http://www.schoolofinteriordesign.org/
This site helps connect people with Interior Design Schools and Courses all over the world. If you're thinking of studying Interior Design, you can easily compare course information, entry requirements, and more.

You can also find interior design ideas and inspiration, as well as a wealth of interior design resources and a vibrant online community.

Here is a link that might be useful: interior design

We laid all the tile and laminate in our home. The hardwoods were done professionally but we could have done them if we had had time. But we saved roughly $6,000 in labor costs.
I also did all the landscaping with the help of some initial nursery layout advice.

I made a window seat cushion out of an old foam twin mattress. Saved like a hundred bucks on custom foam, and I'm happy with it.

We DIY most of the major construction on our house. We DIYd the kitchen except for the granite, and we bought the cabinets. refinished our vintage wood floors one Thanksgiving weekend. My DH will be rebuilding the front porch and steps this summer, doing a lot for curb appeal.
I plan on sewing a slipcover this spring for fun and to learn how so I can save $$.
years ago I made the cascades and jabots for my living room windows for $100- the cost of fabric.
refinished or painted furniture to use.
and that is probably more than enough!

I'm going to say Ditto to what CB wrote. Well all except for the sewing part, but I'm trying to work my self up into trying my hand at it. :)

I do all of my own interior painting, make my window treatments and pillows, do my own landscaping, (perennials and shrubs) and since I like vintage and antique furniture, buy older pieces and re-finish them at times. I also install replacement light fixtures, switches etc, and do light plumbing myself.

We DIY virtually everything --

What kind of project do you want to do?

Yep, do all interior design/decorating, and we always have done all our own landscaping.

We diy everything also. :0) The most we saved on any one project was building the stargazing deck ourselves. We got a lot of the materials free or discounted. We spent $4K(including tools), would have cost $40K to have someone else do it.

Here is a link that might be useful: My stargazing deck...

Another DIY here. DS and I redid my kitchen. He made and installed the cabinets. I demoed an old pantry, installed recessed can lights, and tiled the backsplash.

My current project is hanging a drywall ceiling in the basement.

Sewimg curtains, making roman shades and decorative pillows are also good money saving projects. Pillows are especially easy to DIY.

Philiboy, I don't think the OP asked about going to design school or hiring a designer. She wants to DIY!! Don't you love spam? Check out the date philiboy joined GW (it was today).

Our house is over 50 years old so we have redone almost everything DIY.

I have to say the one I am most fond of is our fireplace. We went to various fireplace centres and with installation etc etc it was to cost over $7,000 for a new lower end model. I thought for sure it would never happen.

We found our brand new gas fireplace on CL for $500 everything still in the box, bought the mantel on CL for $50, and my husband built the surround and installed the fireplace himself, and had his installation check and certified by a proffessional.

The whole thing cost us about $1,500...if that.

Haley

Thanks Ruby! I thought I had misworded something in my original post.

I love the ideas I've received. I do have some landscape work to do in the spring but right now we have about 12 inches of snow. My projects include updating my kitchen, building a bathroom in the rear of a garage that attaches to my master bedroom, and tiling my foyer. I have signed up for a tile class on the 27th at the local community college. My husband is not well so his assistance is limited. I would also like to have new flooring in my master bedroom!

Thanks so much!

I took a sectional from first house and cut it down to fit in my current house. It was a three seat/two seat and the corner it went into was not long enough for the three seat side. Sooooo, I took out the interior third seat. Pulled back the fabric and cut the frame down. Put it back together and stretched the fabric over the end. Not one person has ever guessed what I did. I would have got near nothing on CL for the sofa and so resizing it was the best option.

We DIY everthing. The two times we hired someone we ended up with more damage and repairs than it was worth. Concrete patio had to be ripped out, concrete splattered on entire side of house, lien put on house by concrete company, etc. Crown molding guy took about two months rather than his estimated week due to his ordering wrong product, not painting it right color, and not finishing the wall paint that needing touching up after install of molding. I asked him to leave after last piece was put up and planned to finish the paint this fall. Due to my health this will take longer to complete than planned.

I used to say that we have done all but tile. Then I singlehandedly installed slate in entry, hall, bath and laundry. Now I know why they charge so much to install slate. Every piece is different and requires individual install. But I saved a few grand on install.

We ripped out fireplace and recentered it on wall and installed an energy efficient insert instead. All we paid the company to do was literally set insert in and hook up pipe. We framed, drywalled (including texture) and at same time installed complete 7.0 surround sound system with plasma tv and components in other room using infared remotes. Saved thousands doing it ourselves.

We tore out original patio structure, had a pool installed (only used a contractor for that due to warranty issues being easier) and then reinstalled the structure to better fit yard. Installed spa pad and wiring ourselves. All landscape, lights and such we did ourselves. We did pay I think $25 to have fountain company deliver the fountain because if it broke they would replace it.

We installed laminate and slate tile downstairs, paint our own walls, actually bumped a wall into a downstairs bath to make our big tv in other room fit better, then custom designed a cabinet system to fit the tv, with little lights and display niches. I make curtains and cornice boxes, we do all our lighting and plumbing as needed. We installed a whole house fan a few years ago and got $150 rebate from electric company so that only cost about $100.

