10 Ways To Improve Your Home On A Budget

Refresh The Walls

The walls are a great place to start your home makeover. It doesn’t cost much to give your walls a fresh lick of paint and make the house look cleaner. You could introduce a feature wall or go for a new colour all over if you are feeling brave. A feature wall allows you to have fun with a brighter colour paint or wallpaper that would be too much if you put it on all the walls. It allows you to use more expensive wallpaper too because you wont need more than a roll or two (depending on the size of the wall).

Whether you make the changes to your walls subtle or not make sure to finish them off with some great artwork. If you have children you might want to get them involved in decorating a large canvas, you could get photographs you love blown up and printed on canvas or choose some great framed poster prints to reflect your personality. 

Whether your carpets are dirty or you have old scratched wooden flooring where you walk shouldn’t be overlooked when you give your house a refresh. If you have carpets which are still in ok condition getting them professionally cleaned will make them look a lot better. Likewise solid or engineered wood floors can be sanded and refinished to look much smarter. If the current flooring is beyond repair then you will need to shop around for offers and maybe look at buying the cheaper option of laminate flooring.

Rugs can cover up stains and damaged flooring while making the room feel warmer and more styled. There are some amazing and beautiful designs, but they don’t need to be expensive. Ikea has some great options from £30 or you can shop around for something more original if you have more money.

Is Feng Shui a bit old fashioned now? Whatever you use to decide where to put your furniture moving it around will create a completely different look and feel to your room. If you are feeling brave you might even want to switch some rooms around, maybe moving your lounge to your dining room?

Sometimes you will find that you have furniture that just doesn’t fit with the layout or style you want in your home so it might be time to part ways.  You can get easily rid of most furniture you no longer want on sites like Gumtree or Freecycle. You might decide you prefer the empty space you get in exchange or you could find a new piece while browsing on the same sites.

If you like the size and shape of a piece of furniture, but it is looking a bit tired you can give it a new lease of life by painting or reupholstering. You can often do this yourself using YouTube tutorials or Pinterest as inspiration. If painting make sure you prepare the surface properly and use the right type of paint for the material for best results.

Sometimes just one great piece of furniture or furnishing can pull a whole room together. Whether it’s a sofa, dresser, dining room table or amazing wall mirror. It’s worth saving up or asking people to contribute towards a statement piece as your birthday/ Christmas present. There is a mirror that has been on my wish list for some time now and one day it will be mine!

If your room is currently lit by a standard central bulb in the middle of your room then you definitely need to think about getting some lamps. Along with looking great, changing the lighting in a room can make them feel so different. You can use a combination of table and floor lamps with warm lighting to create a super cozy room for those long evenings ahead.

Finish the house off with a bit of life. House plants have become super popular this year and it’s not surprising given they improve the air quality in your house and makes it feel fresher. For years I didn’t think I could keep plants alive, but I found the key is to choose plants which don’t need to be watered much (orchids and various succulents for instance) and put them near water so on the occasions you remember they actually need to be watered you are close enough that you can do it then and there before you forget again.

***Disclosure: This is a collaborative post***