How about going to the old car dump, and buying some car seats or backbenches from cars? Put them up on hardboard blocks to get them at the proper heigth. Paint the wooden blocks in nice colors. Presto: you’ve got car themed seats. Besides, some of those seats are damned comfortable.
Oh, and mirrors in unexpected places. Like at the inside of the bathroom door. People seldom see themselves take a dump. We had that in one of our old houses, and guests who used the bathroom usually left it with a strange smirk on their faces.
mischievous, that’s more like what I’m talkin’ about! And oh man, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to have a tube system!! delphica, you mentioning floors reminded me that I want Yellow Brick Road of my own! That shouldn’t be too hard, should it? Tunnels? Check. Levels? Check. All good. Finally to Maastricht, those are both excellent ideas. Here in Texas is a chain restaurant that has opposite sex signage in the bathrooms when you get ready to leave. Talk about throwing you for a loop. I can just imagine what a mirror would do. Bwahahaha!
Thanks again everyone for the replies. Needless to say, I’ll be bookmarking this thread to help me along in enabling my inner 11 year old as I decorate.
My friend has already done this. Make sure you use the smaller, more compact “countertop” model. The incredibly large full-sized one was a pain in the ass to load.
Think large bulletin board. Giagantic, in fact. Get chloroplast in 4’ X 8’ sheets, cover it with chinese language newspaper and fill it up with a steady stream of cool pictures from magazines, mementos of events, quotations, cartoon strips, receipts. I have one at my house and it’s a big hit.
Get a lot of those round, black, plastic, wall variety, very cheap, clocks, and set them to places you’d like to visit or sometimes call, Paris, Rome, Rio. Just make some labels for the cities.
Get a large frame from a second hand shop, put in a pretty piece of cloth and use it to display your jewelery. Instead of living in a dusty drawer it becomes art!
I saw a great lamp that I want to re-create myself.
Someone had taken a store mannequin (full length women’s body) and put this outrageous, full length, bright red Hollywood starlet dress on it, along with full length white gloves, then put a light bulb where the head should be and topped it off with a huge black lampshade, in the form of a strange hat, over the light bulb.
I guess you had to see it, but it was way cool to walk in and see that elegant model in her fashion pose providing light. I just have to find some store mannequin somewhere at a price I can afford…
These are all awesome suggestions! My list just keeps growing. Thanks everyone for your input and now I’m off for the entire weekend doing “new home related” things.
Oh, one last tip I saw ages ago - a friend found a stack of Chinese newspapers, all in bright (mostly red) color. He took them, lay them on his kitchen floor in a random fashion, and then put layer and layer of a clear shellac over the floor.
It turned out really beautiful! Everyone who waked into the kitchen was fascinated with that floor.
Finally to Maastricht, those are both excellent ideas. Here in Texas is a chain restaurant that has opposite sex signage in the bathrooms when you get ready to leave. Talk about throwing you for a loop. I can just imagine what a mirror would do. Bwahahaha!
