Last week, my daughter had to write an essay on decorating her room. She came up with really good inexpensive and practical ideas for her room.

Here are few tricks to spruce up your room without any help from an interior designer or home decor books.

Do not browse through home decor or galleries for ideas. They may be creative, but it might not be you. Also it can lessen your creative ideas. Avoid choosing colors when you are in bad mood. If deciding on color is not easy, try to figure out colors you will prefer for your clothes, shoes or other accessories. This will give you a fair idea of what you want on your walls.

Paint just one wall or the ceiling of your room in your favorite bright color. Create a cool effect with pearlier blue shade with stars or glow-in-the-dark with moon. For a girlish look, choose flower theme for your walls. Choose bright colored flowers, Paint, draw or trace a larger-than-life size yellow sunflower or any flower of your choice. Or else randomly stick cut outs of sketched flowers using flower stencils.

Forget picture frames. Add life and emotion to your walls covering half of the wall with photos of your loved ones and all. Or else use you’re most flattering blow-up to paste on the wall.

Overlook the boring old green felt paper for announcing your skills, grades, et al., Cut a big neat swatch from an old denim skirt with pockets intact. Nail it on the wooden board and place it in the most attention drawing corner. Write the latest news and pin the paper on the denim swatch. In the pockets, you can store envelopes, glue sticks, scissors or anything else that you want to show the world.

Paste a huge poster of your favorite toons character on the door. It may be Archie and the gang, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White, Spiderman or any thing that reflects attitude. It will be a smile on your and everyone face.

For inexpensive designer curtains, spray paint plain white curtains with a design and color of your choice. Fold over 2-3 from the top, hem it and slip a curtain rod and voila your curtains are ready. Use a mirror bangle to give a funky look to your windows.

Hang pretty wind chime in the doorway, beside safeguarding your privacy, it announces everyone entry into your room.

Do not have space to store your cute cuddly soft toys? Get an old plastic bucket. Stick a nice velvet or colored / textured paper or material all over it. Draw or paste any motifs to make it more striking. Use jute ropes to hang it from the ceiling and your new basket swing are ready to house stuff that you cannot let go off.

My girl got an A+ for this essay. My husband has promised a makeover of her room with her very own ideas.

My friend shifted to her new place last month. They had to do up the place keeping in mind the budget. They were thinking of painting the walls, when I suggested that they could try wallpapers instead. They liked my idea and went wallpaper shopping.

Wallpaper is a simple inexpensive way to add color, texture, and style to any room. The rich palette of designs and colors allows you to experiment with the decor. Vinyl wallpapers are easier to hang than others. Vinyl is a durable DIY friendly paper for first timers to work with. Wallpapers, being slightly less durable require a little more care.

To know how much wallpaper will be required, add the lengths of all the walls, multiply by a single height, subtract the doors, windows and 15% extra for emergencies.

Check the rolls of paper against each other for matching colors, design by unrolling a length of each. Check the papers in natural daylight.

Tools you will need - paperhanging Table, paint roller and tray, water tray, seam roller, smoothing brush, a plumb bob (a metal weight attached to a string to determine the vertical alignment), measuring tape, scissors, broad knife, razor knife, sponge and bucketful of water.

Before you start, make sure that the walls are sound, clean and dry. Fill any holes, cracks and smooth it down.

Start in not easily seen corner like behind the door. Find the mid point and draw a straight plumb line from the ceiling to the base. Cut strips of wallpaper to the height of your walls with another 4 - 6″ extra.

Put the paper face down on the pasting table. Brush the paste evenly from the middle towards the edges. Fold the pasted section with pasted sides facing inwards. Do not flatten. This process is called booking, it allows the adhesive to penetrate the paper and keep it wet until needed.

Unfold the paper, align with plumb lines, ceiling and leaving a couple of inches for trimming. Try being precise as possible with the first sheet. Just pull the paper off the wall without sliding it if the first sheet is not put on straight. Wipe excess paste with a damp sponge.

Smooth the seams between the two strips with the seam roller. Smooth the air bubbles or wrinkles with a smoothing brush. Start from the top, moving towards the centre and then the edges. Hang the following strips in the same manner, aligning the edges with the previous strips to match the design and pattern.

When done, use a broad knife to crease the lines at the ceiling and the base. Using the utility knife trim the excess paper.

For tough spots like windows, cut the overlapping paper along the sills. Press the paper against the left and right casings, trimming the excess. Paste matching paper, with half an inch overhang, over the top and bottom casings and tuck the overlap underneath the corners of the facing walls

There now stand back and enjoy your handiwork!!!

