$100 and Under: “Shop” your home
After a few years of homeownership, many people start building up a small inventory of unused furniture. “Revisit some of that stuff in the attic, garage, and basement, and start swapping things out,” says Kimberly Merritt, a design instructor at the Academy of Design and Decorating in Peterborough, New Hampshire. “Think about what the possibilities are, because oftentimes they’re endless.” Some pieces may take on new life with a coat of paint or fresh upholstery, or simply by being moved to a different room than the one they’re meant for. Try using the dining room’s hutch in the living room as a bookshelf, for example, or placing a love seat along one side of the dining table as banquette seating. “Sometimes people think all they have is junk,” says Mark Haddad of Haddad Hakansson, a design firm in Belmont, “but they have some beautiful pieces they’re just not utilizing properly.”
Cost: $0
Eugene Kravchenko
