I HAVE UNRESOLVED ISSUES regarding waste receptacles. I see attractive ones all the time, but I can’t bring myself to spend a lot of money on something I toss used Kleenex in. A recent roundup in House Beautiful, however, proved that stylish wastebaskets can also be affordable. There were attractive offerings under $20 from IKEA (below) and The Container Store , but one of the cleverest entries came from Mollaspace.com, whose $44 Tubelor Trash Can (above) features a colorful sleeve that slides over the inner receptable, allowing you to conceal the plastic-bag lining inside. Now I just need to train my dog not to pick out the trash and spread it around my home ….

Photo: Mollaspace.com/IKEA.com

I LOVE HOME MAKEOVERS (as long as they don’t involve sick children and Ty Pennington). But few are as thrifty as the one that Brad Ford pulled off at his parents’ guesthouse in Russellville, Arkansas. With just one week and less than $3,500, the New York designer transformed the 1,000-square-foot bungalow from bland to beautiful. In an article in Country Living, Ford relates how he draped a throw across the back of a boring sofa instead of reupholstering it, papered the bathroom with color plates torn from a $22 book, and adorned the walls with framed leaves he picked up in the yard. He swapped out some of the pedestrian furnishings for funky finds he found at rummage sales and antiques shops, and augmented them with new pieces from Pier 1 and Target. In the end, Ford proves that it’s personality–not provenance–that counts. 

Photo: Lucas Allen/Country Living

I RECENTLY READ AN ARTICLE in House Beautiful about the pros and cons of painting a single wall in an accent color. I’ve never been a huge fan of this practice, but in certain cases it can be very useful–like when you have a room with no focal point or architectural interest. “Painting an accent wall behind a seating group can define a living area–sort of like a rug, but on the wall,” explains designer Steven Sclaroff. A contrasting color can also make a wall appear to advance or recede, so it’s great if you don’t like a room’s proportions but can’t afford to remodel. And let’s face it–most of us are too cowardly to paint an entire room a bright color. But just a single wall of it, as in the example by Amanda Kyser, above, can cure your color cravings without a major commitment.

Photo: Ngoc Minh Ngo/House Beautiful

MY 1960s RANCH HOUSE WAS COMPLETELY DEVOID OF CHARACTER when I bought it 15 years ago, so I decided to add some wainscoting to lend the rooms architectural interest and scale. Since real wood paneling would have been prohibitively expensive, I faked it using drywall and MDF (medium-density fiberboard). I applied a smooth finish to the drywall on the lower half of the wall, then had my carpenter top the MDF baseboard with vertical battens installed at regular intervals using nails and adhesive. After the top rail went on, I painted it all with white semigloss paint, so the drywall actually looks like painted wood paneling. It really transformed the interior, and people are always surprised to learn that the background is nothing more than Sheetrock.