Bring Color into the Home

by Kathy Wilson

One of the fastest and more inexpensive ways to decorate your home on a budget is to bring in color. Here are some great ways to do that without breaking the bank!

Use paint to add color throughout your room. Paint your focal wall a richer or brighter color, or paint the whole room. Paint mismatched furniture all one color. White is fresh and black is sophisticated.
Paint all the picture frames in the room a cool accent color. It will pull them together, and add color to the walls.
Use fabric to add color by adding curtains, tiebacks, throw pillows, and tablecloths, all which can be made easily at home with flat sheets or discount fabric.
Cover all the matting in your picture frames with fabric. This can even be scrap fabric or fabric from an old tablecloth. Cut it to size, wrap around the back of the matting, and then glue in place. Replace the picture or artwork, place in the frame and rehang.
Pick up candles in cool accent colors from the dollar shop or discount store. Group them on shelves or tabletops for an instant splash of color.
Bring in live houseplants. Nothing adds more life and color to a room than plants! You can even pot up some shade annuals from the garden center and bring them inside for floral color. Pansies are a good bet. Keep in a bright window, out of direct sunlight.
Finally, keep your eye out at garage sales for cool accessories in your chosen color scheme. Remember that the brighter accent colors should be kept to the smaller pieces to prevent overwhelm in a room. (Unless that's what you were going for!)

Bringing color into a room is an ideal way to add style and charm, and doesn't take a lot of bucks to get it done! So add some summer freshness to your life and color it up!

Kathy Wilson is an author, columnist, and editor of The Budget Decorator and other popular websites. For hundreds of free budget decorating ideas, visit her at www.TheBudgetDecorator.com. Also visit her other websites at www.Women-on-the-Net.com and www.StressLessJournal.com.

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