Making it happen

[sharkynell]

I'm a little nutty about interior design. I love design magazines, I like designing things in my head and assembling color schemes and artfully quirky collections of furniture and decor. But I have never much bothered to really finalize any place of my own. I'm lazy about putting up pictures. I have good furniture, I know how to arrange it to

Comments

[queencallipygos]

Yay! Yeah, it can be a big difference when you feather your nest a little (and it can be a BIG, BIG boost if you've recently, er, made a change in relationship status).

Flipping through design books for inspiration can be a big help -- not to actually see the Art Deco design chair and buy IT, but to get you thinking conceptually and see if you can figure out how to get the same feel for cheap. Some colors give one feel, others another...

I'm also a big fan of re-purposing wall calendars as wall art when they're done (I choose my calendars with an eye towards "so, when this year's over, I can take the picture from June and frame it"). Wrapping paper and maps also work -- I just found a reprint of an 1800's map of Manhattan and that's now framed over the couch. (As for frames -- Ikea has some really basic and lightweight wood frames for cheap -- 5 bucks for the poster size one I used on that map.)

[horshoo]

I was in a thrift store last night and noticed a really ugly framed picture, and realized how typical that is. But once in a while you can find one for cheap with a frame you could re-use.

Last Christmas I framed an old Elvis vinyl album cover for my gf. I found it in a thrift store with no record in it. She loved it.

[usfcougar]

Thrift store? Did you say thrift store? I love me a thrift store...