barbie sewing machine, get it at sears for less than 20, it is pink and called something like my first sewing machine. way cute and functional! lots of luck!

I do a lot of sewing and I would advise you to grab onto the offer of the free Bernina. They are the best sewing machines made. Even the old ones. Or maybe especially the old ones. No commercial affiliation, just Berninalove.

If you are renting you need to check with the landlord about painting and putting in tile.

I rent so I am limited in some way's. I bought some tiles and I plan on putting them on sometype of board putting them out on my patio and maybe some at the front door.
I seen an idea in a movie using old window's as a room divider, attached to each other with chain and hung from the ceiling.
I am also making a braided rag rug out of old jean's of different colors.
You can get some nice lamps at yard/garage sales for cheap. I bought a really neat vintage floor lamp for $8.00. and a really neat metal one with metal lamp shade that hangs on the wall for $3.00 at same type of sale. A brand new lamp shade at a yard sale for a $1.00 that I put authors names on it.
Silk flower's with ribbon on a shower curtin. I used a soup tureen with a lid for my trash in the bathroom. I flower pot with a vintage lid from an egg poacher to store an extra roll of bath tissue next to the toilet.
I am sure you will think of some great ideas being the creative person that you are.

Have Fun!

Warmly,
Flassie

hi kerri~

wow, there are so many wonderful suggestions. mine is a bit silly and out of place....but:
i'm living in a small town, small space, small budget. so much is still in storage. (not much dynamism). surprisingly, i've found a good deal of life in a few well chosen candles to break the stagnation. i'd love to make bee's wax candles all day- but without the time to do so, i've found that buying them in bulk at (dare i say it?)...IKEA goes a long way- they cost half what most places charge. i swear. there's one near Oakland.

also: mini fountain. a bit cheezy, i know, but this also breaks stagnation well. water pumps used to be cheaper- but if you can get your hands on a tiny one- place it at the bottom of...anything really (we use a piece of pottery a friend made) and collect stones on walks to place in it. the sound of the water changes as you move the rocks around in different formations- like an ongoing sculpture. it adds a lot to an outdoor meal on the porch (where we keep ours).
good luck!

We moved into a charmless 1970s concrete box 2 years ago. After lovely character filled apartments I felt as gloomy as you. But our place had 'good bones'; big windows, generous rooms and we have transformed it completely. Some tips: take down, or don't use ugly celing fixtures, floor lamps give a much more sculptural light, we have painted 3 walls in great hand mixed colours; olive green, powder blue and deep red... their composition has transformed the space!!

check out: http://www.shoestringdecorator.com/.... lots of ideas for budget decor. congrats on your new great big blank slate. i find that fabric and paint are the most versatile, cheapest ways to make impact. and you can be so creative with them! have fun!

Sewing machine ideas - Check out places like Good Will and Salvation Army. I bought a Kenmore from Sears a few years ago, light weight, inexpensive, and they're often on sale. Best of luck with the big move!

Lot's of people have mentioned chalkboards, but no one's mentioned chalkboard paint! It's super-cheap and you can turn a whole wall into a constantly changing art-project. Paint in general would definitely be my choice for a quick, cheap fixer-upper. I've recently been inspired by Rosa's redecorating ( http://ervilhas.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/119856.html ) such great, bright colours would make anyone happy! She makes me wish I knew portugese.

i love to hang prisms of different colours in my windows. and you could decorate the bathroom or kitchen with wonderful mosaic tiles. and just think of the things you'll be able to grow in california... you can have a rainforest on your front porch!

I've always wanted to paint-on the geometric patterns that the sun makes on my walls as it moves across the sky.

Unfortunately, I have spent too much time in rented accommodation to allow for this...someday, someday.

