Bringing the Outdoors In When Decorating

If you are looking for that old world or country-kitchen look, then why not try brightening your kitchen with a birdhouse? Buy an unfinished wooden birdhouse from a craft store and cut out part of its roof. Paint the birdhouse to match your kitchen and you have turned it into a charming holder for your kitchen utensils while giving yourself a unique kitchen accessory.

Instead of hiding your knives, forks, and spoons in a kitchen drawer, you can display them in an attractive countertop container. By simply tucking a floral-print cloth napkin or embroidered tea towel inside a flower pot, planter, or vase and filling it with your eating utensils, you have now provided a unique "floral" arrangement to your countertop.

Another way to bring the country look indoors is to frame and hang some empty seed packets. Since seed packets are typically very colorful and attractive items, they kind of have to be to show what the plan will look like when properly grown, it can add just the right accent to almost any room. This is an attractive and inexpensive way to add the country touch.

An excellent and inexpensive way to spruce up any room is to use attractive sticks and stones that you find on your evening walks. Pick or prune some branches from off of a tree or bush and display them in a large vase on the floor with rocks and pebbles either in their clean raw state or by spraying them unique colors as well, add a wonderful contrast. It will add a touch of outdoor charm to the inside of your home, while giving you a great conversational accent piece.

Discovering the secret to drying flowers is not as hard as you would think, and can provide wonderfully attractive accents to your home. You can dry flowers like a pro by using a simple trick—using borax and cornmeal. Make a mixture that's one part borax to two parts cornmeal and put some in an airtight container. Then, lay the flower on top of this layer and sprinkle more of the mixture over the flower. Do this gently so you don't crush or bend the flower. Close the container and let it sit at room temperature for a week to ten days. After the time has passed, take out the flower and brush off the powder with a makeup brush or soft paintbrush.

Fill your room with foliage. Christmas isn't the only time you can bring a tree into your home. A tree or a large plant fills up space, looks great, and cost relatively little. You can find real or artificial trees and plants for less than thirty dollars. That's a more inexpensive and practical way to fill a room than buying another sofa or chair for those on a limited budget.

Gather decorating ideas from a garden. If you are going for the country cottage look, why not bring a few of your garden accessories indoors. An old birdbath, for example, makes a pretty table when fitted with a round glass or acrylic top. Create your own potpourri, and sweeten the air in your home. Just gather your favorite herbs and spices and put them in a jar or basket. Another way is to mix your store bought potpourri into new combinations that you like. Then divide these new mixtures into small bags, called sachets, and place them throughout your house.