over them. When the paint dries, remove the toothpicks and re-hang your pictures.
- Hang mirrors to reflect you but not the sun. Some mirror backings are adversely affected by direct sunlight.
- Discontinued wallpaper books offer a wealth of decorating ideas: Make placemats, cover folders and photo albums; use as matting for pictures, cover a light shade, make a collage, line cabinets and drawers, use for wrapping paper and gift bags, etc.
- Make a “window” on a windowless wall by hanging a mirror directly facing a real window. If a window is an a corner, place a mirror opposite it.
- A blank wall can become a point of interest if you hang on it small objects with interesting silhouettes, such as a collection of hinges, locks, keys, etc.
- For an unusual wall hanging, attach wooden rings to an antique quilt and hang it from a wide wooden rod.
- If you lack space for kitchen linens and towels, just put them in pretty baskets on the counter.
- To prevent a curtain rod from snagging when sliding it through a curtain, slip a piece of aluminum foil or a thimble over its tip.
- Old keys can make good drapery weights.
- When decorating for the holidays, it’s best to drape or scallop garlands on staircases. It is dangerous to wrap them around railings because it becomes difficult to hold onto as you walk up or down the stairs.
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