Home » Home & Style » Budget Decorating » Your Decorating Questions Answered

Your Decorating Questions Answered

© L.C. Dumke

Recently, Suite 101 Budget Decorating site visitors have e-mailed me asking for advice to help them through some decorating dilemmas. Here are a few questions I've seen more than once, and some ideas for turning challenges into decorating successes:

The wood paneling in my rental is a bit too much. What can I do?

If you want to hide the paneling but can't paint, suspend curtains (from the ceiling, if it's not too high) to "drape" walls in fabric. This way, you can take them with you when you move and you cover the paneling, but you don't make any permanent changes.

You could also wallpaper some strips of wood, hinge them together, and create decorative "screens: to prop up in certain areas to cover the paneling. These are also movable, so you can change you mind whenever you like. Hinging a few old doors together (even screen doors) also makes a great screen cover-up for portions or wood paneled walls.

What accessories can help me get a shabby chic look in my home?

One of my favorite looks! Go flea marketing hunting and try to pick up some of these items:

- quilts for tossing, stacking or hanging on the wall - sap buckets - old postcards or botanicals (you can cut them out of old books) for framing and hanging on walls - teacups and vintage plates (I pick them up for a buck or two each. Hang them on a wall with a dime store plate rack) - toile trays (getting harder to find and more expensive, but absolutely beautiful) - old windows (I get them for $2-5 bucks at junk shops). They look great hung as is on the wall. Add hooks and it's a hat rack, coat rack or jewelry holder.

I'd love a beautiful bed with a headboard and footboard but my bedroom is very small. Any suggestions?

Try creating a "faux" headboard by using stencils and paint. HGTV's Carol Duvall show Web site offers help in this episode review.

If you don't want to paint, try hanging a quilt, an interesting rug, or drapes behind your bed in place of a headboard. Place a small table or chest at the foot of your bed for a finished look.

Where's the best place to shop for low-cost decorating items?

Oh, there are so many places! Flea markets are always at the top of my list, closely followed by yard sales, following by my mother's house (the stuff there is free!)

The copyright of the article Your Decorating Questions Answered in Budget Decorating is owned by L.C. Dumke. Permission to republish Your Decorating Questions Answered in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.