Coral's Interior Decorating Blog

Though there are many ways to stretch a budget when it comes to decorating a home, one of the easiest may be to create your own artwork.

You've undoubtedly seen the stars on TV who make over a home in a day and find the time to paint a canvas, frame calendar pages, and take photos for really cool wall displays.

Their talents are not beyond the average homeowner. Don't be afraid to try creating some art and cover up the naked white walls glaring at you from every corner. All you need are a few tips and a place to start. Start here and make something beautiful to look at every day.

Whether you live in an efficiency apartment, space-starved condo, or small home -- how you arrange your furniture and store your “stuff” can be a daily challenge.

You have probably already found that versatile furnishings and a controlled color scheme can help the space work, and look, better.

Here is one small space makeover by designer Charlotte Moss that is beautiful and stylish, yet doesn’t shy away from using color and pattern. Use her ideas to help you plan a mini-makeover of your own small space.

If you're a first-time homeowner or renter on a tight budget, you might feel that buying furniture is almost am impossibility. Very few people, especially if they're just starting out, can buy exactly what they want from a decorator, website, or from an expensive retailer.

If your funds are limited or if you need to furnish several rooms at once, you might need to check out some resources for furniture bargains. If you're willing to visit flea markets and estate sales, ask about floor models, or to do a bit of refinishing, you're bound to find pieces of furniture without paying top dollar. See what sources there are in your community.

Going off to school is an exciting time! When I first went away from home, I knew who my roommate would be and we had fun planning how we would decorate our dorm room. Needless to say, we had a very tight budget. But we were determined to live in style.

Whether you're planning to study theater or spend time staring at the stars, you'll feel more at home if you live with things you love.

If you're stumped about how to decorate your dorm room, you'll find lots of ideas in our article about choosing a dorm room theme. In fact, we have so many suggestions that you might have a hard time choosing.

I used to spend hours looking at decorating magazines, envying all the rich and successful homeowners who could afford to buy the most beautiful and most expensive furniture, decorate their homes with the most unusual wall coverings, and drape their windows with the most beautiful fabrics.

I would wonder how in the world, or more importantly, where in the world, did they find such unique items for their homes.

Now I know! Most of them used the almost endless resources of the design centers and wholesale merchandise markets around the United States. Though most of these design centers cater to the professional buyers and designers, they do offer "Open to the Public" days occasionally. They're a great place to shop for something special.

Our article lists the wholesale markets around the United States. You might find just what you're looking for.

A friend of mine just moved into a small, unfurnished apartment in a new city, and she’s had more fun gathering unneeded furniture from relatives and filling in with new, budget-friendly pieces from a trendy discount retail outlet.

Yet as time goes by, she’s likely to find many ways to augment this humble beginning with personalized items like accessories, artwork, window treatments, and more to make the place truly her own. She might visit online decorating sites like Decor2UrDoor for fun pre-packaged themed small-room decor.

We’ve got some great ideas for decorating small spaces with specific techniques you can apply to make them feel more spacious than they really are. These are must-know techniques, whether you just have a small room to decorate or your entire living space is a tiny apartment.

It seems simple enough. All you have to do is choose a color and put it on the wall, right?

Well, it may sound simple, but choosing a paint color may pose a real challenge if you don't really know what you want. White isn't always white--it might be slightly blue or slightly pink or slightly yellow.

And once you've decided on color, you need to choose the paint finish quality, too. With so many choices available, how will you choose the one that gives the look you want? Should you choose a flat finish or gloss?

With the help of our article on choosing paints, you may feel a bit more confident as you plan, choose, and apply your paint.

Most people I know love color. And whether it’s blue, yellow, red, or orange, they seem to gravitate to the same hue over and over again in clothing and home decor.

That’s why those one-day-makeover decorators can do up a room that looks fabulous, even in a space that previously looked boring and unfocused. Their trick? They zero in on a color scheme and look all over the home for the items that will fit into one fabulous “new” room.

Need tips on creating a cohesive color scheme? Here’s what you need to know about one of the easiest ways to do it. Master this and decorate with confidence.

The only thing even close in beauty to the beauty of the blushing bride are the beautiful flowers that decorate the day.

Whether you're having a celebration for your 500 nearest and dearest friends or an intimate affair with the closest family members, flowers will add to the beauty and memories of the day.

When my daughters got married, we spent weeks and weeks selecting just the right varieties of flowers to create the feeling and atmosphere they wanted. One wedding was a more casual afternoon affair with flowers in baskets. The other was a bit more formal evening wedding with sparkling brass and candles. Both were beautiful, and well worth all the planning that we put into it!

Look through books, visit florists, decide what look you like. With the help of beautiful wedding flowers you can create the wedding day of your dreams!

Dorm rooms are notoriously small and bare. Some students leave them that way and just muddle through the four years of college.

One mother (my sister) and her two college student kids have figured out just what almost any dorm room could use to be more organized and efficient. She offers her suggestions in this article Dorm Room Organizing Ideas From Someone Who Knows.

By starting out with folding shelving, closet organizers, bath totes (like these from Bed Bath & Beyond), and hooks, you'll be on the road to a well-organized home-away-from-home.