Empty Spaces and No Money

It's tough for a gal when she moves into a new house.  The first thing she (me) wants to do is go decorating crazy.  All the freshly painted blank walls.  The empty corners.  The vacant countertops.  The bare windows. 

I simply could not overlook this.

But as everyone knows, home decore ain't cheap.  I am not working right now, so a big "design budget" is obviously out of the question, and being a frugal girl myself, large chunks of money on most anything are not my style.  Britt has been very generous as our finances allow in letting me decorate our home.  However, there is only so far you can go without spending a fortune.  So I had to get creative without putting us into debt.  After all, we got cat mouths to feed. 

I managed to really improve the look of the house by using three simple steps:

Step 1.  Using items I already have.

I'm a really big believer in things being beautiful and functional.  I don't like tons and tons of knick-knacks.  A towel hung in this location is useful and pretty. Not only does the hanging towel add interest, but it can be switched out every few days to add a different pop of color, no money needed.

Here is another example of using items around the house to create functional decore.  I used a colandar I already had and filled it with a apples and pomagranates from my tree back home.  You can fill colandars/bowls you already have with colorful folded dishrags, fruit, or other miscellaneous items for instant and useful style.

Step 2. Creating my own decore.

A few dollars of embroidery floss, a little aida cloth, and an old picture frame turned into this little accent for the kitchen.

I've always loved putting wreaths indoors.  However, for whatever reason, wreaths are expensive.  So, I opted to make a few myself.  Keeping them simple and rustic lessened the cost and went along with my "simple, clean" theme (see step 3 below).  I got both wreaths, the embellishments, and a glue gun and glue sticks at Hobby Lobby for around thirty dollars, and I was very pleased with the results.

Step 3. Embracing a simple, clean look.

You always hear that "less is more," but it's always my instinct to "overdecorate" and put too much "stuff" into one area.  I'm always happier with my end result when I add one or two items to a space, and then just stop.

This example falls into the "clean look" category as well as the "use-stuff-I-already-had" category.  Here we have wedding reception decore recycled for a simple bathroom wall hanging.

Oh how I wanted to go nuts and fill this big wall.  In the end, three plain white plates was all I needed.  Simple. Beautiful.

The results of these three steps have been great.  And I can still afford the cat food.