1. Begin by choosing decorative fabrics for your home. Take a look at your wardrobe because people tend to wear colours they love. Look at how the colours in prints and plaids co-ordinate, contrast, and play off each other. If you find a colour, or combination of colours, that you like, wear that particular outfit when you shop for fabrics or meet with your decorator. Tip: In terms of flow, pull one colour throughout your home. Mix that colour with other tones and patterns.
2. Make a pair of old curtains look new by cutting off the curtain heading and hems and using panels to create a smaller, pocket curtain style.
3. Red may not be your favourite colour but, consider including red as an accent colour in your home i.e. candles, books, area rug. Why? Red draws attention away from other things in the room that you may not necessarily want noticed (i.e. dirty windows, peeling wallpaper, or a teenager that just won't get off the couch).
4. Liven up a small bathroom by decorating with stripes, either wallpaper or paint. This decorating trick gives the illusion of height, width and drama.
5. When dividing areas of a wall such as a chair rail, select the darkest colours for the bottom portion. This will help ground the scheme and not leave it floating.
6. Company is on the way, no time to redecorate! Purchase a bunch of tulips and display them in a wide-necked shallow container. Tip: The best way to keep tulips from drooping is to cut the stems short and bunch them together tightly.
7. Beautify a room by draping a table with an Indian sari; inexpensive and already hemmed. Finish the table with a stack of gilded picture frames and a vase of flowers in the centre.
8. If your home is stuck in the '80s, think lighting. Purchase and install updated lighting fixtures. Next, rearrange the furniture. You won't believe the difference!
9. Hide nicks or chips on old photo frames by gluing little trinkets over the damaged areas to hide them. For example, frame a photo of a golfer and decorate the frame with a tiny golf club or plastic tees.
10. When hanging picture frames, use rubber bumpers on the back of each picture. Not only will this help protect your wall but you won't have to constantly straighten the picture.
11. Tired of your kitchen cupboards? Painting is the least expensive option for redecorating your kitchen cabinets and it will give the room new life. With the right preparation, this job can be completed over a long weekend.
12. Save old window shutters and use them to organize. Clean, paint and either mount shutters to a wall or, the back of your bathroom door for holding magazines.
13. During the '60s and early '70s, bead curtains were popular. Well, like everything else in fashion, what goes around comes around and bead curtains are really making a big comeback. They are presently more intricate and are being used in a variety of ways to spruce up a tired room, a child's room or an apartment.
14. Decorate bookshelves sparingly. These are beautiful areas to display objects and books. However, they are also giant dust magnets. Reduce the number of items on bookshelves to only a few per shelf. This makes dusting easier and less time-consuming than shelves lined with lots of small knick-knacks. Better still, have glass doors installed over the shelves so that items inside don't become dusty as quickly.
15. Before you paint, here are a few tricks of the trade: Trick 1: To paint iron railings, use a car mitten. Put paint on mitten, take off surplus then grip railing with mitt and run hand up and down railing. Easy, quick and much less tedious than using a brush. Trick 2: If you have to paint pipes that are fixed to a wall, cut out a piece of cardboard, place this behind the pipes to be painted and then paint as usual. This will prevent any paint from getting onto the wall. Trick 3: When cleaning paint off mouldings, use a pumice stone soaked in detergent and water to gently rub along the moulding.
Solutions is compiled from various sources: hgtv.com, house-decorating-ideas.com, interiordezine.com, umpdesigns.com, thebluefish.com, asktooltalk.com, housekeepingchannel.com, hintsandthings.com. Thanks to all who sent in tips and tricks! Similar information may be found elsewhere.
Solutions Sleuth Reena Nerbas is a home economist and speaks professionally on the topic of household challenges; she is also the author of two national bestsellers, Household Solutions 1 with Substitutions and Household Solutions 2 with Kitchen Secrets. She can be heard on radio programs across Canada and seen on the CBC TV show Living Winnipeg.
Visit me online at: www.householdsolutions.org
