Home improvements that won't break the bank

Decorating your home can be a pricey business. Here are some ideas from iVillagers on how to brighten up your home, without emptying your wallet

Plants and pots
Plants are wonderful, and they add personality to any room. You can get them reasonably priced from garden centres and supermarkets. I often get plants as gifts, or you can let others know you WANT plants as gifts. You can even get cheap pots and paint them with nail polish; you don't need special paint. Stencils are cheap, and you can be as creative as you want.
warmheart93

No sewing required
Try to find a no-sew window treatment book (I've found several at my library). There are no-sew window treatments that you can do using glue, staples and so on. The sky is the limit (and your creativity too).
glaucia

Free housewares from Mother Nature
For the earthy sort, nature provides all kinds of freebies to decorate with. Try an interesting branch hung behind the sofa, driftwood or shells from the beach arranged as wall art, dried grass in an old pot, a stack of pinecones on a shelf, river stones used as paperweights, feathers used as bookmarks, or even eggshells strung up for a wind chime.
carrolparker

Make your own fountain
I suggest making a rock fountain. Go out and collect a few flat stones. Go to your local hardware store and buy a large stone bowl (garden section) with a two-inch-high rim. Buy an inexpensive garden pump (the smallest you can find) and a foot of clear tubing. Then put together a rock fountain. It is fun and relatively cheap. I've seen these things sold for a ton in the shops
cl-alibaba

Add texture to a wall
If you have the 'bare wall blues', add texture by hanging a quilt or an arrangement of old china plates. In our old flat, we `wallpapered' our dining room with contact paper. We also hung musical instruments and sheet music on one wall. It looked great!
cl-mon71

Calendars
Calendars always have great pictures. You can cut the pictures out and frame them with cheap frames or cardboard covered in contact paper, and they are beautiful. You can even get calendars with expensive-looking portraits.
warmheart93