The amazing budget redecorate project

When I first bought this house, I wanted it to be....like the 50's housewife guides said homes should be. I paid an ungodly amount of money for a "proper" dining room set and formal drapes and matching furniture and shit.

And then I looked at it one day and realized it wasn't what I wanted anymore. For a while I thrilled to that "lovely home" thing but now I'm just tired of it. It feels so unlike me, so wasteful. The house doesn't reflect the fun, carefree lifestyle I now try to lead. The dining room's formality makes me feel like I shouldn't be in there, like it's some sacred shrine to china or something.

So I decided I need to do something about all this. However, I wanted to do it without violating my new "cash only" status.

First step was to list some furniture and the formal drapes on my employee exchange. Next step (much harder) was to wait until people actually wanted to BUY my stuff before I went out and bought new.

But that difficult second step has given me an unexpected blessing. I now have time to think and consider all the different possibilities for what I REALLY WANT in my space. And it's given me enough time to think on whether or not I actually want to use some things I already own or if they are all going to hit the street.

What has amazed me is how little the things I actually LIKE cost, as opposed to the "proper" things! I spent over $800 covering that bay window. And now I can't even stand those drapes. They're too heavy, for one thing. And for another, they are such a stuffy color. And third, they have to be either open or closed, relatively permanently. I can't just close them without taking down the rods and rearranging because they require intermediate brackets to keep those heavy rods from sagging.

I decided I'd rather have sheers that let the light in, but that can be closed in the evening for a bit of privacy. I still loved the shimmery sheers I had in my dining room. So yesterday I washed them and hung them up on temporary rods just to see how they would look. It changes the entire outlook of the room! In an amazing way! I don't, however, have enough of them to cover the whole window, SO I'm going to buy a pair of brightly colored sheers from Ikea and put one on each side. That way I'll still have the look of "layered" drapes and sheers, but the light can shine through. I toyed with the idea of putting all new sheers, but the ones I like are ORANGE and I don't know if I can handle quite that much orange. I can always change my mind and get more if i want the wall-of-orange effect.

So for the curtain wire (to replace those heavy rods) it's only $15, and the pair of sheers is only $8.99. So I can cover the window for $24. I think that's a steal!

I'm going to leave the rod in the dining room because it is a much smaller window and it doesn't need an intermediate bracket. I'm getting rid of the fussy patriot valance and just putting up pretty purple sheers on curtain rings.

Dining room total will be only two sets of sheers $8.99 each so under $20 for the dining room "makeover".

I believe the bedroom curtains are getting the boot as well. They are pretty yellow but the walls are a very light green and they don't add any pizazz, they just sort of blend. The rods are fine but the finials are discolored. I have two possibilities in mind; one to buy inexpensive rods to replace them and two to try painting the discolored finials with pearlescent paint. Maybe I'll try the second option first and if I don't like the effect, nothing lost. The curtains I picked out for the bedroom are GREEN. Bright green, but in a filmy fabric so they aren't too GREEN :-)

The expensive part of my project is going to be the kitchen table, and even that is not too bad. You see, I always wanted a round pedestal table. My mother told me that the pedestal would drive me nuts and she was right.

DID YOU HEAR THAT MOM YOU WERE RIGHT NOW I DON'T LIKE THE PEDESTAL.

Rather than dwell, I'm buying a set from a coworker who moved and can't fit it in her new apartment. It's rectangular and has no pedestal :-) I think it will give my kitchen a little boost as the kitchen is suffering from old-lady-itis. It got better when I put the brushed nickel knobs on the cabinets, but that oak table with the fan back chairs is just not doing it any favors. Time for a little kick in the shins. Now if someone would just buy MY table LOL. Really, it's lovely! And you probably will love the pedestal (heh heh).

So the breakdown is:

Curtain wire: $14.99
1 pair orange curtains: $8.99
2 pair purple curtains: $17.98
2 pair green curtains: $19.98
kitchen table: $250

Total: $311.94

offset by whatever I can get by selling my stuff.

After the curtains are done, the next step will be lighting and decorative objects. I need to analyze whether my displays are cluttery or not, and what to do if they are. And what sort of lighting I need to complete the functionality I want!