Give your kitchen a garden window by installing cheap shelving across the inside frame. This can be nothing more than a small wooden block nailed into the frame on each side, and a simple board resting on top of them. Fill this with plants and cuttings, and you will have big impact. Bonus; the plants will thrive I the bright light, and moisture of the kitchen. Caution: Do not do this in a south facing windowthe direct sun is just too much for most houseplant.

Paint small paper mache bird houses and hang them from your curtain rod, or the bottom of a shelf or cabinet. I found them at my craft store for 50 cents, or you could easily make them from small cardboard containers and paper mache paste.

Use those beautiful pictures from your garden catalogs to frame into botanical prints, who will know!

Use gold spray paint left over from the holidays to transform small clay pots and saucers into coasters and silverware caddies. They stack well, too, and best of all, they're cheap!

Make and herb drying rack for your kitchen by nailing small wire brads into cheap lathing strip, or better yet, an aged piece of wood you might find, even driftwood! You can make and hang just one, or several together to make a large wall arrangement. You can gather flowers, herbs, even grasses to dry directly on the rack from your own yard. I recommend using a rubber band to secure them, as plant material shrinks when it dries. You can cover the rubber band with ribbon or raffia if you wish.

Save those clear bottles and fill with colored water for a bright accent in a window. Use your glue gun to dress up the bottle caps with organic odds and endsbeans, lentils, dried flowers, you get the idea.

Never underestimate how much impact a small container of fresh flowers can have in a room, even just a pretty cup full of roadside daisies!

A couple of packets of seeds can keep a house in cut bouquets all summer. Sunflower, cosmos, and zinnias are VERY easy to grow, and are great in arrangements.

Replace heavy window treatments with a simple drape of gauzy fabric. This type of material is very inexpensive at the fabric store, or keep your eye out for tablecloths that can be pressed into service.(Watch those garage sales!)

Need more ideas for warm weather windows? Simply hang cloth napkins or placemats over the rod. Experiment with overlapping, laying them on the diagonal, or tying them with ribbon. Cherry valance that ties right in with your kitchen or dining area!

Make easy, virtually free ivy topiaries. Pot up your ivy cuttings (straight from the yard, or a neighbors) then form a wire coat hanger into your desire shape. You may need pliers to help you with this. Insert the hooked end into the pot, and secure by pushing sticks, or bamboo skewers into the soil on either side of the wire. Secure the wire to the skewers with twisty ties, then cut the skewers of level with the wire. Wrap the ivy around the wire from the base upwards, and continue to tuck and wrap as it grows. Very soon the ivy will completely cover the wire, and you'll never know it was a free coat hanger, instead of a 20 dollar topiary form!

Kathy Wilson is an author, columnist, and editor of The Budget Decorator. If you would like hundreds more great budget decorating ideas, visit her at http://www.TheBudgetDecorator.com. Don’t forget to sign up for her free newsletter and ebooks while you’re there!