Janice Tham asked:


You can have a classy home on a modest budget. A beautifully modern home, tastefully done, is possible. Even on a prudent budget. Start your home makeover with simplicity. A crowded, cluttered up room full of decorations and furnishings and furniture looks tacky in comparison to a simple, almost spartan home.

The trick is to go minimalist.

The time for lavish spending on white elephants is over. Now is the time to learn from the Shakers and go simple. Form and function. Everything should have a reason to be in a room. Everything in the room should go with the decor and the color scheme. Pare down your furniture and furnishings to the bare minimum. Keep only the best items which go with your color scheme and with the style of your home.

To deal with a smaller budget, you can do two things:

1. Cut costs by buying only the best. The best meaning, what looks best in your home, which is the most useful and fits best with your lifestyle and home decor. If anything does not fit all these criteria, walk away. Spend only on the very best things — furniture and furnishings, for your home.

2. Bring in more money by selling off the clutter. Pare down your decor. Go simple. Get rid of clutter to reveal space. Your room will look more spacious and classier when the surfaces are bare. When the mismatched furniture and furnishing are gone. Better to have less in pared down room that looks simply chic, than to have more in a cluttered up room that feels crowded and makes everyone in it feel claustrophobic. The money from selling off the excess will come in handy during the recession.

Start by selling away the excess. Hold a garage sale to sell off all the white elephants as well as anything that does not fit in with your intended decor.

Join ebay and auction off all the clutter in your home. From the old rugs that just don’t match the decor, to the old sofa that looks like an eyesore. Hey, it is an antique right? So it should fetch some money on ebay.

All those white elephants– well meaning gifts from friends and family, impulse buys and all, sitting on the shelf or hidden in the store room can be sold for cash.

With the proceeds of all these sales, and having gotten rid of the clutter, you can now buy key items for your home, that actually go well with your decor and which you will actually use.

Take stock of your now less crowded home.

Choose your color scheme. Should it be warm and woody? White and spacious? Pink and girly? Floral and feminine? Green, brown and masculine?

Give the walls a fresh coat of paint that will go with your intended color scheme.

What else do you need?

What else does not go with your color scheme?

Conduct a second round of garage sales and ebay auctions to pare down your home even further.

Is your home strewn with books, magazines and newspapers?

Would a classy magazine rack be enough? Or would you need bookshelves and cupboards as well? Don’t settle for something third rate. Go for something you really love. Fewer items, but really good ones, will still cost less than lots and lots of cheap stuff you don’t like that much.

What kind of chairs and tables would you prefer?

A leather sofa and wooden tables?

A fabric sofa?

Rattan furniture?

Glass table tops?

Pick a theme that goes with your home and stick to it.

Janice Price asked:


Apartment Decorating

In today’s economy everybody is spending less, but wanting more.  So how can you get your apartment to have that “Designer look” for less?

First, DIY or Do it yourself.  You can save tons of money with your home decorating projects if you can do it yourself.  Visit your local book stores or library and you’ll see hundreds of books on home decorating ideas and do-it-yourself projects.

Start collecting design magazines and clip out the pictures of rooms you like.  Study your pictures, observe the different architectural features like windows, fireplaces, recessed ceilings and decorative crown mouldings in the space.

Also note the different furniture styles used within the space, window treatments, upholstery fabrics and floor selections.  Study the lighting that was selected, rugs and home décor accessories.  Ask yourself, what did you like most or least about these? 

Keep a decorating file on hand to inspire and delight your creative senses.  Take the pictures with you when you go shopping to keep you on track with the style you are searching for.

Take a trip to your local Lowe’s and Home Depot stores to see all the DIY books and magazines they carry to help you get started. They also have special classes to teach you how.  DIY doesn’t sound so scary now, right?

Second, start with one room and third, stick to your budget.  Sounds easy?  Well, in fact it’s easier than you think.  I think what really hangs people up is that they are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the project.  That’s why I say start with one room.  It’ll be much easier on the budget. 

Did I say “budget”.  Don’t fret.  It’s not such a dirty word.  And in this tough economy, even the rich have a budget.  You can decorate these days on a very tight budget.  It’s just learning how to be smart and creative.

(I would like to inject at this point that if you are considering on hiring the help of an expert instead of doing it yourself, make sure to ask the expert for referrals of customers they have helped in the past.  Hire only reliable, reputable contractors and ones that guarantee their work.  Get a contract in writing.  I am not responsible for who you hire.  Do your homework!)

However, if you are going to do this yourself, and YES YOU CAN, you will need to evaluate your budget, which will be determined by if you are doing the whole apartment, or room by room.

