Decorating your home with style cheaply...

Can it be done?  Sometimes you think not.  Flipping through interior design magazines reveals timber floors, super high ceilings, designer lighting and ridiculously expensive furniture.  I am not a scrapbooker and keeping a look book seems nerdy to me.  I do all my researching online and simply find things at low prices.

This week I have been desperately searching for an aqua lamp base.  The cheapest I could find (when Ebay had nothing on offer) was $320!  I needed two.  So off I went to Target and found cheap and cheerful aqua lamp shades in two sizes.  With their mix and match lamp bases I varied the look but it has the same impact as what I saw in a magazine, and at only $14 each I am well ahead.

Ikea is a mate of mine.  I know that their stuff is fairly commonplace these days but I think it's how you put it together.  I wouldn't do an entire room in Ikea but there's something from there in every room in my house.  I especially like Expedit and Malm for form and function.  The colour choices are cool as well.   A large Besta storage unit saved my bacon when we moved houses.  There was nowhere for the books.  There is a ladder to reach the higher shelves and this adds a quirky and groovy feel to the family room.

My next Ikea purchases will include the following (coastal style):