Decorating on a budget help!!! Warning- pictures inside

maybe on the walls in the kitchen, above the chair rail, and maybe leading into the other rooms. It's warm when there's sunlight hitting it and it makes the room feel a little bigger (lighter-colored paint) even at night. Our dining room is midnight blue and it feels really dark (no pun intended).

I might not use yellow in the front room, but then, I am not a big fan of yellow and gray together (looks like gray carpet). That depends on what colors you gravitate towards (like ziasmama said). However, that room would look good in red or a grayish-blue. Just throwing ideas out there.

I'm of no help in the cheap paint department. Hope that works out for you; let me know what you find out. And congrats on the new place! Very cool.

I was just thinking about this today while I was out thrifting! I went to Value Village on highway 99 in Lynnwood, and found several cool vintage linens. I wanted to buy some of them, but changed my mind at the last minute because I'm not sure what kind of house we're getting. Some would make really hip wall hangings. There's a lot out in the burbs from the 50's and 60's in the thrift stores, even "art" for cheap. I've mostly found newer stuff in lake city, not sure how it is in your hood.

but you can add some color to the rooms whilst buying less paint. I notice you've got panelling on the lower half of the kitchen; you could just paint the wall part or just paint the paneling. I also favor bright colors in the kitchen (mine is orange)but that's not for everyone! We had actually bought our place and after years of renting places with WHITE walls, I wanted a change.

When we moved into our place, I focused on rooms that needed help the most. Those were the kitchen, which was thankfully small and a bathroom that was painted a pukey pale cold lavender that would make you shiver if it was 100 degrees out. For the bathroom, I did a coat of primer and then I used several shades of yellow my sister had left over from redecorating her house. I did successive layers of "wash" which gave the room what I think is a nice Spanish/Portuguese seaside village kind of feel. I don't know how you feel about washes, or using a rag or whatever to apply color but it takes a lot less paint. Also, if you find a source for freecycled paint, you might be able to use different colors on the same wall to achieve some really artistic affects.

Just a suggestion. Happy housewarming!

Congratulations on the house! Love the claw-foot tub.

You can get cheap paint at Home Depot on their "oops paint" shelf...these are cans of paint that were mixed the wrong color, or customers ordered and then decided not to buy.

The down side is, you can only choose from the colors they have on the shelf. (I would imagine that most hardware stores offer a similar deal, but I'm most familiar with HD because I used to work in their advertising dept.)

Good luck!

First off,what a cute house! It looks like it was built in the 40's, no? As for cheap paints, you can try the toxic waste recylcing facility in your city. They have tons of paint that is leftover that peole just dump. Somtimes you can get close to full gallons for about $5, or you can get a ton of the mixed paint that ends up being a sort of brownish color, can be nice, can be ugly. Just remember that paint drys darker than it looks like it will and that if you are buying store paints and doing a large area, find the color you want and go one shade lighter. The color samples are always very drab compared to doing a whole wall. Oh! That's another thing! It is a great effect to have 3 walls white and one wall an alternate, bold color. You don't have to buy as much paint and it looks really cool. Of course anything you do now, your kids will be saying, "My mom thought she was so crafty! Look how 2005 this looks! " when they are 25. Sad but true...

--http://www.skeletaldropkick.com--

I'm happy for you guys. Did the negotiating work out?

I won't give much advice, but I would definately do something two-tone in that dining nook with the side-board (or whatever they call that...) Probably a dark bottom and a lighter shade up top of the same color.

ask your landlord if they'd pay for the paint. it's *tax deductible* for them, actually, since it's for their rental unit. (or at least split it with you.)

also make sure you get the go-ahead before painting - you'd hate for them to object to the colors after the fact!

what color schemes do you currently have inyour living room (what color's the furniture?)

in the front room, a bolder, deeper red would look so pretty - if you have a lighter couch, or you can buy a medium beige couch cover, it would go well. some framed prints with white matting would look awesome, then your curtains could be white with a red accent.

the dining room then could be a green - not forest green, and not light green, but something in between. red and green go really well together. in the center of your dining room table, you could have some fake white gerbera daisies. (i just love bold colors and white accents, you should see my house!)

then in the kitchen, you could paint the same red on the part over the cabinets, to help bring it all together. there's already beige trim in the kitchen, which would link it to your couch cover too.

but wow, what a cute house! you've got to be so psyched. congrats! as for cheap paint, i've found two for one deals at sears before, and home depot generally has good prices. do you have painting supplies already (ie, drop covers, pans, rollers, etc? those add up - try to borrow if at all possible.) but seriously, ask your landlord. painting is time consuming and expensive to hire a professional. and since it's tax deductible, it's even more incentive for them to help you out!

good luck!

"mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved"

I'm not great at paint suggestions for someone else, because I love really bold colors, Mexican style, but the kitchen has the cute tile job, so myabe you could do black, white and green like the herbs on the tile? My ideas about color can be a little goofy! I'd paint your bathroom any antiqued cobalt to go with your hot clawfoot tub, and I'd do Terracotta (like a flowerpot) to go with the grey carpet in your living room, and maybe sage for the dining room. And a pink flamingo on your lovely lawn! :) If you're kitschy and you know it clap your hands! Enjoy painting and decorating, I know you'll enjoy being there with your mens!

I never gave them hell, I just tell the
truth and they think it's hell.
Truman, 1956

At craft stores there's tons of beautiful fake flowers, and I'd always kinda wondered what I could do with them, because they're so pretty. Maybe you could get some of those wall hanger pots, and "plant" them with fake flowers? Or drape a fake flower vine over curtain rods? You could look in a craft shop and see what you come up with.

***It's life Jim...but not as we know it***