Looking for some ideas for freshening up your own decor in early 2010? Local interior designer Tia Greno offered these updates:

The biggest impact for the least amount of money is paint.

“You can do a stripe in two colors on a wall or use the same color in a gloss and a matte for a tone-on-tone look. All you need is masking tape and a level,” she said.

Or you can mix wide and narrow stripes. At her own place, Greno’s dining room walls have 15-inch-wide green stripes and 1- inch-wide pink ones.

Go for stencils. “They have fabulous stencils out that look like a damask pattern, or you can get a leaf stencil or, for the kitchen, a fruit stencil.

Change your lighting – or just your lamp shades. Buy new shades (be sure to take your lamp with you for proper fit) or enhance the ones you have with bead and other trims.

Put an area rug over your carpeting. You can find great buys at stores such as FWS, Greno said.

Rearrange your artwork. Change the groupings or move artwork around to a different room.

“Antique shops are great places to buy a few new pieces,” said Greno, who also likes to use large mirrors to open up a space. –Susan Martin