4.14 how can I make my house/room look more gothic?

From: Margaret Rhodes
Some cheap ways to goth up your room: You can buy really cool fabric for cheap on the remnant tables at fabric stores. The upholstery fabric in a lot of these stores is velveteen and very sturdy and comes in huge pieces. Some of it is brocade, which lends that regal aura... Anyway, hang the brocade on your walls, add tassels... instant tapestry. Staple the velveteen to your walls... instant change, better than wallpaper. Some of these fabrics can be used for area rugs, too.

Get cheap candle holders in thrift stores... get *a lot* of them, add candles... put them all on one table. Of course, empty wine bottles of various shapes and sizes look cool too. (Esp. red wine, ;-)

Mosquito netting (available in import shops) draped around your bed from ceiling to floor adds that "webby" look...

Get old picture frames in thrift shops... big ones. The more distressed, the better. Hang them on your wall. Put smaller pictures inside, in a grouping -- or hang them over a cool poster.

Dried flowers or even fresh flowers in the process of drying... hang them upside down in a section of your room. Looks nice that way, or put them in a glass, vase, or whatever suits you.

Tarot cards look cool framed. Frame them in a reading, by themselves, or just randomly under glass. Put a piece of velvet underneath them in the frame.

Find old (unwearable) velvet or "cool" types of fabric clothing in a thrift store. Cut the velvet into squares and sew cushions for your bed out of them. Add tassels, fringe, sew cool buttons on them... whatever!

Hang your favorite jewelry from nails in the wall... makes it accessible and looks decorative at the same time.

Hang black lace over your windows with tacks. Add a long scarf over the top, as a sort of valance (scarves with fringe on the ends look especially nice). The black lace especially stands out in the daytime.

Any kind of ornate border along the perimeter of your room will lend a more "rich" feeling to the room and draw the eye upward at the same time. (I have one in black that is very thick with ornate scrolls and fleur-de-lis.)

Draping sheets (dyed black or crimson) with staples on your wall lends a nice effect. The more billowy you drape them, the more interesting the effect. This looks especially cool on the wall behind your bed, as sort of a canopy or headboard.

Draping fabric over lamps will dim them and make the room more dramatic. Drape beads and necklaces over the shade also! But make sure the fabric is at least 3" from the bulb, or it could be a fire hazard.

From: Ethereal
Me, I like to dry roses and stick them in big mason jars. I also think that christmas lights strung up like crazy all over the place give my room a nice effect when I turn them on: not quite direct light and not quite darkness. Candles always add to the mystery of a room. I love to drape velvet pieces and satin on all of my free furniture with the edges all tattered up. I also like to string up old vinyl records and cds I didn't like from the ceiling... with the air conditioner on it creates a slight breeze and when they get a spinning the effect is just priceless (may not be 'gothic' per se, but I think it looks pretty d*mn cool). Another thing is to cover up all your lamps with scarves. As for bed covers... I always like black coverlets but found black sheets uncomfortable (yes, I sleep in semi-pink felt sheets, but d*mmit, I need my comfort)... Gargoyles, of course, but they can be expensive. I'm focusing on the cheap goff tricks here... my room is such a riot of _things_ anyway. Make your own posters out of watercolor on paper (be creative), or you can draw on a white sheet (or a black sheet with white) with fabric paints or acrylics.

From: Magda Bathory
Black sheets can become a multitude of things... drapes, furniture throws, even wallpaper with judicious use of a staple gun. Check your local discount linens place for sales or buy a bunch of plain light-colored sheets at thrift stores and dye them in the washer (be sure to run it with soap afterwards to de-stain it!). Add some fancy cord swags with tassels from a craft store x-mas decor section in red and gold. You can even tie the sheets around chair legs with them. Use red pillowcases to cover throw pillows or bed pillows, roll them up and tie with more cords for the look of cylindrical bolsters. Buy unpainted plaster gargoyles, dragons, or 'Greek' vases at a crafts store and paint them yourself in whatever color scheme you fancy... be sure to spray them with several coats of clear acrylic to protect them from dust or dampness. If you actually want to put water in them, line them with the two-part epoxy stuff known as Enviro-tex to be sure of a good non-toxic seal!

