Decorating your homes

Looking for cheap, easy ways to decorate your home? Are you tired of the cliché found in shops and want something unique to give your home an edgy aura? 

Here s an option. Why not make something yourself? With plenty of online tutorials and books available, DIY is becoming the new talk of the town, and more and more people are taking this up as a hobby. 

PHOTO FRAMES
You can almost use anything to make photo frames – paper, sticks or even wooden slats. Firstly make a base using cardboard paper or sticks. With sticks, you will have to glue them together. Then use a pencil to mark the spot where you will put the photo. To design the frame, you can roll old magazine covers and then glue those on the frame or make origami flowers and add those. To add more colours, you can glue colourful buttons and some creative enthusiasts even go as far as adding bits of vibrant cloths onto the frame. So, go wild with your designs and do not be scared to experiment with different materials!

TRAY
An old cabinet door can be turned into a chic tray. With the right kind of paint and a pair of drawer pulls, you can make a new tray. Just use a screwdriver to attach the drawer handles at the sides and then paint the tray with any colour that you want. Let the paint dry properly before using this. 

LAMP SHADE
Almost anything can be turned into lampshades – vases, hats, bottles, jars, globes and so on.  Vases and bottles remain the most popular choices though since they are more easily found.  You can even use cloth or paper as the shade, using sticks or wood to make the structure. Then replace your old worn-out shade with your newly-made shade and you have a new lamp without having to spend a fortune. 

SNOW GLOBES
Dry snow globes can be made using jars and glitter. Take the lid of the jar and then glue the things that you want inside to the inner part of the jar lid. You can glue little dolls or paper models or even badges. Then fill up a quarter of the jar with glitter or tiny flakes. Close the jar and then tip it over. You can buy the flakes at Modern Stationery in New Market, and the glitters are available in a lot of stationery shops all over the city. 

WALL ART
The possibilities with this one are endless! Just take a canvas and dab your favourite paints and you have a cool wall art. You can use thumbnails to make specific patterns or just cut papers of a certain shape and then stick them onto the canvas in a pattern to give more of a 3D effect.  For the more poetic crowd, you can even cut magazine covers and make letters to make up your favourite quote on the canvas. 

DIY has come a long way. Websites such as WikiHow and Instructables are great for step-by-step DIY projects, while Pinterest and Brit+Co are for more advanced hobbyists looking for unique ideas.

By Adiba Mahbub Proma
Photo: LS Archive/Sazzad Ibne Sayed