Interior Design – Karen's Perspective

18 Ways for Loving Your Home on a Budget

Don’t you love watching the flip-it and home makeover shows? Do they make you want to redo your own home?

Well, we’ve already talked about a lot of inexpensive ways to update your home in Decorating on a Budget – Paint, Decorating on a Budget – Accessories, and Decorating on a Budget – Exterior. But, here is another list of economical updating ideas.

Interior:

Change the cabinet hardward. You can do this in the kitchen, the bathroom or anywhere you have knobs that are dull, outdated, or you just don’t like. A great place to find them is Habitat for Humanity Restores, yardsales and flea markets.
Change your lampshades. Check out Target or start noticing lampshades you like at yardsales, even if you don’t like the lamp they come with!
Paint interior brick. We painted the fireplace in our last house a dark forest green, almost black. When renovating homes we purchase, we usually paint the fireplace brick (interior) an off-white to match the trim in the room. If your brick is blotched or discolored, this really gives a clean, new look to the room.

09 / 25 / 2009
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The Suite Life in a New York Townhouse

I live on 2 acres in North Carolina, but this home has me longing for the Big Apple!
Wow, how fabulous is this?

09 / 10 / 2009
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Green Walls by Nature!

Green roofs have beautifully proven themselves to be a resource against global warming. There is one problem with the green roof in all its beauty and function… very few people can see it!

Green walls, however, allow us to raise living plants in a whole new way while providing some physical advantages. For one thing, what a wonderful position as a gardener to work standing up!

For the most part, the needs of the plants will be the same as if they were planted in any horizontal plane. More good news, weed seeds have a harder time rooting on a vertical plane.

Check out these green walls! Once again, they challenge us to think outside our own box. I love that!

Starbucks makes a lot of efforts to be “Green”. They are considered one of the most socially and environmentally responsible companies in the world. Now, at many stores, they’re sprucing up their drive-throughs with green features.

Green walls can be used indoors.

Green walls are found most often in urban environments where the plants reduce overall building temperatures which helps reduce energy consumption. Living walls are especially suitable for crowded cities as they allow good use of available vertical surface areas.

How about this amazing building by Korean architect Minsuk Cho! It is the Ann Demeulemeester Shop in the Gangham district of Seoul.

I hope these photos have inspired you like they have me! Another wonderful way to grow gardens! I, for sure, am going to try one.

Imagine raising an edible crop wall. For starters, I think I’ll try growing wheat grass. My husband loves energy shots of wheat grass from Jamba Juice. Wheat grass shots are pretty expensive so now I can try to grow my own. I’ve heard they’re pretty easy; don’t know about on the wall!

Whatever you try, good luck and let me know how it turns out!

07 / 17 / 2009
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Decorating on a Budget – Exterior

We’ve already talked about Decorating on a Budget with Paint and Decorating on a Budget with Accessories, so now let’s talk about the exterior of the home.

There’s much to do inexpensively outside. First of all, clean up. Get rid of anything old and ugly sitting around the house including pots, dead plants, weeds, trash; you get the point.

Next, step back and look at the house or, better yet, ask a friend or neighbor, even a stranger walking by. What do they see that maybe you don’t?

07 / 07 / 2009
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Decorating on a Budget – Accessories

Accessories

Trying to update your home on a budget? How about accessories?

If you can’t buy a new sofa, buy some throw pillows! You can find them inexpensively at craft stores, garden supply stores, discount stores like Target or K-Mart. If you don’t find a pillow you like, buy a pillow insert and enough fabric to cover it. Even without a machine, you can sew up a pocket for the insert and make your own throw pillows! Or maybe you can switch pillows from one room to another to create a new look!

Have a Garden Ridge near you? They’re a fantastic source of great, inexpensive accessories. Search through other craft shops for ideas, colors and styles you like.

Candles are wonderful accessories. They not only look good but should smell great, too. One of my favorite fragrances is vanilla. Nothing makes a home cozier than a soothing fragrance. Candles come in all sorts of colors and sizes so they’re good even in small areas like bathrooms. But be very careful using lit candles if you have small children or pets.

06 / 26 / 2009
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Decorating on a Budget – Paint

Angled Wall

Suppose you don’t want to move (or can’t) but you want to freshen up your home so you’ll feel good, like you have moved! What are some inexpensive things you can do to get a new look? How can you get the most bang for your buck?

Well, one of the least expensive ways to achieve the most dramatic change is with paint. Sometimes you’ll want to paint a room to give it an entirely new and/or fresh look. You can also paint just one wall for accent or drama. I’ve done a one wall paint in several different ways. One idea is to paint the focal wall. In most rooms with a tv, the tv wall is the focal wall. If that wall is darker, you’ll be surprised how it improves the look of the images on the tv screen. I think everything looks better against a dark wall.

Or, you may want to accent a wall that’s not the focal wall. A wall with a door and windows takes less paint and will accent the trim around the doors and windows. If you have nice trim, an accent color paint on the wall will really make the window and door trims pop.