These sophisticated yet simple DIY art and decorating hacks are worth sharing. Midwinter is such an awesome time to get crafty, doncha think? Even if you’re more left brained and don’t consider yourself crafty or artistic, these may appeal. And if you’re frugal like me? Bonus. Also find a bunch of decorating wisdom which has been earned over many years and as a result of a whole lotta trial and error.
I independently selected products in this post—if you buy from one of my links, I may earn a commission.
Simple DIY Art and Decorating Hacks to Try
1. Simple Vase & Pot Hack
They’re all over the dollar store and probably your basement just waiting to be elevated. Make an inexpensive glass vase or old pot look like stone, rustic pottery or ceramic with this hack. I have used chalk paint for such DIYs many times. And you can make your own chalk paint as I do with plaster. Or use baking soda and leftover latex paint.
If you’re unsure whether this hack is for you, start with something from your recycle bin such as a pasta sauce or glass olive jar. (Is Full disclosure: I’m like my grannies and can’t seem to toss a good pickle, olive, or pasta sauce jar!).
2. Textured High End Art
Ever worked with joint compound, spackle, or a simple mix of plaster and water? It’s okay if you haven’t since it is relatively easy. You’re going to love this DIY because the result is so sophisticated. Tap the image below to see what we’re going for here.
After watching instructions for the process in this video, you may be inspired with alternative ways of transforming simple materials like cardboard with drywall mud!
Many of you likely have an ample supply of cardboard Amazon delivery boxes, and just imagine the beauty possible!
BTW. Even if you have no zero motivation or plans to try this DIY, you may find it relaxing to simply watch Tina create this decor piece. There’s nothing wrong with being soothed by someone else’s crafting, right?
3. Get Down With Your 1970s Old School Decoupage Crafty Self
Who is boarding the time machine with me? We’re headed back to the seventies when I recall terrarium making, decoupage art, macrame plant hangers, and natural fiber crafting. Skip to 7:47 in the video below for instructions to make a free/inexpensive vintage print resemble an oil painting using my favorite crafty friend in the 70s: MODGE PODGE.
You can even skip the texture step with modge podge! Just remove the glass in the inexpensive frame in order for the print to appear more like an original painting! BTW. If you could use an idea for super cheap yet gorgeous prints? Etsy sellers like the one linked below offer downloadable ones to send to a printer (I like MPix) should you not feel like searching for free vintage art from museum archives online.
Psst. Notice from the entryway makeover above by Evelyn Hernandez how she gives a plain wall in her home architectural interest with simple frame molding purchased from the hardware store. (Watch the whole video to see what I mean).
Add DIY Architectural Interest
When applied moldings are painted the same color as the wall color, the effect is a very serene, minimal, understated look. Think of how Athena Calderone does this so well:
If fact, should you love minimal modern, organic, chic textured art look, it’s for sale:
Alternatively, you could commission a piece from an artist…
But I hope you’ll at least try to do it yourself!
What’s amazing is how you need not even spend your hard earned cash on a big canvas.
Instead, opt for a cardboard box. Or simply paint over an ugly piece of framed thrift store art. (I can’t tell you how many times I have done this!!! So gratifying!)
There truly is little to lose, and you’ll be doing your part saving garbage from the landfill?
4. Oven Cleaner for a Fresh Scrubbed Finish
I still need to try this DIY! Think about all of those wood furniture pieces you see at garages sales or online marketplaces with an awful orange finish. Sometimes I will sand it off.
It’s how I gave a fresh scrubbed look to the antique table in our dining room below.
However, there are alternatives. Lots of folks use oven cleaner outdoors to strip. Check it out:
Let me know if you have success!
Easiest Design Hacks That Work for Me
1. Purge Then Mindfully Edit
Not sure this is a hack or anything groundbreaking, but I’m simply sharing because it is effective for me personally. You can create a calm mood in your space by viewing it with fresh eyes.
Remove all accessories from the space (and if possible, furniture too) to re-imagine the possibilities. Starting fresh first requires a bit of a physical workout, but it will allow you to see the spare space and give you a fresh start to begin layering.
Maybe you’ll need more decor, but quite often, you’ll need LESS!
Rediscover What Simplicity Means to YOU Personally
2. Shop Your House for Vintage
I know that rustic accessories don’t work for every home because I currently live in a house that has strong opinions about refinement. But in our former one, rustic was right at home. While shops are full of accessories and reproductions for a modern rustic or modern country look, you’ll fare better if you search for vintage.
Shop your own house first before even scrolling on FB marketplace. The galvanized bucket you see here lived life for decades outside in the garden before I filled it with dried hydrangea.
3. Fly That Inner Pillow Freak Flag High, Daddy
Moving is one of the more humbling life experiences if you ask me. We must suddenly confront our stuff and confront what we deemed worthy to save and to store.
