Sometimes you don’t need to spend a fortune to fix a decorating mistake or problem. In fact, easy and inexpensive solutions are more common than you may think. Here are six cheap and simple decorating fixes.
1) Paint. Need to update a room or give it some flair. Paint is the easiest and least expensive fix there is. With a gallon or two, about $50, you can give a room a brand new look.
2) Throws and pillows. Ok, so the sofa is getting worn and dated, but the budget won’t allow you to replace it yet. What to do? Casually drape some throw blankets across a corner and add some coordinating pillows. Don’t just put the throw over the back, have go on the corner, draping so it falls across an arm, part of the back, and over a cushion. We were selling our house and had redecorated the whole thing, but we couldn’t afford new couches even though the dog had snagged the fabric with his claws. Throws and pillows covered up the problem spots and made the boring couches look romantic and inviting.
3) Area rugs. Have a problem floor or a spot? Hide it with a rug. We had refinished hardwood floors in our first house, but there was a water stain smack dab in the middle of the room that no amount of standing could fix. We didn’t have the money to replace the floor so we bought a small oriental rug instead. While the rug seemed expensive at the time, it was cheaper than replacing half of the hardwood, added a warm luxurious feel to the room, and it has lasted nearly 20 years!
4) New cabinet hardware. Cabinets make a big statement in a kitchen or bath, but replacing them cost thousands of dollars. For a simple way to update and dress up cabinets, simply change the hardware. Get fancy knobs that make a statement. Spend a little extra than you may normally because remember how much you’re saving by not replacing your cabinets.
5) Slipcovers. Yes, slipcovers. No longer are these the horrid things your grandmother used. Now slipcovers come to be easily put on, sized to fit well, and designed to be attractive and modern. Do a Google search, and you’ll be surprised how many you can find.
6) Sponging or rag painting. Do you have a wall that’s been patched or had cracks repaired, but it’s just not as smooth as it once was? A great way to camouflage it is to sponge or rag paint the wall. The inherent texture of these painting techniques can hide a multitude of plaster and dry wall sins.
See; you don’t have to break the bank to easily fix some decorating problems.

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“Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.” –Jim Rohn
As a frequent traveler, I’m often amazed at how dramatically my mood changes depending on where I am staying. I have stayed in some very nice hotels that were so warm and welcoming that I loved being in my room. Other rooms were so dark and uninviting I found my mood spiraling downward. Our environment and surroundings play a huge part in how we feel on a day-to-day basis. Think about it. When your home is messy, chaotic, cluttered, and filled with piles, how do you feel? My guess would be “stressed” is amongst the adjectives that top your list. Likewise, when our homes are clean and straightened we feel more at peace.
So why not create a dream home for yourself? You don’t need a million dollar budget and a designer’s help. Instead, approach your home with the same mentality we bring to this challenge – one day, one step, and one project- at a time.
The task of beautifying your home will be an ongoing process. I recommend getting a separate binder for this project. I have a binder with dividers for each room of the house that I wanted to “beautify.” Then when I found pictures, ideas, or had inspirations, I would store the information behind the applicable room tab.
The process of going through your home is much like when we created the MASTER TASK LIST. Choose a room in which to start. Sit down for a good twenty minutes, really taking in all the items, furniture, textures, and colors of the room. Then imagine how you would like the room to be. Don’t be shy, write down anything that comes to mind no matter how crazy it seems. There may be things on your list that aren’t practical right now and that’s okay. These notes will give you a clue into the traits and mood you want to create in the room and you may be able to find a less expensive alternative. (For example, in one room I would have loved new hardwood floors. Instead, I found that sanding the current wood floors and covering them with inexpensive rugs purchased at a wholesale outlet, created the nice warm feeling I was looking to have.)
Here are some specific things to think about in each room:
• COLOR: Do the walls represent the room? If your house has all white walls, consider toying with color. Painting a room is the quickest way to give it a fresh look. Stenciling is another option for those who don’t want to brave a full paint makeover. If you want to keep your white walls, are there prints or paintings that could be added to give the room a new tone? What types of prints and paintings would you enjoy – abstract, contemporary, wildlife? What colors should the paintings emphasize to help coordinate the overall color of the room?
• FURNITURE: Are there pieces of furniture that need to be refinished, repaired, or replaced? Are there any pieces you would like to add?
• WINDOWS: Do you like your current window coverings? If not, what would you prefer? Would you like to go with a valance? Blinds? No coverings?
• DECORATIONS: What elements could be added to change the tone of the room? How about a small water fountain in a room where you like to relax? Fountains can be found very inexpensively at stores like Target or Wal-Mart. Would an arrangement of candles or dried flowers add to the room? Could you remove items to simplify the space? Could you swap items with items from another area of the house for a fresh feel?
• FOLIAGE: What about plants? Plants quickly provide a new feel within a room. If you have a bad history with plants, don’t despair. Visit your local garden center and explain you want a very durable plant for someone without a “green thumb.” These garden experts can help you pick the plant that is best for you.
• FLOOR COVERING: How do you want your floors to look? Would you like rugs, floor coverings, hardwood, or to lay new tile?
Idea-Gathering Gathering ideas can be a very fun step. Begin by paging through magazines and finding attractive rooms. For example, if you are working on your living room, begin by finding living rooms that have a theme or feel you would like to emulate in your own home. Don’t worry if you can’t find something that is exactly like what you want; you can clip furniture from one picture and paintings from another. Here are aore sources for idea-gathering:
1. If you have a friend who has a “knack” for displays and interior design, consider seeking her help and recommendations.
2. Visit furniture stores, antique shops, and department stores to gather ideas for displays and decoration. Check your local library and bookstore for additional books and ideas.
3. The internet also has a ton ot resources for decorating. Try doing a search at http://www.google.com for decorating. The Better Homes and Gardens website has a lot ot resources as well – you can find it at www.bhg.com.
4. Visit your local improvement store. Look at their idea books and magazines. Find paint samples and color palettes that are appealing to you.
5. Let the process of gathering ideas take as long as you desire. Remember this is a work in progress. Once you have some ideas, pick one to start. I encourage you to work through one room at a time, completing it in its entirety before moving to the next room. This way you will be able to enjoy one room while working on the others and not cause a lot of clutter or disruption in the home.
Remember that decorating and performing a facelift to a room needn’t be costly or time consuming. Adding a new print to a wall, colorful pillows to a couch, or a few plants can breathe new life into a tired room.
Your Assignment:
Begin gathering ideas. Try to choose at least one idea that can be implemented today to beautify ye.

