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Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,305
Registered: ‎06-08-2016

I leave out small Christmas decorations year round.

None of them scream Christmas, for example I have a few tiny nutcrackers tucked away in random places.   If you came into the room, you may not notice but I know they're there and it makes me happy

Super Contributor
Posts: 493
Registered: ‎02-25-2020

@Nonametoday wrote:

I use a rusted (probably intentional) basket for holding extra rolls of toilet tissue in my bathroom. 

 

DH has one of those metal stands with rolls of paper

 

In the guest bathroom, I have a rabbit statuary that I have painted and antiqued which stands about 30 inches tall that holds 2-3 extra rolls of tissue paper.  

 

One DIL has a very pretty basket, like chicken wire on a fainting couch at the foot of her bed (she is a knitter) with various colors of pretty yarn in it and because it is a chicken-wire look, it all shows through in the beautiful pastel colors.  

 

I use one of those passementerie curtain tiebacks from the past (same color of blue as my bowels) to "corral" my towels in some kind of order:  bath to face towels in a stack in the guest bathroom.  I like that word, Oznell.

 

I have a wooden tray with metal handles to display my oils, vinegar, salt & pepper containers, a tall glass/metal container of spagetti, a short glass/metal lid for sugar, just the things I use everyday and/or most often.  Behind it stands a piece of art (still life by one of our children).  

 

I hope your bowels aren't blue!!!  Smiley LOL Smiley LOL Sorry, that typo was just too good to pass up!  Thanks for my "laugh of the day"!


 

Man plans. God laughs.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,720
Registered: ‎10-01-2013

I do not like anything on the refrigerator. That is a pet peeve of mine.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 43,240
Registered: ‎01-08-2011

I use antique baskets for many things.  In the winter a large basket has pine cones,  a small basket over 100 years old has paper napkins.  An antique sewing chest holds some Christmas items in it's sides.

 

I also save all of those ribbon lingerie hanging straps in tops and loop them through Christmas tree ornaments.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,040
Registered: ‎09-12-2010

I love pretty crystal or glass bowls - small to medium - and have found some expensive brands (Tiffany for example) for next to nothing at garage sales and thrift shops. I use them around my house to hold things like cotton balls in a bathroom, colorful small stones from hobby stores, m&m's or wrapped candy, my rings by a sink, etc.

 

I like to use inexpensive larger planters or containers in colorful ceramic for trash cans in my bathrooms. Taller planters or similar sized containers are fairly easy to find at hobby stores and make great trash cans that are always more attractive than a plastic trash can.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,399
Registered: ‎07-15-2016

My color scheme is black, white and red with animal accents.  Those are "my" colors - and the colors of the clothes I wear most frequently.  (Even my eyeglass frames are red!)

 

Kitchen - it's white - but red is the predominant color for appliances.  Pots are red enamel.  Dish mat is red.  Curtain is sheer red panel.  Western exposure - so when sun is going down, the kitchen has a red glow.

 

Bedroom - black is predominant with leopard carpet.

 

Dining room - black and white with zebra carpet.

 

Living room is black furniture with red carpet and animal accents.

 

Bathroom - everything in there is either black, white, red or animal. (Colgate Toothpaste is in a red tube.)

 

Anything I add is either red or black, or silver or bronze for metals, colorless or red glass. I wouldn't buy anythng else.

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,745
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@jannabelle1 wrote:

I love pretty crystal or glass bowls - small to medium - and have found some expensive brands (Tiffany for example) for next to nothing at garage sales and thrift shops. I use them around my house to hold things like cotton balls in a bathroom, colorful small stones from hobby stores, m&m's or wrapped candy, my rings by a sink, etc.

 

I like to use inexpensive larger planters or containers in colorful ceramic for trash cans in my bathrooms. Taller planters or similar sized containers are fairly easy to find at hobby stores and make great trash cans that are always more attractive than a plastic trash can.


@jannabelle1 

 

I love that idea for the trash cans in the bathrooms.  I am going to copy that.  I have a collection of blue & white plates that I had considered putting over the window at my soaking tub.  I can take that large blue & white fish bowl that I have in storage and use it for a trash disposer.  Now I need to find blue & white Kleenex tissue cover and get some blue & white braid and sew onto white towels.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,745
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

It is very difficult nowadays to afford frames for artwork.  I have some artists in my family and wish to frame their artwork.  I rarely get originals.  I get copies of artwork so I like to keep it under glass.  I go to flea markets and come out with some of the ugliest artwork and most beautiful frames you ever laid eyes on.  If the frame is not an exact size match, I know about matting.  Good luck with rummaging around flea markets and garage, yard sales, etc.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,745
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Inexpensive Decor Tips

[ Edited ]

Baskets are the best thing since sliced bread.  I like to keep magazines and there is not enough room for all the magazines I hoard.  Baskets!  The bigger the better and the more they hold.  Do you know what a good magazine costs nowadays and the same ideas in design are being recycled.  This global chic they are calling it at Restoration Hardware that is becoming cookie cutter in all designers' homes.  It is nothing more than what I did in the 1970s with contemporary furnishings and trips to Pier 1 and World Bazaar.

 

That was after I had abandoned my midcentury modern in favor of Early American which I replaced with French Provincial.  By the time I had finished the contemporary of the 1970s and went for good European furnishings, I learned to take a little from that era and something from that continent over there and the one down there and have a well-collected home filled with memories of the places we had traveled, particularly with Uncle Sam.

 

The same designers that told you that "shabby chic" was a must have and later told you "no, no, no..."  those are the same designers that led you into the French cottage and then to industrial and now they are telling you that bohemian is out and global chic is in.  These designs are recycled through the decades.  

 

You can incorporate pieces from French country, English cottage, contemporary, and traditional into an eclectic of places you may or may not have (but wanted to) travel to.  Just do it with taste and it will make you look so superior to those people that are refinancing their homes to buy the same thing from Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn that is being sold at Home Goods and TJM and while some of those shoppers are spending grocery money to buy this, just go to your local Target, Home Goods and TJMaxx and perusing some of the designs of the real high-end designers like Charles Faudree and many others and find a thing or two here and there that you can incorporate.  Don't fill your home with piles of African artifact, geodes from every continent, pieces of metal shaped into figurines, sea shells and coffee mugs with "cafe' printed on them or signage saying "Home Sweet Home"... etc.  

 

You don't need a home filled with tchotchkes all about or to change your interior like you change cars.  Buy traditional furnishings that will stand the test of time and most of that will be found in antique stores, flea markets and your local consignment shops.  Go to Miami or Tampa where many people with money go to retire and they die and their children put all that beautiful furniture they brought from the Northeast in consignment shops, antique shops and flea markets.  Other good places to find great furnishings from the past at good prices is in and around Hickory, North Carolina and guess why?  That was where real furniture was made and it didn't come in on a boat with chinoserie.  

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,504
Registered: ‎05-22-2014

I don’t know where you live, but in Connecticut there are many “estate sales” offered when people pass on to eternity or to retirement living.  Many higher end things are offered for sale.

We are still in our original family home, filled with things that make us happy.  Our home is Early American, with varying degrees of formality.  We do have some items from our travels, which remind us of happy times.  Lots of books, and more decor around that most people have.  Collections gained over a lifetime.

In short, your home is your sanctuary.  Your place where you can have whatever you want to make you happy.  Your tastes do evolve over time depending on your interests.  Enjoy the journey.