If timeless decorating floats your boat but overspending does not, here’s a ditty with creative ideas. There may not be earth shattering revelations…I mean, let’s cut to the chase. Have you discovered the treasure trove of online marketplace? That’s the ultimate strategy. RUN don’t walk to the local free section! Enjoy these simple reminders that low and even no budget won’t preclude you from uncovering more beauty around your home.
This post contains affiliate links which I hope you will use since they won’t cost you a penny extra yet may earn this blog a small commission.
Timeless Decorating That Won’t Break the Budget?
When I penned this, I had just arrived home from an afternoon of local estate and yard sale shopping. What did I buy? A 1950s shabby chic pale pink painted chair (Rachel Ashwell may have body slammed me to get her paws on it), an old wooden country stool, a handmade-on-casters antique industrial curiosity, and a box of homegrown tomatoes. The grand total? 10 bucks.
And not one daygum thing came from the Dollar Store…victory!
Not that dollar stores are the devil. But all the plastic! And so many cheapish, trendy things that may end up in the trash. There’s something gratifying about timeless decorating with a mix of old, new, and unexpected.
YOU: Wait. Why are you linking to a bunch of decor and furniture from your home in a post about inexpensive decorating?
ME: Because I’ll get emails asking if I don’t link to ’em. It saves me a few hours of email responses. 🙂
Decorating Idea No. 1: START WITH ONE ROOM
When you’re ready to make some changes, refresh, or even start at square one, it can feel like a daunting prospect to look at your home in its entirety. There’s too much work to be done! It can’t be done, and if it can, it will take forever! Who has the energy or time!?
Instead of letting overwhelm win, get your bearings by focusing on one room or one part of a room.
Inexpensive & Timeless Decorating Tips
You could start with the room where you have been procrastinating the most. If it’s already bad and can’t get worse, the odds are in your favor.
Decorating Idea No. 2: START WITH PAINT
It helps me personally to first set the mood with a color story. Do I even need to remind you how paint is a relatively inexpensive strategy to for a dramatic change?
Dig in my archives to discover paint color and mood ideas for your space, save money by painting yourself, and pat yourself on the back for getting off to a grand start!
Decorating Idea No. 3: CAFFEINATE THEN CLEAN LIKE A FREAK
Does cleaning your space qualify as decorating? On planet Michele, we say OUI, OUI, Lovely, it does. When you give the room in question mad love by vacuuming, scrubbing surfaces, clearing cobwebs, polishing finishes, and laundering linens, it will love you back.
Suddenly you’ll notice things you had not noticed. The furniture arrangement may need an adjustment, too much clutter on the dresser, ahhhhhhh that’s where that prescription and five pairs of reading glasses went, and so on.
There’s hardly a downside to scoring exercise and a cleaner space. Yet we need reminding thatt housework can yield unexpected fruit…especially when we commit to it in a mindful way.
Decorating Idea No. 4: TAKE A PHOTO
This tip is straight from the vault of a veteran interiors blogger.
Viewing your space from the doorway is a different experience than viewing a photo of it on your phone or iPad.
Gain a fresh perspective by studying images you snapped, noting what offends your eye and what pleases it.
Score a Different Perspective
For example, you may discover you hate the scale of a particular accessory or recognize you should swap the accent tables in the room.
You may notice “holes” in certain areas in need of layering or suddenly realize YES, that’s where you can hang that art gathering dust in a closet.
What seems imbalanced? What is too formal or fussy? Are the window coverings at the right level? Are the wrong things jumping out of the photo that you would prefer to de-emphasize?
Shop my home
Decorating Idea No. 5: SHOP AT HOME
One thing that drives me a little nuts at home is how I have decor stashed in so many different places all over our home.
So this tip is for us all. Let’s take time time to round up the stuff so shopping our own house can actually be a possibility and a joy, not a headache.
It never fails. When it’s time time to move, and I’m packing, I discover all sorts of treasure I haven’t seen in years.
Shop Your House and SHOP MINE HERE!
I wonder what treasures (already yours) await in a box in your basement or garage?
The truth is (and it’s awful), for many Americans, it takes us less time to drive to a local Homegoods to buy what we already own in multiples than to locate where we stashed it!
Excess. Ugh. We cling to objects because…well, that will take at least 30 posts to unpack. In any case, the beauty of shopping your home (beyond the savings) is that if you liked it enough to bring it home, it may be a good contender to bring into service again. If it’s not, pass it along!
Decorating Idea No. 6: Shop Thrift & Consignment Shops
When a guest visits and asks about something’s provenance, I routinely admit “it found me.”
There’s always a story.
When I’m hunting for something specific, I enter the wild with an eerie confidence that just the right table, chair, vintage bicycle, or steel cart will appear.
And it does!
For example, when I penned this post, my mission was to find a stool to replace the broken one at my makeup vanity.
There it was at the very first yard sale stop.
Covered in dust, you just know it had been waiting a long time for our reunion.
Thrill of the Hunt
It never gets old…does it? Hunting for cast-offs and vintage wares costing next-to-nothing is a sport some of us medal in if only because we are sensitive to subtle energies.
And isn’t it curious how at a certain age we may forget birthdays or the entire 6th grade year but not stories of how this jam pot or that Fireking mug came into our possession?
Decorating Idea No. 7: Customize Inexpensive or Free Pieces Not Quite Right
It always surprises me when I am thrifting to hear folks say, “It’s the perfect scale, but the color is just off,” or “This painting is fabulous but the frame!”
A little paint may be all that is needed to tweak something mediocre. (BTW, if it’s the art inside a beautiful frame that is hideous, have fun painting over it! Just did this yesterday!)
Take a Risk If It’s Inexpensive
Go ahead and take chances! There will be fails. A couple of years back, I found a peach velvet vintage chair at a local shop and loved its curves but not its color. I decided to paint it white, but the fabric became too stiff to enjoy.
I used it for styling shots before placing it curbside for another treasure hunter. Then I saw it again! Guess where? At an antique mall with a pricey tag!
Ha!
So here’s your answer. YES. Timeless decorating can cost less than you might imagine. Psst. Bonus frugal find-related tip for home finds AND fashion. I have had the best luck with Poshmark. Vintage mirrors, antique English marmalade jars, high end candles!
Don’t have a free Poshmark account? I’ll save you cash instantly! On your phone or tablet, simply use my referral code: HELLOLOVELYINC when you download the app. We’ll both get a cash…what a lovely way to support this blog!
(Make sure to sign up on your iphone or iPad–you cannot snag the credit signing up for an account via your desktop computer. Use the code HELLOLOVELYINC when you sign up.)
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
I independently selected products in this post—if you buy from one of my links, I may earn a commission.
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