Your home is your castle. It’s a place to relax, recharge, and celebrate life with family and friends. Our homes can (and should be) much more than just a place for sleeping and eating; ideally, these are a space that homeowners love returning to and take pride in sharing with others.
As such, it’s worth investing in your home by giving it a refresh. Well-decorated bedrooms make for restful sleep, living rooms and outdoor spaces can support recreation and leisure, and areas like kitchens and bathrooms play crucial functional roles in everyday living.
Decor and design largely determine the appeal of our home, but what can you do to turn a shabby, careworn property into a charming, energized home if you’re on a strict budget? These are some of the key reasons you should consider decorating your home, along with ideas for funding your decorating project. Additionally included are some great strategies to help you save more money when decorating your home.
The benefits of decorating or re-decorating
Investing in decorating your residence could bring psychological and physical benefits, and at the same time promote improved utility and a sense of community.
- Health: Incorporating decorative elements like pot plants and flowers is an inexpensive, simple way to improve air quality and visual appeal. Plants can boost the humidity in the home for better respiratory health, and they could reduce anxiety and stress while helping with mental sharpness, memory, and concentration.
- Mood: Decorating is a chance to declutter and introduce some color into your interiors, which could enhance calmness, relaxation, and brain activity. Personalizing spaces could support improved mood and mental health.
Community and hospitality: People love communing in beautiful, inspired living spaces, as they drive a stronger sense of community and hospitality. - Utility: Worn, tired-looking spaces and furniture can compromise utility. By upgrading furniture and refreshing your living spaces, you can make them more functional for their intended purpose. It’s also an opportunity to repurpose underutilized spaces, like turning a spare bedroom into a home office.
- Property value: Decorating highlights the true potential of a property and could raise the value of your property.
How to fund your decorating or redecorating project
Find novel ways to generate extra cash to cover your budget.
- Garage sale: Sell used furniture, accessories, clothing, and household equipment by holding a garage sale. You can hold a virtual sale online as well, by listing on sites like Gumtree and eBay. You could be surprised by how much cash decluttering and selling old, unwanted items end up generating.
- Personal loan: A small cash loan can provide you with the quick injection you need for decorations. In fact, the average amount borrowed by people was $812. Your repayments can be affordable and manageable since they can be spread out over anywhere between several months to several years.
- Side gig: Whether it’s food delivery, walking dogs, or freelancing from home, side gigs help you generate additional funds quickly. If you have specific qualifications or a second language, you can become a tutor. House cleaning, signing up for market research, and selling art and crafts on sites like Etsy are other ideas for a side hustle to generate extra funds for decorating projects.
- Rent out a room: If you have a spare room or unused space in your home, consider renting it out for living or for storage. You can list them on sites like Airbnb to reach more prospective tenants.
Tips to save money when decorating or redecorating
For successful decorating on a budget, start with a plan and get creative to work with what you have.
- Set up a budget: Your decorating budget is your most important tool in ensuring you have enough to cover everything without breaking the bank, so set yourself a fixed amount and stick to it.
- Get inspired: Create a wishlist and let your imagination run wild without worrying about the cost. Sign up for a Pinterest account, research themes, and get inspired for your living spaces. Once you’ve defined your style, you’re in a great position to make workable decorating decisions according to your budget, by narrowing down to the essentials.
- Repurpose furniture and accessories: Consider how you could repurpose existing furniture and accessories. For example, look into reupholstering chairs yourself or using bedside tables for hallway or living room tables. Basic accessorizing like flowers, bowls of fruit and candles are ultra-low-budget ways to brighten up your rooms.
- Use paint and wallpaper creatively: Leverage paint and wallpaper to shift the look of the entire room. You can use paint and wallpaper to create feature walls for a striking effect.
- Artwork and patterns: Bring visual interest by introducing inexpensive artwork like prints of renowned works, along with playing with patterns. For example, work florals, geometrics, other patterns, and solid colors into space.
- Shop smart and embrace freebies: Shop at second-hand stores, budget retailers like IKEA, and embrace freebies from family and listings on sites like Craigslist and Gumtree.
Refresh your decor without spending a fortune
A decor refresh doesn’t have to cost a fortune. With a well-planned budget or the help of an online renovation calculator, and smart decorating strategies, you can work within your means to give your home a much-needed upgrade. Your decoration project can result in enjoyable, relaxing spaces you’d be happy to share with loved ones and friends, and it can be a great excuse to declutter and clear out old furniture and other items.
A redecoration could boost functionality by turning less inviting, underused spaces into pleasant, usable areas. Ultimately, an inexpensive decoration project could see your home’s true potential realized, for the benefit of everyone in your household.
