30 Days, 30 Tips to Budget Friendly Home Decor - Day 9

Okay, here's an easy and inexpensive tip for Day 9 - Decorate with Dishes.

They are not used just for eating our meals anymore. Pretty displays can grace your walls with elegance and color. I have used plates in bedrooms, living rooms, powder rooms, and porches - you name it and I've probably put a plate there! Why? Because plates are cheap art. Clearance tables can be a treasure trove of odds and ends and most of the time they are marked down so low that you can buy several to make a pretty display. In fact, today I was in one of my favorite home decor stores and found oodles of plates marked down to $1 each. For $11 I get a gorgeous grouping of color and pattern. Because of their three dimensional quality, plates add texture to your walls, shelves and cabinets. A collection of similar colors or patterns gives you big impact and lots of possibilities. The best part? You can always use them for serving food when you decide to change your wall decor. Here a collection of blue and white dishes repeat the blue color in this yellow breakfast room.
A casual, country family room uses more blue and white plates to play off the blue checked chair.

Lining a plate rack or hutch with a collection of similar colored plates add big drama.

I love the way this French sitting room displays a collection of fruit and floral plates in the bookshelves. Against the red interior of the shelves the plates really pop!

Here's a great idea my Mother often uses - a display shelf and window treatment! No need for a topper or cornice just add panels and let the plate shelf do the rest.

Plates over the mantle add another layer of interest to this grouping.

Don't have a hutch or expensive plate rack? Build your own! A simple rack like this one costs less than $20 to build and the simple, clean lines allow the plates to speak for themselves.

Here is another "Great Wall of China". I love this! Talk about impact and drama!

Repeating the round shape of these pretty plates, a circular grouping carries the design element further.

Notice the trio of white plates hanging between the windows? The tone on tone quality of this display adds elegance to this refined dining room.

A dozen identical plates find a new use as a decorative element against the casing of this window.

Talk about drama! A collage of mix-n-match plates steal the show!

Here, a classic collection of blue and white pottery is traditionally displayed inside a wooden hutch. The dishes add high contrast to the reddish wood tones and red wall paint.

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Framed wall art can be pricey and if you are on a tight budget or just starting out, try your hand at decorating with dishes and pottery. Yard sales, consignment shops, Goodwill and Salvation Army stores offer a variety of inexpensive dishes to choose from. You can also find beautiful patterns at department store closeouts and discount retailers like HomeGoods, Marshalls, TJMaxx and Ross. Kirkland's offers a big variety of themed decorative plates and let's not forget about treasured hand-me-downs from our Grandmother and Mother! Recently when my own mother downsized and moved to NC, I lucked up and was given her entire collection of Ironstone! Yeah me! I just finished displaying it in my dining room. I'll share pictures soon.

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Tomorrow I'll post Tip 10. I believe every home should have a little whimsy so we'll talk about how to pull that off without looking cheesy. Until then,

Live Life Beautifully!

~Alisa

30 Days, 30 Tips for Budget Friendly Home Decor - Day 4

This is Day 4 in my segment "30 Days, 30 Tips". Again, this tip can add BIG impact for little or no money. Your biggest investment here will be time but it's time well spent! I love looking through decorating magazine and books. I am always drawn to the what's on the walls. Today's tip shares some great pointers on how to get a designer look with just a little effort.

Day 4 - Tip 4:

The look of Big Art

Needless to say, but art tells a lot about you. It sets the personality profile for your rooms and speaks volumes about what you are attracted to and where your passions lie. I walked into a potential client's home and her walls were filled with black and white photography all stylishly framed in modern black frames with ivory matting. The subject of each photograph was a person. Each person was a family member. I knew right away where her heart was. Another lady had me come over to consult about a new color palette for her formal rooms. Tapestries, oil paintings and pottery were displayed throughout her home - each one silently speaking of the Italian countryside and her ancestry.

To get the look of big art in your home assemble similar things in various sizes. Think of paintings, mirrors, plates, vases or photographs. Gather them together in a collage and display them over the head of your bed or behind your sofa or table. They will have much more impact displayed as a collection and they will add big drama to your room. Designer's have known and used this trick for decades.

Perhaps you don't have a collection of similar objects to display in this manner. It's so easy to make your own. Most Photo Labs are able to print quality enlargements of your candid pictures in an hour or less. Pick up inexpensive frames at a discount retailer or outlet store. Use scrapebook paper for matting rather than spending big bucks on custom mats. In a couple of hours you will be set to display your new collage. The same process can work with pressed leaves or dried flowers. My mother once cut beautiful pictures from old cookbooks and assembled a gorgeous collage for our formal dining room! You can pick old cookbooks up at garage sales for pennies!

With a little effort and time invested wisely you can pull off the look of BIG art for little $$$!

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Tomorrow I'll share Tip 5. If you can only spend money on one thing, then this is where you should invest! Until then,

Happy Decorating!

~Alisa