Room Decorating Ideas For Anyone On A Shoestring Budget
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Call us optimists, but we think everyone under the sun can have a beautiful home if they want one. Even if youre pinching pennies, theres still plenty you can do to create a stylish, inviting home for yourself and whoever you have over. The first step is to clean your home and get organized. Doing those two things alone will drastically improve the quality of your space. Then for the fun parton to coming up with new room décor ideas.
“Even if youre pinching pennies, theres still plenty you can do to create a stylish, inviting home for yourself and whoever you have over.”
With years of budget decorating behind us, weve amassed a few helpful tips for making house with a slim wallet. Follow our cheap home decorating tips and get inspired by the ideas that prove that style doesn’t need to come at a price below.
Dollar Stores Like Dollar Tree & Dollarama
The dollar store is another unexpected place to find nice home decor items. Like the thrift store, you can use paint, glue and other DIY methods to make the items look more high-end. At the dollar store, look for things like kitchen accessories, baskets, vases, candlesticks, picture frames and faux florals.
Sprucing Up Any Room With Home Decor
Round out the aesthetic of your most-visited rooms with home decor and accessories. Not sure where to begin? Consider starting in the family room. Not only do throw pillows and blankets keep everyone cozy during a movie marathon, they also add texture and color to your furnituresectional sofas, loveseats and armchairs included. Then, in the master suite, adorn the walls with hanging mirrors, as well as framed wall art and an intricate clock, that speak to your personal style. If you want to make a statement when greeting guests in the foyer, be sure to accent the narby console table with decorative bowls, ceramic vases and other eye-catching objects. Still looking for more inspiration? Read on to find more decor and accessory ideas for the home.
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Go Bold On A Few Furnishings
Create a stylish living room on a budget by employing just a few statement pieces. Purchase furnishings with high-impact fabrics or finishes, eye-catching silhouettes, or bold pops of color. You’ll only need a few dramatic elements, such as a colorful area rug or a striking piece of wall art, to create a stir. Pair them with neutral walls, versatile upholstered pieces, low-key window treatments, and subtle accents for a contrasting effect.
Create Diy Living Room Art
Paint your own DIY canvas art for an affordable living room decor idea. Buy blank canvases that you can paint and place prominently above a mantel or sofa. Using paints in your favorite hues, brush on a variety of cool geometric shapes or simply splatter colors at random for a contemporary composition. If you prefer art that’s less abstract, use the canvases as bases for painted images, stenciled motifs, or collages created from crafting remnants.
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Thrift Stores And Antique Stores
If you want to reduce, reuse and recycle, finding home decor at a thrift or antique store is always a good idea! I’ve found fantastic kitchen items there like cups and bowls, and I’ve also found lots of lovely brass accessories like candlesticks, glassware and wall decor that I can use as-is. Keep your eye out for mirrors, wall art, furniture and textiles that you can update to suit your home. Paint can do wonders to make a thrifted piece look brand new. You can also check out second hand marketplaces online for local sellers that want to get rid of their old decor.
Thrift stores, antique stores & second hand marketplaces to find cheap home decor:
- Goodwill
Update Doors With Fluted Film
Image credit: Future Plc/Tim Young
Use glass film to transform a plain display cabinet into an up-to-date storage piece. The fluted glass film will also help to prevent chips and scratches. Or give it a twist by choosing a stained glass or patterned window film design, for a truly bespoke cabinet.
Be sure not to overcrowd the shelves inside. Use stacks of bowls, piles of books and objects with interesting shapes to create balance in your display.
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Ditch The Old Toothbrush Holder
Upgrading your toothbrush holder and soap dish is a low-cost way to add flair to your bathroom. Pick a sleek, modern set that matches the rest of your décor, suggests interior designer Dayna Hairston, founder of Dayziner, like a magnetic toothbrush holder. Also, try these 13 budget-friendly bathroom makeovers.
How To Decide On Your Home Decorating Style
1. Dive through your closet: Whether you’re conscious of it or not, you have preferences, and your clothes can be a great indication of what patterns, materials and hues you like most.
2. Get inspired: Whether it’s flipping through a magazine, watching an Architectural Digest video or visiting a friend’s brand new home, inspiration is everywhere – all you have to do is look and take notes.
3. Mood board: Is there ever a time where a mood board isn’t called for? Collate all your favourite homeware inspo from IG, Pinterest and magazines all in one place for an overall taste of what you’re looking for. This will make shopping so. much. easier. – we promise.
