How to Decorate on a Budget

1. Know what your decorating style is.  If you are uncertain or don’t have any idea.  Take a few minutes, an hour, even a day or a week and figure it out.  You will save decorating dollars by purchasing things that are right for you and not the decorating trends or fads. Take the style/taste test here.
    

2. Plan the interior spaces in your home.  Think how your family lives in your home or how you want them to better use each space. 
    

3. Use furniture and decorating accessories that you already have.  Furniture is versitile  and doesn't have to be used in ways you have always thought…. Move furniture from one room into another for function and an unexpected look…… Put a china cabinet to display dolls and store toys in a girl’s room….Use the old kitchen table as a lego table or desk in your son’s room.  Move a breakfront or buffet from the dining room into the family room to store toys and games.
    

4. Shop in unusual places including your own basement, your mother’s attic or even a junk pile in the back yard or discards in the ally.  See our section  Shop in Unusual Places for some great ideas where to get what you want and save money!
    

5. Create and recreate your furniture yourself.  Dip and strip furniture.  Paint furniture.  Decoupage or layer paper on an old formica office table.  Get project ideas here.
    

6. Camouflage your old sofa or the chair with a stain with slipcovers.  Do your furniture cover up here!

7. Make your own decor accessories from everyday items.  There are several decorating accessory projects here.
    

8. Window coverings can break the bank if you make a mistake.  You may not even need window coverings on some windows, maybe only a shade on another.  Make some of them yourself, or at least the valences.  Get ideas and comparison shop here.
    

9. Landscaping can be a big budget buster.  Plan your outdoor rooms before a shovel hits the ground.  It’s easy to get started with an idea and not with a plan.  Plan your outside spaces so you don’t pay to put things in, then pay to take them out!   See Landscape Planning here.
    

10. Swimming Pools are great to have when it is 115' outside!  They are also a big expense.  If you can finance your pool in your mortgage, that is one to go.  Or a home equity loan is another way.  Check out swimming pool information here.
     

11. Have an idea of what you want when you shop for your pool.  Receive Your Personal Swimming Pool Design Guide and Survey. Click here.
     

12. There are lots of designer tricks you can do to decorate your house stylish and comfortable yourself.  Look in Decorating Resources for some of these tricks.
     

13. Budget everything you will put in your home from window coverings, furniture to new sheets, paint for accent walls, dollars for do-dads….everything!  Start with your Free Home Decorating on a Budget Worksheet Here!  


 

14. Most of all remember decorating your home and making it your home is a process.  It is not a race…..Enjoy each step, every project and each completed corner.  Your home is an evolution, just like your growing family.
     

On To Home Decorating on a Budget for Each Room