How to Revamp Your Home on a Budget

We’d all love for our home to look like it belongs in a magazine. The thing is, it’s nearly impossible to have the budget to match those ambitions.

But, you don’t have to spend a fortune to breathe new life into your home and add a bit of personality. It’s all about knowing which key pieces to invest in and where you can afford to spend a little less.

Invest in key pieces of furniture

There are a few pieces of furniture you really shouldn’t skimp on. They may take up most of your budget but these are the pieces that should last for many years to come.

• Sofa: Take the time to research and consider a multi-functional living room piece like a sofa bed, which will come in handy when you have visitors stay over. This sofa bed guide emphasizes the importance of selecting the right fabric (remember, darker colors hide stains more easily), as well as other factors like the mattress and bedding mechanism.
• Bed: You’re going to spend every night sleeping on it, so make sure it’s comfortable and will give you a good night’s rest. For something classic, choose an upholstered headboard and look for under-bed storage if possible. To change the look of your bed, you can simply change the bedding and throw pillows, or even get a slipcover made for your headboard.
• Dining table: Dining tables can add the wow factor, and you’ll also get great use out of them, particularly in small spaces where they may get used as a place to eat, entertain, and work.

When choosing your investment pieces, always go for well-constructed pieces that won’t go out of fashion in a year’s time.

Upcycle what you’ve got

You don’t have to replace existing furniture that’s still in good condition. Breathe some new life into it by up-cycling it to make it more modern and give it a bit of personality. You don’t have to be great at DIY to achieve a beautiful new look, especially when there are tons of upcycling tips and tutorials available online to make things easy.

Change your space with paint

Paint is the most powerful and affordable way to transform a home. By choosing the best color for the room, you can create the illusion of space and set the right mood.

• Living room: When picking your plain color, think about what mood you are trying to achieve while taking the lighting and size of the room into consideration. Warm tones can add warmth and light colors can make the room appear larger. Dark shades can make the room feel cozier.
• Kitchen: Popular paint colors include white, yellow, red, grey and ivory. A good tip is to try and match the color to your cabinets, since they are one of the main and most expensive features in the room.
• Bedroom: You use your bedroom to sleep, so the mood you should aim for is relaxing and serene. Good colors to use would be greens, light earth tones and blues.
• Bathroom: Bathrooms tend to be the smallest rooms in the home, so you want something light and reflective to help the space feel open and airy. Light earthy shades, light blues and chameleon-like greys do well here.

You don’t have to decide straight away. Before you buy your paint, take some paint samples home and tape them to your walls for a couple of days to help you decide which looks best.

Rearrange the furniture

Sometimes, giving a room a new look can be as simple as rearranging the furniture. If your budget is tight, then this trick can really make a difference. Before you start with the heavy lifting, take some time to plan your layout, taking into consideration the function of the room and what you want your main focus to be, such as the TV or fireplace.

Add greenery

Fresh flowers are proven to boost your happiness levels with their presence heightening feelings of satisfaction and triggering positive emotions. They’re also an inexpensive way to help give a room a lift. Even better, they can help detoxify the air.

Let there be light

People often underestimate the effect lighting can have on a room, but it can create a whole new ambience, and it doesn’t even have to cost you a great deal. New light fixtures can add some style, but you can even just buy new light bulbs to either warm the room up or cool it down.

You don’t have to spend a great deal of money to transform the look and feel of your home. Sometimes, it’s the smallest changes that have the biggest impact.