Decorating Ideas

[Strawberry]

I like the ideas for the record store decorations, but me and my boyfriend are moving into a new apartment and I wanted to look really cool and lived in. Lots of posters, tapestries, candles, flowers.. stuff like that. But does anyone have any other good ideas for decorating an apartment with recyclables for a nice low price?

[treehugger]

heh....well I have a couple of bamboo curtains to barter in the Barter Zone....

but on a more serious note...I made pretty cool room dividers using old bamboo matchstick blinds, hung from the ceiling.

[Lorilou]

cause ben and jerry's lids make neat little collections to hang on the wall. we actually have a door with three or four around it, we had more but the dog ate them. :( we also hand paint c.d.s and stuff, or take some old boxes cut them up and paint those. i usually put on some good music and go to town painting. its kinda relaxing. hmmm, cut out quotes or pics from old magazines and put them in a frame or just tack them up. oh, and re-using old magnets, you know the free ones you get from restaurants or businesses, you can paint those to make more interesting fridge magnets. goodness we even have the side from a six pack on the wall, its petes wicked strawberry blonde, my boyfriend liked the box. one room of our house is full, of road signs....okay there's ten.. not really recycling but the method of accumulating them was fun.. i dunno i guess if we like how it looks we just put it up somewhere. good luck and most important have fun decorating. :p

[LIBRA]

old dish's or anything glass, some morter mix and make a mosaic, thats what I am going to do in my living room around a large window I am slowly collecting glass and dish's from people and salvation army has dishes real cheap and there cool old glass dishes!! I think I am obsessed with this mosaic I think about it all the time ideas, material etc.. I
anyway theres an Idea good luck with your move!!

[treehugger]

Oh...wow, Libra! You just gave me an idea for my (going to be) fireplace surround!!!!

Those mosaics are sooo pretty.

[Strawberry]

Thankies everyone!! The big move starts tomorrow... YAY!!! :animal-sm

[freakyfairy]

i hope your new place is awesome and i'm sure you'll make it look awwesome....
i make clocks out of cd's....

[mamasharones]

old dish's or anything glass, some morter mix and make a mosaic, thats what I am going to do in my living room around a large window I am slowly collecting glass and dish's from people and salvation army has dishes real cheap and there cool old glass dishes!! I think I am obsessed with this mosaic I think about it all the time ideas, material etc.. I
anyway theres an Idea good luck with your move!!



WOW that's a totally awesome idea!!! Mosaics are so pretty and the fun thing is you can make any design you want and tie it into your style. Do you have any pics of one's you've done Libra?

[Fern & Faerie]

You can cover walls with lots of interesting things - fabric covered "blue board" makes a wall panel that doubles as a bulletin board.
See if anyone near you is freecycling blackboard paint & craft acrylics - make a blackboard wall with funky stampled borders!
Cover a wall with chicken wire & use it for hanging stuff. (You could even put pictures of chickens behind it! LOL!)
Find some scrap sheet metal to cover walls with - it's magnet-able. Corrugated looks really cool when it's painted bright colors, too.
Can you crochet or latch-hook? You can make rugs from strips of fabric cut from old t-shirts.

Don't forget the incidentals for a home - make cleaning/kitchen cloths, table napkins, cloth "kleenex", and cloth "toilet paper" from old t-shirts and flannel sheets, and store them in pretty recycled baskets wherever they might be needed. You can even screw the baskets to walls to free up counter/table space.

[Chixlet]

I like to buy stuff in pretty glass jars, and then.. if it's like a jam jar, I use it to make candles with, if it's more of a bottle, then I use it as a bud vase.

Around here, they're not selling extracts in brown glass bottles, so I'm saving all mine, lol. The big ones that is... I really like the way a fresh paperwhite looks in a tall brown glass extract bottle. I also save the bottles as places to grow ivy. I like to start ivy in water and just keep a jar in a window sill with some in it.

[portlandheart]

Here are a couple of inexpensive ideas for you...

You can go to your local paint supply and gather a variety of different colored paint swatches and make wall art with them. Perhaps even frame them if you like.

Take old disc cd's and put them in some kind of cool design on the wall so that when the sun hits them...it puts pretty rainbows on you walls.

In my last house...I got a bunch of acrylic paints and painted my bedroom window with a bunch of flowers. It looked super-cool and it made it hard for strangers to look into my bedroom window.

Good luck to you...

[LIBRA]

hey I just went to a local tile company here and asked them what they do with there broken or discontinued tiles and grout, he said throw them away, I asked if I could have them and he said hell ya, bring a truck!!!! I was soooo happy and he was a cutey to boot he said its a great idea and I can have whatever I want and they have alot of tiles that are broken and a few discontinued ones too, my whole house is going to be mosaic!!
next I am doing my kitchen, backsplash and countertops for free!!! yaaaaa!!

[treehugger]

So, Libra, are you actually doing a DESIGN or is it going to be random mosaic?

I want to see PICTURES!!!! Cause you've inspired me and I want to get some ideas of what you're doing! Fireplace surround, here I come!

Kath

[LIBRA]

Well, the kitchen I dont know yet what I am going to do, I have to tear the formica from the walls yet and figure out what I am going to do about the counter tops either they are formica too and I am pretty sure I ll have to have new tops, but not fully sure gotta research the cheapest sollutions.

The other mosaics I usually draw something out with marker, big and just start gluing pieces wait then grout. I dont have a digital camera just a scanner at work so I will take pics and scan them so ya can see.

I think the kitchen I want random, no design and some rocks too, what sucks is Id love to have new cupboards, cant afford that though so I am leery of doing the tops then if I get new cupboards all that work for nothin. we'll see!!

The windows not complete but its a sun so far, slowly but surely
I always take on too much and not finish, I wish I could learn "one thing at a time" and stick too it!!

[Natural_Me]

Lots & Lots of Plants!