From: Christabel La Motte
Curtains are one of those areas where you can save SERIOUS money sewing -- so much of what's available on the market is overpriced *CRAP*.

Make your own, and you can use the same fabric that you've used for other accessories. Or if you're really lazy, sheets can often make nice curtains that are easily washable and a perfect match for your bedding... and they'll require minimal hemming. Slap some pleating tape on one end, and you can have spectacular-looking curtains in an evening with no effort or thought beyond sewing a few straight lines.

A few other ideas: scout hardware stores or frame shops for odds and ends that can be used as non-traditional curtain rods. Drape long swags of fabric over said rods dramatically, rather than fussing with hooks and tape and such, or get swag hooks and do the same. Improvise!

From: Trystan L. Bass
Not all curtains require sewing. Get long, long lengths of cheap fabric -- muslin looks nice and is frequently 99 cents a yard (don't overlook sheets and thrift-shop fabrics too). Wind it around your old curtain rods, leaving long lengths at each end. Allow the fabric to 'puddle' on the floor (no hemming necessary). This is admittedly a decorative look, not functional. But you could add mini-blinds or shades (which, if you have average size windows, can be cheap) or second-hand sheers.

Tab-top style curtains don't require much sewing (could even be done by hand or use that iron-on no-sew tape). Can either drape fabric over the top or make a valance out of cardboard and hot-glue fabric over it (I've seen this done on lots of how-to home decorating tv shows ;-).

Another fun thing or around the house is gothically decorated candles. This is an idea from Rubberstampmadness magazine that is pretty cool, IMHO (and makes nice gifts!). Get cheap pillar candles. Stamp designs onto tissue paper -- color and emboss, as desired. Cut out the designs and place on the candle (wet the edges of the paper a little to make it stick, but do not glue). With an embossing tool or heat gun (often sold as paint strippers), warm the candle area over the tissue paper design. Do this carefully, until the wax slowly melts and absorbs the tissue paper, then turn off the heat. The design will then appear to blend into the candle.

This project is easiest if you've already collected a bunch of goth-ish rubber stamps, like I have. I've got tons o' skulls, skeletons, bats, cats, celtic knots, demons, fairies, and the like. I did white candles, but if you get colored candles and have tissue paper that matches, it should work too.

From: Tom Mary Dobrowolsky
Hang anything and everything you want to... whether it is something you use or whether it is Completely Useless Cool Stuff. Some of the things on my walls include a tri-cornered hat, sabre, various chains and little tools, postcards, travel memorabilia, hanging candle holders. I also found some old Soviet geologic maps and stratigraphic charts with typed Cyrillic text. I hung up a few of those and hung a magnifying glass over a section of one -- pointing at some random text.

Personally, I suppose I have a fetish for hanging things and displaying small items. Populate your walls and ceilings, I say! Conversely, the actual floorspace decor is quite minimal...only a dresser, a mattress, and a coffee table with piles of clothes on it (which the cat has claimed as a bed).

From: SmokeSerpent
Take one of those cheesy country craft wooden shelves (preferably one without hearts and teddy bears) with pegs to hang things on and paint it all black and any design of your choice over that. It looks really great with candles burning on the top, and I hung all of my assorted necklaces and chokers on the pegs.

From: Thessaly
I don't have the most "goth" room in the world, mainly because I'm always on the verge of moving and I don't want to put too much into this room, but a few things that I have done are:

I have these curtain rods that were about $10 each at Wal-Mart. They're made to look like wrought iron with gold veining and spear ends and are very light- weight. I've wound black tulle around them, left the ends hanging down to the windowsill (this is a short, wide window over my bed), and shredded the ends.

Hang weird things. A friend who works in ceramics made me a small "green man" shelf that is lightweight enough to hang with 2 small nails; I have a little brass communion-type cup sitting on it. I have small velvet bags hanging from the walls. I have a shelf with a lot of candleholders and my dresser is covered with candles and doilies. I have several masks (some handpainted by me) hanging, and a lot of medieval and pre-raphaelite art in between music, film, and comic book posters. I also stick posters to the sides of shelves, have postcards everywhere, etc., etc. I have a small ceramic box with my cat's ashes in it. It's all in the mood of artistic clutter.