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Here is a simple plan to help your child/teen keep their rooms clean. Don’t worry if the room is a disaster. Just set the timer for 15 minutes each day and get started. Continue clearing clutter each day until you find the tops of the dressers and the floor. By the end of the week, you will be amazed at the progress! When you are ready… start the weekly plan.
During the first few weeks, you may want to assist (or at least supervise). Start by making sure that everything in the room has a home. Don’t worry about perfect organization, just get the surfaces cleared off.
Supplies Needed
Trash bag
Laundry basket
Donate bucket – get rid of the items that they no longer love!
Assorted baskets or buckets for smaller items
Labels – labels make organizing easier
Every Day
Make the bed – have your child do this before the daily task
Monday
Clear all surfaces (dressers, table, nightstands, etc.)
Tuesday
Dust all surfaces – this should be easy since they are all cleared off.
Wednesday
Clear the floor (just the visible parts for today)
Thursday
Sweep or vacuum
Friday
Pick a spot – you or your child can pick one spot for the day. Make a list of all the problem spots in the room and slowly check them off.
- Under the bed
- Behind the dresser
- One dresser drawer
- One shelf
- _________________
- _________________
- _________________
- _________________
Saturday
Change sheets and bring all laundry to laundry room
Sunday
Free Day – you can also use this as a make up day
Each week, make a mental note of the items that end up scattered about. Use baskets, boxes, shelves or create your own solution to keep these items together. You may need to try several different solutions before you find one that works. If something seems to be working… leave it alone!
Each day, encourage your child to perform the scheduled tasks. Give them a time limit and use a timer (15 minutes should be enough time). Don’t be too picky, just try to guide them. They will soon figure out that if they clear their dresser on Monday and throw everything on the floor, that on Wednesday they will have to pick that stuff up AGAIN when they clear the floor.
Remember… it only takes 15 minutes per day to keep your child’s bedroom neat and clean.

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There are so many plants available for you to choose from that it’s hard to know where to start. Are you looking for house plants, tropical plants or some beautiful garden plants? Green plants are not only beautiful to look at they also provide a much needed of fresh oxygen for our breathing. Nature has a way of providing a balance for everything.
Different plants grow in different ways. Some plants, send out long underground stems that produce new plants, often at considerable distances from the original plant. These plants can form enormous colonies of new plants within just a couple of years. The leaves of some plants produce buds at their edges, which then develop into miniature plants that fall off and take root. Specialists in the fields of agriculture and horticulture take advantage of the regenerative ability of plants to produce new varieties of plants.
Indoor plants allow you to cultivate, enjoy and fuss over their growth and development with worrying about the vagaries of the weather. Indoor plants are also a way to start new growths and give them a better chance of survival. A rewarding and tasty plant to grow are strawberry plants. These can be easily cultivated and expanded so that every summer you can enjoy your own fresh strawberries right out of your own garden.
Unfortunately many plants have natural enemies that attach themselves to the plant. These can be aphids, moss and fungus. It’s vital to keep on top of these enemies to your plant.
Take your time and give some thought to what type of plants your looking for and I’m sure you’ll be pleased as you see your plant grow and develop.

