After hiring an underemployed friend to paint my bedroom last summer I began, finally, to put art up on the walls. Probably my favorite piece is a cheap frame I bought on sale at Fred Meyer and filled with art postcards. Total cost was around $12.
But then there was this big blank space over my bed that I couldn't figure out how to fill. A mirror? A big art piece? A headboard? I couldn't decide, so it stayed blank for many months. Then one night I was laying in bed, looking at the blank wall and thinking about how I had no money for a headboard. I remembered that my friend Brad used two old doors for a headboard, so I started to riffle through my mind's files for things I already owned that might create a headboard-like effect. Suddenly it hit me: I had an extra curtain rod and a pair of curtains my mom had given me when I first moved in. Perfect!
It looks quite nice, if I do say so myself, though perhaps it leans a bit on the bordello side of decor. And because it's fabric, it has the added advantage of muffling *ahem* "bedroom noises."
Speaking of blank walls, there was one in my living room too, until I found an enormous (4'x5') painting of a zebra head out by the dumpsters. Amazing what people throw away.
Another time I found a 2'x3' gold-painted picture frame with the glass intact out by the dumpster. Snatched it up and used it to frame some mementos from Paris, so now I have a free piece of art that is also highly personal and sentimental.
It turns out I've managed to do quite a lot of decorating using items I found by the dumpster, filched from my relatives, or already had lying around. I've been challenging myself to open my eyes, look around, and think creatively about what I already own so I can re-purpose what I'm not using into something I actually will use.
What are your cheap decorating tricks? What do you have lying around unused that you could turn into something both functional and aesthetically pleasing?
