Decorating Updates for Less

Refresh your home decor for less with these budget decorating ideas from designers and our editors.

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Chair Pizzazz

Colorful Library

Mantel Style

Pattern Party

New Take on Tables

On a Corbel

Brighten Your Kitchen

Greenhouse Effect

Memento Display

Double Duty

Woven Wonder

Color Blocking

Mat Trick

Pattern Frame-Up

Affordable Illumination

Light Up a Lampshade

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Chair Pizzazz

Painted the same color, mismatched secondhand dining chairs look happy together. Use white for a simple look or embolded your dining room by using paint in a deep, rich color.

Learn how to paint furniture.

Colorful Library

Remove the jackets, then group books by color, standing some upright and stacking others. Shelves will seem more organized and have an artistic, color-blocked look.

-- Erin Gates, stylist and blogger, elementsofstyleblog.com

Mantel Style

A pair of oversize urns is a foolproof scheme for a mantel. It's easy and a little glam, especially if the urns are a great color.

-- Marcus Hay, stylist, marcushay.com

Pattern Party

Make an easy table runner for your next get-together with assorted paper napkins. Lay out napkins (we used lunch size, but cocktail size would also work) in desired design, tape the edges together and flip over.

New Take on Tables

In place of a predictable coffee table, use two inexpensive side tables. Outline the edges with strips of nailhead trim for a high-end look.

-- Jenny Komenda, designer and blogger, littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com

On a Corbel

A corbel is a clever perch for an accessory. Painted a bright color, it draws attention to whatever you put on it.

Brighten Your Kitchen

Cheery dish towels are a super inexpensive way to bring a little zing into the kitchen. I always find great towels at World Market and Anthropologie.

-- Gabrielle Blair, blogger, designmom.com

Greenhouse Effect

Plants are an underappreciated decorating tool. They bring life and color to a room, they're relatively inexpensive, and they're good for you, too.

--Liz Levin, designer, lizlevininteriors.com

Memento Display

Have a card you can't bear to throw away? Put it in a frame or -- easier yet -- perch it on a little easel, and you've got art.

-- Gabrielle Blair, blogger, designmom.com

Double Duty

Thinking about buying a new lamp, pillow, or throw? Don't bring it home unless it will work in at least two rooms.

-- Janna Lufkin, stylist and blogger, beiteversohumble.com

Woven Wonder

Add one woven or wicker chair to a room. Spray-paint it a great color, and you have both seating and an element of surprise.

-- Julie Holloway, designer and blogger, milkandhoneyhome.com

Color Blocking

Paint the inside of a cabinet in a bright, bold color and fill the shelves with white objects for a striking, graphic display. You can also round up nonwhite items, such as vases and figurines, and give them a few coats of white spray paint.

Mat Trick

An extra-large mat is a simple trick for giving a small photo or piece of art big presence.

-- Gabrielle Blair, blogger, designmom.com

Pattern Frame-Up

Create an affordable triptych with basic frames and patterned paper. Frame wallpaper remnants or pretty wrapping paper in three frames of the same size and hang the frames next to each other.

Affordable Illumination

They've been around forever, but candle sconces are still brilliant for adding ambience without calling an electrician.

-- Elaine Griffin, interior designer, elainegriffin.com

Light Up a Lampshade

For a new take on a bulletin board, wrap twine around a lampshade in a crisscross pattern, then tuck in pictures and paper mementos.

-- Julie Holloway, designer and blogger, milkandhoneyhome.com

Decorating Updates for Less

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