okay, so you have jsut bought a house, whether it is your dream home, or a good fixer-upper investment, chances are you want to do a bit of decorating to make it 'yours', but after all the moving and such, your pretty broke.

Here are some tips i have

• mount some shelves. shelves make great storage and in the kitchen look really nice when storing hrbs and spices- makes the kitche n that little more homely.

• work with what you have. if your couch is bright green, chances are it wont match your lavendar walls. paint the room rather than get a new couch! if you cant paint, work on the curtains and other decorations in the room, and maybe get the couch re covered if it still bother you.

• get out into your new community. join a soccor team. go to the park. get out an know your community. your life has changed completely. this will help you feel as though 'you belong'

• NETWORK! network network network!!!! this also helps with the feeling of belonging.

• make a nice little garden. choose something small and inexpensice. cactii are great and require very little attention. nice way to make it your home and not worry about it - if your like me you will plant and not notice its even there until three years after it died. roses are lovely too, but do require a little more work. plants native to your area are always good, as they can be purchased  cheaply and thrive without a lot of attention ( im not a gardner, but it seems to work). or if you ahve a bit more cash to burn on someting like this- design something that uses different colours! gardening shows can give you great little tips about this stuff, and how to do things cheaply. also start watching DIY stuff- you can learn to do some pretty cool stuff! mulching is great to save water and time on your plants. yuo can use newspaper and compost for this stuff- worksa treat! also helps fertilise the soil and ake a healthier happy plant.  use pot plants indoors. air ferns i think they are called are really nice and your spray them with a fine mist like once a week if your lucky.  put little gnomes and characters in your garden. makes a nice little thing to look at.  maybe havea sign. use solar garden lights and fairy lights make a lovely treat at night time in a bush or shrub.

             never under estimate the effects of a small garden :)

• get a welcome mat. maybe witha funny greeting, or you might even make one yourself! i dont have the patience. you can easily weave on and then weave your letters in after wards, or if you cleaver, while your doing it!

its the small things that add up