Home Decor

DIY Home Decorating Projects

kelleysdiy

Would you like to create a beautiful mini makeover in your home? Check out some of these simple decorating projects for inspiration!

You know how much I love checking out flea markets and garage sales. Next time your checking them out check out the framed art. You may not like the picture, but if the frame is the style you’re looking for….snatch it up!

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Rescue thrift-store frames with white paint and punchy paper. Paint the frames white and showcase pretty papers inside the frames. Choose coordinating patterns in different scales (small prints and large prints) to create a balanced look. Let the paper be the star, or top it with a wooden letter, a photo, or any object you love.

Kick up your walls with curvy circles. Arrange circular pieces on a wall, starting with the object you want to be in the middle. From there, build out your arrangement, ensuring that each piece touches an adjacent piece. This wall-art installment features a mix of round mirrors and painted embroidery hoops, some of which have fabric stretched inside of them.

Give a favorite photo prime placement in a room. Enlarge the photo and place it in an oversize frame. Surrounded by a crisp white mat and striking black frame, this textural photo of peonies commands attention.

living room with neutral microfiber sofa

Give a lamp a one-two punch of shine with ribbon and spray paint. Coat the base in a metallic-finish spray paint, and wrap shiny satin ribbon around the shade, securing in place with hot glue or pins.

Look at everyday items as potential masterpieces. Take photographs of a few interesting objects, and adjust the exposure, saturation, and color with a photo-editing program. Order large prints, and frame them on black mats in white frames. A black-and-white display like this looks sleek against a white wall but would also look chic hanging on a wall painted with a saturated hue.

Dress a dresser with a large poster to give a plain piece punch. Prep the dresser front with a coat of primer and let dry. Measure the width and height of the chest, including the legs. Trim the artwork to size, making sure the design falls where you want it to. Cut out the pieces that will go on the legs (you’ll apply them separately). Remove drawers and adhere the artwork to the dresser front using spray adhesive. Press the artwork to the dresser, starting at one edge and working your way across the piece. Let dry. Trim the paper along the drawer openings. Spray the drawers with adhesive, and apply the artwork to the drawer fronts. Trim and place the leg pieces on the dresser. Use a nail to poke the knob holes through the paper, and add decorative knobs.

Put a little zing in your powder room with wall decals. Easy to apply and affordable, these pockets of pattern give this bathroom just the right amount of shimmer.

Hide the contents of a console with pretty fabric panels. Cut pieces of fabric to fit the openings of your console, including seam allowances on all sides and enough fabric for a rod pocket. Hem the fabric on all sides, and make a rod pocket on the top edge. Put a tension rod through the pocket, and mount the rod inside the console cubbie

Accent plain roller shades with fabric. Have a retailer cut the shades to fit your windows. For each shade, remove the weight from the bottom pocket. Cut fusible web to fit the width of the shade, and iron it onto the back of fabric. Cut out the fabric and iron it into place on the shade. Spray-paint a cafe curtain rod, and insert it into the bottom pocket.

Add unique flair to a basic arrangement of photos with a tree motif. Achieve the silhouette with a wall decal, a stencil, or freehand painting. Hang family pictures in the “branches” for a whimsical look.

Craft a simple entryway table from logs. Simply prop table-height sections of logs against a wall. Apply a clear coat to the logs to seal the wood.

Second hand stores and flea markets are often chock-full of artwork. While the art may not be up your style alley, if the frames catch your eye, you have the makings of an art display you’ll love. Simply discard the art and paint the frames fun colors that match your decor. Arrange the ensemble on a blank wall.

Give a plain lampshade a watercolor makeover. Moisten a large paintbrush with water, and sweep a wavelike pattern around the bottom of the shade. Tap wet paint into the pattern with a soft, round watercolor brush. (Use watercolor paint for paper lampshades and fabric paint for fabric shades.) The paint will bleed to the edges of the moistened area. After the paint dries, dot the wave with more paint in alternating colors. For dots that blend, paint them with edges touching.

I recently found a old world globe, you to can to do this: Go global with your planters. Carefully cut an old globe in half with a utility knife. (Mine was coming apart at the equator, which made it easier to split.) Lift the base with plastic, and fill with soil and plants. Rest the globe on a plant stand or in a drainage dish to keep it upright.

Marbleizing is hot, and it’s an easy DIY technique. For these canvases, we marbleized paper, then scanned it and sent the designs to a print center to be printed on canvases

Give one wall in a room a dose of pattern with a stencil. It’s less time-consuming than stenciling a whole room, and you’ll need less paint. For subtle contrast, use a color for the pattern that is just a few shades lighter than the background.

