Cheap Home Decorating Ideas: Inexpensive or No Cost Decor

Who has extra money growing on trees these days to buy new decor for their homes? I'm hearing the sounds of silence. When you have no budget for decorating your home then it's time to pull out the cheap skates and take a ride.

First stop recycle bin Check out your community recycling program. Our town has a drop off center where we can take things that we don't need and someone else might be able to use. Once a month these items are put on display at our Town Hall. Town citizens can go in during open hours on the weekend check out the things available and take anything home that they want to. Not only has this reduced refuse at out landfill it has helped many people. It has saved our town money. It saves me money when I go in and find a nice chair that simply needs a leg readjusted. I've also found shelves, living room curtains, containers for flower arrangements (using my imagination) and a few other things I can re-purpose. Items found in recycling areas can be used for home decorating. Grab an old pair of jeans and make a bolster pillow with the leg cloth for your family room. Glass containers make great bud vases or foundations for floral arrangements. A child's toy or an old end table could make excellent lamp stands with a simple lamp kit from the discount store. Look around at recyclables and use your imagination.

Dollar store or discount store Glide those cheap skates down the curtain aisle and take a quick peak at the price tags and skate on by. Go over to the bedding aisle and look for flat twin or full size sheets. You can buy flat sheets and rework them into the perfect curtains for your windows. Easy as slitting the hem ends with a craft knife and inserting the curtain rod through the opening. Two flat twin sheets will do a regular sized bedroom window. How many curtains can you buy for $5.00? A package with one twin sheet cost me $2.50 at a certain discount store last month. They wash nicely and keep their color. What more does anyone need.

Yard sales If there is a sale close enough to your place that cheap skates can get you there and back check out the low cost items there. Do you see any picture frames? Grab a couple of them for a dollar or two. You can frame magazine pictures or a full cartoon page from the paper for a conversation piece. This is cheaper than the prints at the art store at the mall. A lot cheaper. If you are a scrap-booker frame up a layout page. When you want a change just put it back in your album and take out another. My husband loves history so he has framed an inexpensive copy of the Constitution which hangs on our wall.

Speaking of wall hangings I saw a great idea at a doctors office recently. Some very crafty person took scrap-booking paper and glued or pinned it to pieces of 1/2 inch thick craft foam and made a display on the waiting room wall with half a dozen of them. They were eye catching and a very smart cheap skaters project.
I was trying to discreetly peek and figure it out because I am a cheap skate. They also could easily be changed out with your mood or the Seasons. Other great wall art could be framed items your child has done at school or even an old needlecraft you did at Bible School or camp years ago. I have a crewel embroidered tiger I did when I was 10 years old at Bible School a decade or two ago. Whoops, almost fell off my cheap skates for that fib. I love the thing. It is child like but precious to me.

No cost just what a cheapy likes best Skate through your house. What can be moved around, re-purposed or changed. Hate that closet door? Take it off. Place it over your filing cabinets and make a desk or work table. This works very well when your husband is at work. It's all said and done when he gets home. Don't need a work table? Turn it into a headboard. That's my next project. I've already got cloth I bought at a sale 50% off with a coupon. Turn some outgrown t-shirts into blankets or quilts for your kids rooms. If they need cushions for the floor stuff a t-shirt body with old soft clothes and sew it up.

Distress a piece of furniture that has a few dings in it and give it a good shine. Everyone will think you spent big bucks at an antique or shabby chic store. Do you have a set of cute dish towels your friend gave you for a gift? Turn them into a curtain for over the sink. Ric rack makes nice set of tie backs. I could go on and on.

Use your imagination while you skate around and you'll be surprised just what you can do to add a new look to your home for little or no cost.