Interior Decorating Tips

I went to school for Interior Design and many other things. This does not make me a good decorator. Decorators make your couch cushions look nice with your rug that matches your curtain that compliments your wall, this was not my forte, or rather it doesnt interest me much. I rather like to rip down walls and put in water features. I like putting curved walls in a rectangle, I like to design horse barns and cow barns, and bank barns, any barn really... as long as it's a barn.  I love to design old and new barns, and in them I can put a water feature, and oh don't get me started I LOVE BARNS... but this is not about barns.

This is about my little old house and things I have done to it.  I don't like to be thought of as a decorator but if you like this, then sure I can help you.  However, that being said, I do come across other peoples good ideas and use them in my home. So before you go saying how crappy my house looks, just shut it... this isn't about me saying my house looks great, it's to show you how you can use things in a different way.

Ok so here we go, again look past my stuff and listen to the ideas and come up with your own.  I got the idea of using old hard covered book jackets/covers to cover up my router, cable box and WD TV box from Fox 29 news. I do wish I had thought of it myself, and was like. thats genius. May I recommend you use a nicer looking book from a thrift store? I found some old hard covered books in our garage that this old guy left when he died. The pages had been eaten by bugs so I didnt feel bad about ripping out the pages.
Check it out:

see those black things to the left? They are ugly, lets do something about it. 

This is a book jacket without the pages for those that havent picked up a book in a while. 

now look, can you tell that there are things hidden in my ugly old books? They blend in with the other crap thats on my shelf.( The black book jacket has a hole cut out of it so that the box still works with the remote). My book jackets are also unreasonably beat up because my two year old likes to throw them around to get me angry.

Ok now lets talk abut texture, line, and interest. How many people have this in their living room?  I do... that who. I love saddles, I think they are works of art. They are sculptures that smell of horse and leather,  feel soft and warm, and have beautiful color and texture. Why not use it as a statement piece? 

Saddles are beautiful to me. Leather is a texture, and this saddle has nice lines, it breaks up the simple bench and it motivates me to stop having kids so that I can get back to horses. 

Metal is another texture. Hard, cold, heavy, strong useful, why not use it as a statement piece? If you find some old iron work like you see in the photograph next to my wrenches use it!  It is an art form that is rarely used anymore.

These wrenches are enormous. I should have put it up against a normal wrench so you can see how big they are. These are my husbands, he loves abnormally large things, and these were used for tractors. We hang them on the wall for a conversation piece. Almost everyone that has ever been to our house says, "wow those are huge! where did you get those!" They trump all the other art work in our house. Again, something different on the wall, stands out. Think of the Barnes museum,- Mr Barnes collected iron work such as hinges and other things and then put them next to Picasso paintings. It works. 

Velvet, wood, ink and a plant. So much texture, shape and interesting conversation pieces.

Again texture. I have my first ever riding helmet with a drawing and a plant.  Oval, Square, fluff.  Composition, and color. 

This is not about texture it's more about keeping out the cold. Look closely. This keeps cold air out, and light in, PLUS it's great for privacy. Can you tell what is on my window? Bubble wrap. Yup, cheap, and easy. Spray some water on the window, and place some bubble wrap on and boom, you are saving about $20 a month on heating. Thank you Mother Earth Magazine for that genius idea.

Look at this window. It looks like frosted glass.  Our house is really really old , the windows are terrible and all need replacing. Talk about a draft, we might has well have them open! 

Here is the solution. As you can see this window has a crack in it. I took a misting spray bottle of water, sprayed the window with a fine mist, then I took some bubble wrap and cut out a square the size of the window and placed it on my window. The bubble wrap clings to the water and sticks really well. It creates a suction effect. No more draft, and it helps to insulate the cold out. It does wonders. The best part is when your done having your windows insulated you just take off the bubble wrap and save it for next year. This one is my favorite. Thank you Mother Earth Magazine for the idea!

And one more use for metal, I needed something to break up my wall. I had soft, I had a painting, I needed a shape, how bout my old horse bits? 

So there you have it. Some little ideas that I have used to help you decorate your space. Again, I don't think of myself as a decorator, I just thought these were neat ideas and hope you do to.