Decorating Tips

[Butterfly]

I'm starting this thread in anticipation of posting some pictures of some things I have done.  Most of the decorating I do is low cost.  I love to help friends and neighbors save money, so I thought that some of you may be inspired and also, some of you may have some ideas of your own to share.

[Guardian Angel]

I do but I don't know how to use this darn printer..........Oh to be smarter than todays machines.........

[Butterfly]

This is one of the four windows I did to make them look like stained glass.

[Butterfly]

This is my first attempt at the stained glass look.  I didn't want to do those stretched curtains, but I did want to block most of the side lights.  This took me about an hour and cost me about $10.

[Butterfly]

These faux stained glass windows are fairly easy to create and don't really cost much.  Like I said, the side lights cost me about $10.  The glass paints are very inexpensive and the faux lead comes in strips that stick on the glass.  I drew my pattern on a piece of paper the size of the sidelight and taped it to the outside of the window. I then stuck the faux lead on the inside of the window and sealed the connecting lead ends with a faux liquid solder.  I then painted on the glass paint with a small brush to mimic the effect I wanted.  The paint comes in lots of colors, or clear.

The curved windows took more time, although I did complete 4 in one day.  I used a ruler to gauge how far from the edge I wanted my outline and added the little lines for effect.  The window were very high up on the outside, so I couldn't tape a pattern to them.  I then measured down to get the placement of the diamond in the center.  They came out looking a little different, because on a couple of them the paint was thicker, so I just went back and added a little more paint to the others.   Since I had faux lead strips left over from the first project, I only had to buy one more package and one more bottle of paint.

[Butterfly]

This is a picture wall I did of family and friends.  I had to make the sign "Family & Friends" because I couldn't find one the right size.  We made the sign out of a piece of wood and used trim to outline it.  The letters were printed off of the computer and I used transfer paper to draw them on the painted board, then filled them in with craft paint.

Some of the frames I purchased at garage sales and painted them, and some I bought off of clearance tables for $2 or $3.

[Butterfly]

This is a $10 (on sale) K-Mart lamp.  It was white when I purchased it and came with the shade, also white.  I painted the base a dark green, then painted the mustard yellow over the green.  After the yellow dried, I rubbed it with fine steel wool to give that burnished effect. 

I textured the shade by adding "leaf skeletons" to each side, then painting on diluted fabric glue (non-yellowing) and pasting crinkled tissue paper to the shade over the skeletons.  After it dried, I lightly dry brushed a gold stencil paint over the shade to bring out the texture.

I did two lamps for the side table at a cost of $23.  All I had to buy were the lamps and the leaf skeletons.

[Butterfly]

These were garage sale frames for which I paid $4.  I painted the frames red, which is a good base for gold leaf then gold leafed the frames and bought black mattes and put the pen and ink pictures of the houses GA's husband drew for us.  One is our Craftsman Style house in Nebraska and the other is the house we grew up in on Collett St.

Gold leafing is very easy to do.  You apply a glue like substance on the article you want to gold leaf which dries tacky.  You then apply the gold leaf and burnish it.  It's a good idea to follow up with a protective coating like polyurethane.

[Butterfly]

This is a mirror I bought for $10.  I didn't like the color of it, so I painted it dark green, sponged a pale green glaze over it and took a stamp of a leaf, dipped it in the glaze and made leaf prints around the mirror.

[Tennyson]

This is the cutest little lamp that Butterfly made for my daughter.

[Butterfly]

The lamp was white when I bought it !  What can I say?  I just couldn't stand it.   

The bow, hanging above the lamp was given to me by Mac, the first time I attended one of his sales.  It was an old gold colored, probably Home Interior decorations.  I painted it cream, put a crackling agent on it, then painted it pink. 

[Butterfly]

This is a before picture of the guest room at my son's house.

[Butterfly]

This is the after picture.  The purchase of a bed in a bag and the pictures makes a dramatic difference.  The pictures were merely prints that we framed by buying inexpensive frames. 

[Butterfly]

This is for my friend "cookielady" who is decorating her new home and is overwhelmed.  Today she called me to help hand pictures, over the phone.  She says I should start a business and call it "Dial a Decorator", Haha.

When decorating a large open space above cabinets or a ledge, use large items.  Small items will be hard to see.  Large pictures, plates, baskets and greenery work well.  Group articles together, putting smaller things in front.

[Butterfly]

2nd picture