As 2016 is the year of the home renovations, I’m all about the DIY at the moment. However, home decorating and renovations just seem so amazingly expensive. We have employed professional builders to do the main bits of the renovations (can you imagine me knocking down a wall… I’d take out the whole house!) however, to save a few pennies I’ve been researching different ways of decorating after the work has taken place, keeping costs to a minimum. This is what I’ve come up with so far:
Upcycling
Upcycling is a great way to give old items a new lease of life, and usually costs next to nothing. For example, you could cover old cushions with new fabric in bold, bright colours, or instantly revive tired old furniture with a lick of paint. If you want to get creative, Pinterest has a hundreds of upcycling projects and inspiration, including this blog post, to start getting the creativity flowing. I think my next project will be to turn wooden palettes into cute vertical planters, perfect for brightening up the garden before spring arrives.
Freecycle
Where I live in Brighton, we are lucky to have a large freecycling community, it’s amazing what you can pick up for free! This is mainly done online, but it seems to be commonplace to just place items on the street outside your house with a big sign saying ‘FREE!’ and they will dissapear in seconds. When I last moved house I did this and within an hour everything was gone. It’s good to think that the items went onto be used again, rather than in landfill.
Crafting
I haven’t talked about crafting on my blog for ages, but for those that don’t know I’m an avid crochetter and a wannabe knitter too. I love to add a handmade touch within the home and have been working on a giant granny stripe blanket (for a LONG time but it’s so massive). Crafting is a really inexpensive way to make something lovely for your house that is totally unique and you can look at it and think ‘I made that‘, which is pretty damn cool too.
Charity Shop
Another great place to find cheap furniture, ornaments and other homewares is the charity shop. Our local charity shop stocks some really lovely items, it isn’t all stuff you would expect to find in your grannies house either. Even if it is, you could find some excellent upcycling projects too.
Become a bargain hunter!
If second hand and upcycling is not your thing, the best way to pick up a bargain is to keep an eye out for sales. We managed to get our bathroom at 50% off, saving about £1000 as we waited for the January sales. I also use cashback sites and have earned over £500 from things I’ve bought online. All you have to do is log into the cashback site before you purchase something online and they will pay you a percentage of the sale as a sort of ‘commission’ for going through them. Perfect.
What are your top tips for decorating on a budget, I would love to know!
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I always hear&see about great finds at charity shops, but I never seem to find any. 🙂