Unique touches can only be added by you to your living space. If these touches are eco-friendly so much the better. Home decor needn’t cost a million bucks in order to look like a million bucks. A little creativity and the magic touch is all you need to add those zany, classy, offbeat, quirky and above all original decor to your homes. And here’s how you go about doing it…
1) Reuse old coasters: Old coasters can make excellent bases for new candle stands. Mix and match from different sets of coasters to create multiple candlestands as esoteric and quirky as the coasters themselves.
2) Bone China plates as wall art: Old crockery like bone China plates have been made redundant by more resilient melamine ones. So simply paint your old plates in differing candy colours and use them in asymmetric patterns to add a pop to your walls like no shop brought piece could.
3) Umbrellas as chandeliers: What good is an old run down umbrella you ask? Well if you strip it down to its metal frame, paint it black or white and drape it with fairy lights it could make an excellent, albeit quirky chandelier.
4) Old cake tins as storage: Rusty old cake tins can make excellent storage pieces or even tabletop bins for a quirky centrepiece. Here’s what you do, use some sandpaper to sand the rust out. Paint the old cake tin in a colour of your choice. Line the bottom of the tin with decorative pebbles, some faux pearls or fine grain sand and you have a tabletop zen garden.
5) Geek comic posters: Get your favourite old collectors edition comic books from the storage. Frame them as pieces of art, using old serving trays as the backdrop and the ornate siding of old mirror frames as your framing. Very cool, very geeky, yet very chic.
6) Patchwork blankets: Nothing says homey and cosy like patchwork blankets. Old tees, designer shawls, even pieces of your old school uniform can come together to weave a quirky tapestry that is the ultimate in DIY Home furnishing.
7) Give faded old snaps a new reason to be: Sepia toned black and white snaps from yesteryear are both memories of a simpler time and beautiful in their own way. Give these a new lease of life by framing them in homemade photo frames. Involve your kids in an art project one weekend and have them paint the old photo frames in psychedelic, fun colours and watch the ‘olden’ days come back to life.
8) Doorknob paperweight: Old door knobs and latches can really make excellent paper weights. All you need to do is use a fresh coat of paint transform them from junky to funky!
9) Wicker chairs or stools as bins: You needn’t go to a high end furnishing store to get yourself a wicker bin for your newspapers. If you have old wicker barstools as home you can easily convert them into paper bins by simply cutting open one side of it. Colour it with oil paints to really make them statement pieces.
10) Milk bottle flower vases: Old milk bottles painted in opaque glass paints of different colours make lovely flower vases. Add them to a room with a predominantly light or white colour scheme and you have that distinctive pop of colour that is so desirable.
Simple projects that will go that extra mile in making your home that much more quirky and indicative of the creative genius who inhabits it, wouldn’t you say?
This article has been contributed by MakeMyHome.com. For more decor tips, visit their blog.
Image courtesy: ©Shutterstock
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