Tip of the Week--Recycle Your Accessories For a Whole New Look
You want a new look for a particular room (or several rooms), but you just don't have the budget to buy all new stuff. What can you do? It's simple--just use what you already have in your home. But use it in entirely new ways.
I redecorated several rooms in my home this way a few years ago. I was dying for a new look in most of my rooms, but there was no way I could find the money for major redecorating. Yet weeks later, many of my rooms looked completely different, despite the fact that I'd spent almost nothing.
Here's how I did it:
1. I tackled one room at a time, and removed all artwork from the walls and all or most of the accessories. In some cases, I removed some of the smaller furniture items and area rugs as well. I also rearranged the furniture that was left in each room.
2. I placed all the removed items in one room that I wasn't redecorating--my office. I organized everything against the walls, on the floor, and on the furniture so I could have a clear view of it. Then I started all over again. I took all the accessories out of another room, and organized those pieces in my office. I did this for a total of four rooms.
3. When I was done, I went "home decor shopping" in my office, and experimented to see how items from one room looked in another. A framed print that had been in my dining room for years became a focal point over my living room mantel. Antique mirrors from my bedroom were grouped together to fill up a wall in the dining room. The sunroom got new throw pillows that had once lived in the living room, and my bedroom got new curtains I'd removed from my sunroom.
You get the idea. I took artwork and accessories from one room and used them in another. But I didn't merely move matching items or entire groupings from one room to another. It's important, when you're doing this sort of redecorating, to shake things up and look for new combinations that will give your home decor items new life. If you get it right, you'll probably have friends who enter your home and ask "Did you redecorate? When did you get all this new stuff?"
Comments
I love your blog! This suggestion sounds actually doable!
Posted by: Dirty Butter | March 13, 2006 04:49 PM