Creative decorating on the cheap?

In My Humble Opinion
1

So… we’re redecorating. The house is a 1972, L-shaped ranch style home in the suburbs of Chicago. So far, we’ve spent most of our decorating budget on flooring - hardwood in the foyer, hallway and dining room, new carpet in the “formal” living room, the family room and the master bedroom. The kitchen floor is newer, so that’s not an issue. Ditto the bathrooms and the Kid’s bedroom.

The dining room is the big problem right now, and I need some clever and hopefully inexpensive ideas. Here’s what I got:

An antique dining room set, dark wood, with petit point needlepoint on the chairs. The needlepoint was done by the WryGuy’s grandmother, so it’s not negotiable. The chairs have sort of a harp- or lute-shaped back with carving. Needlepoint is fruit and flowers, in shades of rose, peach, green and (mainly) dusty blue. Four armless chairs, two armchairs. The table is rectangular and has drop-leaves that fold down to the sides. When closed, it seats two, when open, it seats six… I also have two separate leaves for the table that expand it to seat ten. When the drop leaves are down, the sides of the table are unusable, as the leaves go almost to the floor.

A honey-colored wood buffet with mirrored open hutch on top. A nice piece, but I’m thinking of getting it out of there just because it takes up a lot of space along the wall - and a friend has offered to sell me his piano, which would almost HAVE to go in the space currently occupied by this buffet.

Windows are casements that open out, screens on the inside, making window treatments a little tricky. Four vertical panels together, and they’re long, about 60 inches, and all together about 84 inches wide. Think picture window, only divided into fourths. The windows are street-side, so privacy is an issue, but I’d like something that lets in light.

Flooring will be hardwood, as mentioned. Throw rug is a possibility I’ll consider.

Walls - two full walls, one wall that is mostly windows and one sort of divider wall that separates the dining room from the foyer area. In the divider wall are three rounded arches, from floor to about a foot from the ceiling. At the moment, I have hanging plants in two of the arches, because I do not really want people to walk through those arches, but rather use the remaining arch as the entryway into the dining room.

NOW - here’s the deal. I don’t necessarily wish to use this room as a dining room. I’d like it to be sort of a conservatory/tea room/breezeway type room. I’d like the atmosphere of an English tea house, maybe? Not too formal, but still pretty. Comfy, without being overly casual. I do not do “country cute” at all. I can paint, I can stencil, I refuse to wallpaper.

Anybody who has any brilliant ideas will have my undying gratitude!

2

If it’s not a dining room, where will you eat – on a day-to-day basis, and when you have company? You could move the chairs elsewhere in the house – a couple in the living room, perhaps a couple in your bedroom or the family room. You could push the table, with the leaves down, against one of the walls (I’m having a hard time visualizing this – are the archways across from the windows, or perpendicular to that wall?) and leave two of the chairs in there as a spot to drink tea (or if you have a chess set, you could leave that out on that table). If you make it a sitting area, do you have other furniture – easy chairs, a love seat – to put in there?

3

We eat in the kitchen. We COULD eat in the dining room when there’s more than six people; if we keep the expandable table in there, we can just pull it out for company. Archways are perpendicular to windows - directly across from arches is a full wall with a doorway on the far right to kitchen. The other full wall is opposite the windows.

I figured on keeping the armless chairs in there, but the two armchairs are in my living room at present (they go nicely with the sofa.)

I should also mention that I’m a bit of a theme decorator, but not the kind of themes that belt you upside the head - for example, my kitchen is 1940’s inspired, with lots of chrome, black, white, red and pale pale aqua. Family room is the “game” room - I have a chess table in there, along with some antique toys, antique game boards on the walls, and giant jacks on the coffee table (the kind for ball-and-jacks pickup games - you know what I mean?)

I know it’s hard to visualize someone else’s room, so I think what I’m looking for is some general “touches” that will match up to my idea. I have lots of silk plants I was thinking of using in there (no real plants, as we have kitties.) Lighting is a ceiling fan in the center of the room. There are wall sconces, but I think they’re going to get removed because they stick way out from the wall.

4

It sounds like you know the theme you want – conservatory – so it’s just a matter of coming up with the accessories. Since it’s open to the living room (right?), you’ll want to pick up some of the colors you use in there. You could get a flowered cloth to put on the drop-leaf table – I’m picturing a smaller square that you put on a diagonal. For art, flower prints – check out Dover Books, they have books of reproductions that will fit into standard-size frames. Do an array of 8 or 9 prints (4x2, or 3x3) on a big wall. Or Ikea has some cool prints as well, also not expensive. If you’ve got rattan furniture, that would be ideal – put a couple of armchairs in there with flowered pillows.

5

If you are really on the cheap, check out your local thrift store. I just picked up some really nice picture frames for a buck each today. You can also find plenty of nifty brass/ceramic/glass decorative pieces. If you are handy, there are a million vases and the like that can easily be turned in to lamps.

It’s easy to find some “stick anywhere” neat looking curtain rods. A few panals of simple tab-topped sheer curtains framed by some nicer, more expensive curtains will provide privacy and light. You can either treat it as one continuous curtain, or add one or two more of the nicer curtains in the middle to break it up. It seems to modern for your vision, but alternating panals of two different sheer colors would be neat.

