New House: Low Cost Wall Decor Ideas

I am slowing making progress with our new house. Last week, my mom and I switched the formal living room (which I was using as a home office) and our dining room. The living room home office space was much larger than the dining room. I have a bunch of dining room furniture but my home office was almost bare. I LOVE the change. We still need a rug and curtains and to relocate the chandelier in the new dining room but everything fits so much better in there and my office is super cozy now. I often tell clients you don't always have to use the space in a new home the way the previous owner did....I needed to take my own advice. It is important to make it work best for you and your family.

On to Wall Decor...I have had to get creative. There is a lot of space to fill and I am on a budget. I hope one of my next house purchases will be a large piece of artwork for over the fireplace in the family room. But for now it is bare.

I have however filled some of the other walls in this space, I used four old frames that were originally purchased when my sisters and I lived together in the Museum District. We had this cute row house and my mom helped us decorate it!

The prints were dated and the frames were okay. Two of the frames had these hunter green mats which were terrible. I managed to find two white mats in my attic and a couple fabric scraps from my collection. I secured two more fabric pieces from my sister, Anne Hunter.

You can frame almost anything you want. I have framed more fabric, placemats, wrapping paper and kid's art!

I found a very traditional wooden framed mirror at the Goodwill last fall for $10. I quickly put it in my cart knowing it needed some spray paint for an instant make over. I thought for weeks about the color and ultimately went with a shade of green. I love how it turned out!

New House: Curb Appeal

Everything takes time and money but I have made some progress on the front porch of our new home.

I found these great planters for either side of the front door at Garden Ridge (new name At Home.) So I would have not to replace every season, I decided to go with boxwoods and ivy for the plantings. I purchased the boxwoods at Great Big Green House. It was a little bit of an upfront investment but hopefully it will save money over time.

I currently have a shell door knocker. It matches my shell bathroom sinks but that is for another blog post! I have ordered this one in solid brass from House of Antique Hardware.

I also have plans to paint the front door a fun color! I am leaning towards a teal color.

Here are some inspiration pictures...

Source here

Traditional Entry by Tampa Photographers Mina Brinkey

And one of these days, we would like to add more bushes to create a bed along the front of the house. My mom suggested relocating those large box woods to the end of each side of the house. But that seems like a major project....they are pretty big but also growing into the banister.