Transform a tired hutch with paint and wallpaper. To start the makeover, remove all hardware and lightly sand the hutch to remove any flaking varnish and give the surface a texture that will help the paint adhere. Remove all drawers and doors, and tape off exposed glass. Paint the inside and outside of the hutch. Next, clean the hardware and give it a few coats of high-gloss spray paint. Let dry and reattach. For a finishing touch, trim wallpaper to fit the back of the cabinet. Mount according to wallpaper packaging or use spray adhesive. After wallpapering, reinstall the doors.

Brighten a room without sacrificing privacy. Apply patterned window film to glass-front doors (or windows) to allow light from adjoining spaces to fill a dim room. You can use Gallery Glass to the glass like  did in this project:  https://kelleysdiy.com/2018/02/12/window-privacy-2/

While a fresh coat of colorful paint can revive a piece of furniture, you can take it a step further by adding pattern, too. Use paint pens to draw designs on drawer fronts, tabletops, and more.

So, did I inspire you with any of these ideas? You know me..love to inspire!

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Published by kelleysdiy

I love creating new ideas. And now that I am happily retired, I have lots more time to create them! Whether its crafts for decorating my home, or up cycling items I find at garage sales, thrift stores, and even on the curb, and turning them into something wonderful. The creative juices flowing in my head are almost always in overdrive....so many ideas! I love sharing my new ideas with all of you! So please follow me and let me know how I'm doing! I hope I can inspire you.....and if I do....send me a pic. I would love to see your creation.

51 thoughts on “DIY Home Decorating Projects”

  2. These are really cute decorating ideas! I just moved and have been trying to find fun ways to decorate on a dime. Thanks!

    ❤ Alana

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      1. I’m loving the frames with decorative paper backing. Loving the circles for a particular bedroom I have in mind and loving the B&W photos with blk matte and white frames!

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      2. Hi Laura! We think so much alike! I found a wallpaper sample book at a garage sale a long time ago. The papers were in metallics, they were gorgeous! I took 3 of the papers that were the same design, just different colors, and framed them. They look beautiful❤️️ I too, LOVE the B&W photos, so simple, yet so beautiful. I love your ideas Laura!

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  4. You did definitely inspire me. I have some bedside lamps that have a dark brown base. I’ve been meaning to get my white chalk paint onto them for ages – today’s the day. Also I have a brown bed and bedside cabinets in my guest room – I think needs a white chalk paint make over too – tomorrow’s was job. And those frames – an idea is taking shape to recycle some with mirrors for outdoors – any ideas for weather proofing outdoor mirrors? I. Thinking a mirror or two on the fence in my small patio will do wonders.

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    1. It sounds like you have some really great ideas! Those cabinets will really open the room make it look so much larger. I would love to see your afters Chris! My sons name, Christopher. Also loved the ‘Life of Riley when I was younger.

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      1. Thanks Kelley. We’re waiting for some new window shutters to arrive for our bedrooms. When they’re fitted I’m planning to do some before and after shots of the changes to our little home for the blog, Our little run down beach cottage has morphed into a quaint little beach cottage since we bought it nearly three years ago. A few more little touches are needed, the ones I mentioned earlier, to finish off getting it on track. But as I’m sure you know, a house and garden is never finished. I find if my home isn’t going forward with little tweaks a changes it seems to get stale and boring. So on track is better than finished – it’ll never be finished.

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      2. Your right Chris….it’s never done! There is always something that could use a little love. It’s exciting transforming your home with all your own touches! I can’t wait to see your before and afters. Do you live on the beach???

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      3. Not on the beach, but about 250 metres away, so only a couple of minutes walk. I’m currently in the mood for a freshen up of some tired pieces within the house – brown based lamp bases, a brown sailing ship on the wall, and a brown bedroom suite. I’m not a lover of brown, but I’ve been waiting for the right mood to get to work on it. Now feels like a good time. I started with the chalk paint in the lamps yesterday. I was going to do them one at a time, with a before and after photo of them side by side. My back was turned for but a minute, and my Mr decided to help out by painting the other one. Grrrrrr!!! No photos now of the before. I have a retired husband who tries to help me with almost every thing I try to do. Better than someone who won’t help at all I suppose, although sometimes I wonder….

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  16. Love this! This is such great information! I just started a new blog dedicated to trying out all kinds of new hobbies and documenting the process. My most recent post is a dining table remodel. Check it out!!

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