Decorating for Free.

[batwing]

deliberatedoodles.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/decorating_for_free/

WTF?

There are so many things going through my head. I'm frugal. Our kids' play house, our TV stand, a book shelf, two end tables, and our aquarium are all curbside treasures. I shop at the tiny thrift store in town staffed by little old ladies. I exchange volunteer plants with friends to vary up my flower garden. I sew and paint and repurpose glass bottles and whatnot.

But this is... I don't know. I don't get the suitcase thing.

[Beeks]

Wow, that is beyond awful. You could do a much better job with freecycle and craigslist free stuff. Good lawd.

[atheistjd]

Wow, that is beyond awful. You could do a much better job with freecycle and craigslist free stuff. Good lawd.

Agreed... that is terrible. That "tablecloth" is, in addition to being hideous, stained. You can buy enough fabric for !4 somewhere to cover a table and look nicer than that. Also, those suitcases? Not decorative! at least line the interiors with some pretty fabric or something. Nor are they sturdy. You could EASILY find free endtable/bookshelves or make some out of old milk crates or used wood. Why would you I don't even :?

[batwing]

I could see like nice old leather suitcases with interesting buckles, that's a huge decorator thing.

But the suitcase... really.... wtf? It's like they got home from a trip and didn't unpack all the way yet. If that's the case, I have a decorator piece in my living room that holds spare underwear and travel sized toiletries, I just completed this art installation about 2 weeks ago.

[keen23]

A. It's nick-knacks, not nick-nacks

B. Books in suitcases- not cool looking at all

C. The exposed sides of the sectional are not pretty

Just...no...

[NurseNell]

Agree with all of above. And no window curtains or blinds, or something. The room definitely doesn't give off a warm, cozy vibe.

And this name, Nethaneel :( Is it a form of Nathaniel?

edited to add about name

[formergothardite]

:think: I could maybe see the suitcase thing work with a totally different suitcase, like it is, though. Just no.

[clibbyjo]

Disaster. I choked when she said "stand back and admire". Admire what? I am sorry, but that is all terrible.

Edited because I went back and looked through more of her posts. She has a Kitchen Aid and an Excalibur dehydrator(I have one too, I know) and those are expensive items. She can afford better than that mess.

[doe]

Wow, as someone whose almost entire living room contents is second hand, that is not easy on the eyes. The suitcase "bookshelf" looks tacky. I've seen people who hang dresser drawers as shelves, which is very cute and plus, at least around here, dresser drawers are very easy to find on the side of the road. And antique style suitcases could be pretty adorable.

I've had a lot of decorating blunders over the years due to lack of funds and just starting out, but I didn't think they were things to admire!

[celestial]

Her house is, as my grandma would say, "uglier than sin."

[Koala]

It looks plain old fashioned dirty to me. I have NO problem w/ recycled, refurbished, or flat out used, but your table cloth shouldn't be a baby blanket w/ dried spit up on it, and your coffee table shouldn't be the box your tv came in.

Sorry...

[clibbyjo]

Yeah, I have tons of second hand junk and I manage to make it look good enough. Anyone up for house porn? I freaking love house porn. What about a "resalvaged junk I fix up to look good" post?

[NurseNell]

Yeah, I have tons of second hand junk and I manage to make it look good enough. Anyone up for house porn? I freaking love house porn. What about a "resalvaged junk I fix up to look good" post?

Yes, in my case to get ideas.

[oscar]

The juxtaposition of titles in the one suitcase is really depressing. What would you think if you walked into someone's house and they had these books on display?

• 
  A boxed set of McGuffey Readers
  LoTR
  The Help Meet's Journey
  a book I don't recognize
  Her Choice to Heal: Finding Spiritual and Emotional Peace After Abortion
  The Music Hour First Book
  Abortion Questions and Answers
  a torn-off cover or page from a children's picture book
  Modern Arithmetic through Discovery
  A Child's Garden of Verses
  The Money Marathon
  Prince Caspian.

[Guest Anonymous]

Yeah, I have tons of second hand junk and I manage to make it look good enough. Anyone up for house porn? I freaking love house porn. What about a "resalvaged junk I fix up to look good" post?

I'm in! :D

[BlackHawk]

Yeah, I have tons of second hand junk and I manage to make it look good enough. Anyone up for house porn? I freaking love house porn. What about a "resalvaged junk I fix up to look good" post?

Hell I could post just about every room in our house! We don't like to buy things, we just make your old things look good.

[clibbyjo]

I'll start one in chatter,feel free to add

[Koala]

I'm in! :D

Yes!! :D

[batwing]

I don't think I have any pics of my freebies!

A few years ago some renters left a house around the corner. They left in a hurry, not sure if they were evicted to ran away from their landlord or what. Anyway, they left all of their earthly belongings on the front lawn and hauled ass down the street in a UHaul. I saw them leaving as I was pulling in from work and saw this awesome Step 2 playhouse. I don't have a truck or anything, so I committed the most awesomely frugal/embarrassing thing ever.

I pushed it home. My home is on a different street. I pushed it in the middle of the road, all the way to my house, in broad daylight, with the neighbors watching.

My kids still play with it.

[maybeizfundie]

Liveable and beautiful are two different things.

And I don't have a problem with free stuff, or re-using stuff or using stuff for creative new purposes. Or even living with "liveable" if that's the situation we're in at the moment. I have one ugly black couch and one old blue/white plaid couch in my living room sitting on a disgusting pea-green carpet, and it looks pathetic. Still looking for enough fabric at a discount to cover them both.

I just don't think I'd try to claim it as chic. I find that annoying, no matter who does it.

[penguinagogo]

My first reaction was to feel very sorry for her, having to live in such a mess of dirty carpets and castoffs, thinking that shes doing the usual fundie female thing of shoveling sugar on the shit she has to live with

but then shes also got the money to have a camera or camera phone and the time and ability to upload these photos to the internet

and seems proud of the bloody mess

emily in the making?

I still feel like sending her money for a lightbulb though

[Kitty]

The suitcase was absolutely stupid. At least change the interior.

The living room itself was bare. Just so bare. The "decorating" did nothing to make it better.

[notsocommon]

Yeah, I have tons of second hand junk and I manage to make it look good enough. Anyone up for house porn? I freaking love house porn. What about a "resalvaged junk I fix up to look good" post?

YES! I love this kind of thing!

The example in the OP? notsomuch. I have seen poor, broke, college boys with better decorating taste...and one had the spool! He at least sanded and painted the thing.

[CanadianHippie]

Um wow... That is... bad. Especially the "bookshelf" suitcase. And this is coming from someone who spent two years with a "table" that consisted of four boxes of junk covered by a blanket. Even then I didn't call it beautiful, just functional (most of the time, cardboard can cave in and blankets can slip *shrug*).

That being said, I do have a bookshelf that is about 7 foot square, made of solid wood and in excellent condition that I found on the side of the road. New, in store, that things gotta cost a few hundred dollars.

[browncoatslytherin]

I don't have a truck or anything, so I committed the most awesomely frugal/embarrassing thing ever.

I pushed it home. My home is on a different street. I pushed it in the middle of the road, all the way to my house, in broad daylight, with the neighbors watching.

lol! this made my day :D