Decorating on the Fly

Like many empty-nesters after my last child left home I decided to simplify my life. I had been renting for years, but didn't want the responsiblity anymore. So I sold everything I owned except my personal belongings and moved in with a close friend. For the first time I tasted freedom. But the more time that went by and the bigger taste I got of freedom, the more I wanted my own space again. Freedom is being able to walk around naked eating celery and peanut butter while singing "Hey There, Georgie Girl" at the top of your lungs.

I had been working but I didn't have any extra money. So the question was, what was I to do with an almost empty apartment and lean pockets? Luckily, I was hooked on shows like Trading Spaces, who turned decorating on the fly into the hip thing to do. I had the bare necessities, a bed and a TV, but over a period of six months and for less than $300, I created a beautiful new nest for myself. And each room has a different theme. That wasn't our original plan. Call it serendipity, call it fate, but definitely call it fun. My kitchen resembles a Mexican cantina. This was decided by the tiles on the bar and the two bar stools with ragged seats I found for almost nothing at a garage sale, plus the bolt of forest green and royal blue and white striped material that was sitting on a garage sale table beside them. I re-covered the seats with that beautiful material. Then I went to the dollar store and bought matching wooden picture frames after finding online pictures of a male and a female flamenco dancer. I glued the material on the backing of the picture frame, and voila, art was created! With the remainder of the material I made curtains. I found some very inexpensive colored vases--again at a discount store--which I filled with dried flowers. There is a cart in the kitchen the microwave sits on. In its previous life it was raw wood and lived in a garage as a table for tools. I cleaned it up, refinished it, and painted it forest green. On the wall is another very cool find. A clock. But it's not just any old clock, it is a little Mexican man in a sombrero. In his arms is a timer, which certainly has come in handy when I am cooking.