You can do things to modify the light in your room, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're an irregular sleeper: I can't have blankets or heavy curtains over the windows because I would never wake up on time if I did. However, in the "overhead" light, I have a blue lightbulb, and my other main light source is a halogen floor lamp with a dimmer switch, so I have a great deal of control over what kind of light comes into the room.

From: Sean Hexed
In some craft stores (like Michael's) they have scroll-bodied, flat topped plaster wall sconces. Many of them have a hole running side to side through them. They are perfect for mounting on either side of your windows and putting an iron curtain rod through the holes. I've done this with dark almost burgundy velvet curtains and a bunch of white Mexican jar candles atop them. It'll look bitchin' with the "longer than the floor" curtains.

From: Sarah
when redecorating i use two of my favorite things, halloween decorations and a ton of glow in the dark things. decorations are on sale cheap about four months before halloween and almost free around thanksgiving. glow in the dark things are always pretty cheap.

From: Elaine Ho
Make your own crinkled velvet curtains: Buy enough velvet to reach from curtain rod to the floor and then some (2 inches). Unfold the fabric and store as a crumpled heap in a small plastic bag for a few weeks. Take the two pieces out and (optional) hem all four sides. Take scissors and cut SMALL holes at the top of each side of the curtains. Use curtain rings or metal rings of any type with a cut in them (use heavy duty wire cutters) and thread them through the holes in the curtains. Mine are deep fuschia/crimson, and look GREAT!

Make your own oversized velvet beadspread: Buy enough velvet to cover your bed from the floor of one side to the floor of the other x2. Cut the long piece of fabric in half. Sew the two pieces together lengthwise. Hem the final huge rectangle. This should drape nicely over your bed and look gorgeous. Use the widest fabric possible (over 105 cm wide).

From: Juliann
For a canopy, you could go to the hardware store and buy some PVC pipe, which is usually about $2 for 10 feet. Have it cut to four pieces and join them together in a rectangle with pipe join thingies (about 30 cents each). Glue it all together, paint it if you like, then hang it from the ceiling over your bed! You can drape it in lightweight fabrics, or somewhat heavier fabrics if you are careful and attach the frame to the joists in the ceiling. (You might want a stud finder for that). You can put up tiny hooks in the ceiling and use light chain or fishing line to hang the frame.

From: Zevaluz
Here's what I did when I was on a budget -- I draped my ceiling in different colors of netting. I used lighter colors, because I didn't want the room to feel small, but rich colors work *beautifully* as long as you keep them somewhat close to the ceiling.

Grab some dowel rods, fishing wire, and some method of securing said fishing wire to the ceiling. Figure out how many yards of netting you need -- if it will be very draped down from the ceiling, figure that in too. Leave room to make pockets on either end for the dowel rods to go in.

Sew a quick 'n dirty pocket on netting, just enough to secure the dowel rod (which can be painted to match), tie the fishing wire on each end, and affix the wire to the ceiling. I had 4 colors going one way, and about 5 going the other, so it looked like a gauzy checkerboard. I always got loads of compliments on it! :)

Also, old curtains that look velvety can be had at thrift stores, and with some scrutiny at the Dye it Black FAQ, you could probably dye them a dark rich color and use them for your own gypsyish purposes.

Old bridesmaids dresses, curtains and wedding gowns that are otherwise thrashed can be good choices for victims to procure the lace off of. A mirror in the corner framed in gauzy material and jewelry would be lovely too.

From: Amy Stebbins
One thing I have enjoyed: Take a book on Tarot cards to the color copier, and make some poster-sized Tarot cards. Depending on the deck this can invoke an array of gypsy and/or goth moods.

Hanging beads in dark colors!

Decorate with draping scarves in red and hang a few trinkets off of the corners. (coin-beads are good, but keys and heart-charms would be desirable).

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