March 19, 11:48 AM
We all know that living on a budget is a part of life. As Apartmentites we look everywhere for ways to save. Why not save on your decorations too?
Here are a couple of ideas that can help add some flavor to your apartment, but not take too much from your wallet.
Free Art- Grab any frame from your local craft store or craft section of a supermarket. Then find some dried twigs, branches, cool leaves, pinecones, or anything else. Hang the frames on the wall, each one containing one of your free "pieces of natural art." Voila! Free art. You don't have to stick to the nature thing either. You could frame virtually anything...as long as its free!
Fruit Centerpiece- Don't blow your budget on expensive flower arrangements for a kitchen table centerpiece. Instead, just throw some fruit or something else that looks cool and colorful in a ceramic bowl and place it in the center of the table. It will serve its purpose and will look nice too. A friend of mine filled up a bowl with bottle caps and used that as a centerpiece. It was tacky, but it was cheap and pretty cool.
Need Cheap Lighting- Many kitchens and bathrooms can be ill-lit. Living in an apartment, you can't really install some new fixtures, can you? An easy fix for this is to purchase cheap desk lamps and place those in your dimly lit areas for extra light. You can find these lamps virtually anywhere and at a wide range of prices, including cheap!
Craigslist- People are always trying to get rid of furniture quickly on Craigslist. I myself once sold a really nice futon for only 60 bucks because I didn't have a truck to move it at the time and was moving that night. If you are needing some furniture or even stuff to decorate your place, hop online there and look through the For Sale section for cool things you'd like. Sometimes people are even giving away things for free.
If you know of any CHEAP cool decorating ideas, please post them as a comment!