turnstylevogue.com

1. Use what you have to accessorize. I’ve done this by: wrapping brown paper around books and tying with twine (very Pottery Barn!), using cereal bowls as vases, cake stands in living room to display favorite heirlooms.

My Pics:
http://www.boxwoodclippings.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Picture-4.png

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_m-mLZIBS80w/SmjW7a04urI/AAAAAAAAAgg/OC8Af2rZZT4/s1600-h/camera.jpg

2. Be a handyman/woman. The biggest impact in a room is the walls, by painting or adding molding you can create a real WOW factor in just an afternoon, with very little money spent. Molding is not hard if you simplify, have the hardware store cut your wood to desired length, then nail, and paint!

MY MOLDING (we spent $20 on one wall):

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_m-mLZIBS80w/SmjW8WRmtAI/AAAAAAAAAhA/LExiiFM86ts/s1600-h/plant

Similarly, you can create custom shelves, just buy brackets at Ikea or thrift shops, as these tend to be pricey at hardware stores.

My Shelves:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_m-mLZIBS80w/SmjW7SZV5bI/AAAAAAAAAgo/KWc6mYfX41Y/s1600-h/dishes

3. Shop sale alsles, I try to only by clearance items. Remember to haggle at thrift shops, look at “as is” items, and get price adjustments. Even in paint stores you can find cheap already mixed paint.

PS. My sister just spruced up her bathroom for $10 take a look-see:
http://www.boxwoodclippings.com/2011/08/10-bathroom-makeover/

I pride myself on being good at the home bargain front, but Collin you’ve taught me so much in the food / personal care department…I love ya and thanks!

My number one tip is to take pictures ,or posters or something that you are using in a different room, or maybe not even using at all and create a focal wall using these plus very inexpensive decals you can get from the dollar store or wallies in the new room you are wanting to redo. Those cute sayings can really personalize a space and tie your pictures together well. Those of you with a cricut can make your own too.

If you have mad art skills paint a mural or a piece of art to go into the space.
I’m big on keeping bedding and linens simple, but adding cool pillows that match your accent colors. A $15 pillow is much easier to replace than a $100 comforter when you get sick of it. Everyone knows the slipcover trick. They really do give your old furniture some mileage.

I have used shower curtains as curtains around a daybed in a disco themed bedroom and also for a window. In little girls rooms you can be super creative. Buy some of those silly feather boa’s you can get at the $1 store and use it to trim a mirror, a picture frame, or as a valance for the window. Faux fur that you can get at a craft store will do the same thing. I do not know how to sew. I am handy with the glue gun and iron.

I can’t stress enough how much paint is your friend when redoing things. Faux painting furniture is an amazing way to make an old piece look new again. I have alot of accent storage furniture with pretty factory painted flowers but the colors of the flowers never match my house. I just use acrylic in the color of my choice, a small brush and paint over the flowers to go with my stuff. I use a lot of faux painting techniques. I like sponges, paper and plastic bags crumpled , anything that gives an interesting texture to make the pieces look more worn. They are beautiful. You would have sworn I paid a fortune for them.

I have a friend who use old fashioned windows, thick styrofoam(a cork board would also work) and prettyily pinned her little girls baby clothes to it then mounted that to the window for a beautiful picture. One of the most darling ideas I’ve ever seen. She did this before cricuts and things of that nature. Someone could really go all out with this idea.

http://pblookalikes.blogspot.com/2011/03/pottery-barn-kids-brooke-and-daisy.html

And here are a couple of really cute Pottery Barn-esqu quilts for $50-$70:

I went with Cynthia Rowley’s Olivia pattern for my two year old. I saw it on HGTV’s user-submitted rooms where the lady said she’d gotten it at Home Goods for about $40 but I couldn’t it find it there I finally splurged and bought the quilt and sham from eBay for $85 but because it’s a basic pattern with lots of colors I can easily (and cheaply) change themes later by swapping out the smaller accessories and wall decorations.

they are staying well so far, as long as they are not touched a ton or rubbed on something they shouldn’t fray.

We’ve also had great luck just putting out to our friends and family that we’re looking for old stuff. It is amazing what people come up with. I furnished my first apartment almost completely with items friends and family had no use for any more. I always offered to pay and people were more than fair, usually throwing in a few extra items.

(I am NOT affiliated with any of these sites, but like the OP, I have Pottery Barn tastes and a Target budget.)

another thing to think about is contact paper you can cut it & make room decals which is super simple & won’t mess up the walls! You’d be suprised at how good some different sized circles can make a room!

