Presentation, from Christy Ferer's Book "Decorating on a Dime"

Framed Photos: This is an easy project that personalizes a space and can also hide a damaged wall. 

Miniature Furniture: An oversized doll's chair or a child's chair can hold an object or a picture frame and be positioned as display. 

Good Enough to Frame: Anything that is dramatically framed can earn the status of art object - from stamps to children's art to lost of broken jewelry.

Pearls: Pearls can transform an everyday object into a treasure.

Just One Color: Use those wonderful odds and ends in your attic. Christy Ferer suggests any flaws in your found objects are disguised by the spray paint. Different shapes and sizes should play off one another on the wall and table. 

Decorating on a Dime Solutions and Coverups

Carpeting: The border of Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer's carpet is rug padding, not expensive sisal. Padding is resilient and comes in many colors. The center piece is a remnant that was inserted to replace the original stained carpet, which was removed.

Applique: Don't throw away that favorite bedspread or tablecloth before you try sewing on an appliqué to cover tears or stains.

Radiator Cover: Pick out a mesh screen you like at your local hardware store to cover up a radiator or air conditioner.

Vanity Skirt: Here's a quick fix to hide bedroom pipes, dress up vanities, or layer over stained curtains. The beauty of metallic organza is that it is translucent, and the metallic sheen glows through the fabric.

Rope Trim: A sophisticated way to finish off a space where a vanity top meets wallpaper or title or carpet meets molding. Because it is a natural color and material, it looks as if it is part of the design rather than an add-on.

Windows and Lighting, from Decorating on a Dime

Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, loves fashion and interior design. Below are some tips for windows and lighting.

Burlap and Silk - the contrast of burlap and silk is eye-catching and a bit exotic, whether hanging in a formal living room or a summer beach house. 

Beaded Muslin - a soft, opaque look especially useful when you have an unattractive view to block but you want as much light to enter as possible. The acrylic beads make the entire panel sparkle. 

Upside-Down Lamp Shades: This directs the light up to the ceiling, creating a very dynamic effect.

Made in the Shade: Trim shades with fabric, wallpaper, art paper, crystals, upholstery trim, or shells. Or leave it plain if the background pattern is strong enough to carry the look. 

More Design Tips from Her Book

Vidicom's CEO, Christy Ferer, says "Stick to neutrals. They go with anything."

This rule is responsible for decades of boring rooms. People think neutral means only beige, white or black. True, these colors blend easily with other colors and are easy to live with, but so are lots of more interesting colors. When toned down with white or black, green coordinates with almost all colors, making it nature’s neutral. Celadon, olive, khaki and steel gray are the “new” neutrals, easily pulling together complex color palettes.

Remember what the legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland said: “Shocking pink is the navy blue of India.” The point is that what is neutral for one culture or person is radical for another. Remember this too: Almost any color becomes a neutral when it stands on its own and isn’t made to coordinate with another color

Sandblased Furniture Tips

Sanblasted Furniture 
Pieces of painted furniture
Distilled white vinegar

Your local auto body shop will put the piece in its sandblast booth and add beautiful years to your furniture. Christy Ferer says to heighten the aging process, blot vinegar on any metal features or hinges. The longer you allow the vinegar to sit (at least 24 hours), the more pocked and antique looking the metal will become.

Frame Canopy
Take the measurements of the bed to the lumberyard, where you will find a selection of polymer molding. Christy Ferer and the Vidicom team suggests asking the yard to cut your chosen molding into four pieces and miter the edges. Stay tuned for more tips from Christy Ferer's book, Decorating on a Dime.

Setting Up a Display Table

Vidicom CEO, Chrsity Ferer, says measure any existing glass top you have. Ask the glazier to duplicate the top in 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch thickness. As with all glass tables, it is best to have the corners rounded off. Arrange the decorative items on the table's regular glass top. Carefully place the second piece of glass on top.

Variations:

• Old book pages
• music sheets
• foreign bills
• pennies (lay out a evenly as possible to keep glass balanced)
• birth certificates
• marriage certificates
• college diplomas

Another application of this technique is to place glass over a wooden table whose top you want to protect, such as a fine dining room table. 

Black Vinyl and Plumber Tables

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer recommends ordering vinyl through the Resource Guide. The local automotive shop should also carry black vinyl, and will upholster your kitchen banquettes and make cushions for you.

