Have you ever found yourself reading decorating magazines or watching home decor and fixer-upper related television shows and suddenly, you instantly felt inspired to update your own home? But you’ve got a modest budget to work with and need cheap home decorating ideas?
Sure, it’s easy to find yourself drooling over the beautiful scenes of redecorated homes or inspiring home makeover scenes on TV. Not just that, you then discover that the decorative items used might not be the best for any cheap decorating ideas, because they look like they are worth thousands of dollars, and far above your typical budget for a home makeover.
At this stage, feelings of inadequacy may set in because you can’t afford the luxury designs you are admiring. Then you find that you aren’t motivated by the idea that you’ll have to keep staring at your outdated furniture, decor accessories, and blank walls forever.
Fortunately, this won’t be true as long as you muster up some creative resourcefulness. Decorating your home on a tight budget shouldn’t be considered much of a hassle. More so, it’s possible to give your home the look it needs to look and feel luxurious even with little budget to work with.
Don’t get us wrong, there is nothing wrong with budgeting a huge amount of money for a decorating project or an upgrade in your home. After all, who wouldn’t want to be able to bring in the best in their homes?
But more often, you might need to save a bulk of your budget for other things while leaving little resources for home decor. How can you manage your limited resources and still give your home that luxurious look you have always craved for or seen on TV?
With a little bit of sage advice from Décor Aid interior designers, we hope this guide will be sure to address all that.
Read on to discover the best tips and tricks that are certain to help you transform your space with cheap home decorating ideas that are inspiring to boot.
Draw out cheap home decorating ideas
This is essential whether you want to embark on a DIY home makeover or hire a professional interior designer with your modest budget, because you will always need proper planning and a course of action.
It’s the only viable tool that will help you with your home decor while ensuring that you stay within your decorating budget and execute all of the plans you have while bringing in items on your checklist as well.
You don’t want a situation whereby you have purchased a bed only to discover you don’t have enough left to buy the necessary sheets and pillows for your bed, do you?
To avoid such a misstep, the first step towards careful planning is to find your design inspiration when it comes to low-cost home decor.
After that, search popular home makeover blogs for help and inspiration in figuring out the design style you would like to include with your design updates.
When you are sure of your decor needs, break what it takes to get the look right into down into smaller components. An excellent way to do this is by classifying them into categories such as furniture, accessories, paint, flooring, and decor.
Then, head online to browse and shop for these decor items according to your needs and find out how much they cost. Once you get this right, examine your finances and determine how much you can afford to set aside for cheap home decorating ideas.
The best way to afford and bring in luxury home decor on a budget is to set aside a specific amount weekly or monthly towards your home renovation. And within a few months, you should be able to meet up with your budgeted expenses.
Now that we’ve gone over the basic routes of cheap home decorating ideas, here are some resourceful ways to shop effectively.
Freshen up your old items
Do you really need to replace that old piece of furniture? To save some money, you could freshen pieces up with beautiful updates like a fresh coat of paint or new upholstery.
In fact, you should put that into consideration when planning cheap home decorating ideas on a budget.
Take a look at your kitchen. Do you need to replace your entire kitchen cabinetry or reface them by painting your cabinets another color and replacing hardware and features?
To be able to achieve a home makeover requiring the least cost possible, you need to take note of decor items you can transform and make them fit into your home once again instead of throwing them out and spending huge sums of money to acquire another one.
To reduce your expense for an inspiring take on luxury home decor on a budget, ensure you repurpose as many items as possible. When you already know what to repurpose, chances are you will discover DIY tasks you can execute by yourself to reduce the renovation costs.
And do move things around from room to room every so often and experiment with placement for a quick room refresh. Just because you bought a certain chair for a certain spot in your home doesn’t mean that it has to spend its entire life with you stuck in one fixed location.
Adorn the living room
Since you are working with a tight budget, it means you should only consider affording to spend on the important pieces that will last a lifetime. Such prioritized spending must be channeled towards areas where you will get the most bang for your buck.
