Simple “Free” Decorating Solutions – Basket of Hydrangeas

Sometimes the best ideas for decorating our home comes from the natural world around us.

When you’re hard pressed for ideas on how to bring your home to life, perhaps taking a peek outside at the “living world” around you will give you just the decorating tip that you’re looking for 🙂

There’s something very comforting about walking into a home that has a “bit” of nature there to greet you. I like to call it “feathering my nest” 🙂 When you think about it, you are actually bringing life into your home when you bring in items from the outside.

So many times, people automatically reach for what they already know (such as a bouquet of flowers) and their creativity seems to stop there. The next time you’re looking for a new little touch around your home, try to look past the things that automatically come to your mind & look for the unexpected.

This cabinet needed a little something on top, but I wasn’t sure what to use. I already had a nice basket that I was using to display some of my magazines, so I decided to fill it up with some dried hydrangea stems. I really like the way it turned out.

Here are a few other articles that you might like as well.

Grapevines for the in the Sitting Area

Lots of Creative (cheap 😉 Fall Decorating Ideas!

How to Make Easy – Beautiful Curtains

Easy Curtains For Any Space!

Nearly 8 years ago, my husband & I decided to look for a bigger piece of land to move our family onto. We did a lot of praying & looking before we miraculously found our “perfect” piece. So… for several years, when I would find something that I loved at a great discount, I would pick it up & pack it away “for the new house.”

The piece of fabric that I made this set of curtains from is no exception. When I saw the bolt of fabric in the Walmart craft section, I knew I needed to buy some – especially at the $3 pr yard price!

When we were finally able to move into our new home, I had the perfect place to use that piece of fabric that I had secretly tucked away a few years ago.

There are 2 windows in the living room. Because the windows flank both sides of the love seat, I decided to make one panel per window. During the day I open them up to the outside of each window which makes them look like a “pair” from the other side of the room.

This type of window treatment is very easy to make! They remind me of a big pillowcase (except the opening is sewn shut 🙂 I like to line the curtains unless both sides of the fabric are pretty to look at. After all, you want the folks outside to see something pretty as they look at your house.

Here are the simple instructions.

– Cut each piece of fabric to length that you want
– Be sure that the pattern of the fabric is not upside down
– Put the right sides together (the side you want showing) so that the wrong side is facing out on the front & the back
– Pin down the sides for easy sewing
– Sew down both sides
– Sew across the top
– Sew across the bottom leaving an open space in the middle of the seem big enough to turn it right side out – Press flat
– Hang with sliding round hook clips

After looking everywhere for the cheapest hooks, I found JoAnn Fabric to be the cheapest. They have a 10 pack of iron ring hooks for $4.99! There are lots of different types of round hook clips, but the iron ones are my favorite. Not only do they look nice, but they seem to be much stronger as well.

I made another set like these for my bedroom with NO SEWING at all! I simply used tablecloths that I picked up as an end of season sale for a few dollars each. They were the perfect length for a luxurious puddle effect at the bottom.

You could also use a flat sheet, which would make it very easy to coordinate your curtains with your bedding.

You can make these types of curtains for any space. They are quick, easy, and most importantly – easy to open 🙂

Re-purposing – Vintage Sewing Machine Drawers

While visiting local yard sales, auctions, thrift shops, etc, look for items that catch your eye! You might think to yourself… I really like that piece, but I don’t really have a use for it. I want to encourage you to look through “creative eyes” when you are making a decision about a particular piece.

If you really put your mind to it, you could almost always come up with an idea about how to use a piece creatively.

As an example, here is an item that I picked up at an auction for just a few dollars. It’s original purpose was a set of drawers on a vintage sewing machine, but I have found many other uses for this piece!

I’ve used it as a place to store silverware, cloth napkins, napkin rings, letters, lace, and most recently it is standing in as my tea caddy 🙂 I love getting up in the mornings, opening a drawer & selecting whatever tea I happen to be in the mood for. There is lots of room for many different types of tea, as well as tea bag holders & a tea ball for the loose leaf varieties.

Here are the main questions I ask myself before purchasing an item.

1. Can I afford to spend the money on this piece?
2. Do I really love it?
3. Do I have room for it?
4. Then – what can I use this for?

I have found, that if I really love a piece, I usually find many different uses for it over the years.

Now… I think I’m off for a cup of tea 🙂

Color Inspiration For Whole House Decorating

Here is the color inspiration the we’ve used for the whole cottage! This set of boxes was a gift from my husband, and I love them so much, that I am using them as a color jumping point for the whole cottage decorating scheme.

Do you have something that you love such as; a vintage quilt, a set of dishes, an old post card, a set of stationary, a children’s book?

If you take a look at these boxes, they are made up of many colors, but somehow they all go together beautifully!

So I can look at the boxes & pull one or more of the colors out to use in each room of the house. I could decide to accent any particular room with all of the colors if I wish, because I can already see how nicely they all go together by having this “mental picture” to go by.

Having trouble deciding what colors to use in your home? Go find something that really “speaks” to you & use it to wash your home with color!

Sitting Area With Grapevine Garland

I Love this sitting area in the dining room – lots of light & big windows! When trying to decide what to do about the window coverings, I decided to leave them open. At the end of the season, I went outside & gathered some vines from the cottage garden. Then, I simply took some small gage wire & hung the garland up on some small nails that were placed every few feet near the ceiling. You can see the little white birds that I added. They clip on & add a nice natural feel. During the Christmas season, I hang our Christmas cards along the garland using an opened paperclip place in a hole in the corner of each card.

Here’s a picture of one of the birds close up, although this one is on the primitive Christmas tree on the side of the room.
It’s so easy to add a natural feel to a room. Here, I’ve used a harvest basket, plants, vintage watering can, clay pots, birds, and a cast iron bunny.

Black wrought Iron Curtain Rods – Cheap!

Run – do not walk – to your nearest “Big Lots”! I found these Levolor rods for only $7.95! They are black wrought iron with a very nice weight to them. A very nice change to the ordinary plastic rods that you see at most places! Because we need to hang curtains on all of the windows in our home, I know how costly curtain rods can be! I was so happy to find these, as they are cheaper than the smallest rods at the nearest “big mart”! I took the picture with the rod ends in front of a darker fabric (the front of my organizer) so that you could see how beautiful they are close up.

Here is what they look like in the package.



I am getting ready to make new curtains to hang on these lovely rods & I will post the progress of those very soon!