Variations

• Junkyard car seats
• Restaurant supply seating

For plumber tables, Christy recommends using copper pipe, tabletop of glass, granite or marble, and small felt tabs. This is how your plumber should build the table: Bottom of table (feet).

1. Put caps with street 45's (4 sets).
2. Put 4 2-inch pieces in street 45's
3. Put 4 T's on 2-inch pieces with street 45's and caps.

Tips on Sandblasted Furniture, Frame Canopy and Mirror Frames

Sanblasted Furniture
Christy Ferer says this is an easy and inexpensive way to get any piece of painted furniture to look worn or "country." If it is scratched, dented, or imperfect already -- all the better.

Frame Canopy
A bed canopy adds architectural detail and weight to a room. It also enlarges and dramatizes the room.

Mirror Frames
Create a substantial mirror for an entranceway, dining room, or dressing area. The larger the mirror, the larger a space will look. Most dramatic are two mirrors facing each other on opposite walls, which is especially effective in a dining room.  Christy Ferer and the Vidicom team agree.

Wire Mesh Bookcase
An easy and elegant way to camouflage open shelves containing stereo or television equipment. You can also use this effect on kitchen shelves.

Furniture Tips from Christy Ferer's Book

Christy Ferer (Vidicom CEO) states that as an upholstery fabric, black vinyl is neutral and practical. It has a rich, clean feeling particularly when used against light wood. Black vinyl is good for lawn chair cushions and kitchen banquettes.

Plumber Tables:
A table base of plumbing pipes in chrome, iron, or copper creates a centerpiece for any room, particularly a kitchen table. Copper tubing can also be used to make delicate end tables; the copper can be varnished to keep its shine.

Display Table:
She suggests adding a glass top resting on any kind of base can become a showcase simply by adding flat decorative items and a piece of identical glass on top. These tables are great-looking as coffee tables, end tables, or even a dining table.

Striping Suggestions from Decorating on a Dime

Christy Ferer (Vidicom CEO) suggests penciling your stripe pattern on the space. Place the blue tape where you do not want the paint to go. Paint between the piece of tape. Wait a day before removing it. Remove tape gently so as not to chip the bordering paint.

Variations:
Dilute acrylic paint for softer, more translucent stripes. Rag or sponge on the stripes  by dipping cloth or sponge lightly into paint and dabbing on between the strips of tape. The tape can be placed in other patterns, suggests grids, triangles, or checks.

Where to Keep Hats

Hang hats in clusters, preferably over spaces defined by a piece of furniture such as a couch, a desk, or even a bed. Hats can also be hung from hooks around an entire room's ceiling molding, to give the room definition.

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer says to really make them look integrated, frame the hats with a stencil pattern. Or, if you want instant gratification, use a rubber stamp in any pattern. Pencil a frame of designs around the hat or group of hats about 6 inches from the hat rims and stamp along that line. When the paint is dry, ease any stray pencil marks.

Variations:

• Cowboy hats
• Motorcycle helmets
• Baseball caps
• Fedoras
• Straw hats
• Old hats from a flea market

Advice on Molding Detail

Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer suggests choosing a trim that fits into the molding groove you have chosen to fill. Apply glue 1 foot at a time. Hold trim down for about 30 seconds. Time is of the essence because the glue works very quickly. As you glue on the trim, be careful not to allow the weight of the slack to tug down the trim you have just finished gluing. Corners can be cut at 90 degrees or 45 degree angles, or you can just turn the corners with the trim.

Here are the variations she recommends:

• Yarn
• Lace
• Twine
• Rickrack
• Ribbon
• Strung Beads
• Strung Pearls

Wedgwood Walls

                                          

Select designs from the catalogs listed in the Resource Guide to fit any feeling, from baroque to postmodern. Polymer molding and some of the wooden carvings can be used as shelving for small objects. Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer says if you buy polymer moldings from your local lumberyard, you can get the yard to cut and miter to your specifications.

Spray-paint the carvings. You may need 2 coats. Measure and pencil the placement of your design of the wall. Apply adhesive to the wall in proportion to the amount of molding or carving you are applying. Vidicom thinks this a great idea to include the Wedgwood Walls.

Variations
Apply white star moldings to a midnight blue ceiling. Apply wooden figurines to serve as small shelves that cover up wall damage. Use to decorate radiator screens, furniture, fireplace mantels, or wide picture or mirror frames. Apply rectangular shapes above doorways to create an illusion of height.