Other factors to consider to stay within your budget are the size of the room, the design theme or style you want to achieve, what needs to be replaced or repaired, and furniture, fixtures or accessories you will need to purchase.

Apartment decorating is fun and exciting.  You can make any home spectacular, inviting and comfortable, no matter what the size.  So let’s get started.  First, analyze the room you will decorate and determine what it is that you like and don’t like about the space.

Now think about your personal style you would like to achieve in the space.  If you’re not sure what your personal decorating style is, shop a few furniture stores and designer showcases in your area.  You will get lots of home decorating ideas this way.

They group comfortable settings together called “vignettes”, pronounced “vin-yets” in different styles.  This will help you determine the styles you like and don’t like.  You’ll begin to affirm what strongly appeals to you and what doesn’t.  And what you would like to incorporate into your own space. 

Now, ask yourself these questions:

What do I feel most comfortable in?  Do I like formal or informal?  Casual or elegance?  Traditional or contemporary?  Your personal style is an expression of who you are, what you like, your tastes, your moods, your life experiences, travel, education and so forth.  It shows YOU, by way of color, texture and style, just by what we display in our spaces.

Color is another factor to consider in your design theme.  You’ll want to pay close attention to what colors excite you and make you comfortable, happy, or even sad.  Are you drawn toward warm colors like reds and yellows?  Or cool colors, like blues and greens? 

Besides the furniture stores, you can also get great home decorating ideas by surfing the Internet.  With just a simple click of your mouse the world of decorating is opened up to you.  You can get decorating ideas, hire experts, get DIY project ideas and purchase the products you want, all through the amazing world of online technology.

You’ll be simply amazed at the many online stores that cater to your budget.  From flooring, walls and windows, to window treatments, furniture and accessories, you’ll get tons of great ideas, as well as great prices you can afford, to start your journey on your apartment decorating.

Cost Cutting Ideas

To get the best deals and stay within your budget, shop these places:

Craig’s List, Ebay, Amazon, Overstock, Second-hand stores, consignment shops, garage sales, flea markets, auctions, friends that throw stuff out, garbage bins (yes, it’s amazing the “new” stuff that is thrown out every day!)

Syahrul Azlan Idris asked:


With a little bit of creativity, combined with your awareness of your personal tastes and individual sense of style, plus unlimited resources, anyone can achieve an excellent and unique look for almost any room or area in their homes. However, no matter how much money you have or much creativity you got, there are just some decorating no-nos that you should avoid at all costs.

Whether you’re going for casual, traditional, or even just decorating your kid’s room, these are some of the most common mistakes that are being committed again and again. It’s quite surprising how many people are found guilty of these things, really. I hope you’re not one of them.

Getting furniture that does not fit – Think about it; you wouldn’t wear clothes that are either too loose and baggy, or too tight and fitting on you, now would you? So why on earth would you go out and get furniture that won’t fit into your room? Starting today, remember to measure the space that you have, consider carefully where you’re going to put the piece, and write it all down.

Using too many prints and patterns – Please, don’t just go around picking up any fabric or upholstered furniture you see and like. Most people do this quite often, thinking all the while that they can find a way to work around it. When buying furniture, drapes, curtains, or anything else that involves prints and patterns, sit down first and plan out your color scheme carefully.

Find a main pattern and then go out and get pieces, plaids, stripes, etc. to work around that. If you need to, select a large pattern or print, then get one coordinating print, and another plaid or striped fabric. That would be enough. Anything more would be going overboard.

Leaving a rug floating – All the pieces and home décor elements in a room should be connected physically and visibly. Placing a rug on the floor effectively adds more color, charm, and that essential connection. However, a lot of rugs are still being left lying around without the edges safely tucked in under the legs of sofas, tables, chairs, etc. This is an accident just waiting to happen. It would be so easy to trip over a protruding edge or corner, or else slip and slide if the rug moves under your feet.

All pieces against the wall – A lot of people have this misconception that a room looks larger if they push up all their furniture against the wall, leaving the middle of the floor open. Actually, doing the opposite is definitely more effective. Place some of the furniture into groups in the center, unless you want to clear out the floor for dancing. You can perhaps place a sofa with a table behind it, or you can arrange some accessories and place a lamp behind it. Moving some chairs out of the corners will also provide a more airy and spacious atmosphere.

Display all your knick-knacks – A lot of people collect everything they find from garage sales to their travels, things like salt and pepper shakers, ash trays, unique sculptures, glasses, pottery, etc. This is all fine, but please avoid displaying them all at any one time. You’re in a home, not a museum. Pick out a few important items, particularly those of monetary or sentimental value. Then throw out the rest of the stuff, if you can. If not, just rotate them for displaying.