Creative thinking leads to unique décor

I want to thank all those who enjoyed my last column and shared your unusual and "out-of-the-box" decorating projects. As we can always learn from each other, I thought I'd share these fun and different ideas with all of you. I know at some point I'll be using them myself.

Dale was a professional bowler and over the years won hundreds of awards and trophies. His walls and shelves were bursting at the seams but he didn't want to part with his amazing accomplishments and memories. So instead of just boxing everything up, he took off the engraved plates from his trophies and framed them. Ingenious idea.

Larry, a home brewer, starting collecting beer coasters through his beer travels, as well as bottle tops from all the different beers he tried. The coasters were piling up on the counter and he had glass jars filled to the brim with bottle caps. So he got them off the counter onto the wall by making a collage with them.

He stuck the bottle tops to the wall with Pic-Sure-Stays. I love this product. It's a very small nail, the size of a pinpoint, with a double-stick square on one end. Peel the tape, stick it on the inside of the cap and push it into the wall. He attached the coasters to the wall with removable glue dots, and finished it off with a fun, rub-on wall saying. Do you think he enjoys his beer?

Marie just loved her parent's luggage that they used on their honeymoon; to her they were nostalgic. When her Mom was going to toss them, she had to have them. For years they were stored in the back of her closet, until the day she was cleaning out her closet to have it painted. She thought out-of-the-box and decided to put them up on one of her pot shelves. Why not? There's no rule about what we have to display there, and who says luggage has to be stored and not seen.

Abby wanted something besides a tree in the corner behind her sofas. She didn't want to block the light coming in through the windows or the view out.

She likes things simple, so didn't want any fussy window treatments. She started to think about what she could hang from the ceiling, and then found these fabric table lamps. Who said they had to be used on a table? Her husband rewired them and hung them as pendants in the corner. They're a great focal point when you enter the room and give a nice soft glow to the corner at night.

Always remember, it's your home, your things, so enjoy them, and don't be afraid to think out of the box.

Gail Mayhugh, owner of GMJ Interiors, is a professional interior designer and author of a book on the subject. Questions may be sent by email to: gail@gmjinteriors.com. Or, mail to: 7380 S. Eastern Ave., No. 124-272, Las Vegas, NV 89123. Her Web address is: www.GMJinteriors.com.