Some of us cannot bear to let go of a perfectly good throw pillow. Who can say why? They soften the hard edges of daily life and stress for a bunch of us. So often, for me it’s those little details that satisfy. French knots. I mean, FRENCH KNOTS!!! Aren’t they just a wonder and a lovely nubby dot of order and texture on woven threads?
Before we moved, I donated a few pillows, but dozens made the cut and remain in rotation round these parts. Am I a pillow hoarder? If there are meetings held for fellow hoarders in a church basement, please direct me. Sounds promising.
In terms of this tapestry-inspired pillow below? At first blush I thought “great inspiration for a DIY.” But scoring a tapestry or rug and sewing fragments together? Not at all worth the hassle when someone creates custom ones:
Don’t imagine I’ll ever tire of pillows made from beautiful fabrics: linen, nubby vintage French sheets, velvet, and reclaimed canvas as well as grainsacks from Europe.
3. Great Lighting Always Changes Everything
Chandeliers can bring romance and femininity to a room. I use them everywhere and especially favor vintage.
This light is similar to one in our former kitchen. If you love the look of an antiqued silver finish but can only find standard silver or chrome versions, put on your DIY hat and buff on metallic silver leaf products like THIS to add age.
Here are a few low-cost chandeliers to replace those builder-grade boob lights everywherel:
4. Candles & Dimmable Lighting
DIMMER SWITCHES (find here) ARE THE UNSUNG HEROES OF THE DESIGN WORLD! You could live without them, but why!?!
4. Welcome Sparkly Clean
Even if a thorough deep cleaning of your space does not seem to align with how you conceptualize decorating, trust! A sparkling freshly scrubbed interior improves your outlook and mental health.
5. Change Your Wall Color
Is there anything delivering more bang for the buck than a fresh coat of paint? It will change the mood, breathe new life into decor, and at the very least, help the place feel like a new space.
Considerations for Neutral Paint Colors
If you decide to re-paint your room in a shade of white, no need to close your eyes and point for a random white. Start here to choose the right white paint for ideas to sample that will suit you well.
6. Become a DIYer
Occasionally I forget how not everyone reading this blog is a designer or fellow blogger. 🙂 Even if you have never tackled home DIYs, it is never too late to begin.
Psst. I just moved our beloved harvest table (above) into the breakfast nook…EXCITING TIMES! Even though our round dining table fit the space nicely, I missed our old kitchen table we commissioned to be made 25 years ago from 1800s barn wood. Our young family spent so much time together and with friends at this table. What joy to be reunited with it again after a couple of years of storing it in the basement. I’ll show it to you soon.
Watch youTubes (like the one below which walks you through the steps of painting…get ready for it…fabric!) Do you have a castoff item of furniture on which you might practice?
7. Accent Walls Are Still Totally Awesome
Ignore headlines and decor police who say accent walls or statement walls are over. Very often, a painted wall in a contrasting hue or with added texture from wood, tile, stone, etc. will add interest without the effort of covering every wall.
One of the things I enjoy? Accent walls allow you to get acquainted with a new to you color. Since there’s limited commitment, it’s like a test drive. Worst case scenario is you’re bored and get a mini workout painting over it. You could also add texture to a single wall like we did in our former bedroom:
That lumpy bumpy wall in our bedroom was ugly before we covered it. No paint could make that baby look acceptable.
Sure it costs more than a couple hundred dollars for a reclaimed wood statement wall (covering a wall this size with Stikwood Hamptons is in the $1,200 neighborhood). But it will serve you for years.
8. Take Your Sweet Time, Mama
I tend to take my time considering decor changes that will stay for many years. And I won’t apologize for taking the luxurious time to decide.
It definitely costs me as an influencer (their word, not mine) in social media since seasonal decorating, spruce ups, and “refreshes” while profitable would be totally inauthentic for me personally.
I’m honestly frugal, sensible, and too concerned about landfills to change my ways for profit from sales.
When you slowly collect objects you love, they need not remain in the same place forever. Rotate them and re-imagine your belongings in new places in fresh ways.
As I said earlier, a lot of my rustic accessories don’t seem to work in our Georgian home. However, the investment pieces definitely do.
I think that is because we invested in high quality, Euro-inspired, neutral pieces built to last. Buy once, cry once as a formula has worked for us!
Do I love living through the “incomplete” chapters of a room and a home’s evolution?
Apparently!
When my rooms start to feel done and less “underbaked,” it seems I feel the itch to move on to the next adventure!
BONUS Decorating TWEAKS: Pinterest Organization
PIN images in POSTS (start by tapping HERE to pin this one!) and then head over to my Pinterest to repin inspo that moves you. (Your pinning spreads the word and supports this blog’s totally FREE content!)
You may also collect ideas from youTube, where you’ll find a variety of home tours like this one of an English inspired cottage:
Thanks for entertaining these ideas!
If you have time, HERE are 10 more decor ideas.
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
I independently selected products in this post—if you buy from one of my links, I may earn a commission.
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