Designing On A Budget
You guys asked for it, so I’m bringing all the budget friendly design tips to the table. Honestly, there is so many ways to go about this and so many ways to implement this that would be unique to your own home. You just need to know how to go about it. First I would recommend heading over to our first ever blog post “How to make your home feel homey”. In that specific post we discuss 5 tips that really elevate your space and it never has to break the bank. It’s all about your approach.
Coordinating - I am HUGE on coordinating. I like things to flow and make sense from one room to the next. When you’re house has a cohesive flow and color chart, you instantly are promoting a professional designer look. As if you actually hired someone to bring all the pieces together. For instance, my house is a lot of neutrals. My color chart looks like a combination of greys, beige, black, white and wood accents. But if I had my living room in those colors but then the kitchen was different shades of blues, reds or greens, it might throw you off and ultimately kills the feng shui of the home. Even worse, I see this repeated through out homes and every single room is a completely different color chart. Some of you probably love to see more color in your house, which is perfectly fine! This can be applied to any color pattern. You just have to pick surrounding colors that flow effortlessly. Pick a color palette of about 5 colors and try to spread that through-out your house. Sometimes you think your house needs a full blown makeover when really you just need some new paint on the walls! Which is way cheaper than a home renovation or buying new furniture for several rooms.
Placement - Placement of accents and furniture is a GAME CHANGER! Seriously, you could already have everything you need, it just might be in the wrong spot. Area rugs for instance, picking the right size and placement will change a room. While the pattern and colors of the rug play a huge role, nothing peeves me more than a rug that is misplaced, too small or too big for an area. This is an important design detail, that if you don’t nail it, you’ll actually end up making the room appear smaller and more crowded. Hop on Pinterest and search “area rug placement” you’ll find tons of help. Also, if you’re not using Pinterest as a search engine, I highly suggest it. Placement can also mean photos or other wall accents. If you have a ton of photo’s you want to display, print them in the same tone (I usually suggest black and white) and print them in the same size with the matching or identical frames. You can create a gallery wall that looks professional. If you bargain shop, you can likely create a gallery wall with 6 12x12 frames for less than $200 depending on your frames and how many you’re looking for. If you have questions about placement, I would love to be able to help you!
Wall Art - Wall art is a huge component in making any home feel elevated and also a perfect way to tie your color palette together. Wall art not only helps fill up a large space on a wall but creates the movement that brings everything together. The downside - Wall art can be extremely expensive, especially when you’re working with a budget. So what do you do? Head down to Hobby Lobby or your local craft store, find a canvas of some sort in a larger size and pick out 3-5 colors that match the palette of the rest of your home. If you’re not a natural creative, that’s okay! That’s the beauty of abstract. There really isn’t any rules or form you’re supposed to follow. However, to help inspire you, search for photo’s of wall art that you like and try to create your own version of that. The cool part, you’ll always be proud that you made a focal piece in your house and the greatest part, NO ONE has that piece of art.
Replace your hardware - Hardware is an easy way to elevate any space and give it a fresh new look. Get rid of those 1990’s door knobs and replace them with ones that are uniquely fitting to your home. You can make a statement with brass or glass knobs or stay modern with black hardware. Replace the hand pulls in your kitchen and bathrooms too. Again, we want to stay cohesive. If your cabinets don’t have handles, then that’s even better. Once you add them, you’ll be even more impressed with yourself. However, sometimes it’s our cabinets and doors as a whole that need an update. If you’re dealing with some really outdated doors and cabinets and don’t want to break the bank by purchasing new ones, then take some time sanding and painting. You’ll thank yourself later.
Paint the trim - A lot of the older homes still stay true to the old oak finishes. Trim, cabinets and doors being the main victims. In addition to #4, painting your trim will give your space a fresh new feel. I highly suggest keeping all trim white through-out the home.
Declutter - When you think “design your home on a budget” you likely think about shopping for home décor at a fraction of the designer prices. While that can contribute to designing a space, sometimes you need to do just the opposite. Your home becomes an accumulation of time and memories and while I love nostalgia, some times you gotta let things go. A home with too much clutter, nik naks or too much outdated decor can be a real room killer. Go through your home room by room and figure out what is outdated and taking up too much space. That old saying “less is more” is the motto here.
Lighting - Lighting can really do a lot for a room and finding the right tone of lighting for your area is very important. However, having the perfect lighting in an outdated fixture isn’t very helpful. I love to bargain shop. I will always find a way to get a deal but I have noticed over the years that I always wished that I had just spent the money on the one thing I really wanted. Light fixtures usually stay for a while, so make sure you find the right one’s for you and your home. One of my favorite tricks is to find a pendant light that I love and buy a pendant lamp cord. This eliminates the hefty cost of an electrician. OR you can buy the remote controlled re-chargeable light bulbs and eliminate the chord all together. You can likely find a statement fixture for around $100. As far as changing the other light fixture from room to room, pick out ones that flow with the house and again they all need to match.
When we watch shows on HGTV or Tik Tok we can easily get the idea that redesigning your home needs to cost a second mortgage. Maybe if you’re doing a demo this might be the case but if you’re wanting to give your home a fresh and updated look then there is so many ways to go about this. Paint goes a long ways when wanting to freshen up your space. If you’re needing help selecting your perfect color palette and paint selections, this is a service we offer and would love to help guide you in your journey of redesigning your home. If you’re unsure where to start let’s set up a consultation! This is something I LOVE to do and would love nothing more than to help others create a home they want to show off. Your budget and size of home doesn’t have to keep you from loving the space you live in.
P.S.
Take your time when designing. You don’t have to do everything at once. Sometimes it takes longer to find the perfect accent pieces or sometimes life is busy. Put your heart into what you’re doing and see where it takes you.
