Interior Design on a Budget
Moving into a new home often means a slew of expenses, such as solicitor’s fees, mortgage or rental increases, setting up new utilities and so on. Nevertheless, when you have just moved into a new house of flat, one of the first things you will want to do is to make your mark on it. This might not mean ripping out the kitchen or bathroom to start again completely from scratch, but perhaps some of the rooms could do with a bit of updating?
Redecorating a new home is what most of us want to do in the weeks after relocating. This is not simply down to the need to modernise, but can just be a matter of personal taste. Perhaps the previous occupants had a sense of style that just doesn’t cut it. If so, how do you stamp your personality on your new home without breaking the bank? The answer is that you need some interior design tips which you can put in place on a reasonable budget. Here are some of the best.
Living Spaces First
When you move into a new home and have limited funds, you may have to face facts that expensive overhauls are going to be out of the question for the time being. Costly rooms to redesign – like kitchens and bathrooms – require outlay on specialist interior elements that other rooms simply don’t have. If you want to make your mark, then opt for living rooms first. This could be your dining room, lounge, family room, den or study. Indeed, any reception room you choose to redecorate first will have the most impact. This is because reception rooms are the ones you spend most waking hours in and are the ones the majority of visitors will see and appreciate your design ideas in.
The second good reason to work in your living spaces first is that they can soon get cluttered. When you first move in, many belongings are stowed away in the spare bedroom shed or garage for a number of weeks until you fully unpack. This means that you have an opportunity to push around empty storage cupboards easily and quickly. If you are painting your living room’s ceiling or wallpapering your dining room’s walls as a first step, then having this clutter out of the way really helps. Not only does it make the job easier to do yourself, but an emptier room will help you to design the visual look of your space before you then work out which of your trinkets and belongings you’ll bring in to complement it.
Colour Mismatches
When moving into a home with an existing colour scheme, you may find your home furnishings clash. Bedroom pillow and duvet covers might create a nasty combination with the carpet, for example. Alternatively, your living room’s three piece suite could look out of kilter with the curtains. When dealing with colour mismatches, it is a good idea not to rush and throw money at new carpets or curtain purchases. It is better to think in the longer term.
Having said that, this approach often means living in a poor colour combination for a while. To deal with this on a budget, why not use neutrally toned throws over your furniture? This way, any seating arrangement can be made in a living room without facing a tonal colour clash. Equally, rather than ripping up perfectly good carpet, why not use a bed spread which coordinates the colours of your bedroom better. Alternatively, the simple addition of a rug over a carpet can make for a very good way of bringing conflicting floor covering colours together with other elements in a more cohesive way.
Busy Walls
In some homes, the colour combinations work perfectly well with your existing furnishings, but the overall look is too busy. This frequently happens when you are not working with a blank canvas of monotone painted walls, but with floral or highly patterned wall paper. Additionally, lots of wall-mounted shelves and units can make for a busy visual presentation. If you remove such items, then you may need to deal with the whole wall underneath or fill in unsightly holes. Equally, if you pull down wallpaper, then who knows what you may find beneath? And what cost implication might it have?
Don’t be tempted to roller paint over busy wallpaper. This is a cheap way of altering the look of a busy room, but the pattern always shows through after a time and you end up repeating the process coat after coat. Instead, use a low-cost liner paper to go over the top and paint that. The additional time and modest initial outlay will be more cost-effective in the long run. Another highly effective tip for breaking up a room’s busy walls is to avoid hanging pictures. Instead, opt for mirrors which will make the room lighter and more airy. A few second hand mirrors can be relatively inexpensive to source and are a particularly good way of making smaller rooms less busy on the eye.
Kitchens and Bathrooms
As mentioned, brand new kitchens and bathrooms are a no go if you are on a budget. However, this does not mean that you cannot make them over with a few techniques. One of the simplest ways of updating either room is to opt for tile paint. This sort of paint is specifically designed to be splash-proof and to be applied onto ceramics. It is a bit dearer than normal paint, but it is certainly less disruptive than pulling down tiles you don’t like only to have to buy new ones, along with the adhesive and grout you need to put them up.
In bathrooms and kitchens which have fitted units, try removing the doors to any of your cabinets. Spray painting them is a fine way to get a new and professional finish. Most towns and cities have plenty of spray painting facilities, usually catering for the motor trade. Once you have resprayed your doors with a tone of your choosing, they can simply be refitted to the existing substructure – the ideal way to bring a new design aesthetic to your home on the cheap.
Volition Removals can accept no liability for accidents that occur from any of the tips listed above.
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