52 Mantels: 7 Decorating Hacks {by View Along the Way}

Need a handful of seriously genius ideas for decorating hacks? Kelly has got 7 tips just for you! Read on, friends...

Hi fellow fans of 52 Mantels! I'm so excited to be here on Emily's beautiful blog to share some easy decorating tricks with you while she recovers from what was surely and EXHAUSSSSTING jaunt to Italy. (Emily, did you bring me back some cappuccino?) I'm Kelly and I blog about our DIY home decorating and renovating projects at View Along the Way.

When you're completely renovating an old broken-down home on the tiniest of budgets, sometimes ya just gotta take a shortcut or two, know what I mean? (Let's call it "efficiency" and not "laziness.") ;) Here are 7 Decorating Hacks and Tricks to make your home more beautiful:

1. Use Fabric Paint to Customize Solid Curtains

I reeeeeally wanted navy striped curtains in my living room but no such fabric exists! So I mixed up some acrylic paint and textile medium and painted my own! how to paint your own curtains.

It's a quick and easy project and they've held up great so far! Come see

2. Cover Books in Fabric for Pretty Displays

There's just nothing like decorating with books for texture and color, or to add height to a pretty vignette. But if you don't have tons of beautiful coffee table books lying around, fancy up what ever is on your shelf using fabric samples! The fabric samples I get when I order online are exactly the right size for most of my books, so I wrap the fabric around the cover, tape it on...

...and put 'em out for display!

3. Fake the look of expensive wallpaper with a stencil and iridescent paint

I love shimmery iridescent wallpaper, but do not love high pricetags. (Can I get an amen, sista?) In my laundry room makeover, I used a large peacock stencil and stencil creme to fake the look for MUCH less:

I shared all the details and my wall stenciling tips right here. And click over to see how we completely transformed that laundry room for only $157!

4. Get rid of annoying lamp cords by making your lamp cordless!

This is one of my favorite hacks, because who wouldn't love to be able to place a lamp anywhere in a room without concern for lamp cords? We really wanted a lamp on our desk which is centered in our office, so we hacked it to make it run on batteries!

See the full tutorial for how to make a lamp run on batteries.

5. Update old linoleum floors with paint

Our laundry room floors were NOT cute, guys. They were a dingy yellowed-white that never looked clean no matter how much we scrubbed.

We updated those vinyl floors with paint and we've been so happy with how they turned out and how well they've held up!

If you're looking for a quick, easy update, come see the tutorial for how to paint vinyl floors.

6. Make your own adjustable crib skirt with minimal sewing

If you've had a baby recently, it won't shock you to hear this: those little guys are not cheap! And the prices for crib bedding will make you think it's weaved of solid gold. I made the crib skirt for my baby girl's nursery with minimal sewing, and it adjusts so I can raise it as she grows and we lower the crib mattress. Check it out: it's held in place with thumbtacks!

And here's how it looks in place:

I call it the easiest DIY crib skirt tutorial EVER. See all the details on the nursery here.

7. Hang plates using thumbtacks

Speaking of thumbtacks, I used them to hang plates on my wall for this fun and different plate display:

Come see how to hang your plates for free (or close to it!).

Thanks for letting me hang out here with you guys today! I hope you'll swing by my blog, subscribe to the posts or follow along on facebook, twitter or pinterest. I'd love to connect with you!

I won't tell anyone it's a cheat if you won't!

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Great ideas, Kelly!! I can't wait to try some of those tips out!

If you haven't visited View Along the Way, you really must get over there! Kelly is FULL of beautiful and practical ideas!