If there are any colors in the needlpoint of whatever that you hate, just mirrior it a tiny bit in your other decorations, and it will disappear. A touch of it in a wallpaper border, or the curtains, or the trim on the placemats will make it blend in so you don’t notice it.

The room really seems to call for an oriental rug, but there is no cheap way to get one of those.

You could try matching slim little round or octaganal tables under the hanging the plants in the arches- maybe topped with some blue willow or colored glass vases.

You might want to look in to some more exotic pieces for your “English conservatory”- England has quite the colonialist past. Maybe some embroidered silks, an exquisitley carved wooden elephant, a few beautiful colored glasses, some framed botanical drawing of palms and tropical fruits (try looking for a book you can cut leafs out of before shelling out for expensive prints)…all of these give you a chance to bring in some color and keep it more elegant than casual. And all this kind of thing can be picked up relatively cheaply at a “world market” type shop.

6

If you’re going for conservatory, you’ll want to keep it light. Don’t cover the windows, or just use sheer curtains or sheer roman blinds. Light colours, lots of greenery, rattan as mentioned above.

7

To echo some others…

Yes, definitely sheer curtains only. I’m picturing a single (or maybe two) wide panels that is drawn up with rather widely spaced cords so it forms swooping 'bellies" across the windows when it’s raised. Perhaps with some sort of horizontal interest lines sewn across it – even a narrow fringe, spaced maybe every 6 to 8 inches – so it’s not dead boring when it’s lowered all the way.

BTW, these sheers would be exceedingly easy to sew, and much much cheaper than any purchased/special ordered curtains or drapery. Basically you create a big rectangle, sew ‘roman curtain’ type ring tape in straight lines down the panel for each raising point, and whatever ornamental touch appeals to you across the panel (as in, perpendicular to the ring tape) in straight lines. If you space the ornamental stuff to match up with the rows of rings you plan to use (as in, the ones you will thread the raising cords through, might be every 2nd, every 3rd or 4th or whatever pleases your eye) the edging will tend to emphasize the ‘swoops’ when it’s raised.

Then all you need is a piece of wood to act as the header – I used 1 X 3 when I did this a house ago. Basically, you make the header the width of the window. Wrap it in a layer or two of cotton batting for softness. Screw eyelets into the ‘bottom’ edge of the board, spaced to match your lines of ring-tape, wrap the top edge of your curtain panel up and over the board and staple it into place on the back side. Hang the board over your window using little L brackets, string cords through the rings, and bingo!

I also agree with putting a decorative cover on the table, but it should be part of a layered look. I don’t know the colors you are going for, but something like:

Start with a solid cotton, all the way to the floor (could be made cheaply from a sheet.) The second cloth, in a cotrasting color, goes about 3/4 of the way down, but this one needs to have a prettified hem: self ruffles are nice, but tricky to sew if you don’t have a ruffling attachment. Bullion fringe might be nice – gives a definite victorian flavor. Note: I say solid colored, but either or both could really be a very small pattern, like a calico, so long as it reads to eye as a ‘solid’ from any distance.

And THEN you add the square/rectangle top cloth, set on the diagonal so it hangs in points for contrast. The top cloth should be strikingly patterned, probably English in flavor (like big cabbage roses.) The colors of the two lower cloths, besides being ones that you like and that chime with the walls/rugs, just happen to match up with ones from the patterned cloth, of course.

Have fun! Post pictures!

8

Ooooh - I had not thought of covering the table to the floor. I love the table itself, but when the drop leaves are down, they bug me because they do come down so far. It kind of looks like a box, but covering it completely would hide that.

You guys won’t believe what I found this morning. I was searching for window treatments on eBay, followed some links around, and ended up buying this on Amazon. It’s like a giant window cling, and it solves my goofy-sized window/privacy/light problem. I got four of these panels and a sheet of the plain frosted, to fill in the top and bottom where the panels are too short. I have to think about whether I want to leave the frames bare - we’re having all the woodwork in the house painted white, so it will be clean and fresh - but I like the Roman shade idea! That would be pretty easy, especially since the current window treatment includes a wood header that’s already installed! One question about Roman blinds, though - how do you raise and lower them? I know about the ring tape, but can you connect all the cords so you can raise it in one pull?

I’m a thrift store junkie, even sven, but I wasn’t sure what I was looking for in terms of decorative items. I HAVE an elephant, as it happens (although it’s kind of little.) I’d kind of like to tie the plant pots in to the “theme”, but I don’t want all matching pots and I think the blue in the blue willow might be too “pure” a color (the other blue I’m working with is a dusty blue with some grey-green tones to it.)

Dover prints! An excellent idea! (I don’t even have to BUY them, I have a color copier and I can snitch 'em from the library.) And another question - I have a collection of handmade doilies and lace tablecloths I could probably frame - would that be “in character” for the room?

9

Definitely! Love it! Mat them against colored paper – real pretty. If it’s big enough, you can hang as you would a quilt – white (or ecru) against a colored wall can be gorgeous.

