Guest Blog: The 5 Most Important Tips For Decorating On a Tight Budget

If you've moved into a new home, or would like to update your old home, you might be feeling excited. You might even have a great many ideas on the styles that interest you, and the colors you'd like to incorporate into your overall look. Perhaps you've created a mood board or looked through books and magazines.

The problem is, so many ideas may become plans for the future. Decorating can be costly. How do you begin to achieve your goals when you are on a tight budget?

Here are the 5 most important tips for decorating on a tight budget:

1. Begin with paint
Painting a home means setting the tone for your home. If you love clean, white, airy spaces, give your home a fresh coat of paint. Likewise, if you love colors, arrange to create a feature wall. You could use subtle shades of a similar color throughout your home to give a sense of unity, or draw on different colors to suit the moods of your various rooms. Painting will freshen up your home, creating a clean canvas for you to work with. It will also assist you with building atmosphere. 

2. Go thrifting
If you need to add furniture to your home, you probably know how expensive this can be. However, if you know the style you want, go thrifting. Second-hand furniture is available at a fraction of the cost, and will often give you a unique and interesting piece which is not widely available in current retail stores. When looking for furniture, focus on shape or style. You can always paint or sand down wooden furniture. Chairs can often be recovered or given washable slip covers. Look at the size of furniture, and how you would fit it into your home. Remember that furniture often looks smaller in a large room or warehouse than it will in your own home.

3. Add lamps
When you want to create atmosphere in your home, add lamps. Light which shines from multiple angles adds interest and atmosphere to your rooms. Attractive lamps may also be used to add layers to the style you have chosen. If you're interested in classic style, traditional table lamps placed on side tables will add spots of light and shadow. Pillar lamps give balance and symmetry when used in pairs. Brushed steel lamps give a modern look. You can also use lamps to create a bright reading corner or welcoming entrance way. 

4. Create a photo wall
When decorating on a budget, one of the easiest ways to make a space your own is to add photographs of your family and friends. A photo wall makes your home unique, and is inexpensive. Remember to build up a single common factor in your photo wall. This could be a style of frame (all wooden with white matting) or style of photo (all black and white portrait photos). Create a pattern for your photo wall and make space for the images to grow as you do.

5. Decorate with rugs
Rugs add an element of coziness to your home. They also allow you to build up your style, adding color and texture to your home. If you're interested in simple, monochromatic or even minimal style, a rug will add a texture and warmth. If you have a beach house style, a woven rag rug will add homeliness, color and interest. Kelims often give a relaxed, bohemian and colorful element to a home. You can add natural rugs in organic fabrics to a sustainable home, or a brightly colored patchwork carpet to a Moroccan home. Whatever look you choose, a rug will add a new layer of style and creativity when decorating on a budget.

About the Author:

Steph Clarke is part of the content and community outreach team at LandofRugs.com. Steph is obsessed with interior design trends and how new technology influences design.