All The Frugal Ladies Personal finance with a feminine touch
After doing some Spring Cleaning, you might be thinking of new and fresh ways to style your home. Instead of making a spontaneous (and potentially very costly) trip to Bed Bath & Beyond, you can start making some wiser and long-term decisions on how to give your home a bit of a facelift.
You Don’t Have to Be a DIY Expert to Save Money on Home Décor
We’ve probably all watched HGTV or read an amazing article in Good Housekeeping and thought to ourselves, “This is inspirational, but how can someone like me really reupholster a vintage chair?” But, while it of course helps to have a carpenter in the house or have experience with interior design, sometimes you don’t need to grasp at these “bigger” projects that seem only fit for the DIY expert. Instead, start small by making wiser long-term decision.
Small changes can go a long way!
For example, to change the look of your couch, why not give it some new throw pillows? Tapestry-like blankets can also really set a whole new mood to our couch and bring more elegance to the living room overall. Check out TheGlitterGuide.com’s essential post on how to style a sofa. Similarly, if your home gets a lot of sunshine (which is awesome!), you may not have realized that your photos, posters, and artwork have faded over the years due to too much exposure to the sun. If you are able to replace these, also invest in UV-protected frames to make sure your images and artwork don’t loose their quality and color over time. Places like WholesalePosterFrames.com offer a range of standard and custom frames with UV-protection and other features to keep your artwork looking great.
Focus on mood-changing projects!
If you want to see big changes in your home, but don’t want to spend a lot of money, focus your attention and budget on one of three main areas:
1. Lighting: You’ve probably seen how changing your light bulbs can drastically change the feel of a room; so imagine what changes are possible by changing your lighting arrangement. Using more lamps as opposed to direct overhead lighting can warm up a place. Consider also installing dimmers and directional downlights can help accent a room as well.
2. Window Treatment: Whether going for drapes, curtains, bamboo shades, or shutters, the way you utilize your window spaces can have a big impact on the room’s theme and overall home décor. StyleAtHome.com is a great resource for learning about different window treatments.
Spend your money on your window treatments. You can use a prefab rod and get your material, like silk, at a discount store. But window dressings are probably the most dramatic element in a room. That’s where you get the impact. — Eric McClelland, Fleur-de-lis Interior Design, Toronto
3. Color: Color affects mood, and this is a scientific fact. Seriously! Besides showing off your personality, the colors in your home can help bring out certain moods or feelings of calmness, excitement, etc.. Blue is known to have a more relaxing and calming effect while red raises energy levels. Yellow is generally attached to cheerfulness and happiness, but in brighter shades, it can actually be tiring and even stir anxiety. Take a look at the wall colors and accent colors in your home and if you think this deserves the most attention and upgrade, focus most of your budget and time in creating the best new color scheme for your home.
