Spend Pennies and Make Your Home Look Like a Million Dollars!

Don't you love seeing the room makeovers that Interior Decorators do? Maybe your homestead could use a little perking up but you're working within a budget. Try rearranging your home furnishings and accessories. Does your living room have that "spin" look where all your living room furniture is lined up against the walls? Move it out! Put your couch facing the fireplace with 2 chairs on either side of the fireplace facing the couch. Add a table behind the couch with a lamp on top. You've seen it done in all the magazines - try it. You'll like it.

No fireplace? Use your TV/wall unit/bookcase/armoire for the focal point and do the same type of arrangement around it. Move your accessories to a different spot. Bring in something from another room. You don't have to go out and buy new, expensive items for a different look - work with what you already have. A little imagination goes a long way and with the money you save you can go out and treat yourself to something chocolate.

Need a little more life in those rooms? Bring in plants - lots of 'em. What an inexpensive way to brighten up a dull spot by drawing attention to the fireplace mantel, accessorizing your coffee table or trailing some greenery along the top of that bookcase. Oh no! You can't remember to water? Well, what do we have in abundance here in Tucson? Cactus and succulents - they come in an infinite variety and will bring something alive, growing and natural into your home.

For those "green thumbers" amongst you - what brightens up your kitchen windowsill or a ledge in the bathroom better than those darling little pots of herbs. You don't need to be a gourmet cook to enjoy fragrant herbs such as mint, rosemary and lavendar -- you can mix them into some pot pourri you already have. They love to be pinched so they'll give out their fragrance. If you put them in the bath, they really enjoy it when you take a shower.

Scarbourough Fair Pot Pourri
(Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme)

Herbs have been known for their fragrant properties for many years and make a lovely base for pot pourri that has a fresh outdoor smell.

Try drying a selection of herbs and see what develops.

Another way to freshen things up and give your rooms a whole new perspective - paint something! You've always liked that old wicker chair but it's chipped and dirty. What would a coat of spray paint and a new cushy cushion do for it? Wonders! Never knew quite what to do with that old battered and peeling wooden bench your dad-in-law made you in the 60's? Clean off the dog food bag and old tennis shoes, paint it and put it in a nook or cranny that needs some color. "I'm not an artist" you say? You don't have to be to give something a beautiful new life with just one coat of paint. And the best thing of all, it's instant clean up. Throw away the paint can and the 69 cent brush when you're done instead of washing up (just be sure to do it in an environmentally safe manner).

Hope you enjoyed this month's DECORATING TIPS. We'll have something for you each month so visit our website again.

by Jacque Ramsey