Even before H&M released it’s lovely home decor line in Europe the get more for less was deep in my psyche. And now that we have a house we entertain  a lot and whenever anyone visits for the first time they like to get a tour. I love to give the tour, but not to show off the house, more to evangelize about how I was able to do it all on a dime.

As I point to objects and furniture my tour goes something like this: $5! Garage sale. Ikea. Hand me-down. John Robshaw sample sale. (I know can you believe it!) West Elm sale! I found that in a basement. $9 Urban Outfitters. And it goes on and on. It’s exactly the same thing as when you get a compliment on a cute top and you say, “Oh this? I got it for $21 at H&M!”

Now that we’re at the age where we want to spend as much on our homes as we spend on ourselves, if not more, I believe these cheap confessions are a phenomenon. Times are tough and we all have less of real income, let alone discretionary, but the urge to decorate or redecorate is not related to the size of your bank account. For instance, just last week I was at a friend’s impeccable brownstone in Manhattan that she had just redone, quite the undertaking considering the economic climate, and she kept saying one magic word: IKEA.

This kind of decorating is so much more fun than buying an entire room ensemble from Baker or Oly. This kind of decorating forces me to think and  hunt, some might say stalk shops and websites for things to finally go on sale. I may not be able to redo my downstairs bathroom with the hand-printed whale motif wallpaper I want from Walnut paper, but I can afford to put in fresh new sink from Ikea for $100. So I keep looking and bargaining and tackling the problems with new ideas rather than impatience. I spend more time with my projects—not money—an approach that has taught me that everything I want for our house is within my reach and realizing that is priceless.

A friend said, I can't believe you risked putting Jonathan Adler lamps in your playroom. My response: $19! Urban Outfitters.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Happiness through home decor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.