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Add Interest To A Bathroom
Living rooms arent the only rooms that can benefit from a statement wall. Creating one in the bathroom will create a big impact where guests wont expect it. By changing up a wall with a different color or tile, it gives the space a subtle and distinctive design element, says Ehrentreu. Stop yourself from flushing money down the drain with a bathroom remodel with these tips.
Splurge On Statement Pieces
Dining room tables, stand-out rugs, chandeliers, and sofas all have the ability to upgrade a homes sense of luxury. Identify a few key pieces that you see and use often and decide if it makes sense to budget for a splurge. If you decide its a go, choose colors and fabrics that are easily cleaned and not easily stained or destroyed.
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Opt For Iconic Designs
Do you love some of those iconic furniture designslike the Eames molded plastic chair or a wishbone chairbut cant afford them in your wildest dreams? Dont worrythere are a lot of great replicas out there that can help you get the look for less. By taking inspiration from iconic designs but buying them from a not-so-iconic brand, you can make your home more trendy and elevate the design without breaking the bank. These pieces, while not the originals, will still have that timeless, forever-on-trend look.
Make Your Own Artwork
Image credit: Future Plc/Simon Whitmore
You dont need to spend a fortune on artwork to decorate your walls, you can make your own! A piece of fabric, an old duvet cover, a favourite scarf, or even a charity shop sourced dress, can simply be stretched over a canvas and stapled into place. If you have enough fabric left over, make a couple of cushion covers too, to tie the room together.
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Cheap Home Decor Stores
Pretty much all of us here at TFD are extremely into budget home decor. Ive written about my various DIY projects that helped me turn a new apartment into a home . Chelsea has a wonderful eye for making her home feel both sophisticated and inviting . None of us are experts, but we are all very into finding ways to make our homes feel cozy and finished, without breaking the bank.
I know a lot of my friends are the same way, too. But we also all seem to encounter the same problem: ending up with the same exact pieces of furniture and decor as every other person we know. And, yep, most of it comes from IKEA. Now, I love my trusty square-shaped extendable dining table, and it has served me well for five years. But I can name at least four other people I know well who have the same exact one, even though its not the only dining table to exist.
None of this is to shame IKEA. I love perusing those little living in 450 square feet setups and then snacking on Swedish meatballs as much as the next person, and no one should feel bad about shopping there. But I also know that it sometimes feels like the default for early twenty-somethings who just need to put something in their first real apartment. Im just here to gently point out that its not the only option. If you desperately need to furnish that first apartment, or youre simply looking for a little home refresh this spring, here are several home decor stores you should check out.
Stick With The Classics
Have you ever noticed how most high-end homes are flooded with neutrals? This is because neutrals feel calm and classic. Bring high style to rooms by choosing neutral hues for anything thats expensive to update, such as floors, fixtures, and upholstery, and using accessories to introduce bold colors and textures a neutral base lets hotter hues take center stage.
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Keep Toys To A Minimum
Its easy to let toys take over the whole house, so Barnett has a rule that big toys need to stay in bedrooms and the basement. Once those are out of sight, board games and crayons wont seem so obtrusiveespecially if they stay in their homes. Heres how to store those toys so they stay out of the way.
Upcycle Furniture Thats Past Its Best
Image credit: Future Plc/Colin Poole
If youre thinking about throwing out a piece of well-worn furniture, stop. Take another look and see if you might be able to upcycle it. This wardrobe has been given a new look with remnants of wallpaper on the glass panels. A coat of paint or varnish, or new upholstery, are other easy ways to give an unloved piece another go.
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Rearrange Living Room Furniture
To give your living room an affordable refresh, work with what you already have. Purge the room of items that don’t belong, clear away clutter, and rethink furniture arrangements to overhaul your living room without spending a dime. Recruit a friend or family member to help you move furniture around until you have a visually pleasing layout. Arrange chairs and sofas into groupings that are conducive to conversation.
Habitat For Humanity Restore
Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a secondhand store that sells home improvement materials, furniture and appliances. The stock at each of the 900-plus retail locations changes regularly as stores rely on donations from the community. In addition to scoring cheap deals at Habitat ReStore, youll also be supporting the nonprofits efforts of building homes for those in need. Check other local thrift stores if you dont have a Habitat ReStore near you.
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Home Decor For The Living Room
Once your visitors have settled in, lead them to a living room made even more comfortable with a collection of home decor and accessories. For instance, a woven blanket or two draped over the seatback of an L-shaped sectional sofa provides warmth, while decorative pillows add stylish support. Stick with feather-down inserts if you want to experience luxurious softness, or keep with a vegan lifestyle when going with down-alternative ones instead. Either way, the covers are easy to change out from season to season. Looking for concealed storage? Consider keeping extra linens in the storage ottoman, or neatly fold them before placing them in a rattan basket beside the media console. Be sure to decorate the living room’s walls, too. Think an art print or two above the mantel, or a gallery wall behind the loveseat. If you have a fireplace, keep coordinating tools close and use an intricate fireplace screen for safety.
