Decorating is an art. The truly gifted can see a room’s potential and how it will look in perfection like Mozart heard a symphony with all the instrumental voices in their harmonious parts before he wrote a note. The rest of us can still decorate or even write music, if we come at it from a mathematical perspective instead of waiting for the “feeling” to tell us what to do. Here are 6 easy and inexpensive things that will instantly improve the look of a room.
1. Hide all electrical cords. Here’s a photo of a dresser for sale on Craigslist. Notice how the cords add to the clutter and take any wow feeling away from the piece of furniture. In this situation, the remedy is as simple as neatly winding up the cords and holding with a rubber band or twist-tie, then tucking them behind the dresser. Other times, the cords can be run along molding with a careful stapling job (staple around the cord not through it!) When it’s impossible to hide the cord, decorate it with cord covers–Here’s a simple tutorial.
2. Paint the trim white. If your wood trim is old, scratched, and dinged from years of life, lightly sand it, dust, tape off, prime, and paint it semi-gloss white. If there are huge dings you can fill them with wood putty before sanding, but most of the dings will disapear from the flying horse’s glance with a fresh coat of paint. White trim pops with any wall color and gives an instant updated brighter look to the room.
Image from Better Homes and Gardens
3. Consider moving furniture away from the living room walls. It makes the space feel cozier and more inviting. Using a console table behind your couch is one way to help bring it out. Experiment with putting furniture on an angle or just moving it a few inches closer to each other.
4. Use mirrors properly to enlarge a room and bounce light. The only way to go wrong with a mirror, is to have it reflect something ugly (I’m not talking about people here), like a blank ceiling or a pile of clutter. Simply altering the angle of the mirror with a piece of styrofoam behind it can improve the reflection. The reflection in the mirror, should be akin to a piece of art. Purposefully placing flowers, a painting or a crystal chandelier in the place of reflection is a good design tool.
Image Source: Amy D. Morris Interiors
I have found lovely mirrors at garage sales for $1. Some were disguised as dresser mirrors and I used a small screw gun to remove the dresser hardware from the back and gave the frame a fresh coat of paint. Then I took it to Hobby Lobby where they installed a hanging wire for just $1 more.
5. Use indirect lighting to soften the room. When close work (such as sewing) is not required, using lamps and candles instead of an overhead light makes a room more cozy. Indirect light is also more flattering to the people in the room. Lamps can be expensive, but it’s amazing how a dated looking lamp looks new again with a fresh coat of paint and a shade treatment. Or consider creating your own hanging lamp from an Ikea Hemma unit and a paper shade. Click the photo to go to more lamp ideas.
6. Use slip covers to unify the furniture in a room. Most of us on a budget have mismatched furniture. I have two sofas in my house and one we drug out of the neighbor’s trash in the dark of night. We have been married for 12 years and are just now scraping enough money together to buy a few pieces of furniture. The rest of what we have has been hand me downs, trash picks, garage sale finds and Craigslist snags. If your furniture is not upholstered, a paint job can make it all look cohesive. Otherwise, slip covers transform a room for very little money. They don’t all have to be the same color if they are a similar style.
