Getting down and dirty spurs creative design

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 15, 2008

NEW YORK — As one of the designers on the TLC cable channel’s "Trading Spaces,” Goil Amornvivat has to decorate rooms in 48 hours on a $1,000 budget. This often leads him to improvise on finishing touches such as artwork.

At home in New York, he has turned some of his own design sketches into art for his walls. It’s one way to create inexpensive artwork that reflects his interests.

A chef friend, he noted, decorates her walls with pots and pans.

"I think your space is your collection of your stuff and your life, and what better place to put it than on the wall?” he said.

Homeowners without his design skills can also repurpose materials to make wall art that personalizes their home and won’t break their budget. Designers suggest wallpaper, fabrics, even old T-shirts and foliage can be framed and hung.

"If you make your own, you always end up with something you’re proud of,” said Goil, who goes by his first name.

A little imagination

A little imagination, creative Dumpster diving, and flea market shopping can help turn up materials.

"Yes, Dumpster dive. Don’t be ashamed,” said Kirsten Kemp Becker, a designer and real estate consultant in Santa Barbara, Calif., and host of TLC’s "Hope For Your Home.” She recommends art school and construction company Dumpsters as good places to find scraps that can be made into good artwork.

Noting that "art” means different things to different people, Kemp Becker said, "I’ve seen great art from materials like a piece of plexiglass.”

Frank Fontana, a Chicago-based designer and host of HGTV’s "Design on a Dime,” said Dumpsters near old buildings being torn down are good spots to find vintage architectural details than can look good on a wall.

Or call local architecture firms and ask for 3-D renderings they are planning to throw out, Kemp Becker suggested.

"If you plead your case well enough they are happy to give them away,” Kemp Becker said.

Old things in your own home, too, can be recycled. Fontana said framing old souvenir or concert T-shirts does double duty: It’s decorative, and preserves memories long after the shirt is unwearable.

"I’ve done it with an old pair of blue jeans,” Fontana said. "For a teenager’s room it’s fantastic.”

Your thoughts!