5 best tips how to decorate your home on a budget
5 best tips how to decorate your home on a budget without sacrificing the style you are dreaming about.
There are always ways to decorate and to make choices no matter what kind of budget you have. And if you don’t know where to start, check out my 5 best tips on how to decorate your home on a budget.
The best tip is to do something about a dull looking interior.
Do you look at your house and wish you could just call up an interior designer to solve your design problems? Or wouldn’t it be great if you had enough money to just buy whatever you like and then be done with decorating?
Yeah, sounds great but for most of us, this is not the case. So if you don’t have an unlimited budget, but you want to live in a home you love, there are some easy tips you should follow.
And doing so, I am sure you can get to love your home again.
All you need is a little passion
I was 20 when I moved into my first apartment and it looked absolutely awful. With very little money I tried to make the best out of it.
And somehow this was the start of updating many apartments and houses in the last 30 years.
I have furnished and decorated each and every room until I was satisfied. But I never spent a lot of money on furniture and decor because I just didn’t have the money to buy expensive stuff. I started to get creative.
During that time I collected a lot of tips on how to decorate on a budget.
5 best tips how to decorate your home on a budget
First Tip how to decorate your home on a budget
Set a budget and stick to it.
Make a list of things you want to change. Start with the room which bothers you the most. Know when to spend money and when to be frugal. Here are my tips:
Spend money on a nice and comfortable couch. If you have children invest in a good fabric that can be easily cleaned. Most fabrics have a dirt protection fiber which helps a lot to clean the fabric whenever necessary.
Decide on a couch with clean and straight lines, a color that will fit anything, no matter what paint color you choose.
A neutral navy blue or grey, a light beige fits almost to everything.
I still have my grey couch which I bought 16 years ago. It still looks good and fits into my third house now because the style and the color are timeless.
A good mattress makes a huge difference
If you are thinking about updating your bedroom, invest in a good mattress, it is so important. You want to sleep well and wake up rested.
The bed itself is not so important but takes enough time to buy a really good mattress. You actually should exchange your mattress every 10 years or so for better back support.
I personally love the Gel Memory Mattresses because they are firm and cool and so relaxing. But everybody has different needs, so take your time to choose the right one for you.
Another mattress that is very affordable is the Zinus Green Tea Memory Foam Mattress.
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Lights change the atmosphere of a room
Lights make such a difference in designing your room. Always be sure to have at least 3 or 4 different light sources available from different directions.
A good ceiling light, a table lamp, a floor lamp, behind TV lamp. Changing the light bulb to LED makes also a huge difference.
This is a perfect reading light when sitting comfortably on the couch to read. It is dimmable and adjustable.
Second Tip how to decorate your home on a budget
DIY – you can do so much yourself. Do you hate your brown/beige walls? Paint them in a pretty light color that fits to your style. Painting is so easy (if you don’t have tremendously high ceilings) and it updates a room immediately. If you have never painted before read How to paint a wall easy and fast.
Do you hate your kitchen cabinets but have absolutely no budget to get rid of the old wooden cabinets? Paint them! Yes, you can paint them if you follow these steps I used. It wasn’t even such a big job because I didn’t have to sand or prime the cabinets before painting.
Just use the same steps and it will be all good. Paint your kitchen cabinets without sanding and priming DIY
Yes, I was pretty nervous before I started painting my cabinets, but I am so glad I did it. I hated my dark brown kitchen, now the cabinets are painted in a dark and light gray and I am so happy I did it. Check it out (and see the before and after pictures) it is definitely a good option to do before you get crazy because you can’t look at the cabinets anymore.
Hate your countertops? Add contact paper and the look of your kitchen is completely transformed. A roll is about 6 $, it won’t break the bank. Try it out first, get confident how to do it, and then update your countertops pretty easy and cheap. Here is the link where you can get it:
How to hang up curtains
If your windows are covered with valances and you can’t stand the look of it – take them down and add really simple curtain rods. Sew your own, or buy fresh and light curtains and hang them from top to the bottom of the room.
Install your curtain rod about 5 to 10 inches below the ceiling and let the curtain cover the whole window touching the floor.
There are so many curtain options to find either on Amazon or at Target, even Walmart has cute ones. Whatever fits the best to your color scheme and your furniture, curtains look stunning when they are hung right.
Third Tip how to decorate your home on a budget
Save on rugs, pillows, side tables, accessories. You definitely don’t need high-end rugs or throw pillows, especially if you are like me and you like to exchange these accessories quite often. You can get really good looking accessories during sale time.
Also consider buying a cheaper rug if you want to cover up your floors, because your carpet is old and dated or your hardwood floor isn’t really good looking anymore. It is an easy cover-up and you can add a pretty color to lighten up the room with a rug.
Consider layering rugs if the floor looks awful, just stay in the same color scheme. That’s a good choice if you have a big room and only small rugs.
The best tip for buying a rug is getting one from RUGGABLE. I just bought one for my camper and absolutely love it. It is washable and that makes a huge difference if you have kids and pets. I just love this pattern too:
Check out my Resource Library and download tutorials, Checklists, Shopping Lists, Printables and so much more for free.
Fourth Tip how to decorate your home on a budget
Create a focal point. Look into your room and define the focal point of this room. Are your eyes drawn to a high and empty wall? Then you need to add a colorful artwork or a chandelier.
Or make an accent wall. You can add an amazing wallpaper, or wallpaper a big canvas with a colorful peel and stick pattern. It is so easy to apply and you don’t even need to make a mess in your house.
Create your own art easily and don’t spend a lot of money.
Buy a stencil and paint it onto canvas or poster boards. Use different colors and arrange three or more paintings on your wall.
Or arrange different pictures in similar frames to a big art wall.
Is your focal point an ugly and dark fireplace like mine used to be?
Paint it white if it is a stone fireplace, drywall it or try to move the focal point to a different wall.
Fifth Tip how to decorate your home on a budget
Repurpose tables, dressers, armoires, whatever you have in your house that looks a little dated or out of style.
Before you get rid of anything, check it out if you can update it. There are always things you can change to make it look great.
- Paint it with Milk Paint or Chalk Paint
- take the doors off and make a shelf out of an armoire
- wallpaper the inside
- exchange the hardware
- decoupage and make a unique piece out of it.
You can also check out Thrift Stores, Facebook Marketplace or Garage Sales. These are always good places to find very cheap dressers, tables, chairs, picture frames even artwork.
Update them with a funky pattern or color. And within a couple of hours, you have made something new and pretty for your room which creates a different atmosphere.
And the best thing is, you don’t need to spend a lot of money.
This table was brown and pretty ugly. I just painted it and added a stencil – and wow, it looks so much better.
Need more inspiration on what to do in your house? Mood Boards – How to find your own decorating style
Make a mood board for the room or the whole house and see what you like and what you don’t like. This helps a lot whenever you want to bring different styles and different patterns and colors together.
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Let me help you to make your house the way you want it to look.
You can do this too. Drop me a line if you need help deciding what to do.
See you next week,
Conny xoxo
There is so much more to know: Read my related articles
Awesome Bathroom Remodel under 150 Dollars
DIY faux shiplap for first timers
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