Bathrooms are usually the smallest room in the house. It is one of the most private spaces that address many needs. After sprucing up the ordinary looking room with durable flooring, elegant fixtures and good lighting creating an illusion of space, you will definitely want to keep it sparkling clean. So how do you go about having sparkling clean bathrooms? Let me tell you.

Scrub the ceilings, wall with mild all purpose cleaner and a sponge or rag. Do you see fungus in the corners; clean it with mild non-chlorinated or hydrogen peroxide based bleach solution. Clean the grout with a brush dipped in solution of water and hydrogen peroxide or heavy duty cleaner. To avoid soapy water build up, clean the flooring with T shaped rubber brush.

Porcelain enamel bathtubs or shower areas can be scrubbed with a solution of hot water and few drops of liquid dishwashing detergent. It will give a shiny finish with no scratches. If your bathtub is of plastic, fiberglass or acrylic, use mild non-abrasive cleaner.

Cleaning the most used toilet seat seems to be an awful chore. Cleaning it regularly with home made toilet cleaner (mixture of baking soda, liquid detergent and warm water) will not make it awful any more. Pour the cleaner, scrub with a toilet brush and flush it down. You can let the cleaner stand overnight and clean it the next day. To remove grime or clogs, scour using lime scale remover and flush it.

To clean the marble flooring, use non-abrasive, non-acidic cleaner, while non-glazed floor tiles can be dealt with good scrubbing with abrasive cleaner. A T-shaped rubber brush can be used to wipe off any soapy build-ups on the floor.

Wash the sink or basin with water, baking soda or all-purpose cleaner, rinse and pat dry with a towel. Regular wiping will keep it clean. A sponge under the bar of soap will keep it from melting. The same sponge can also be used to clean the inside and outside the basin or sink.

Use all purpose cleanser or mirror cleanser on the mirror. Wipe off with paper towels for spotless mirror. To clean the cabinet, empty it; wash it thoroughly inside out with water and gentle cleaner. The shelves if removable can also be cleaned in the same manner. A little of lemon oil rubbed over metal frame will make it shine. Glass doors, if wiped weekly with a sponge dipped in white vinegar will sparkle.

Neutral spray cleaner is the best cleaner for chrome, brass and enamel bathroom fixtures. To remove a ring of dirt around the base of the faucet, use a damp toothbrush dipped in a soft cleanser. Just scrub around and wipe clean.

A lemon dipped in salt works well as a cleaner for brass faucets or shower heads. Buff with mineral oil when done. Liquid dish washing soap and water will remove small marks from chrome. Rub stained enamel fixtures with a cut lemon.

Clogged shower heads can be cleaned in the following manner. Remove the head from the downspout. Working from the insides, poke out any debris out of the holes with a toothpick or needle and rinse the shower head well with water. If the holes are jammed with hard water scales, soak the shower head overnight in white vinegar. Dry and reassemble the next morning.

A lot of people think that building a shed is a difficult project, but they are really overestimating it. Although it is possible to buy a shed (and this might be an option if you are not an experienced builder and want something that looks really finished) building a shed should pose you no problem provided that you have the right tools and the right attitude. There are many resources all over the place that will tell you how to build a shed, and make it pretty easy for you as well. As a matter of fact, because they are such simple structures, learning how to build a shed can be great preparation for your next project, teaching you a lot of valuable construction skills, and allowing you to make mistakes on a part of your house that does not need to look fabulous, just functional. Think about it, if you have a hole in the wall of your shed, or a place where the sides do not meet exactly, you can always patch, fix, or jury rig a solution. Would you want to do that in your living room? Of course not. That is why building a shed is such a great first project.

Of course, before you can really learn how to build a shed, you need to know basic things about working with wood. A woodworking class might be a good idea to teach you these necessary idea. An easier way to do it is to have a friend who already knows about building show you. If you can bribe him or her to help you learn how to build a shed from the get go, or even to take over the project for you and let you help him or her instead of the other way around, then you will be in an excellent position to learn the needed skills. Learning in a class is great, but in my opinion the best way to learn is by doing. Learning how to build a shed is definitely no exception to this rule. If you get a chance to see all of the techniques applied, it will be so much easier for you to pick up all of the knowledge that you need to.
You will be a master of construction in no time and then, who knows – you might build a screened in porch, or a deck, or even build your own fireplace next. The sky is the limit!