The Poor Girl's Guide to A House To Be Proud Of

By Jasmine Lamb

I don't think anyone wants to unnecessarily spend hundreds of dollars trying to decorate their home. But with the struggling economy, it's really hard to find things you can do with your home that you can happily show off to friends and family. I have absolutely no disposable income to spend on furniture and knickknacks, but I do have an obsession with decorating. When you are dealing with walls, which tie the entire room together and can sometimes be the hardest things to decorate, here are some things you can do to easily cover those walls on a minimal or non-existent budget.

Make Your Own Art- If you find that you draw and paint like a toddler, as I do, there are still art projects you can do that you can be proud of. You can make collages of your family, hot movie stars, candy wrappers, or whatever you want. Collages are fun, easy, and you can make them as big or small as you desire. You can also choose to add texture to them by adding jewelry, pieces of cloth or lace, dried flowers, etc.
Another great thing you can do by yourself is making stencils. You can find either print or picture stencils on the Internet, just print them and cut with an exacto knife. You can fill these in with spray paint, crayons, colored pencils, glitter glue, and basically any kind of paint. You can repeat the same picture over and over again or just have it as the focal point. You can use any surface you choose for both these projects, they don't have to be hung up on the wall.

Consider shower curtains- Depending on where you buy them from you can get great deals on some really nice printed cloth shower curtains. These can be used either as they were intended or you can use them as window treatments. I have an odd shaped wall accompanied by a large, long window on one side of my bedroom. I got two Zebra print curtains, cut them into shape, and thumb tacked them to the wall to make textured wallpaper.

Corners- I find sometimes when I have hung a bunch of stuff on my walls, that I am still disappointed with the outcome because of the corners of the room. They either look bare, like I haven't tried to put anything around them, or the things I have hung look terrible next to them. In these situations I have found that it's actually pretty cool to hang things cater-cornered against them, like mirrors and large collages. This takes up the space and brings the room together. The only downside is that if you do it too much it begins to feel like the walls are closing in on you. Another good thing to do is hang things like paper lanterns and plants from the ceiling to take up the corner space.

Go Girly- There are many websites with tutorials on how to make jewelery organizers for your wall. Some are as cheap as putting bubble wrap inside an old frame. Pick out some of your favorite jewelery and use it to decorate with! You can also pick out some fun, funky, mod, or antique purses you have laying around that are not being utilized at the moment and hang them either all around the room or group them together. Hang your gorgeous lace lingerie or beautiful dresses from the walls. These take up a lot of room, add more personality, and you get to admire all your beautiful belongings. You can also make shadow boxes and hang things like retro perfume bottles and interestingly packaged make-up.

Take Advantage Of Oddly Shaped Ceilings- The ceiling in my bedroom is straight until it gets closer to the window before it angles downward. For a long time it stayed bare until I got three posters of Sid and Nancy and realized I had no place to put them but on the ceiling. As many times as I have rearranged my furniture and redecorated those posters have never come down. You can either find posters for cheap online or make your own artwork to fit on your odd ceiling. It's up to you!

Cheapo Art- The cheapest and most effective way to get art is to buy calendars. You can get everything from pin-up girls to old movie posters. Obviously, there are usually 12 pictures per calendar which can go a long way when you are decorating. Just simply rip out the pictures that you like and either frame them or just tack them in the wall. They are small enough for you to group them for a burst of color but big enough to be appreciated as a stand alone.

Using Sheets- Just like with the shower curtains. You can use sheets as wallpaper. This is a great practice for people who rent because when you move you can easily remove it and transport it to your new house. Sheets are also good as accents for posters or art. If you have a poster or piece that you want paid special attention to simply cut the sheet to fit about 1-5 inches above the picture and tack it to the wall. Hang the picture on top and it will stand out amongst all the others. This also works if you have a picture you know you want in a certain spot but it doesn't take up as much room as you would like. Be sure that the sheet you pick is something that would be complimentary to the picture and the room. Cleaning is simply wiping down with a lint roller.

A Few More Ideas- Cd case frames are a great way to add flair to small pieces of wall. Just print or cut out pictures that you enjoy and fit them into the front of the case. Break off the black or colored piece where the CD would go and hang it.
Records are great for wall décor. If you have a lot that you no longer listen to you can simply tack them on the wall or go to craft websites like www.cutoutandkeep.net which shows you how to make letter holders out of records.