Ok, the new house we are moving in has an extra space that I need to deal with. I have no problem going into one store and picking up all matching things, but that is very expensive for me. (the stuff I looked at Target would cost me $400) So I will have to take the creative approach, which I thoroughly suck at.

The walls are pale yellow and the carpet is almost white. I have a camel back couch, and some book cases. I somehow need to buy a large rug for the dining area, a slipcover for the couch, tablecloths, window coverings, knickknacks, coffee table and possibly a chair all for under $200.

I can sew, but decorater fabrics can be expensive, so I am open. Any Ideas?

I bought a nice big size oval green/tan rug for our living room at WalMart for $60 (more than I was hoping to spend, but you cannot get rugs cheaply, ime...). The slipcover on our loveseat was $45 I think (WalMart, too) but you can get cheaper ones through Fingerhut, JCP/Sears on clearance, or sewing your own. I saw a show on Home & Garden on how to make one and it looks really easy to do and pretty!

My sister bought Pottery Barn curtains off eBay for $80 for 4 sheer panels, but they're usually $45 per panel - so she got like 50% off by finding them on eBay.

Coffee tables and furniture, I'd check the paper for (people moving sell it cheap sometimes) and also moving sales, yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores.

Hope that helps. I'll be watching this thread for more ideas because I have NO curtains LOL and have to try to get this place looking a bit nicer.

Have fun decorating!!

I was able to recover my couch last year for right about $30. I got the main fabric for $19 shipped (12 yds of a tan chenille stripe) and then I got enough tapestry to coordinate it on the remnant table at Hancocks for like $9. I used the zippers from the cusions so I didn't have to buy.

Basically you wrap the roll of fabric aruodn your couch inside out, and pin. Just becareful, because if you get it really tight (if that's the look you are going for) it is difficult to get off of the couch! Then you sew at the pins... make sure you use upholstery thread and also use the safety stitch (I think that is what it is... goes over the stitch a couple of times). I was able to put mine together in about 2-3 hours.

Search ebay for decorating chenille, etc. I'll see fi I can find the seller I was able to get mine from.

Have you checked the local second hand stores for chairs and other furniture? You might be able to recover a chair... or repaint a table....

GOOD LUCK!

I have made many things for my home rather inexpensively since I prefer unique things to things prefabbed and mass produced.

For a coffee table get a piece of wood the size you want the table to be...and sand the edges to make them rounded if you don't have a router. Buy the cheapest you can find since it doesn't really matter. Then finish only the top...either paint or use a wipe on poly. This whole thing should be able to be made for under $12...then add the legs...for this I have used(for toddler beds, school tables, other tables) plumbing pipes. Use the cheap galvanized pipes...get 4 flanges that you attach to the underside of the wood with screws then get "legs" the length you preferand screw those into the flanges. You can also get caps for those as well. This can be pricey if you dont' go with the cheapy pipes...remember they aren't holding anything in them. Another option is to use the PVC pipes...I haven't tried it, but I am sure it would work and then you could paint them to coordinate. This is a really cute and simple look...very clean lines.


For curtains, the easiest thing I have done is purchased cheap plain white sheets...they are already hemmed for you and since you aren't sleeping on them, they just need to look nice rather than feel nice. Plain white or ivory muslin works very well also and is VERY inexpensive. For my living room, I put grommets all along the top of the sheet, and then tied pretty white roping in loops...cheap and looks VERY cool...like a sleek tab top curtain. Then for the rod I took a long dowel(it is a 10 foot window) and ended with 2 cheap finials and spray painted the whole thing black. I also painted the little holders that hold up the dowl black...the holders and finials I bought unfinished at Lowe's for about $2 each. The curtains very easily slide back and forth along the rod for privacy. It was the easiest and cheapest window treatment in the house...I think, if memory serves, I only ended up spending about $40 on the entire thing.

Slip covers are easy to make, with many directions on the net for tthem. I also bought some at Target very inexpensively.

Knickknacks I buy as I find them rather than going on a hunt for them. I find things on sale, etc. For example we just redid the 1/2 bath on the first floor and I needed some quite things for the walls. I kept my eye out while doing my normal day to day stuff and found 4 pictures and a wall planter and fake plant for the bathroom along with hand towels and spent only $10 on the entire thing. If I had gone out looking for them I could have easily found things just as nice and spent more for them, but exercise patients and the things will find you. A good source of nice things around the house are kid related. Rather than just hanging sheets of paper the kids have doen on the wall...buy cheap frames from Walmart---usually can get them under $2 a piece and have the kids make things specifically for the room...it will look more purposeful and less cluttered.

Table cloths...I buy them ONLY at Pier One...and only on sale. My mom and I went there about 2 weeks ago and she got 8 placemats, 8 napkins and 1 table cloth for $25 total including tax. They were basic neutral ivory too....so that was a good deal for something that would work in EVERY house. Pier one also puts a lot of their knickknacks on sale and I just go through there and through crate and barrel for the sale stuff.(I spent $13 the other day at Crate and Barrel on stuff for my newly retro painted kitchen and came home with a rug, dish towels, a vase and a pitcher)

Rugs can be expensive. I bought my last oriental from a dry cleaner...called around since they will only hold things for 30 days and usually sell things CHEAP after that to get it out of the building. I have a nice oriental rug I bought for $35. I spent about 3 days calling around to places in the area, but it worked:). Also, I have seen inexpensive ones at walmart, homedepot and lowes as well as at bed bath and beyond and linens and things.

For the chair...that may be hard to get under $200 with all the other stuff...could you get away with getting a wooden chair just to have extra seating rather than getting an upholstered one? Put a nice cushy pillow on it and it should be fine. I used for years 2 of those upholstered dining room chairs I got from a neighbor as the chairs in my livingroom. They are not soft and cushy, but do the job of providing extra seating quite well. Another option is to make or buy and ottoman...provides extra seating as needed as well as a foot rest after a long day chasing kids:)

Hopefully this isn't too much information or too much useless info...:) This is my love...decorating on a budget and I enjoy doing it. Have fun! Look at it as an adventure rather than something you have to get over with in one shopping trip. It will look more like "you" this way.

Lots of great info! If I have time, I will check out the clearance sections of Pier One, Bombay CO. and Pottery Barn (They are all next to each other). Of course, I will slip into Williams and Sonoma, just to take a peek (That is one dangerous store).

One more question... How do you decide what your decorating style is? I like so many things, it is hard to choose, and even harder to coordinate. Part of me loves the natural, simple look. Another part of me likes the Romantic French Country look. And the third part of me likes the traditional look. I sound like one conflicted person, lol:)

Eclectic is a style. :-) Your home is where you will be... you need to LOVE everything you put in it. So if you love something french country and also something that has sleek lines... it will work, because it is you.

If you want to get wall decor - or something like that - you could always invite a few friends over for a decorating show with a Home Interiors Displayer. Hostesses earn a LOT! You might even be abelto request an in home demonstration on a double free week - and get 40% of the retail for FREE! I helped a lady redecorate her liviingroom for $75. She got 3 large prints, lots of florals, candles to go in the candleabras she had in storage, some baskets for the magazines, etc. She got I think close to $100 in free, then she took advantage of the opportunity to buy items in the catalog at 55% off. Her livingroom looks soooo nice and all coordinated now. And the best part - a displayer can help you coordinate your look for FREE!!! (ok, end my spam!) lol