10

How big are the archways (the ones you don’t want people walking through)?

Something like this would help define your space while still keeping an open feel.

I’ve seen those type things for about $70 at import stores.

11

If you don’t use the buffet, lose it. The wood doesn’t match and it doesn’t seem to fit the feel you’re going for, so out it goes.

One of my friends has her big dining table in her living room. It’s a drop-leaf like the one you describe, and she keeps the leaves down and the table pushed against the wall, so it looks like–oh, I don’t remember the name, those long narrow tall tables that are meant for the backs of couches and hallways. She’s got a lace runner/doily sort of thing on it, along with a lamp. When they’ve got too many people to eat in the kitchen, she just moves the lamp and doily and pulls the table out. If you do that, it will free up a lot of space and make the room look bigger and lighter.

Paint your walls a soft beige/tan/ecru color. The contrast with your white trim will make the room look bigger and brighter, but those colors tend to have warm tones so it will still feel cozy. Stencil something like a twining vine or flowers maybe some hydrangeas to pick up the colors in your chair seats) in a border about a foot below the ceiling.

I’ve also seen the votive screens at places like Kirkland’s for much less than $70, but I would worry about the cats knocking it over and breaking your votives, shoving it around and scuffing your nice floors, climbing and pulling it over on themselves, that sort of thing. Of course, if your cats aren’t complete heathens like mine are, you might could get by with it.

12

A bit of a hijack but not too bad: the wife and I have been watching “Design on a Dime” on HGTV for several months now. They have a few different design teams which make over a room for less than a $1000. Unlike Trading Spaces and other cheap makeover shows, they actually do a really good job. Watch any episode featuring the team headed by Lee Snijders (I’m sure that’s misspelled, but it’s something like that) – they’re excellent.

We’ve gotten more inexpensive decorating ideas from this show than anywhere else.

13

COMPLETE heathens - one of the little buggers routinely pulls the Christmas tree down during the holidays. Why? 'Cuz he can. Same stupid cat SAT on a lit candle on Valentine’s day. I should mention we also have a Mastiff, in addition to the three cats, and that’s basically like having an unmanned bulldozer randomly roaming through the house. Delicate/unstable anything is pretty much out of the question.

Yeah, I think I’m going to lose the buffet. It’s a great piece, but it just sits there, and it doesn’t go with anything else. Since it’s a family antique, I will have to find some place for it to live here, but I think the dining room is a “no.” And I would love to put a piano there anyway…

I like the idea of having the table available, but not out. If I pull up one leaf, it’s square, so I’m thinking of sticking it kind of diagonally in the corner where the window wall intersects the wall against the kitchen. I can stick a big ficus tree in the back corner and seat three without moving anything. I’ll have to see how much space that takes up, but folding it completely and using it as a console* table could work too.

(*I think that’s what the tables that back up to the sofa are called, anyway.)

Fabric-wise, for the table, does anyone think that lace over the top of two solids would be too dainty? I have a neat, square tatted piece that I could put on the diagonal.

14

Ooh, I never saw this one. I caught a couple back-to-back episodes of Design Remix the other night on HGTV, and that may be what is inspiring me to try to do this as cheaply as I can. (They have a budget of $50 plus whatever they spend on paint, and their deal is they go through stuff already in the house and “remix” it into whatever room they’re redoing.)

We inherited a lot of “stuff” from my in-laws, and I’d love to be able to do this room without buying MORE stuff.

Thanks for the suggestion - I’ll check my cable guide!

15

Depends on the fabrics and what you do with them. Gauzy stuff with lace, too dainty. Ruffled solids with lace, way too dainty, plus too country-cute. A nice tailored neutral color on the diagonal with a smaller color on the straight, with a tatted piece on the diagonal would be good, I think. You might look into what quilters call tone-on-tone fabrics, too. They’re exactly what they sound like, a background and print that are different tones of the same color. They can range from really subtle ones that “read” as a solid to fairly vibrant prints. Sometimes you can eve find sheets in those prints. Most of these are of very poor quality for bedding, but they work fine as curtains, valances, and tablecloths.

As for your cats, WOW. Just WOW. And here I thought poor Moocat was dumb for forgetting her way around the apartment after visiting Dr.J’s parents for a couple weeks. Even she’s never sat on a lit candle, though. Did he singe his ass?

16

Nope - he sat down quickly enough that he was basically a cat-shaped candle-snuffer. The frightening thing is that he is NOT my stupid cat. I have one LOTS dumber than he is.

For the tablecover, I’m thinking of matching the wall color (whatever that ends up being) for the bottom layer, matching the blue in the chairs for the middle layer, and then laying the tatted lace on top of that. It’s not really frilly, the lace - it’s squares, and has a picot edge. No fluffy ruffles for me, but I kinda like Starving But Strong’s bullion fringe around the second layer idea. I guess I’m going to have to look at the lace and the fringe side by side to see if it’ll look weird. Tone-on-tone fabric would defintely be my choice for the bottom layer - I want interest without it being overtly eye-catching, if that makes sense.