More Potato Print Wallpaper

                                   
Vidicom CEO Christy Ferer suggests you wipe off excess paste with a clean, damp cloth. Cut off the surplus paper on the ceiling and floor edges using the utility knife and a metal ruler. Do not be afraid of overlapping edges as the sides of the sheets meet. Wait two hours for paper to dry before stamping, using slightly diluted acrylic paint.

Variations
Wallcoverings:

Cover walls with other natural, everyday "raw" materials:

• gauze
• wrapping tissue paper
• burlap

The more crumply these textures, the better. Tissue may crumple so much that no more "character" or stamping may be required. She suggests textures will be better protected with a coat of clear varnish.

Stamps:

Stamp other surfaces or accessories:

• ceiling
• furniture
• lampshades
• wastebaskets
• floors

Potato Prints for Your Home

Christy Ferer says potato stamps are made by slicing the potato crosswire in half to get a round surface of 2 or 3 inches. Place a small amount of slightly diluted acrylic paint in a small bowl and place the potato relief or stamp straight down into it, wiping the edge of the relief on the bowl before each stamping to prevent drips. Note that commercial stamps from sources in the Resource Guide can be ordered with stamp pads, but you will find a wider range of colors in acrylic paints.

Variations

• Stick-on letters or alphabet stamps
• stars
• dots
• numbers
• animals
• fleurs-de-lis
• fruits
• leaves and vines

Plaid Floors from Christy Ferer's book, "Decorating on a Dime"

Christy Ferer (Vidicom CEO) recommends measuring the floor and order equal amounts of your four colors. The first color should be dense, like the dark green in our photo. The second color is the same color value, but half the density of the first color. (In the photo this is pale green.) The third color is the same density as the second (pale blue in the picture), but a compatible color to the first two. (just like the pale pink is to lavender of pale yellow to pale peach.) The fourth color is white. She says to lay out your pattern beginning in the most visible corner of the room. Wait to glue until you have set out your pattern.

More Tips from Decorating on a Dime

Molding Detail & Hats

Create architectural details simply by gluing yarn into the grooves of existing, floor, ceiling, or chair rail moldings or along the wall edge that meets the ceiling. This is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to instantly decorate and/or cover up wall flaws. The most effective look is a grouping of hats of either the same shape or color.

Striping

Create a bold look to account a small ceiling, caves, nook, or otherwise unnoticed cranny. Thick stripes, create an open feeling while thin stripes give an illusion of enclosure. Christy Ferer and the Vidicom team are excited bring you these great tips for decorating your home.

Floors and Walls Tips From Christy Ferer's Book

Stenciled letters, Wooden Stars and Potato Prints

Stamping can mask damaged walls and save your having to do a whole paint job. Christy Ferer, Vidicom CEO, says Stencil letters or place wooden stars or stamps in any order on the walls. Create a pattern or a cluster to purposely center the eye on one portion of the wall or ceiling.

Wedgwood Walls

Precast moldings and wood carvings are great for entryways, small bathrooms, above beds to give the illusion of a headboard, and above doors to give height to the room. These crisp, white details look best against walls painted in soft, muted tones and a matte finish.

Read More of Christy Ferer's Introduction

Gather your materials in advance. Organize your materials in one space and check against Christy Ferer's style recipes to be sure you have everything you'll need. Enlist the help of or delegate tasks to friends or family to get your project started or completed. Set a deadline for beginning and ending your projects.

Christy says the message: decorating is no big deal. It is simply a state of doing. Don't be afraid of your own style instincts. This book is for all of us (including Vidicom staff) who have ever thought we couldn't frame a picture or who have gotten our fingers stuck together with glue.

The book begins with plaid floors. She says plaid floors is fun for kitchens or playrooms. She says you will need four colors for your plaid patterns.

Christy Ferer's Introduction For Decorating on a Dime

Each project is a recipe for instant chic, with specific ingredients and instructions. Most projects can be done during a weekend are also kid-friendly.

The resource guide at the back of the book will become your style bible. It lists in alphabetical order all the materials that have been asterisked in the project recipes with store names, addresses, and phone numbers. Christy Ferer, Vidicom owner, can tell you where to find everything. And if it is not in the resource guide, I tell you how to get it done in Anytown, USA.

Did you know that many automotive stores will lacquer or sandblast your furniture? That your local plumber will make a table base? Your stationary store will laminate? A dry-cleaners in your town will straight-line sew a curtain or pillow case? Your local lumberyard will miter and nail four pieces of molding together to make a giant mirror frame? She says it is all about doing and getting it done.