Whether you’ve just moved into your new home, or you’ve been there for a while and want to change things up, decorating your home is the best way to put your stamp on it. There are so many ideas and opportunities - and we all want to create that perfect home we’ve always dreamed of, so why shouldn’t you? There are ways to make it happen no matter what situation you find yourself in.
All of these plans and ideas can add up, which is why we need to be able to prioritise and work within our means. It doesn’t mean we can’t make them happen - quite the opposite, in fact - we just need to think ahead. Even during tough times, there are lots of things you can do, and we recommend decorating on a budget to keep that excitement going. Whether it’s a big idea or a smaller change, there are things we can do to create the perfect home.
Yes, decorating on a budget is possible - and you can see amazing results when done right.
It’s easier to think of large, expensive and time-consuming projects when we think about changing our home decor. You know the ones, like what TV shows put in front of us. It’s great inspiration but not realistic for most people, especially when a budget is involved.
Don’t let that get you down, though. It doesn’t mean we can’t take some of those ideas and spin them into something new. There are plenty of quick and simple ideas for home decor on a budget, and these can have a huge impact on your home right away.
Before getting into those, we need to consider one very important part.
Any home improvement project takes time, but money and budgets can often be a deciding factor for many people. With the whole world finding the wallets and bank accounts tightening, we can’t ignore that people have plans they want to get on with, so how can we make them easier?
We spent a lot of time thinking about how to decorate your home on a low budget so we could help everyone freshen things up or start to create the home they wanted one step at a time.
The best advice is to decide on a realistic budget - one that won’t negatively impact your daily life and one that you will rigorously stick to - for the project. You might do one for the whole project, or a monthly budget that you can use to spread the cost over time, but make sure it’s a target you won’t go over.
With a budget, you can start to look at what you can do. We’ve collected these great home decorating ideas on a budget that will transform any room in your home and tested them ourselves, so we know they work.
There’s no easier way to give your home a brand new feel than with a new coat of paint. Over the years, colours fade, walls get marked, and the themes we choose become a bit stale. When you want to refresh your home decor on a budget, this is the best option.
The beauty of this plan is that it doesn’t have to be every wall. Even giving a single wall in any room a fresh lick of paint will make it feel brighter, newer and more alive. Do this in every room in your home and you’ll see the difference instantly. Do it for every wall and it’ll feel like you just moved in all over again!
You might want to stick with the colour scheme you have before, which is totally fine. If you fancy a change, just take into account that you might need a few coats to fully cover the old colour, and this should be factored into your budget.
Fully painting a wall isn’t the only thing you can do, however.
Does your home have unique features you want to subtly show off? Then use painted borders to draw attention to them. This is most commonly done with a dark shade of the wall’s colour running around the borders, such as skirting boards, door frames, windows, and ceiling or wall corners.
You can also make a feature wall stand out even more with painted borders. Take the colour you’ve chosen and find a complimentary tone to match it, adding depth to the wall and room. If you really want to stand out, try a contrasting colour to catch the attention of anyone who enters.
You can immediately invigorate your home very simply by bringing some nature inside. Not only does this inject some colour to your home, but it will feel more alive. The plants grow as you do, and take shape around the rest of your decor and furniture. You can choose plants that will bloom with colours to match or contrast your home, making them a very good choice for decorating on a budget.
Plants also release oxygen, which adds to the feeling of freshness and improves the quality of air inside your home. When you have a busy life, with family or guests coming and going a lot, this is a great way to add freshness - and start a new hobby at the same time.
One of the best tips for home decorating on a budget actually doesn’t involve any large or substantial work at all - only small changes. You can easily change up a room by switching out accessories and soft furnishings, whether it’s for a new season, to clean them, or just because you feel like a change.
Colours can be combined with others to compliment or contrast, and accessories like throws, rugs, cushions, art, ornaments, and so much more can all add to the look. Swapping these out can make the room look different in a subtle way - and give you a chance to clean each piece and prolong its life for when you next want to use them.
A plain or coloured wall is a big part of any decor style, but that doesn’t mean it has to be bare or empty all the time. You can get creative by adding art or pictures, which can further enhance the theme or style you’re creating or just add some individuality to the room.
You can go further, though. Single pictures dotted across a wall or throughout a room do work, but arrangements are another idea. Put some frames together and fill them with pieces of wallpaper that share a pattern or colour, for a collage effect. You can also take a large piece of art or picture and split it equally between the frames to fill the space.
Moving furniture around is one of the best tips for home decorating on a budget, as it won’t cost you much - if anything at all! Part of why we want to redecorate is because everything is the same. It feels old and a change lets us see just what we can do. When budgets are small, emptying the room and rearranging the furniture to use it in a different way can do this.
Combine this with a declutter to go through all of your belongings and find what you don’t need anymore and you’ll notice just how much space you have to work with. This can completely transform how you see a room in your home, and the whole house.
Any room is more than just the colours we decorate it with, and this means we need to be careful about what else is included. Our furniture, gadgets and ornaments should reflect us and change over time, just like we do.
Finding ways to show who we are and what our home means to us doesn’t have to be difficult, you just need the right furniture. A bookcase or display unit is the way to do this, and is a worthy investment for anyone decorating on a budget. You can choose from different designs and styles, shelving arrangements, and more. The Brock Etagere Bookcase is just one example of a unique looking bookcase with different functions, and putting it in different places can change the focus of any room.
If a bookcase isn’t your cup of tea, then think about putting up shelves in key spots around the room. These are more versatile, allowing you to choose where the focal points of a room should be, and can be as small or as large as you feel fits best.
They can bring empty corners to life, add colour or decor styles to a room, and add storage or display space depending on what you need. They don’t have to be fancy, either. Wall brackets and a plank of wood are enough to get started, and will make your room much more livable instantly.
Knowing how to decorate your home on a budget can help you save money while getting the change you’re looking for. Even if everything else seems out of your control or too big to deal with right now, these simple tips will help you take some ownership of your own space. Whether you choose just one or all eight, you can decide when to get started on each tip. You might want to do it all or at once, or spread them out over time - whatever feels right.
These tips for home decorating on a budget work in any room in your home, but keep an eye out for more tips focused on the different rooms in your home on our blog.
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