Decorating on a Budget – 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.

Pots and urns in all sizes and shapes add a splash of color and interest to nooks and corners. They’re wonderful for holding flowers, plants, rocks, or all by themselves for display. If it’s not the season for fresh flowers, a fistfull of twigs in a vase or a bowl of leaves, stones or pinecones can be wonderful on a table. Change the look by changing what you display.

You might want to pick an accent color for your home, like red, and splash it all through the house by the use of accessories. Red pillows on the chair, a red vase sitting on the table, a red candle in the bathroom. Picking a color and using it in accessories throughout your home will create a theme that ties it all together.

Boxes are pretty and useful. I have one on my coffee table that I found in a closet. It now holds our remote controls. Use boxes to hold pen and paper so everyone in the family knows where to find them; to hold batteries or other useful items that can get lost in drawers. Stack several different sizes for a taller accessory.

Picture frames can be very inexpensive and can even be painted. Frame your children’s art and display it. Frame cards you’ve received. Frame a piece of your favorite fabric. Frame photos from magazines. Mount shells, leaves, twigs, anything you like from nature and put it in a frame. You can make a grouping of multiple framed items on a wall for a beautiful display.

Mirrors are great for making a small space look larger. Be careful, however, where you hang mirrors. Always check to see what they will be reflecting. You only want to reflect areas that look good. Mirrors can be used in much the same way as picture frames. You can use a small one in a photo stand and sit it on a shelf. You can use a grouping of different size and shaped mirrors on a wall to create the effect of a larger mirror and cover a larger space. Mirrors can be very inexpensive and beautiful.

*Green tip – shop yard sales or swap accessory items with friends. Rather than buying more good which costs the environment, let’s recycle what’s already here! Cheaper for you, easier on the planet!

What other ideas do you have to share? Whatever you choose and whatever you do, please tell me about it here!

Happy Decorating!