How lucky you are to have a blank slate. :)

You could go to the library and find book's on decorating for less.
I don't know if there is a craigslist like there is here online. But my dd and her df had a garage sale for two day's and when it was about an hour before they closed her friend listed everything else on the craigslist for free.
I've got lot's of thing's at yard/garage etc sales and thrift stores. We had clean up once a year in a town I use to live in and people would come and go through stuff before the Garbage trucks came to see what they could get for free. This is stuff people wanted to get rid of, not their every day garbage.
I hang vintage plates, lids, tea cups on wall's. Even tin lids with pretty illustations on them.
Vanity mirrors I hang on wall's and some of them I hang like a Oregon rain drop on one and earrings. Even earrings off the plate hangers. Empty frames with other's thing's I hang inside them. No glass. Even frames inside frames. Art work I bought for cheap at those same type of sale I listed above.
How about picking stuff up like pebbles, other objects in the neighborhood and making something into a mosaic object.
My dd decoupaged a mirror arround the edges.
Have fun.
Warmly,
Flassie

Keri,

I have a sewing machine I've been wanting to give away for some time.

When my mom died a couple of years ago I inherited her decades old Husqvarna. Since then my perfectly good and simple Bernina has been waiting for a new owner as I use mom's machine exclusively now. Just a sentimental thing really, the old Swede has many flaws, but I don't mind.

I keep meaning to put the Bernina in a garage sale or hang a For Sale sign for it at work... It's even ridden in the back of my outback for weeks, my hope that someone will mention needing a sewing machine, for themselves or a daughter or someone, and I would say, hey, I just happen to have one in the back of my car.

If you want it you can have it for free. I really just want to give it away so someone who would use it.

If you're interested, let me know, it could be cheaper for me to ship it "domestic" than for you to ship yours from Canada.

Stephanie

I love that skirt..I had a skirt with a dropped waist and bright floral fabric that I wore for years. When I wore my skirt I was always happy.

Hi Keri! First of all , I love your site! I have only had my computer for a few weeks and I am an artist's blog junkie now. Yes, I have finally found my "peeps"! All my life I have scrounged around to decorate on a shoestring and I am the self proclaimed "Queen of Yardsales,Dumpster diving,Goodwill,and free stuff from somebody -somewhere -who wants to get rid of -SOMETHING that I or someone else needs! Why just the other day one of those huge dumpsters you can rent was full of treasures...Would you believe they threw away a ton of "hand embroidered pillow cases and table runners"? A beautiful bamboo serving cart, vintage Christmas ornaments, and 50's jewelry?? And lots of other cool stuff!!!!! I don't know where Davis is, perhaps there is a goodwill, yardsales... or just put it out to the Universe that you intend to recieve a sewing machine.!!! Here are 2 books that really work. "The Wealthy Spirit"(Chellie Campbell, has a website)and "Change Your Life in 7 Days"(Paul McKenna) They are like-minded people. By the way I was born in San Francisco, now I live in Chharleston, S.C.! I am overly excited AND I have 2 glasses of some French white wine that a friend recommended..."Gros Manseng_ 2004-is the name of the wine! IT's really goooood...Pamelalala

I have a sewing machine that you could use as often as you need it. I live in Oakland and make the occasional trip up to Davis. Let me know.

Also, if you really only need a sewing machine once in a blue moon, check out the classes offered by the UCD Experimental College. If you are enrolled in a sewing class, you get a free "pass" to go to the arts and crafts room during open hours and use their sewing machines. It is kind of a pain to lug materials and fabric there, but I believe you may be able to rent lockers. A friend of mine did this and I used to go sit with her and talk to her while she worked.

And last, check out housing offers in Woodland, which is 8 miles from Davis, if you really want places with more charm. Woodland can be more affordable and has a lot more Victorian buildings. You've probably been told about davis411.com, but in case you haven't there's the link. Sometimes there are last minute rentals that are available. Finally, if you need the number of a cantankerous yet lovable French couple who rent out properties in the Davis area, let me know. ;o)

It might be worth checking sewing machine shops - sometimes they have reconditioned secondhand ones for next to nothing, esp if you just want the basic straight stitch, zigzag etc.

Ideas - getting a staple gun and covering a wall in brown butchers paper, then using that as a base of collage/drawings etc.

Good salvage yards are the best. In one of my old flats, I found an old mantlepiece at a salvage yard and took it home and put it around the heater.

