Frugal Decorating

**staceyy** · 01-20-2006, 01:26 AM

I recently decided to spruce up my home without spending a lot of money. My solution was to use dramatic lowcost quality accessories. My first purchase was a beautiful hand-painted toilet seat I found at www.thepaintedposie.net I received the seat today and love it. It really brightened up my bathroom for a cost of $55 which includes shipping.

Next, I decided to buy new switchplate covers and went to www.switchplategallery.com. They have a really large selection of decorative switchplates. All of the switchplates have scenes on them and most are $8.95. I enjoyed looking at them all. They all are creative and will make a marked difference in my rooms. There are several similar sites on the web.

Then I went to www.touchofclass.com and located swags for my family room windows for $23.95 each. Be sure to look at their clearance section.

For the kitchen I simply bought a ceramic polish rolling pin. The Bakers Catalogue recently had them marked down to 29.99 from $69.99. The rolling pin came with a wooden cradle and I placed it on the counter in the middle of my kitchen. Everyone that enters my kitchen comments on it. For those of you not familiar with polish stoneware, it is very colorful handmade, hand-painted stoneware that is very durable. Think of how decorative polish easter eggs are and you'll ge the picture. It is resistant to cracks and chips.You can see some of the pieces at www.bakerscatalogue.com just type polish stoneware in the search box. The Bakers Catalogue is currently sold out of the rolling pin but Ebay has a few different selections. I don't believe any of them have the wooden cradle. I suppose there are places to buy wooden cradles. The cradle is needed to prominently display the rolling pin and to prevent it from rolling off the counter. Its funny that a rolling pin can make such a difference in my kitchen but everyones eyes are immediately drawn to it.

My future lowcost purchases will be throw pillows, area rugs and new doorknobs for every door inside my home.