I wanna be a cowboy...or just decorate like one

It's great as a designer to have these really huge budgets to work with, and the sky is the limit for any ideas you might have.  But, more often than not, you are given a huge project to accomplish....with very little funding.  I was called by a friend to help decorate an elementary school nurse's office with a western theme.  I see this blog as a perfect opportunity to teach a little lesson of my own.  Take notes.

How to decorate an elementary school office on a very limited budget:

1.  Beg, borrow and steal....well, maybe not STEAL, anything you can from anyone who will let you.  We were able to snag these awesome denim draperies from a student's mom.  Some grommets, rope from the hardware store, and dollar-store bandannas complete the look.

2.  Paint the existing cabinet hardware to match the theme.  This school had an overall western theme, with the nurse's office being called, "The Okay Corral."  To buy 376 new knobs...okay, 72.... would have been waaaaaaayyyy beyond our budget, so I compromised. 

3.  Think outside the norm.  The nurse needed a privacy curtain, so I fashioned one out of a hardware-store canvas dropcloth, and had the third-grade students design cattle brands to adorn it with.  I made a creative decision to leave out some of the more...uh...colorful designs.

 4.  Turn scrap wood into creative signage:

5.  Splurge on inexpensive wood plaques and a mirror from the hobby store if you can't resist buying stuff at those hobby stores.  I mean, really?  Who can possibly resist buying things from those places?  I can't.  Really.

6.  Look at garage sales for painted canvases.  With a little sandpaper and primer, you can easily cover something ugly into something wonderful.  Just sand the painting, prime it, and paint anything you like over it.  I used some leftover twine to make a frame and added accents with leftover rope.

(I had to paint a few of these....they kept "disappearing" suddenly)

7.  Paint anything and everything that will stand still:

  

On this tree mural, I was able to just tell a couple of the moms and their daughters what to paint and where.  I painted the individual birdhouses myself.  If you watch the sale ads and coupons for craft stores, you can usually find these birdhouses for 50% (or more) off. 

8.  Finish with a few well-chosen items scavenged from your family and friend's houses.

9.  Take a well-deserved break!