Decorating on a Dime

My sister, Jane, turned me on to HGTV. Now I'm addicted! As Jane says, "There's always a happy ending." She's right. And gosh, watching it sure gets your creative juices flowing.

My favorite program is the High Low Project. Sabrina Soto designs a jaw-dropping room for a lucky couple or person. Then she reveals the equally jaw-dropping cost. Next, she goes out and replicates that expensive decor for a fraction of the cost.

What have I learned by watching the show?

* Mix expensive items with cheap ones. No one will know, and you'll save buckets of cash.

* Shop around. You can find a cheaper copy of almost anything.

* Make it work. Repurpose things so that they serve your purpose, not the original one.

* Cover it with paint and no one will know. You can paint almost anything. Metal, glass, etc.

This empty bottle washed up on my beach. I added a smooth sea pebble, string, and a slipper shell. If you could see it in "real life," you'd see the wonderful pitted surface of the glass that makes the bottle very interesting.

* Study the high-price objects and copy them. I watched Sabrina and a co-worker replicate an expensive piece of art that looked like an empty wine bottle with a starfish stuck on it. That tickled me because I'd done a similar job on a bottle I found on the beach. (See above.) I felt great about recycling these found objects!

* Whip out that sewing machine and hop to it! The fabric portions of any room can easily be the most costly.

* Shop a variety of stores. My favorites are HomeGoods, Target, TJ Maxx, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. (Love their coupons.)

The second show I watch regularly is Secrets from a Stylist. Emily Henderson pinpoints clients' design style by observing what they like, listening to them, and asking them to choose one item from an array of things.

I looked in my husband's dresser drawer and saw all tailored clothes in khaki, white and navy. He sent down a model ship that he loved. He collects books about maritime antiques.

So this weekend I set to work. I knew our bedroom was a bit too fussy for my husband's taste. I admit it was bit too twee for mine. The bed was covered with a busy patterned dust ruffle, a white coverlet, and pillow shams that were too frou-frou. Instead of being soothing, the effect was tiring.

I found a Ralph Lauren coverlet at HomeGoods for only $40. I added a tailored bed skirt and shams that I bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond with my coupons for 20 percent off. Around the flange of the shams, I added a navy grosgrain ribbon. I moved pillows from the livingroom into the bedroom, which was a good repurposing because there were too many pillows on sofa. It had become annoying to move them each time I wanted to sit there. I found an ivory throw at Target, along with a wonderful lamp that looks like a surveyor's instrument. The brass trim on the stunning wood is reminiscent of sailing devices. You can barely see my recycled glass bottle on the side table.

I think the finished look is much more tailored, sophisticated and...nautical. I hope David likes it! I find it much more restful and soothing.

See the surveyor-ish lamp? Next to it is the salvaged bottle. The trim on the ivory pillows is ribbon hand-sewn on and also adhered with "magic" hem tape.

Organization

Organizing

I’ll tell you a secret. I think we’ve gone organizing crazy. There’s a whole industry that counts on us to buy the books that tell us how to store our stuff. Of course, that means buying more stuff, but somehow that’s different.

There is something disconcerting to me about a clean house. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have piles of old newspapers stacked up in the basement and am not near a Grey Gardens situation. I do love it when the kitchen floor is spic ‘n’ span. But I think neatness is stifling our creativity.

I just spent hours undoing an very organized file of papers. In its own box, with individual folders, neatly labeled. Easy access. Did I ever look at this file since I spent hours fixing it up several years ago? Not once.

I’m the kind of person that can’t deal with things being put away. Take my blender off my counter and I’ll forget I own one and buy a smoothie maker when the mood strikes. (Carol’s recipe: 1 cup milk, 1 frozen banana, 1 T peanut butter. Yum.). My George Foreman grill found a home in the pantry cupboard two summers ago and hasn’t been out since. Same goes for quilting projects. Put that sucker in a cute little box of its own, and it’s forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind.

So a little clutter is okay by me. I don’t want to live in a showroom. I like books around me and thread and unfinished projects. That’s what you see when you walk in my house.

I worry about people whose houses look like something off HGTV. Too neat begs to be left alone. Too tidy means “Don’t Mess Me Up.” That translates to: don’t cook, sew, play with paints, inks or stamps. And that doesn’t work for creative urges.

I need to be able to place my hand on my dictionary or my favorite writing books (current fave: The Fire in Fiction, by Donald Maass. The last chapter will make your heart sing.) I need to fondle my fabric and admire it. I need a place where I can leave out my glues and papers. It does mean walking through a mess at times, but I’m okay with that.

So come on over. The bathroom’s clean, the dishes are done. Just don’t bump into my sewing machine when you come in the family room.