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Every fall, millions of lady bugs (or what seems like millions) swarm around my house here in west central Wisconsin, looking for a place to spend the winter.
Actually, they are not “true” lady bugs. They are “Multi-Colored Asian Lady Beetles.” The beetles are beneficial to the environment because they control aphids. And from what I’ve read, the multicolored lady beetles are much better at controlling aphids than the ‘real’ lady bugs.
How can you tell the difference between native lady bugs and the multicolored beetles? Lady bugs are bright red. The multicolored lady beetles come in shades of orange, from light to dark. They also have many variations of patterns of spots. Some have almost no spots at all, and some have many spots. When you look closely at the multicolored lady beetles, it doesn’t seem much of a stretch to say that no two are alike.
Unfortunately, on warm, sunny fall days, the swarms of lady beetles are so thick around my house that in the afternoon, I hesitate to even go outside to get the mail. The beetles land in my hair, crawl behind my glasses and work their way down the collar of my shirt.
Thousands of the bugs also find ways into my walk-out basement. I have swept them up by the snow-shovel-full (literally). My basement faces south, and the insects are attracted to light-colored structures with southern, sunny exposures that are on a hillside.
The beetles come in around the screen door upstairs, too, and the next thing you know,
I’ve got hundreds of them crawling on the walls and across the ceiling.
In the spring, when it warms up, the beetles emerge from their winter hiding places. Beginning in March, dozens of beetles crawl around my home office, the kitchen, the dining room, the basement and in other parts of the house, looking for a way to get outside.
Multi-Colored Asian Lady Beetles are not harmful when they are inside the house, although they can be annoying if present in significant numbers. It’s a little disconcerting to pick up your coffee cup and almost swallow a beetle that has landed in your coffee or is crawling around the rim of the cup. And two or three lady beetles landing in your bowl of soup can definitely make you lose you appetite. If you have company coming, you also don’t want guests to find lady beetles in their food or beverages.
Although the beetles are not necessarily harmful if they’re inside the house, when they swarm in the fall, they can create problems if they crawl into furnace vent pipes and plug them up. I have heard of them plugging attic vents, as well. And one woman reported to my husband (he is an Internet technician), that a lady bug crawled inside of her computer and shorted it out.
When the beetles are present in large numbers, you can also smell them. The odor is a little like burned rubber or hot asphalt. When the beetles are threatened, the odor is particularly strong. They apparently view being swept off the walls (or vacuumed off) as a threatening situation. Sometimes when threatened, the beetles ooze an orange liquid, as well. I have read that the liquid can stain walls and fabrics, although I have not yet seen any evidence of that around my own house.
Here are five ways that I’ve found to deal with lady bug infestations:
• Vacuum up the beetles with the vacuum cleaner attachment.
This may be somewhat time-consuming but it is a non-toxic and safe method to remove the bugs. As far as I’m concerned, time-consuming doesn’t seem so important when thousands of lady beetles are invading my house.
When vacuuming up large numbers of Multi-Colored Asian Lady Beetles, be sure that you don’t leave the attachment hose draped across the vacuum cleaner in preparation for the next vacuuming session, otherwise the beetles will soon find their way out of the vacuum bag and will be crawling around the house again. One woman from my hometown says she solves this problem by stuffing a paper towel into the end of the vacuum hose.
• Seal up cracks or spaces around doors and windows, if possible.
Sealing up cracks and spaces will make it more difficult for the beetles to get into the house in the first place. The beetles do not need much space to crawl through. Even a door that fits the frame quite well may still leave enough space to allow the beetles access to your house.
• Spray around door frames and window frames with a bug spray containing pyrethrins or permethrin.
I have discovered that the beetles will avoid crawling across bug spray with pyrethrins or permethrin, or if they do crawl across it, they die in a short while. I don’t particularly like to spray bug spray inside my house, but when it’s a matter of spraying or letting thousands of lady bugs into the house, spraying seems like the lesser of the two evils. I don’t like killing the beetles, either, and would just as soon “live and let live,” but I draw the line at a house-full of beetles.
• Use the garden hose to spray the beetles off the side of the house.
In the fall, when the beetles are crawling on the outside of my house by the hundreds of thousands (sometimes it’s almost difficult to see what color the house is because there are so many beetles), I take the garden hose and use the sprayer attachment to spray them off the side of the house. To make an impact, this must be done two or three times a day on days when the swarms are active. I have also used an attachment for the garden hose that allows me to spray a soap-and-water mixture on the house. I haven’t noticed that a soap solution is really any more effective at knocking the beetles off the house, although the exterior walls are cleaner when I’m finished!
• Learn to tolerate the Multi-Colored Asian Lady Beetles.
I keep telling myself that the Multi-Colored Asian Lady Beetles are swarming around my house because they are only trying to survive the winter – just like all living things try to survive.
In the insect world, the beetles are known as predators because they eat aphids and other plant pests. A few years from now, the beetles may be in a low cycle, and then, perhaps, I will wish there were more of them when the aphids begin attacking crops, gardens and flowering plants. (I still don’t want the beetles invading my house by the thousands, though.)
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Copyright 2004 LeAnn R. RZZZZZ

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