Colour can play an enormous part in ‘pulling together’ or enhancing the cheapest decorative scheme.Some colours always look ‘expensive’, some look cheap in the wrong material or texture. If in doubt, remember that black or white fits almost everywhere. So do, most of creamy-beige colours, from the natural ivory shade of unbleached catlco to the straw of rush baskets. Cheap lamps or china, which usually come in white, and a pale, neutral coloured room make a good background.
If you want an injection of brilliant colours, remember its impact is several times greater when used in group form. Why be content with just a scarlet cushion? Try a scarlet cotton cushion. a huge scarlet plastic ash tray on the nearby coffee table, and a bunch of scarlet, pink and orange paper flowers stuck in a mug beside.
Mirrors always look good, but tend to be expensive. Mirrorboard, on the other hand, is considerably cheaper. You can stick this self-adhesive board-backed mirror on to hardboard or walls, or cut it up into table mats, for a stunning effect, at a cost substantially less that that of real mirror. For the living room, there are all sorts of decorations that can be made for next to nothing. Patchwork cushions are mostly your own work-dressmaking remnants can be begged from friends, or even from dress manufacturers who would otherwise throw away these tiny scraps. Anyone with artistic talent can use the same bits and pieces, plus scraps of foil, felt, or sequins, to make collages. All sorts of things look good as objets trouves. For example, a collection of stones, amassed from hillsides and beaches over the years, can look superb. (A handyman could mount these on acrylic sheet, for an even more arty look.) One exotic-looking wall sculpture, in glossy white, turned out to be simply the foam packing in which the vacuum cleaner had arrived, sprayed with white gloss paint! (Keep expanded polystyrene well away from heat, though, it is highly inflammable.) Grasses and flowers can be dried even dunked in a bathful of dye. Beech leaves that have sucked up a mixture of glycerine and water will stay copper-bronze coloured for years. All these, once done, save on the expense of having fresh flowers. Finally, perhaps the best money-saving tip of all is: learn how to cover upholstery, make lampshades repair furniture. You will never know how skillful you can be, until you try.