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Cheap Decorating
By Deb Bloom of BagChick.com
Several years ago we built a huge addition on our house to accommodate our 5 kids. No one wanted to share a room anymore, so off to the bank we went to finance an addition with a basement so that the kids could all have their own rooms and I could have a designated crafting area. Needless to say, with that many bedrooms to fix up, the cost could be huge. I love yard sales, flea markets and antiquing, so my adventure began. I think I had more fun than the kids. Each kid wanted to use their own ideas, their own designs and colors and motif. Here is some of the many things we did: Danielle's Castle Room
Danielle loves the castle, medieval, renaissance era so we painted her room a dark red, hung 4 large hooks from the ceiling over her bed, using the 4 corners of the bed as a guide and draped sheer black fabric into the hooks and let it drape over the bed and forming a unique fabric headboard. I found great shimmery, gothic looking fabric at a yard sale, added an edge of black fringe beading and voila!...the perfect window curtain. We found wall sconces at a discount store and she used them to set pictures on and I actually came across pictures of medieval Knights and fair maidens and things such as that, even a picture of Merlin the Wizard! I darkened some of the frames with black paint, allowing the wood to show through underneath and even put a red cast on some of the frames by using the paint from her walls. I found an old fashioned metal bench with the sides that curl up, painted it black and covered a cushion with black velvet. We used black lace fabric to cover existing night stands and odd tables and she had the perfect room in the castle tower. Casey's Country Room
Casey's a little fussy, likes everything neat and orderly, so she decided on a country room, simple and plain. We went to an old antique shop that specialized in metal fences, gates, old iron trellises and general iron and metal pieces. We bought an old rusty gate that was in 2 pieces, cleaned it up, welded the 2 pieces together and made a wonderful headboard. We put shelves in the corner and I bought old fashioned toys like metal cars, tops, game boards and dolls for the shelves. Sometimes the toys weren't old, so I made them look old by using crackle paint or covering them with a light coat of stain to 'age' them. We put a neat puzzle together to hang on the wall and she had old quilts and bedspreads hanging on a quilt rack in the corner. We had a nice cream colored bedspread but no dust ruffle so I bought burlap and made a dust ruffle. Yes, scratchy old burlap but it was perfect because it was stiff enough to hang nicely and looked crisp and neat. She wanted a corner bench so my husband made the bench out of scrap lumber that he had, we painted it white and I bought foam cushioning and covered it with fabric I had in my sewing stuff. Perfect! Leeann's Exotic Room
This was probably the funnest because it's also similar to my own bedroom. Leeann liked exotic decor, belly dancers and all things Moroccan. We put her mattress on the floor, no head or foot board and no bed frame. We put it in the corner and draped exotic gold fabric into the corner and over the head of the bed. I found a couple Moroccan-style lanterns and a nice fabric lantern on sale at Pier One Imports that matched perfect. We painted her room a dark orange/red and used a mustard color on the bottom with an elephant caravan border. The curtain was sheer fabric with beaded edge that I made. The girls all had corner shelves for their TV's, and Leeann wanted hers closed in on the sides, so I made her a curtain that completely covered the sides of the TV and allowed an opening just for the TV. She had a large vase of reeds and wooden sticks we found at Walmart and I made beaded garlands to drape around the room. A friend gave her an old fashioned mirror and it topped off the room perfectly. A Moroccan paradise! Jackie's Fairy Room
Jackie loves fairies and all things whimsical. We painted her room dark blue and the ceiling a lighter shade of dark blue, hung paper lanterns and pictures and posters of dancing and frolicking fairies. I bought a dark blue velvet bedspread and she had a canopy bed so we draped lots of colors over the canopy making a really nice draped finish on the head board. She wanted built in shelves in the corner for her collectibles and she also wanted her TV enclosed so I made a beautiful teal color curtain and edged it with fringed beads. We suspended some neat fairies from the ceiling here and there and I made little decorations to sit around. It was a pretty fairy land creation! Zack's Redneck Room
Zack's a farmer at heart. He's really just a redneck, a major hick from the sticks. He wanted all things American so we painted his room blue, used the American flag and a Marine Corps flag on the wall as the 2 major wall coverings. Zack had some old air planes setting around collecting dust so we suspended them from the ceiling for a neat touch. My husband had an Evil Kneival poster framed and we put that in there and I found old army trunks, ammunition boxes and even some prints of Civil War soldiers, framed them in cheap frames to hang. I came across some old hockey sticks at a yard sale to stand in the corner. We added some of Zack's John Deer tractors and Ertl trucks for finishing touches. Perfect for any Redneck. We never kept track of what we spent but I know it was hundred's, maybe thousands of dollars cheaper than going out and buying all new stuff. The kids loved the end product, I felt like I really accomplished something that summer and we all chipped in and helped with the projects. I hope they all do that for their kids someday, or maybe Grammy will help!
Gift Springs
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http://morganna.qondio.com/
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This intel was contributed by Morganna
Morganna
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May, 2012
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