Frugal Kitchen Spruce Ups
by Kathleen Wilson - k_wilson@thebudgetdecorator.com

Description: Inexpensive tips for decorating your kitchen.

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Most of us spend a good deal of time in our kitchens these days, and it's not just for cooking. More homes are being built with the kitchen as the hub of the home, and even if you're on a tight budget, that shouldn't stop you from making it a pleasant and personal place to be!

If your cabinets are in need of a total overhaul, consider painting them. Nothing changes the look of a kitchen faster! Visit the library for info on faux finishing, or go to http://www.paintedhouse.com or http://www.fauxlikeapro.com, and turn a simple paint job into a one of a kind kitchen.

If you don't want the hard work that goes into total repainting, consider removing a cupboard door to make a display cabinet. Paint the entire interior of the cabinet a light or bright accent color, and put your prettiest on display. Or have someone good with power tools cut out the center panels of the doors, then shirr fabric over the inside to hide the contents of the cupboardsecure with a staple gun or Velcro tape.

Pick up inexpensive plate hangers from the hardware store and hang the saucers from your good china around the backsplash, or as a border. Don't have any china? Visit garage sales and thrift stores this weekend to pick up a bunch of sweet little plates for a song. (No, they don't have to match, or be fancy!)

Hang tea towels on the diagonal over your curtain rod for a fresh summer valance, and save some extra to stitch up into potholders and placemats.

Make a floor cloth to perk up your tired floors from a piece of remnant vinyl flooring you get at a home improvement center for just a few dollars. Turn the piece over to the backside, and give it a coat or two of good primer, then a coat of any basecoat color. Then use masking tape, stencils, stamps, sponges or freehand painting to impart a design that fits your room. Be sure to seal it with a couple of coats of water based polyurethane, and it will wipe clean for years! This is a great way to customize your kitchen for little moneylets face it, rugs are expensive, impossible to keep clean in a kitchen, and are usually the same old boring thing. This is also a great way to cover an aging or damaged floor, as you can make the floorcloth to whatever size you need.

Save empty bottles and fill with colored water to set on the windowsills, or line up the bottles and fill with one flower each from your garden.

Grow plants from seed on your windowsills! Even grass seed has become very vogue. (Don't tell anyone, because I usually shy away from "vogue", but I really like the grass thing!

Above all, invoke your family into the place where you spend the most time. I've heard some designers say you should keep your refrigerator clear to prevent clutter, NO MAGNETS! But honestly, what would my kitchen be without my kids drawings stuck all over the door? It wouldn't be the place I want to spend most of my time. I even have a couple of framed photos of my kids, right on the kitchen counter! So make your kitchen YOUR home, and have fun doing it!

Kathy Wilson is a home and garden writer, author and consultant and is the home decorating expert for LifetimeTV.com. Visit her for more home and garden ideas at http://www.TheBudgetDecorator.com and http://www.TheGardenGlove.com. Also visit her at http://www.Women-on-the-Net.com where any woman can learn to make money on the internet!

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