No Money To Decorate

This is the story of a newlywed couple who gets their first apartment in New York. They furnish it like most new couples: hand-me-down furniture from relatives; wedding presents; Craigslist, eBay, and flea market finds; cheap art. I think we've all had an apartment, or a rental house like this.

This Graham & Brown wallpaper is on sale at Target for $29.99
and is something I would use whether I was on tight budget or not.
You can get it HERE

I've been having a dialog with a young person, (though not a newlywed, but still young enough to be struggling) about decorating her home, and in this case the dining room. She has no money. Well, her budget is no more than $100. for any one thing be it a chandelier, or a pair of sconces, or curtains or drapes, or fabric to recover a Craigslist chair. She has excellent taste, and high style, and a bad case of wistfulness. I wish I was rich and could just give her the money to make her vision a reality.

Click on image so you can see the cost of things
I kind of like the skirted TV console style table

I just read an article where a designer took on a newlywed apartment for no fee and "no money." Why she did this is not clear, because she does not seem to be a friend. But I was very interested in seeing what she did for "no money."
The couple feels unsatisfied with their own decorating result, and can't figure out how to make their apartment stylish. So they turn to the professional for help.

Click on image to see a larger view of the cost breakdown

The "no money" budget was set for $2000. (which would be a fortune for my friend - in fact I could do alot with $2000. myself). The article is meet-cute with the foibles of a striped dining room wall and a deer head. There is pathos too, with the bride's father and mother getting ill during the decor process, thus imbuing a zen like philosophy to the project.


In the end the budget went from $2000. to over $5000., thus canceling out the "on the cheap" theme of the endeavor. Of course all you design mavens will pronounce that $5000. is plenty cheap. But not really.


What could you do with no money? Or what have you done with no money to make your home look stylish?

The before picture is on top - the apartment had a cluttered and cozy appeal. The designer modernized and stream lined things as shown in the bottom photo.

Read the whole article HERE. It's pretty good.

Posted in: Interior Design, New York Style, Think