Decorating on a Shoestring

This weekend I lost my mind... Umm well I got my Pier 1 flyer and just had to re-do my living room. Same thing. Now, I do not have the thousands of dollars to achieve that ethereal, effortless look. I just have bins of old decor  in the garage rafters, boxes of old fabric and a burning fever to get rid of all the dust bunnies lurking god knows where. Now the cornerstone of this new look is a neutral couch;

my couch is red. Red like a cheap glass of wine.

I need a glass of wine after the stink eye my cat gave me.

I knew I would have to at least cover it since I could not afford to replace it. This meant trekking all over town looking at the ugliest covers in existence. Taupe, grey, tan, brown, dirt, mud, phlegm... All the neutrals. I finally found an off white  cover at Bed, Bath and Beyond. This siren of a store ensnared me by the register with their CLEARANCE ON CHRISTMAS! I barely made it out of there with my pocketbook intact. The fact that it was full of dust instead of greenbacks helped.

I stopped at Trader Joe's for a back up bottle of wine and saw a potted plant. Touché. I obviously had to buy it.

Having assembled my various items I needed to prep the room.

I need to buy stock in Swiffer 360 dusters :/  I then stripped all my old boring decor and burned it on a bonfire... Well, actually cheap-o me packed it away. Then using the pages of the Pier 1 flyer I attempted to decorate.

Here I plotted a design with plates to put on the wall. I actually had all these plates in my cupboard. The floral spray I dug out from some old Easter decorations.

Then the hubby saw what I was doing and said to me "NO NEW HOLES IN THE WALLS!" Ahhhh dammit.

Not too bad. I used fabric from my stash to cover pillows and picked up two pillows from Lowes with a bird motif.

Another newly covered pillow, the plant from Trader Joe's and decor dug out of the garage. I even used crinkle paper that came as packing material in a package to fill the empty space between the plant and the stone pot. Take that Martha Stewart! I then dug through my candle collection, Wait, don't you have a candle collection? I buy candles after every holiday on sale and save them for a rainy day, disaster or fit of delusion. I placed candles on every available surface. Cos that is what designers do.

So the damage done to redecorate was:

BB&B $67

Trader Joe's $7

Lowes $28

Sanity priceless

I do not recommend this for the faint of heart. I am spending the next day or so with that bottle of wine.

Cheers!