I don't have a chalkboard but I use whiteboard markers on my fridge. At the moment, I have the plot of my novel mapped out.

p.s. I checked and Freecycle has a Davis chapter.

Oh keri I have to admit that when I read you were moving to Davis the first thing I thought was, "Think of all the different plants she can grow in that climate." That alone should be an adventure.

As far as gardening goes the possibilities for cheap and found stuff is limitless. I always advise that the only place in gardening that you need to spend any real money is in container soil... everything else can be had on the cheap or free with a little imagination.

re cheap sewing machine...Wal-Mart (if you can handle it) in Dixon (just down the road from Davis) has them for $99...they also sell fabric and patterns for some cheap prices (there are always fabrics on the $1/yd and $2/yd tables). We picked up several items (including furniture) for our Davis place at the SPCA thrift store on 3rd Street in Davis, at the Goodwill in Dixon and at the Yolo Hospice Thrift Store on Main Street in Woodland. Hope that helps.

I'm so happy I sent you something that inspired you. :) In my old studio, I put two nails on either side of one wall and hung picture framing wire from them, then used tiny clothespins to attach various things. Kind of like your clothesline idea, but against a wall. Everyone loved it. I also hung a sari from my ceiling, using dowel rods to drape it. Everyone loved that too. :)

Tibetan prayer flags are great outside for many reasons. Also, great decorations to hang outside on a California patio are those Mexican banners (since I'm half Mexican, I'm embarrassed not to know what they're called in Spanish), but they are very bright and fiesta-like. Hang things from the ceiling inside if the landlord won't let you paint the walls. Streamers made from strips of your favorite fabric are nice. Or you can string small colored lights and tie strips of white fabric in between -- sort of a 1930s dancehall look to go with your skirt! You can make three dimensional stars by taking four identical paper stars, creasing them in the middle, gluing the sides together and hanging from string -- interspersing these with tinfoil balls makes my 7-year-old happy and for some reason I feel doing the same will elicit joy from you. Whenever I hang things from the ceiling I always feel like I'm at a celebration or in a magical place.

Glass bottles always look great in windows. And look through postcards for pics of famous people in the tub to put in the bathroom. I have a great one of Josephine Baker and have been meaning to look for more...

For the sewing machine dilemma, try putting yourself on the mailing list for JoAnn Fabrics online. They always send me 40 percent off deals and I remember looking into it and thinking, Hmmm, I can get a decent sewing machine for under a hundred bucks. Of course, there is also visualizing that you will find the machine perfect for you at a yard sale or thrift store in your new locale -- this actually works and is the simplest way to go.

Above all, have fun! I have been scraping eight layers of wallpaper off the plaster walls of a hundred-plus-year-old house in Vermont for two years now. Every time I take a garbage bag of paper scrapings to the curb I can't stop myself from doing a little dance in the street. One day I'll have my dream house, and then I'll move...(thank goodness!)

Keri, cheap sewing machine. Hmmm. I have been needing to buy one for both daughters. I went to Target and found a simple straight stitch/zigzag stitch Singer for $99. Not a great machine, but always reliable.

Also, when you finally get settled in CA there's always the recycler. It's a newspaper/website that lets you place a for sale ad for free and makes money by selling the paper to interested buyers. You can buy one in your neighborhood and see who might be selling a sewing machine. I got a really nice Bernina 830 for $200 out of one.

Good luck in your move to this beautiful state.

I was just checking back in to see ideas others have come up with, and I just had to tell you Keri how funny that is about your Cicero quote- I made a sign for our garden in our last apartment in Los Angeles that said the exact same thing- it was in collage, laminated, and taped on the back of a bamboo stick!

i will be moving soon as well! I've really enjoyed a lot of these comments. I'm definitely thinking about how to incorporate a chalkboard somewhere in the house.

