Food, Home and Style

Redecorate Without Spending a Dime

It’s winter. Maybe you’re unemployed.  Man, those walls are feeling close together, aren’t they? It is possible to bring some freshness to your surroundings without buying anything new. Try our tips, and troll the web for more–we especially like Apartment Therapy and the blog at Design Public. (Though we’re a little biased on that second one.)

De-clutter

There are people who can make clutter look beautiful. You are probably not one of them. Put away all those tchotchkes–or even better, sell them or give them away. (Check out the tips for getting rid of castoff clothes for help.)

Move stuff around

It is sort of amazing what a difference you can make by rearranging seating or shoving a table over. About.com has ten tips for arranging furniture. Our advice: try out configurations that aren’t obvious. Worst that happens is, you need to move it back. This doesn’t just go for furniture, either–Rita Koenig shows in this piece how moving a basket and a stack of books can change the feel of a corner.

Fix little things

All those small rips, stains and scratches can add up to a general feeling of un-kempt-ness. So sew up tears in upholstery, re-attach buttons, polish metal, clean dingy areas on light switches, scrape stray paint from bathroom tiles. You can do almost all of it with common household items. Apartment Therapy even has a fun tip for repairing dings in wood furniture with a walnut.

Repurpose

Make old stuff feel new. Can an ottoman be a coffee table? A bookshelf be a nightstand? A nightstand be a hall table?

DIY (Demolish It Yourself)

Nothing revs up a cold Sunday morning like breaking some sh*t up. Have hideous kitchen cabinets? Consider whether they’d look better if you removed the doors and went with open shelving. Saw the legs off of a tall table to make it a low one. We’ve ripped out awful closets and torn down awkward shelving with a hammer and our bare hands.

Tags: food, Home and Style