DIY Creative Room Decor

Floors

• Make your own area rugs from two rugs of different colors; for instance, a zebra-print rug made from a black rug and tan rug, or a dotted rug made from one blue and one green rug. Flip both rugs over, draw a pattern on the back of one, such as large dots you'll cut out, then cut the shapes out with a utility knife with a thick piece of cardboard as protection for the floor beneath the rug. Set the holey rug face-down atop the uncut rug's back side; trace the holes and cut those shapes out, putting the second rug's cuttings inside the holes of the first. Carpet seaming tape applied on the back holds the rug bits together. Fabric paints applied to a rug give you a speedier method of creating a custom design on an area rug. Create whimsical faux fur rugs by cutting shapes such as stars, musical notes, a whale or imaginary monster out of your chosen color of faux fur.

Walls

• Create removable wall decals from contact paper, cutting out shapes such as trees, owls, mountains, favorite phrases or waves, boats and birds. Draw a design on the contact paper backing, remembering that it will be reversed when viewed from the front. Cut out your work with scissors, then apply it where you'd like on the wall by carefully smoothing the piece in place as you remove the backing. Use small bits to create custom wall borders for the ceiling or around a door, such as animal footprints. A large silhouette serves as a focal point on a wall; make one by projecting a large image on a wall, such as rider on a horse, then tracing the image in chalk. Fill in the lines with a latex paint color different from the existing wall shade.

Fabrics

• Customize curtains that are sheer or made from smooth fabric by stamping designs on them with fabric paints. Stamp plain throw pillows in the same fashion to create matching decor. Make your own large stamps by cutting shapes from a sheet of thick shipping foam or from a flat foam takeout container. Hand paint borders around the bottoms of curtains or around the perimeters of pillows using puffy fabric paints for a raised texture.

Furnishings

• Create a coffee table from a vintage trunk with a flat top, covering it with a reclaimed glass tabletop. The inside of the trunk can serve as storage space. Create a coffee or console table from a surfboard, two pairs of water or snow skis side by side, or an ornamental vintage wood door. Attach legs to any of these table tops by purchasing the legs from a home improvement store and bolting them in place, or by reusing an old metal frame from a table missing its glass top. Many such table frames can be found at yard sales and salvage shops.