I’ve been looking for tips for decorating and I recently found many blogs, including Thrive (http://choosetothrive.blogspot.com) where the writer has made over most of her house spending very little (zero at times). She has very creative ideas and homemade knockoffs that look amazing and not too difficult. I saw some other blogs with knock-off how-to’s but I didn’t bookmark them (it exists if you google it though).

One easy nursery tip is wall art. If you have photoshop you can put together word art and print it at home or order a print (walgreen’s freebie?) or print/paint/decoupage on a canvas (http://formamas.blogspot.com/2011/07/picture-canvas.html) or paint on a piece of wood. We just did some song lyrics and sayings for our kids room.

As for kids starting off on their own in the future, I started keeping my eyes open a couple of years ahead of time (not intentionally – I unexpectedly moved home after college because the best opportunity was there) and I found great deals – a set of Pfalzgraff dishes at the dollar store, small appliances on clearance or store closing sales, furniture to refinish from people upgrading (even a single chair can work!), a mirror with glass from the glass cutter and an unfinished frame from a Michaels coupon, postcards matted and framed in cheap/free frames. A can of paint helped tie everything together and most of the things were on clearance because they were last year’s trend (in the kitchen? who cares!) so it was surprisingly easy to find things that went together because they were all the same trend.

Paint. Don’t underestimate the power of even a single wall painted in a bold lovely color.

Wall decor. Go for it — I’ve used wrapping paper, old wallpaper samples, interesting leaves dipped in paint and used like a stamp….ummm….just about anything to create an interesting wall effect. You can go to estate or garage sales and pick up frames on the cheap — don’t be afraid of the old, beat up ones or ones that don’t match. Also, don’t forget to play with perspective. Some of the best pictures I have in my bedroom came from an old book of black and white pictures of Paris — $5 at a book sale. I used old black frames and mats — moved around the mats until it framed the picture in an interesting way.

Furniture on the cheap? Well…..start with your bedroom. Don’t have a headboard? Make one — one idea I’ve been kicking around involves a wooden frame and 2″ grosgrain ribbon woven to create a shimmery effect. Pick up a few yards of a great fabric and staple it onto a wooden frame. Cheap & easy to change. In my experience, finding couches on the cheap that don’t look shabby is hard to do. That’s one area where I’ve always just bought it, albeit at a discount store like Weekends Only. Don’t ever say “I’ll use a slipcover or have it reupholstered” — reupholstering is expensive and slipcovers never seem to sit right. Coffee tables, side tables can all be made from large pots, oak barrels, whatever you can find on the cheap in your area.

Hope that helps!

Seriously it takes days and hundreds to thousands of dollars to treat for bed bugs. If you really want to get things second-hand, go through friends or relatives that (1) would know if they and their things have been exposed to bed bugs and (2) would tell you!

Explore the siteand have fun. I found some really great ideas. Just purchased new beds and bedding (some things I wont buy used)
for both of my children and this site helped me think of alot of decorating ideas to coordinate.

Home Goods (related to TJMaxx) is great for Pottery Barn like kids quilted bedding but they only carry 1-2 styles at a time so you have to bebflexible or patient. I like Ikea, Target and Home Goods for pictures, vases, candle holders etc.

One thing that helped me was when I redid the master bedroom was finding inspiration rooms/items online, copying them into Word and printing that collage to take shopping.

Try these:

thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com
granvillehouse.blogspot.com

You could also visit my blog as well
agracefull-life.blogspot.com

I deal with mostly Goodwill transformations, Dollar Tree and just basically working with what you have around the house!

Good luck and happy browsing!

http://DesignersGoldenTouch.etsy.com

some blogs to check for more diy ideas and tutorials:
http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/
especially this post:
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/2011/08/sns-96-things-used-as-vase.html
towards the bottom it has picture links of many different home decor and diy projects (not just vases)

check out sales on blank canvases at michaels or look for cheap ones at big lots. use your freebie paint samples to paint simple motifs like vines or flowers. you could also decoupage decorative paper onto canvas.

if your town has a vocational school, call and ask how much they’d charge to build something (end table, bookcase, etc.) for you. the students need projects to work on & you can save money.

http://www.freecycle.org/

I get lots of great things there and I get rid of stuff I don’t want too.

I also like to check out the Dollar Tree for accessories! You can find some good frames, candle holders, etc there!

and google or youtube wall paper stencil ideas

Also Craigs List is great, I got the PB Basic Couch on there for $500 and it was in perfect condition!

The other option is yard sales and moving sales. They often have furniture for cheap as well.

You can frame wallpaper, postcards, or any other cute item to decorate your walls. Magazines, plants, & cute candles can dress up any table. Big Lots has tons of furniture, rugs, and more that are usually super cheap. Goodwill, consignment sales, and yard sales are other great places to find things cheap. I also find lots of inexpensive items at Khols & JCPennys clearance sales (stack with free shipping & % off coupons).

