Decorating a new home or apartment can easily become overwhelming. With countless options and decisions to be made, new homeowners or landlords may find themselves at a crossroad during their decorative process: stick with this year’s latest trends and spend a fortune or save money and channel slightly out-of-date décor.
Luckily, there is a loop-hole. Do-it-yourself projects and online deals allow everyone the chance to decorate on a budget. Some suggestions of how to spruce up your home to match the latest trends without breaking the bank are listed below.
Work with Space You Have:
Often, it can feel as if a room is too small to encompass all that it contains. In order to ensure that a room feels like it can hold all of its contents and décor, it is important to start at the core of the issue: make space feel larger.
Painting smaller rooms in soft or light colors can help make the room feel larger. In addition, adding large carpets can give an illusion of larger floor space, drawing the center of the room together with whatever texture and color you decide to cover tile or hard-wood. The trick? Don’t spend too much on the rug or the paint: just make sure it fits the space well.
Lighting:
Lighting is everything. The type of bulbs, the color, the diming capabilities and overall style can make or break a room. Recently, a trend of “vintage style” bulbs have been popping up in the trendiest of houses, allowing for an elegant and vintage look in rooms and on patios.
Specifically, LED Edison Style Filament Light Bulbs have become popular, mainly because of their easy access and reasonable prices. Such bulbs allow for energy efficiency in households and add that special touch of soft light to any space, tying everything together with a gentle glow.
Color Schemes:
Color is the character. The tone of a room or house can be set by a simple hue of the trendiest colors. Between paint accents, blends and patterns, a room can stand out and channel the most inner fads. Currently, it appears as if neutral shades combined with an accent of brighter colors are popular in creating a burst of liveliness in a space: greys with teal, browns with blues, blacks with green: the contrast gives rooms personality and keeps the space from being too one-toned, helping it stay within the trendiest styles. Luckily, paint can also be purchased for a reasonable price—keep an eye out for those sales!
Estate Sales:
One of the most expensive things to shop for is furniture. Between couches, bed frames, dining room tables and more, price tags can easily add up, especially if purchased new. One way to avoid racking up a long receipt includes scanning newspapers for estate sales. These sales traditionally offer package deals of furniture, selling chairs and matching tables, or bookshelves and coffee-tables together for a good price. These sales also offer great opportunities to find the more recent or trendiest piece of furniture that may just add the perfect flare to any room.
Vintage Décor and Minimalist Approaches:
Vintage never goes out of style. But don’t overdo it because sometimes, less is more. Don’t crowd bookshelves with decorations and knickknacks from antique shops or flea-markets. Rather, use a minimalistic approach. Keep the space open and more inviting: this allows for you to spend less on décor that can make the room appear crowded, and it gives you the opportunity to draw any eye to accent pieces that you may have splurged a little more on, such as an antique vase.
Do it Yourself:
Arguably one of the best ways to avoid spending a lot is to do projects yourself. Painting signs, purchasing frames from the dollar store, using pool noodles to create fake pillars: you name it and there is a way to create it. Pinterest is a great way to explore your options on how to make something yourself. It allows for one to be crafty, has a direct hand in decorating, and save money!
Happy decorating and good luck saving!