Neaten Up With Pretty Storage Boxes
Image credit: Future Plc/Sussie Bell
Anyone who loves interiors knows that storage is their friend. Make a feature of your storage with cute trunks or pretty floral cardboard boxes not only will they give you extra space to store things in a calm and uncluttered way, but theyll look pretty fab, too.
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Introduce A Coffee Table
Image credit: Loaf
However small or large your living room, a coffee table adds a decorative and practical note. Opt for one that contains storage, whether its an upholstered ottoman or a generous piece with shelving.
Glass options like this one are a good idea because they wont dominate a compact space. Use it to display books, candles and flowers and place it close to seating. Moving your accessories around every so often will help to switch up the look.
Restore By Habitat For Humanity
Price Point: $
What Its Good For: Finding great deals on furniture and home decor that has been pre-loved, inspiration for your next upcycling DIY.
If youre fortunate enough to have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in your city, give them a visit before sinking money into brand-new furniture pieces. Granted, some things you arent going to want to buy used , but you might be surprised at the things people give away.
I nearly scored a handmade wooden Adirondack chair in perfect condition for $75 at my local ReStore, but it was gone before I could return to grab it.
ReStores also receive donations from Home Depot from time to time, so you never know what you can find!
Price Point: $$$$
What Its Good For: Mid-century modern- and Scandinavian-inspired furniture.
The ultimate destination to find affordable furniture that achieves that Scandi/MCM vibe, Article also offers free shipping on orders of $999 or more, with cheap returns and free exchanges, and has a good reputation for its customer service.
CANYON, , prices starting at $20.00
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Throw A Backsplash On It
A DIY backsplash is great for jazzing up a kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room without breaking the bank. This Majestic Ocean Mini Brick backsplash costs less than $10 for a square foot of crystallized glass, which come with mesh backing for an easy installation. If tiling a backsplash is too intimidating, consider creating an accent wall with a bright color paint. These 30 backsplash ideas are looks your kitchen cant live without.
Best Cheap Room Dcor Ideas Designers Swear By
Savvy Home,
Tessa Neustadt Design: Katherine Carter
It’s easy to get overexcited in perfectly-merchandised décor stores: The shelves are neatly packed with color-coded pillows, decorative boxes, throw blankets, and flickering candles with scents that make us want to own each one. As you wander around the elegant leather sofas and perfectly styled vignettes, you might find yourself daydreaming about what your space could look like if you brought it all homecollections of vintage pottery, stacks of coffee table books, and more. But there are ways to style your home without breaking the bank: And interior designers know the best tricks. Rather than succumbing to the irresistible appeal of our favorite décor stores, keep it economically savvy while designing your home to the max.
Below, learn interior design tips for affordable room décor to upgrade your space and say goodbye to splurging.
Tessa Neustadt Design: Katherine Carter
If you’re growing tired of your current designs, pick a few small elements to make a change. For example, when your bedding starts to feel tired, don’t splurge on a whole new duvet and sheet setjust add a few throws to completely refresh the vibe. The right throw blankets can make a room feel like an entirely different space, and you’ll be surprised by how much you can save while indulging in a brand-new design.
Amy Bartlam Design: JDP Interiors
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Highlight Great Features With Paint
Image credit: Future Plc/Joanna Henderson
A painted border will draw attention to lovely period door frames and deep skirting boards. If you already have colour on the walls, choose a deeper shade. Use a ruler and spirit level to draw a border around 5cm wide and use decorating tape to achieve a crisp edge.
Give The Illusion Of Higher Ceilings
If you cant raise your roof, literally, you might consider raising your window treatments. Jillian suggests raising window panels to create an illusion of height and give it a grander feel. Window treatment is often underrated and clients commonly overlook the impact it has on a space, she says. An inexpensive way to achieve this tip is to simply add fabric to your existing panels. Once you find the perfect complimentary fabric, simply take it to your local seamstress to have him/her add the fabric at the top, middle, or end of the fabric. You have to see these 10 incredible window treatments to get some ideas.
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Get Rid Of Something Super Old Or Ugly
If a dated light fixture or piece of furniture constantly makes you groan, get rid of it. The project doesnt have to break the budget: Drab wall colors can easily be painted, and outdated knobs and hardware can be inexpensively replaced. Even dated kitchen cabinets can be painted white and instantly brought out of the 80s.