Also Conns has reasonablly priced stuff, like be bought our couch from Conns for $1000, while the same one Ashley’s brand @ Ashley’s Furniture was $3500…

http://kentucky-moms.com/forum/topics/clever-dy-shelving-solutions

And AWESOME PVC wall Art(DIY)
http://kentucky-moms.com/forum/topics/pvc-pipe-diy-wall-art

Paint works miracles.

I also found an old door someone was giving away and laid it down on top of a really ugly wood table. I put glass down tempered glass on top of the door (with rubber feet to secure it) and now I have a very interesting dining table. I have a friend who took the door idea used it as a head board for his bedroom – looks great!

If you collect something, try grouping them together to add visual interest to an area as well as spark conversation. You can also mount them (if you collect something small say greeting cards, baseball cards, as long as they are not valuable) and hang then on the wall.

I have also used sheets to make my own duvet for an old comforter, hung them with a curtain rod as a back drop to my bed and stapled them from floor to ceiling along a short wall for color, coverage and added decor!!

Look in magazines, books and model homes and often times you can recreate similar decorating ideas much, much cheaper.

And yes, garage sales, thrift stores, consignment stores and word of mouth are great places to find your home furnishings.

Good luck!!

http://www.ideaslistsandbargains.com

http://www.ideaslistsandbargains(dot)com

I have found tons of amazing things at local thrift stores and the indoor “swap” meets that seem to take place in large urban areas. I replaced my own sheets with 400 sateen sheets from Marshall’s for $40 (King).

I have purchased great pieces online at overstock.com, as well as some furniture items from places like The Dump (if you have one near). Look in your area for hotel liquidation outlets – great place for bed frames/headboards, chairs, etc.

Good luck!

I recently took on the challenge of helping a family on a budget with mismatched hand me down furniture pull together what they had and make it work together. They had a couch–one pattern, a padded coffee table size foot stool another pattern, a chair–another pattern, two floor lamps made out of plaster pillars with pink & mint green flecks on white with lime green lamp shades.

We did the make over for less the $100.

Surprise! I found the same fabric that was on their couch at JoAnns. I sewed a slip cover for the coffee table size foot stool and repurposed it as a coffee table. I spray painted junk pieces from my house–a wood tray from a cosmetic collection christmas gift and some baskets all the same color to use as accent pieces on the footstool. Spray paint and random basket, vases, or anything can be turned designer with spraying the random items one matching color. You don’t need to buy a thing, just look at all the random flower vases and other stuff that makes its way under your counters. I spray painted the pillar floor lamps a sandblast color with sand grains in the spray paint. The paint was a real splurge on our budget. I bought new lamp shades at Ross. This store is by far the cheapest place to find random lamp shades-=$5.99 a piece. I bought a solid cover fabric for $1.00 a yard at WALMART–cheapest place to buy fabric– and made a slip cover for the side chair in a matching solid color to the couch. When we were done, we had a coordinated living room for under $100.00 dollars. It did take time, but I was so glad to help this family!

I did a post on KY moms about how I was able to do redo both of my kiddos rooms for under $100! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Target….especially when their home department has clearance!

http://DesignersGoldenTouch.etsy.com/

Then, before I ever buy anything, I check retailmenot.com or Couponcabin.com to see if I can get any promo codes to chop off some of my total.

If I do find something I like, I go to http://www.thefind.com to type it in the search box and see if it’s being sold cheaper somewhere else. TheFind.com also offers coupon codes for that store listed under each item when you click on “more info”…often times I find codes I never would have before using the other coupon code sites.

I sign up for all the deal finding sites. My favorites are:

The Foundary
Joss & Main
Zulily
Totsy

Those are just to name a few of my most favorite ones to shop for home decor. I have purchased from each of them and have had wonderful service. I sign up for these deal sites and check my inbox for their daily deals each morning – most post by 11am. I also like Rue La La, Beyond The Rack and The Save. This has saved me tons!

Another favorite thing to do is check Target’s daily deals each morning on their site. Often times, they post great finds for way less and free shipping!

I’m nuts about Swagbucks which I’m sure you’ve read about on Collin’s site. I usually rack up at least 1-2 $5.00 Amazon gift cards each month but they have other rewards for browsing the internet too – I just like Amazon because of the wide variety of things you can buy.

