Hang in a tight grid or a long line—you can’t go wrong if you stick to a geometric arrangement.


Fake a Headboard

An easy paint project: Create a trompe l’oeil headboard. Cost: about LKR.5,000 and zero floor space.


Think Visually

Add interest to a store-bought lamp shade with the help of ribbon, glue, and an eye chart.

(Print one for free online, then have it enlarged at a copy center.)


Go Natural

Use shells and other beach bounty to warm up a kitchen, an entryway, or a stairwell by creating a rustic, relaxed display.


Make Your Own Art

Even photocopied art looks sophisticated when it floats between two pieces of glass in Umbra’s Document Frames.

The wall color shows through the glass, creating the illusion of a custom mat.


Lighten Up With Wicker

Inexpensive wicker that looks as if it belongs outdoors changes the mood of any room.

Put chairs in a sunny corner of their own or mix them with your upholstered pieces.


Hang Plates

Plates in unexpected colors make a fresh wall arrangement. Vary hues (within a family), sizes, textures.

Put the most dramatic plate toward the center (lay out the plates first to experiment); attach wire plate hangers and hang plates on picture nails.


Create a Side Table

Stack modular storage units to make a stepped side table with surfaces for displays and lighting.

Create miniature still lifes in the cubbies, or stack reading material that you’re going to get to…someday.