Mistakes That Can SAVE You Money

By Ada Gonzalez

Do you want to spruce up your room, but have a small budget? Do you think you cannot afford new paint for your walls, new furniture, or re-upholstery fabric? Well, THINK AGAIN! Below are a few secrets on how you can take advantage of other people's mistakes and transform your room with a small budget.

PAINT: Most paint stores have Oops paints. What is Oops paint? They are custom color paints that are either mixed incorrectly (hence the name "Oops"), or customers decide that they do not want after the paint was mixed, or left overs from new employer training sessions. These gallons of paints are about 1/2 off ... yes HALF off! So if you don't know what color to choose for your wall, take one of your favorite items within the room to the paint store & see which Oops paint best compliments your favorite item.

FURNITURE: Do you know a clothing store that sells name brand clothes at a low price? The reason the prices are so low is that the items usually have a "mistake" from production unnoticeable to most ... it could be a size tag sewn upside down, a crooked hem, or the wrong thread color used. Some hi-end furniture stores offer GREAT discounts to reduce their inventory of returned or defective items that have teeny tiny faults. Just because an item was returned does NOT mean that it is damaged, or used, or is of bad quality. A return could simply mean that the customer didn't like the color when they saw it in their home, or it didn't fit in their space, or maybe they just changed their mind on the expense. Well, take ADVANTAGE of these returns and SAY GIVE ME THE DISCOUNT!

FABRIC: Once in a while (more times than we wish it would happen), a fabric store will ship the wrong fabric and since they cut the correct amount of yards specified BUT shipped the WRONG fabric they have no other choice but to take the already cut fabric back to sit at the store hoping that it would sell. Do I hear DISCOUNT? You betcha! Also, non-trade (trade = interior designers only!) fabric stores tend to keep their large variety of discounted fabric at the back of the stores. They usually entice customers with a few discount items at the entrance hoping you will fall in love with the fabrics in the middle of the store before you reach the back (DISCOUNT HEAVEN!).

So get a NEW wall color, NEW furniture, and NEW fabric selections for LOW prices! Then show off to all your friends and family how you transformed your room to be hi-end without the hi-end prices! Feel free to tell them that you learned the secrets from Ada!
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© 2007 Ada’s Interior Design, Inc. P.O.Box 1337 New Rochelle, NY 10802

Email: ada@adasdesigninc.com
Web: www.adasdesigninc.com

Ada Gonzalez is an interior decorator who designs solutions that provide comfort & function with a BIG SPLASH of style without having to spend hi-end prices on furniture & furnishings. Her designs have been featured in the Life & Style section of The Journal News newspaper. In April 2007 she won a design competition called "Interior Motives". Her ezine called Smart Decorating!, which offers FREE DECORATING TIPS, is her way of helping people across the United States learn to comfortably live in and love their homes – to get more information go to www.adasdecoratingsolutions.com

Top 3 Rules for Instant Comfort at Home

By Ada Gonzalez

Do you sometimes feel the blues, agitated, or flustered entering or leaving your home? - most likely because you cannot find an item, stubbed your toe, or do not like how your home looks? If so, then follow the below short checklist to be on your way to HAVING and MAINTAINING comfort in your home. Remember, YOU have the power to change HOW you live!

These are the top (3) rules that you can implement to see and feel immediate comfort in your home:

___ (1) Mail & Keys (Where are thou?). Just like there is an alarm for finding your car in a crowded parking lot, don't you wish you had one for your keys? Are you one of many people that remember receiving mail, but just can't seem to remember where they placed it; or do you have different "mail mountains" piled up. A MUST in order to have the sense of "ahhh" when you arrive at home and "yeeeahh" when you leave your home (without having to play detective to find your keys) is to have a shelf, bin, or key/mail holder near your entry door where you can easily drop or pick up these necessities. Key work is "ENTRY DOOR" not kitchen table, or living room console, but the space you enter & leave from every day. Even if you do not open all your mail, it is imperative for your comfort to keep it ALL in one place. Don't believe me? Try it out for one week and you will feel the difference and fall in love again (or even more!) with your home. Even a simple duck with a clothespin as the beak can HELP hold your mail!

____ (2) Good lighting (peek a boo)! There are 3 types of lighting: task (such as for reading), general (overall lighting that consumes a room), and mood lighting (like many used in a restaurant for a romantic dinner). So if YOU have the wrong lighting, YOU will not be comfortable. Imagine being in a spa - you enter a room with dim lights - you lay down for the massage, you close your eyes, you hear the relaxing sounds of cascading waterfall, you feel the soothing hands massaging away every single stressed muscle in your body when someone "SMACK" HITS THE SWITCH WITH THE BRIGHT LIGHTS SHINNING IN YOUR EYES! Not too relaxing anymore IS IT? So look around your home & see if YOU have lighting that is appropriate for your space - reading area, working area, preparing food in the kitchen (be extra careful with the knife if you do not have appropriate lighting - BIG ouch!)

____ (3) Declutterize (work out your body & mind)! To keep your "body" & "home" healthy why not declutterize (meaning = exercise while you de-clutter). Stretch - grab - sort, stretch - grab - throw out, stretch - grab - donate. Drink water! Stretch - grab - get the picture? So stop procrastinating and start declutterizing. Hey, you won't have to spend a dime on a gym membership to get wonderful emotional & physical results. Having an uncluttered home gives a peace of mind and body (no items toppling onto you anymore).
Unfortunately, many people live with these discomforts without realizing how easy it is to fix and how it will DRAMATICALLY change the way you feel at home. You should and CAN live in comfort and LOVE YOUR HOME!
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© 2007 Ada’s Interior Design, Inc. P.O.Box 1337 New Rochelle, NY 10802

Email: ada@adasdesigninc.com
Web: http://www.adasdesigninc.com/

Ada Gonzalez is an interior decorator who designs solutions that provide comfort & function with a BIG SPLASH of style without having to spend hi-end prices on furniture & furnishings. Her designs have been featured in the Life & Style section of The Journal News newspaper. In April 2007 she won a design competition called "Interior Motives". Her ezine called Smart Decorating!, which offers FREE DECORATING TIPS, is her way of helping people across the United States learn to comfortably live in and love their homes – to get more information go to http://www.adasdecoratingsolutions.com/