I am excited to paint words/a phrase somewhere on the wall. directly on the wall! i think it appeals to the kid in me who just really wants to draw on the walls. in the kitchen above the cabinets seems to be a good place for that.

my grandma has a little bathroom in her house that is filled with dozens of small paintings of women (mostly reproductions cut out of old art books). . . they're all different sizes and artists and frames, and it just looks marvelous against the pinkish-orange walls.

yes yes, flowers. that will be my form of crack.

i have a little piece of wood at the front of my door of my house on which I painted a quote, it reads,

"if you have a garden and a library you have everything you need." -ciscero

these ideas are so great!!! thank you, thank you

keep em coming!

I'm definitely thinking pillows with a low table, maybe something found.

i like the idea of little collections and things in jars.

there is a large garden, (with veggies), and a patio.

why are we all moving at the same time???!! holy mackerel.
we are selling my dream home and moving into a new hacienda, but in Bakersfield! hot, desert-very unhaven-like for a mountain girl like myself. we have talked about how to spiff it up and make it a haven and what we've come up with has everything to do with plants, shade and landscaping. if i can have my vegetable garden and some fruit trees, i'll be a happy camper.
one of your favorites, ms. sarton used flowers to cheer her. seems like such a simple solution, but i know how i feel when i bring colorful flowers into the house. and i love the chalkboard. we have one and we leave each other silly messages and pictures. i have your maira kahlman quote up there now, "what makes you crazy and happy and giddy?" i realized monday that when swirly was here she wrote "YOU DO!" below it. what a mood lifter!! you will make it so wonderful. you have nothing to worry about, dear. xoxoxoxo

I had the same dilemma when I moved into a new apartment. Here are some things I did:

I cut the designs out of old t-shirts with holes in the armpits and I peiced them together quilt style and sewed the whole thing into a big throw pillow.

I cut up magazines with nice photos (wallpaper, dwell, etc.) and rubber cemented them to a piece of white posterboard so that the space around all the photos were even and the whole thing formed a perfect square/rectangle. People LOVED this and thought it was so creative.

Good luck with your new place!

yes! we have a chalkboard in our kitchen, it's always fun to change the writings on the wall with it. a really giagntic set of them along a room wuld be awesome! (and maybe cover up some 70's paneling?)

we're in the greatest old brick home right now, and everytime i think about movig from it i can feel future nostalgia for our place now...because i dread what you are going through now will be inevitable. but hey! you make it sound exciting!

collections are interesting.....glass bottles, lunchboxes, fabric, flea market glasses, anything really colorful.
Good luck
Lindsay

I'm always amazed at how just painting the walls anything but off white makes a place come alive-yellow especially! Candles, big bright cushions,books, plants, art-it will be home in no time!

Collaborative chalkboard painting. My boyfriend and I were inspired by the giant chalkboard wall in the movie I Heart Hickubees with a Cy Twombly-esque drawing on it. We now have one in our kitchen that we made from a craddled birchwood panel and black chalkboard paint from the hardware store. We do collaborative chalkboard drawings on it. It's always a treat to come home and see what each other has added. Oops, I see someone else shared a chalkboard idea as well.

I know what you mean.

My current house (that I share with a roommate) is very much my dream space, and I worry that Rama and I won't have such luck when we search for a new home next spring. But you're right. There are so many things that we can do for free, that can be so magical.

You can ask people to send you postcards (you know they would!) and hang them with clothespins on twine. You can also get long metal bars from Home Depot (for, like, a buck a piece) and hang art with magnets. You can collect pasta sauce jars and soda bottles, stuff you might accumulate anyway, and fill them with fresh flowers or any colorful collections.

Hooray for endless possibilities and a new space in which to play. xoxo, c.

When we moved into out current apartment it was bland and boring. But one lucky day we found a giant chalkboard and it changed our apartment into our home. It's never a boring day when you can cover your wall with words, drawings, lists and sometimes just leave it blank, ready for your next experience.

I too move in 4 weeks - I want to avoid it, we'll miss our home, but knowing the chalkboard is coming with us is a great comfort.

If you have a patio/deck in this new place and you like to garden, definitely get some plants. I did that recently and now we eat more meals outside than inside. String some lights, place some candles.

I'll be watching to see what else you do...my place could use some inspiration inside.