You regular Breaking Even readers know both my weakness for magazines (their glossy pictures, their easy-to-read articles) and my love of decorating so I really do love a good decorating magazine.
I’m a Domino subscriber for a few reasons 1) I like their modern decorating style 2) It costs $10 a year and 3) It’s something for me to look forward to getting in the mail.
That said, when they show an on-the-cheap redecoration involving a $1,000+ sofa or some retro chandelier that someone happened to find at a yard sale for $10, I roll my eyes a little. I mean, come on, With that logic, either I need to spend the next ten years trolling yard sales hoping for luck or throw money at my decorating problems to get things looking good. I don’t know many people who have $500 chairs (and if they would, I bet they wouldn’t let their dog sit on it like shown in the photo) and these prices are regular feature in this magazine.
When I recieved the latest issue in the mail promising cheap decorating tricks, I was intrigued. Some of it is what I was expecting (paint ugly floors, a coat of white paint looks good on even cheap furniture, etc.) but I followed their in-magazine tease to the web site of cheap decorating tricks from readers.
I’ll give you my top three picks of the thirty-one slides but do feel free to browse for yourself.
1) Using label paper (the kind where the whole piece of paper could be a label) and a coat of black paint can make it look like you have fancy wall paper. The stencils can be customized for the room and your taste, though I think the silhouettes are quite striking. (See right)
2) Putting cool scrapbook paper on top of your plain bathroom scale (modge podge over it to protect your handiwork).
3) Use bright colored beach towels for reupholstry or as stretched canvas to insert instant summerness/brightness into any room.
So way to go Domino for some good tricks that don’t involve spending a lot of time or money. I can’t wait to see if cheap chic decorating will become a regular feature, and another reason I can look forward to my monthly magazine.