By seeking quality furniture, you will be able to save a lot on maintenance over the years as well-designed furniture can last for many years and even decades. They aren’t like accessories and paint colors that lose their charm after a year or two in your home or as trends come and go.
Once you’ve brought in the best furniture you only need to add little things in your living room to evoke your love for vintage home decor on a budget. When choosing the right sofa for your living room, be sure you go for one that elegantly redefines your space while focusing on comfort and practicality as well.
Aside from this, it should be elegant, yet within your budget. The important items in your living room worth debating over are the chairs, coffee table, wall art, and of course, accessories. The rest are optional for a personalized take on modern home decor design on a budget.
It’s better to concentrate on these few items and look for the best way to buy them without going over your budget.
Rather than trying to create a luxury home with a bunch of decor items that you can’t specifically find the perfect place to display them, so they fit easily.
If you can’t afford new, shop second-hand items
As we said, when it comes to cheap home decorating ideas, sometimes it pays to be resourceful and creative. Don’t be afraid to shop for second-hand furniture and other decor accessories as long as the condition is almost like new and the price is exceedingly low.
This way you’ll be able to bring in interesting finds without spending a small fortune and you’ll get to take in the thrill of the hunt. Not to mention that vintage furniture was built to last and is much more durable than new fast furnishings.
Remember that an old mirror can be repainted, a sofa can be covered with a slipcover, and lighting can be modernized to fit into what you love. The style can always be altered, but quality cannot be substituted.
Use paint
A simple fresh coat of paint can instantly transform any wall into a center of attraction while making a room feel refreshed, brighter, and lighter. By combining different colors, you can carve out the design you crave for a clever take on low-cost home decor.
You can get a gallon of high-quality paint for $35 and two gallons can be used to paint a medium-sized room. So with that little budget for paint excluding a handyman, you can make your entire home look fresh and new once again.
You can also create a variety of interesting effects and designs when you combine different colors and use different brush techniques on a wall.
The various styles and effects you can create include ombre, stenciling, color-washing, stripes, rag-rolling, contrasting colorblock, sponging off, and dragging.
Use wallpaper
Modern wallpaper can be an investment that takes careful consideration, especially when you are searching for cheap home decorating ideas. They can also take a long time to install and remove from a wall.
Since you are on a budget, it might not be wise to cover an entire wall with wallpaper as that might be too costly.
Instead, use it to create an accent wall that will highlight a small space in your bedroom or living room to create a cozy effect while helping to create a room-defining conversation-starter.
And when it comes to cheap home decorating ideas, accessories can make all the difference, so here’s what to consider for your home:
- Mirrors – Want to know how to instantly make a space feel more glamorous on a daily basis? Mirrors can do that and so much more. Plus it is easy to source a stylish inexpensive mirror. Use one to catch and reflect light around your home which will, in turn, make it look larger, brighter, and more expensive.
- Rugs – Ask any interior designers for cheap home decorating ideas and what it takes to instantly transform a home and they’ll more than likely mention flooring. So follow suit and think about updating your rugs or even layering them for a rich and decadent feel that is sumptuous underfoot.
- High-shine finishes – Just like with mirrors, high-shine glossy finishes, metallic extras, and crystal will catch and reflect light while keeping the eye intrigued.
- Texture – Even if you go for a tonal or neutral color scheme, do play with texture to keep the eye moving and inspired by juxtapositions of rich texture that are luxurious to boot.
- Hang curtains high – By hanging your curtains as high as possible, you’ll end up making your ceilings appear higher than they really are. And even better if you let them languidly pool on the floor for a casually chic effect.
- Don’t skip on plants – Not only are they beautiful and let you bring in color and texture, plants are also great for purifying the air around them. Greenthumb or not, plants are on of the best cheap home decorating ideas of them all, and there are several kinds that don’t require a ton of care and maintenance.
- Art and sculptures – Last but not least, a home can’t feel complete without art and sculptures that lend each room needed personality. So instead of letting those unframed prints that you’ve collected go to waste, use them to your advantage and have them finally framed.
Who said you can’t redesign your home with a little budget? The tips highlighted in this guide should give you a good start. Make the most of them.