Tips And Tricks For Decorating On A Budget

*Collaborative Post

So, you’ve been thinking about sprucing your home up for a while, flicking through interior design magazines every night, watching repeats of Grand Designs and browsing through the IKEA website, drooling over the images of stunningly redecorated rooms. The only thing is that’s it’s all just too expensive, with new furniture costing hundreds. Although you may lust after a dreamy new interior, your decorating budget just won’t stretch, and you’ll be stuck with your dated décor forever.

Fear not! There are so many ways you can freshen up your interior without breaking the bank. It can also be a fun project too and a chance to explore your creative side. You’ll be amazed by how much better your interior can look for hardly anything at all.

The first thing to do is to forget everything you might have seen on TV and in magazines. More often than not, they’ll go for the most expensive features and hire top-end installers. You’ll need to take a slightly different approach, instead of replacing everything, try and focus on revamping your existing stuff, or even buy things second hand. As well, instead of hiring professionals, try to do it yourself too, it can be a fun challenge and free- until you get it wrong and have to rectify issues that is!

Here Are My Tips For Decorating on a Budget

Take on the challenge

 Let’s say you’ve got yourself new flooring and the next expense is having to hire a fitter to lay it down for you. Depending on what flooring you’ve decided to go for, if you can attempt to do it yourself it’ll save you a lot of money. Do your research before going for it so you don’t botch it- but if done properly there’s no reason it can’t look as good as it would if a fitter does it. Even if you aren’t looking to replace your flooring, it is an expense you can rule out if you are considering it. Once more when guests admire your beautiful flooring you can show off about the fact it was you that installed it!

This also works with painting. Repainting your walls or even adding a lick for touch-ups can go a long way and really lift your room. Again, don’t hire someone to do it for you. Put aside a weekend and dedicate yourself to repainting your walls, get your family and friends to help you- many hands make light work! Once more, paint is relatively inexpensive, depending on which brand you go for, with most pots being less than £60. You also don’t have to stick to one colour, different coloured walls can really add to the room’s character.

Paint isn’t just for walls either. A great way of making your furniture look new again is by painting old wooden furniture, perhaps they have discoloured, or scuffs have appeared over time. Don’t replace them- sanding them down and adding a coat of varnish paint can really bring them back to life. Painting them white can make your room look brighter. As well as this, white paint is amongst the cheapest and you can use the same pot to paint your ceilings and walls!

Clean clean clean!

It might sound obvious, but really working hard on cleaning your room is a free way of improving the look. Focus on getting rid of those cobwebs in the corner, vacuum the sofas and take the curtains to the dry cleaners!  You can also get your carpets professionally cleaned or your wooden flooring sanded down at a cost, but it is certainly cheaper than replacing it! If you don’t want to repaint then scrub your walls especially in areas that come into contact with hands will definitely brighten things up.

Having too many accessories in your room looks worse than having none at all. Less is more especially in contemporary homes, so this is something to go for. Often mantelpieces are crowded with ornaments and greeting cards, these items collect dust and don’t add to the look of your room, so scrap them in favour of a clear space. If you are set on keeping your accessories though, give them a good clean, most of the time you can pop them in the dishwasher!

Rearrange your furniture

This is a fantastic way of feeling like you have a whole new room without spending a penny! Even if you can’t find a way of moving your furniture around in an effective way, before you start purchasing new stuff, look to see if there’s something from another room you can add or swap. Equally, remove unwanted furniture to get that desired clean space! You can really make the most of the furniture you already have and feel like you’ve got a whole new space.

Go second hand

Sometimes, you just can’t get the look you want with the furniture you already have. So, if you do need to introduce new furniture, it doesn’t have to be brand new. There are loads of places you can find second-hand furniture and can nearly always get exactly what it is you want. Remember our trick of painting wooden furniture, even if you find something that’s the wrong colour, you can easily alter this!

Transform with fabric

This is certainly one of the quickest ways to make a room look fresh. New bedding is almost an instant way to give a bedroom a new look. Go for a clean-cut look with white bedding or a pattern to give your bedroom an added dimension.

New pillows and throws add spurts of colour to a living room. Depending on where you shop, purchasing these items are relatively inexpensive. If you’re feeling extra creative, you can make these items yourself for next to nothing.

Curtains are a huge feature in any room and can really impact on the premise of your interior. White curtains give an airy feel whereas a heavy, darker curtain can give an affluent look.

Rugs are ideal if you’re wanting to create a different appearance or add character without having to completely redo your flooring. Even though rugs aren’t always a cheap option, there are many wallet-friendly options. Solid colours and different patterns would not only look great but also protect your flooring and hide stains or scratches!

If you follow all these steps or even just a few, we can guarantee that you’ll notice a big difference without having to splash out on new furniture and professionals to do the jobs for you. Make the most of the dark winter evenings to really get your home to its full potential!

*This is a collaborative post. For further information please refer to my disclosure page.

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