1)      Colour wash, it’s a subtle effect and it uses about 1/3 of the paint so it’s a 1/3 of the price. Using yellows and earth tones are less likely to date. I hate painting and I did this in my living room, it was a quicker way to paint too!!

 

Colorwash only one quick coat!!

 

 

 

2)      Pillows and cushions. Accessories are a cheap and simple trick. If you have an absolutely beautiful fabric but it cost a fortune or you simply don’t have much of it, make one side of the pillow with the fabric and the other with a plain cheap fabric. I have to admit, I did this with some beautiful Timoney Fowler fabric from a friend and it looks really cool.

 

Expensive fabric with cheap black poly/cotton backing

 

 

3)      Painting kitchen cupboards and changing the handles. This could be a subject for another blog as surfaces and styles require different treatments. It’s a bit of work so research it well

 

 

4)      Interior shops off-cuts, display models and end of stock. This is seriously worth checking out. If you’ve developed a relationship with any interior shops you’ll find out that they often have “end of line” stuff or a few yards of fabric round the back for “nawthin”

 

 

5)      Fancy and expensive wall paper? Sometimes doing the back of a bookshelf in wallpaper or on accessories is enough.

 

 

6)      Paint the floor. If you’re floorboards are knackered (or the house was built post 1960’s when they skimped on materials and put down chip board) it’s a cheaper and easier way to pimp your floor. White or cream can look particularly glam and show up furniture you think looks great. If you’re super talented, a faux finish that looks like floor boards or tiles on the chipboard could do the trick.

 

 

7)      Fabric. Keep that funky old skirt with the really unusual fabric to make into a cushion or lampshade!!

 

 

8)      Thin out your stuff. You don’t have to dump it, you can put it away for safe keeping and/or put it somewhere else where it looks better. Move your ornaments about.

 

 

9)      Pictures. Some postcards mounted and framed right can look really expensive and not break the bank. I framed a few Di Vinci prints I picked up for 80c each in a gallery gift shop. I gave away a couple as pressies and they went down really well, so well that before I picked them up from the framers, he said he got more enquiries about them than any other picture in the shop that day!!

 

A close up of one of the postcards

The set of three all together

 

 

 

 

10)  Just shifting about what we’ve got can make all the difference. A big problem many of my mates have who rent is they’ve to live with all the landlords clutter, some of them use their rented property to dump their old tat. If you can get it into the shed or the spare room, do!