I like to tell my friends that our "pool boy" or "electrician" was over. One day a friend dropped something off. My "landscaper" walked by. She was so impressed. Then I laughed and told her that my my dh. He was all grubby and was putting in a new fence after a storm. My friend laughed so hard. Then I told her that the other day he was my "heat and air guy" because the system tripped the other day and we got out the manual and he fixed it.

We have some leftover surround sound stuff we need to install in playroom. We need to do it when the attic is cool, like right now. Otherwise dh "my sound guy" gets really crabby when going up there. Probably need to tackle that soon. It would easily be a day project and clear out the corner in my bedroom where the stupid base is sitting.

Oh, dh is also my mechanic. Over the years of having to fix our old cars he has accumulated quite a supply of tools. Now that we have new cars, first time in 20 years we have not had something to repair, he spends his time making his jeep more road ready for when we go to Moab and the Rubicon trail. That has to wait for me to get better but will be something really to look forward to.

I'm about to tackle cabinet doors using sheesharee's method of applying beaded wallpaper. My only other DIY project in my house was very minor - swapping out all almond-colored light switches and plugs for white that I did with my son.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cabinets with beaded wallpaper

Okay, I have to chime in on this one, because it is so close to my heart. It is amazing how much you can do, if you are wiling to try. I think sometimes folks need to change they way they think to have the courage to diy it.

First you have to have realistic goals. I have a friend that got the idea that she wanted to build a farmhouse dining table and wanted me to help, since I have been crazy enough to diy the woodwork in our home. I hesitated because I have seen that they are the type are heartbroken over a ding or a scratch in their regular furniture. In fact that thing that was driving the desire to make their own was that 'all the stuff for sale at a reasonable price nowadays is just veneered junk.' I knew that they would be eternally complaining about how the table has a board slightly crooked, and the other is beginning to warp slightly. That would happen with a diy table, unless you are skilled furniture maker, it won't be perfect. A farmhouse table is a farmhouse table. Its imperfections are a part of the "look."

Counter that with my outlook: Hey, I can't afford anything new and I don't have enough to fill my livingroom right now. There are those cheapie couches and tables that I can buy for about $495. Maybe buy them now and they willl last a few years until I can afford something better. Hmm? $500 bucks for a throw away livingroom set? Well, I could build something or other out of plywood for even less than that. I do have that foam that I saved from the cot. Walmart has that $1 yard fabric.....How bad could it look? If it looks awful, it would only be for a few years anyway. It would certainly be better than what I have now.... It would be the same amount of money thown away, but there is a chance that it may actually look nice....Next thing I knew I have a couch, chair, coffee table and bench. They are not perfect. I gouged the wood really bad when I tried to cut the dowels off. The panels are a little off in the couch.... But now I have something that looks so nice, I am not replacing any of it. It was not a guarantee when I started, but I decided that the gamble was resonable and the outcome would still be better than where I was when I started.

I have applied the same attitude to everything else in our house. As a result I have: A facelifted kitchen by painting the vinyl floors. A bathroom that has an gorgeous ceiling, because I despise smoothing cracked plaster and it was easier to cover it with plywood and 1x2s... And the list goes on....

I call it settling for a B+ instead of an A. Sometimes that diy job will come out as an amazing A+, but that is a bonus. Most of our house is a really cool looking B+. Which personally I think is better than living in a C house while I wait to have the omey to someday hire a "professional".

Here is a link that might be useful: My album with a lot of pics

This one shouldn't count but I have to use any little scrap of "saving" that I can claim!

When we moved in we had painters come and give us estimates on painting three rooms: kitchen and two kids' bedrooms. I have always done my own painting but I'd just done and sold a whole house, so I wanted someone else to do SOMETHING for a change.

The first painter who came out was highly recommended. He itemized each part of the job in detail, and I almost fell down when I saw the line charging $400 to remove two ceiling fans and repair the ceilings where they'd been. The fans were not even hard-wired!

I got up from the couch one night during a commercial and went into my dd's room with the step ladder and two screw drivers. I disassembled the fan during commercials, and took it down. The "damage" to the ceiling was two pencil-eraser sized holes where the bolts had been. A dab of spackle and I voila! I saved myself $200 without missing a moment of my show.

Since it was $600 to paint the kitchen, and I saved $400 by not using the painter who gave me the crazy estimate, I like to think that it only cost me $200 to get my kitchen painted, so I had $400 to spend on other things.

That's Leafy Math. Use it at your peril.

I love Krylon Brushed Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. I use it on everything - light fixtures, hardware, anything metal.

I'm making my way around the house, removing and stripping 120 years of paint off of the old (and very cool) door hinges and latches. A few hours in the Crockpot and the paint peels right off. I spray it with my magic spray paint and it looks good as new.

I've also salvaged old brass cabinet hardware that has a nice shape but ugly finish with this paint.

If I tried to replace all of this hardware with new it would probably cost thousands of dollars. Rejuvenation charges $35 each for reproductions of the same hinges in my house, and $26 each for my porcelain knobs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Best paint removal technique ever... and no chemicals

This is only a partial DIY but it is a money saver. Sometimes I like a big end table if it sits between the corner and the sofa, and especially if there are chairs at 90 degrees.

I have used inexpensive IKEA dining tables in the 36" and 42-8" range -- cut the legs off to whatever height I want and then paint or stain them. The are in a corner so they don't need to be high style, and they are large enough to fill the space next to a deep sofa quite well.