Hmmm…what else…OH!!!
MY FAVORITE*****************************www.pinterest.com*************************
Pinterest kicks butt. It’s an invitation only site but you can request an invite as well. It allows me to basically collect images on the internet aka shop and it lets me put them into different boards. Right now, I have a board I’ve created for Home Inspiration Ideas and also Shopping For The Home. Whenever I find something online, I pin it to Pinterest.com and it allows me to place a price tag on it. So…if I’m feeling like I want to shop, I do and save all my favorite finds in my board. When I’m ready to purchase, I go, click on the item and sometimes it even goes on sale!

If you want to get sale alerts to your favorite stores through your inbox, http://www.wishpot.com is a wonderful way to do so. You basically create a registry for yourself of your favorite items and then you can check mark the box if you want to receive price alerts if the item goes on sale. It’s wonderful!

I find that if you have a lot of time, that helps to save money because you can better research before you buy.

Of course there is always Etsy.com and the option to DIY yourself but often times I think DIY can get even more expensive than just buying the item new…lol.

I know I wrote a lot here but since I’m in the process of decorating my home right now as well, I couldn’t help but share what I’ve found helpful. Can’t wait to read everyone else’s comments as well! Happy decorating, everyone!!!

-Jaim
P.S. Don’t forget about Upromise. Earn your kid some dough for school while shopping. Yay! Makes shopping guilt-free…lol…well, kind of. Cheers!

For the bedding sets, you can go to websites like overstock.com or Bryant Lane to buy cute ones for cheap.

You can also be creative! For example, go to salvation army or goodwill stores to get some cheap photo frames like the ones on the picture. Then, if they are not white, paint them. After that, you can go to Hobby Lobby or somewhere like that to get super cheap fabric. Put the fabric (itself or you can cut, sew, whatever) into the frame and make it nice. If you are not good at sewing, don’t worry. That is why there is a thing called glue! haha

Just decide how you want your kid’s room to be and do it by yourself. You don’t have to buy some expensive already-made things.

We just recently redid my daughter’s bedroom. I wasn’t in a huge hurry to move her out of her toddler bed so I just kept popping into the local kids furniture places until they had their floor models half off. I got her dresser and mattress that way for 50% off.

Using plans from Ana’s site allows us to achieve the Pottery Barn look without the Pottery Barn price.

If you don’t own saws, etc., your local Lowes or Home Depot can cut wood to your specifications. And if you are really overwhelmed at the thought of building something, consider hiring a handy friend to build, and then you can take over at the painting/staining process.

Also, check the puzzles at dollar stores and craft stores. You don’t need puzzle glue if framed properly, and if you’re only spending $1 for the image and buy a low cost frame, it can be a really cool feature!

1. Create a registry. You can do it for any occasion and when you close it out you will get 10% off of the remaining items. It’s not much, but if you’re purchasing something large it’s worth it. The folks who work at my local one are great and told me about this so don’t be shy. You can create it on line or in the store.

2. Search Craigslist. I’ve gotten bedding for cheap and I found all 3 pieces of the classic kitchen for what one cost originally. It has a fews scratches, but my dd could care less. (They even threw in all the dishes and an apron set.)

3. Yard sales. I’m amazed at how much I can find at local yard sales. We live in the country so I have to drive to any I go to. I try to pick a neighborhood that is about 5 years old. They are typically people that are having kids and swapping things out as the grow. I got quite a bit when dd was born from doing this.

Also, Target routinely carries bedding sets that are very reminiscent of Pottery barn styles for fraction of the cost. Hope this helps!

I got a fantastic, ornate, vintage dresser for $7.99 at my local Goodwill (plus an additional 10% off for cash & carry!) and I painted it for less than $10. The thing looks like it came from Pottery Barn for a thousand dollars!

Just be willing to put in the work. See the beauty in the shales or furniture, not the paint color. It is amazing what a coat of paint can do!

I am always trolling the “free” section of Craigslist for furniture. I have found a lot of great stuff there!

Also, Target routinely carries bedding sets that are very reminiscent of Pottery barn styles for fraction of the cost. Hope this helps!

Here is the link: http://homemakingmom.com/2011/08/decorating-on-a-dime-do-it-yourself-wall-lettering/

I also included a lot of frugal decorating tips in my posts about how I renovated and redecorated my lake house on a budget:

http://homemakingmom.com/2011/05/transformation-thursday-our-lake-house-renovation-story/

I hope this helps!!!

And remember, a home comes together over time. I believe the most beautiful homes are usually those that have that lived-in, almost eclectic look as opposed to perfectly matching everything. I would rather live with no furniture what-so-ever until I find that truly special piece that I know I have to have.

Also we bought a twin bed with a day bed doing it this way you save yourself the cost of a box spring as daybeds dont require one. neither do bunk beds