After a crazy year of lockdowns and trying to manage your children’s schoolwork, you may have started looking around for ways to make your living space more functional and stylish.
Giving your home an update that reflects who you are and your growth as a family is affordable. Sometimes, it really is the little things that make the greatest impact.
If you’re looking for ways to give your home a fresh look, but a major renovation is not part of your financial plan right now, check out our guide for 10 tips to decorate on a budget.
1. Consider Clothing Fashion Trends for 2021
Sometimes, we may know that we want something different but don’t know exactly what it is.
You can pour through home decorating magazines for great inspiration, but what if clothing fashion can offer you more in deciding on color and patterns? It’s a unique and useful place to start because many affordable updates can be done with fabrics.
Look for patterns, textures, colors, and emotional themes emerging in clothing fashion trends for 2021 that may strike your fancy. Just as you coordinate your clothing layers, think about furniture and pillows that can mimic trending styles.
2. Work With What You Have
Look around the area you want to update. Are you happy with your color scheme and patterns? Has your taste in furnishings changed?
Even if you want to make changes, you can still use what you have to update them rather than buying all new.
Your first step in exploring home decorating ideas on a budget is discovering what is most important to you. This could be an overall theme such as calmness or to the other extreme of boldness.
Are there hobbies your family is involved in that you would like to showcase? Is your family history important to you? Do you have heirlooms that are very special to you?
Once you have decided what you can’t live without, you are on the road to making home decor updates that are affordable and meaningful.
3. Recycle or Donate
You guessed it! Time to purge.
Particularly if you are decorating small spaces on a budget, getting rid of what is no longer useful or meaningful is important to the overall flow of your home.
Letting go of accumulated items can be emotional. Consider your options for recycling or donating. In this case, you can feel good about helping others and the environment.
If you can host a yard or garage sale, use the money, you make toward your decorating budget.
4.Organize For Ease of Living
If you have been working from home and managing children’s school log-ins and assignments, you probably have already identified areas of the home that are just not working for your family. Here are some suggestions for decorating that are also functional.
Catch-All Areas
Getting children in and out of the house on time can get hectic. How many times have you had to look for the homework or the youngest child’s other shoe?
Identify a space that holds shoes, coats, book bags, keys, and work items.
If you have a large entryway or mudroom, there are many affordable ways to install a coat rack and cubes for storage. You’ve seen them before, but what if you don’t have that kind of space? Decorating small spaces on a budget calls for creativity.
Go to the bedrooms.
Install wood strips near doors for racks that can be painted or wallpapered. Use inexpensive 3M products for hooks. These are handy, especially if you are apartment decorating on a budget and will need to remove them later.
Take advantage of under-the-bed storage. Have delivery boxes that can be papered or painted for holding shoes? They slide in and out quickly for kids in a hurry.
Kitchen Decorating Hacks
Pots and pans floating all around the cabinet? Wishing the Tupperware lady would donate and fix your cluttered pantry? You can make your kitchen stylish and organized for pennies!
Stop throwing away empty food containers and boxes.
All those glass jars with lids can be used to store spices in a uniform look. Remove commercial labels and create your own unique style of labels. Buy premade or print out your own and adhere with glue dots.
All those deliveries that come to your door offer free boxes that are a treasure trove for decorating.
If you can wrap a gift, you can create stylish shelf organizers with kitchen contact paper. Choose boxes in a size that fits your needs, remove the flaps, and simply wrap.
They’re great for storing loose pan lids or creating sections in your pantry for baking products, canned goods, snacks, and packaged side dishes.
5. Update With Small Home Accents
Something a simple as using lamp shade replacements can bring a room together and make a stylish statement quickly and affordably. Use them as statement pieces or to keep the flow of a color theme.
Accent rugs are not just for the floor. Find small rugs that can be used as tapestries or chair covers. Some rugs are so soft and flowing they can be used as extra bedding folded neatly at the end of the bed.
Freshen up your windows and bring in more natural light by replacing old drapes with scarves. If you like the curtains you have, add a scarf as a tie back or drape beading over the tops for an elegant accent.
6. Show Off Children’s Artwork
Instead of taping the latest creations from school to the fridge, think about enhancing your children’s artwork for home decor. You can delegate a wall to pretty framed children’s artwork. Consider having their creations printed on pillows and blankets.
Get the kids involved with your new style ideas.
Sit them down with art materials and ask them to create nature scenes, color washes, or hobby items that fit your design. You may be surprised at the original beauty they create when given a little inspiration.
7. Get Crafty!
You don’t have to be a seamstress or a professional artist to be creative.
There are so many tools available that make recovering pillows or chairs a snap. Measure the front of a pillow and double the size. Fold your new fabric in half and adhere with velcro on each open end for an easy enclosure.
For upholstered dining chairs, measure the dimensions of the seat and add two inches for each side. You can remove the upholstered padding and secure the new fabric over it by stapling or applying velcro strips to the underside. Place the padded seat back with your new upholstery facing up.
For glamorous style, make updates to frames and other finishes by spraying with metallic colors. You can choose matte or high gloss, depending on your overall theme.
For an earthy style, go outside to find accent pieces you can make your own. Leaves make great pressed or paint-stamped artwork for framing. Vase fillers can be created with rocks or interesting sticks.
If you love flowers but prefer a clean, modern style, invest in learning origami. You can create beautiful floral arrangements from this art form that are inexpensive and unique.
8. Identify Focal Points
The gallery wall is still a timeless way to decorate on a budget. We typically think of family photos and mementos, but what about dedicating a wall to displaying items from your hobbies? It frees up floor space and also gives visitors an inside peek into the lives of your family members.
Focal points can also be used to draw the eye away from areas that you want to conceal. Create decorative screens from bifold doors or framed paneling. Make them beautiful by hanging framed artwork or painting to carry on a color theme.
9. Create Layers of Comfort
If you’re on a budget, purchasing new furniture is probably not part of your game plan for this year. The great news is that you can give your furniture a new look for very little investment.
Furniture covers are great for a quick redo or cover up daily wear and tear, but they can be pricey. A more affordable option is to invest in sheets that fit your color scheme and style.
Cover the seating part of a sofa in one color and the backing in a complementary color for a monochrome look. Or choose coordinating patterns and pin with decorative upholstery tacks at gathered areas that can double as decorative accents.
Layer throws, and pillows are placed alongside furniture in stacks or layers on the backs of furniture. This offers easy access for little ones who want to snuggle up on the sofa for tv time or reading.
Create interesting patterns by layering different area rugs side by side beneath a table rather than the expense of a large formal rug. The look can be as wild as you like or subdued with coordinating colors.
10. Appeal to the Senses
Home decor on a budget should also appeal to all of your senses. We talked about visual ideas, but don’t forget how fresh sounds and scents can make your family and friends feel when they enter your home.
Think of inexpensive water features you can make from recycled items. Keep a sound that you love playing in the background from Internet sources.
You can also invest in affordable diffusers for comforting scents or create your own scents from a mixture of olive oil and spices. If you have dryer sheets that smell like heaven, tuck them into the sides of furnishings.
Make a Plan to Continue to Decorate on a Budget
Choosing to decorate on a budget can be a lot of fun and, most importantly, very personal. Save time and money by looking to your family for inspiration. They will enjoy being part of the plan and may take you to design ideas you could never have imagined on your own.
If you enjoyed these decorating tips, visit our blog page often for fresh ideas for your home and lifestyle.
