Looking to freshen your home without emptying your wallet?  Check out these simple ideas to keep costs low and results high.

• Paint one wall an accent color or a deeper shade of the color you already have. If the room is long & narrow, paint a warm dark color on the short wall. Or paint the ceiling a light cool color. Or just paint the fireplace wall section an accent color. Add new lamps with that accent color.

• Paint a piece of furniture (such as a coffee table or 2 end tables) an accent color. Be sure to use the proper prep (ask the local hardware store for guidance).
• Rearrange your furniture and add a new rug. Change or recover your throw pillows or try “wrapping” them with your favorite scarf.

• Take an existing console or end table and add a storage shelf on the bottom for baskets to hold “stuff”. Paint the shelf an accent color or use antique wood flooring. Or sell an existing piece of furniture at a consignment store and replace it with a storage piece like a mirrored furniture piece that will always go with any look you do.
• Add inexpensive seating “stools” that can double as end tables. Paint them a fun color or distress them and “paint” with an antique wash.
• Add accent lighting (plant lights on timers, picture lights, spotlight on sculpture or architectural feature). You will be amazed at how much accent lighting can do for a room at night! Put dimmers on all other lighting in the room.

• Add some interest to your walls by taking all pictures down and rearranging them in a new plan on the floor, adding short shelves made from antique molding (for collections of sculpture, colored or clear glass, candles or candlesticks), table clocks and decorative items from the kitchen that can be hung on the wall (platters or plates, containers that can hold trailing greenery, handmade bowls, etc.), and small mirrors hung from decorative chain or interesting ribbon. Try adding an open empty frame (antique ones are great) around a plate or platter (maybe even on the diagonal).
• Add a “fun” fabric lamp shade on a plain lamp.

• New monogrammed towels for your bathroom (Hit the white sales!).
• Frame your bathroom mirror with antique molding, polyurethane molding painted in an accent color, upholstery braid, or outdoor ribbon.

©Shades of Light 2008