Quick Fixes for Your Boring Bedroom

quick fixes for boring bedroom decoratingYou want your bedroom to be as comfortable as possible. One of the biggest components in being comfortable is ensuring that you absolutely love the design and decorating scheme. For example, you could have the most comfortable bed in bedroom history, but if you hate the style of your room you will never be fully comfortable in there.

Create Some Art

Art is something that only you have to enjoy for it to be good. So, put your creative juices to the test in creating things to make your bedroom more comfortable for you. Perhaps you like collages, or quilts or just funky paintings. These are all things that most people can pull off. Another benefit to DIY decorating is that it saves you a ton of cash.

Don’t Fear Patterns

Most people stick with a single pattern or only solid shades. Tons of patterns look really great together. You simply have to experiment to see which patterns you love and how they work together. Big, bold patterns can be saved for smaller items like pillows if you are timid and then use the smaller, less bold patterns for things like curtains, upholstery and bed linens. As long as you love it, it is not wrong.

Bright Colors

Many people have a very plain bedroom because they never really decorated it. Since few people see this room it is often pushed aside as you decorate the common areas. Well, a few bright colors can wake up your room in minutes. For example, a turquoise lamp, a bright red alarm clock or a bright green vase can bring some life into your room. You do not want to go overly bright because this is the room that you need for relaxation and sleeping, but a few bright accents are going to be a great thing when you wake up in the morning, especially on those cloudy, lifeless days.

Pillows, Pillows, Pillows

You can really never have too many pillows. Fluffy pillows not only give off the illusion of comfort, but they are really comfortable. Who does not want to lie back on a sea of feathers and cotton? These also give you a good excuse to play with patterns and bright colors because you can sneak some funky pillows in among your more conservative ones to wake things up a bit.

Mix and Match Your Furniture

There is no rule that says that all of your furniture must match. Now, if you are using wood furniture, you want the same color, but the styles can differ. With painted pieces, you can choose different colors to really do a funky design. For example, you may have a white dresser, light teal end tables and a sitting chair with red checkered fabric. These actually work very well together and give your room a very whimsical feel.

White Paint

If you are incorporating a variety of different colors and patterns, then a white wall is what you want. This will ensure that the room does not look too busy with all of the different elements you are bringing in with the furniture and accent pieces. An off white or a pastel color can also work if stark white is simply outside of your comfort zone.

All-Natural Air Freshener Recipe for You!

air freshenersWho doesn’t like to come home from a long day at work, open the front door and be greeted by the wonderful smells of home. Air freshener products are a billion dollar industry. Consumers rarely hesitate to hand over their debit cards to purchase a $15 dollar fragrance plug that requires replaceable fragrance bulbs, at an additional cost. Why? Because we want our homes to smell like freshly baked cookies, summer breezes and lilac forests.

Aromatherapy enhances our psychological and physical well-being. So, why wouldn’t we make room in our tight budgets to experience that feeling of happiness when we walk into our homes? Did you know that you could get that same feeling for a little more work, but less expense, by using natural herbs and citrus fruits that can be found in your refrigerator?

Pinterest is all the rage these days with everyone becoming an expert on DIY solutions. Recently, a Facebook friend posted a “recipe” for an all-natural air freshener that simmers on the stove all day while evaporating odors from your home. I thought I would give this Pinterest recipe a try. I call it Lemon Rosemary Delight.

make your house smell great!

Rosemary, lemon, vanilla

Here are the ingredients. 1 lemon sliced. A few springs of rosemary. 2 teaspoons vanilla.

natural air freshener

Getting ready to simmer!

Fill up a medium sized pot about 2/3 full with water. In this picture I am adding the vanilla. It is probably best to use pure vanilla instead of imitation vanilla extract. The aroma is not the same if you don’t use the real thing.

Citrus air fresheners

Simmering

You can’t tell in the picture, but the contents are well on their way to simmering. Within 5 minutes of simmering, you begin to smell the aroma from the herbs and citrus. I ended up adding a little more vanilla because it started to smell a little too much like incense or, as my children said, “It smells like church in here.”

Overall, this homemade, natural solution to making a home smell inviting wasn’t awful. The downside is that you really can’t leave the house and let it simmer. At least I wouldn’t. And once you put waffles in a toaster and accidentally burn them, any delightful smell you created in the house disappears. . . . I mean, I’m just guessing that would happen.

Here is another suggestion.

make your own air freshener

Lemon and Sage

Try using lemon and sage, minus the vanilla for a earthy citrus smell. I actually preferred this combination better. Although, to be honest, I am too busy (aka lazy) to do this everyday. I suppose the best solution is still those overpriced fragrance plugs that make me feel like I am walking in the woods at twilight.

Have a pleasant smelling day!

DIY Back to School Project

Let’s be honest! The first day of school for your child is about more than learning math, phonics, science and social studies. It is a day of first impressions. Not only first impressions from peers, but from teachers, too. What better way to help your child with his or her first impression than buy creating a memorable welcome back to school gift for his or her teacher.

Here is an adorable idea we found on Pinterest.

Pinned Image

Teachers need school supplies, too. Glue gets eaten, notebooks get lost and pencils break. To keep the school day running smoothly, teachers need to have extra supplies on hand. And. . . they don’t have the professional and personal budget to always make this happen. You can help them!

What do you need to make this special school supply bouquet?

  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • A circular cardboard base from a frozen pizza covered in scrapbook paper of your choice
  • Colorful ribbon and colorful flowers (what is your teacher’s favorite colors?)
  • 6 spiral notebooks
  • 10 glue bottles
  • 7 glue sticks
  • 7 24-count crayons
  • Large rubber bands to secure everything to paper towel
  • 24 No. 2 pencils
  • 1 pencil holder or plastic cup
  • Glue gun

First, wrap the notebooks around the paper towels. The same color notebooks work best, but if you prefer to go crazy with color you can do an assortment.

Next. begin adding your school supply layers. Each layer is secured with a rubber band. Putting the rubber band on first and then adding the school supplies will probably be less frustrating. Any slack in the rubber band will tighten as more supplies are added.

First layer is a pattern of crayons-glue stick-crayons-glue stick. Continue this until you are all the way around the paper towel.

The second layer is your glue bottles. Go around the paper towel in the same manner as the first layer. Except you will not be creating a pattern because you will only be using the glue bottles.

Third step? Attach you pencil holder or plastic cup to the top of the paper towel. You will need to use a glue gun most likely to hold it in place, unless it can slide smoothly into the paper towel tube hole.

Once your layers are complete, refer to the picture above for placement of your ribbons, bows and flowers. Get creative! The picture above is just a reference.

This is such a wonderful idea to make a teacher’s classroom feel ready to start the year. Share your photos with us here or on Facebook.

Did you do a DIY back to school project? Share your ideas with our community!