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Homeowners will know the relatively steep costs of fully renovating a room. This often dissuades many from attempting any larger projects, which can cause people to feel somewhat deflated. Whether you’ve just moved into a new house and don’t enjoy the décor, or you’ve lived there for a while and are ready for a change, realising that you might struggle to afford to decorate the place could cause you to start resenting your home. On the flip side, decorating a property can give it a nice and fresh feeling, which can directly impact your mental health, boosting your mood significantly. It can also be a great way to stage your home to sell on a budget. Luckily, while a full renovation can be expensive, there are actually a number of things you can do to a living room, for example, that are very affordable or even free in some cases. To give you some inspiration, here are five things you can do to your living room to spruce it up on a budget.
Paint Your Living Room
One very affordable step to redecorating your living room is simply applying a fresh coat of paint. This can drastically change the room’s look even if you decide to do nothing else to it. You could choose countless different colour schemes, but ideally you should try to match your walls to another colour in the room. This will create an aesthetically pleasing look for the whole room. For example, let’s say you have bought some new cushions for your furniture. You could then opt for a paint that matches those colours, which can be done very easily today with the help of useful colour-matching apps and websites. You don’t even have to paint your room one solid colour. You could opt for a dual-tone theme, splitting your room horizontally with a decorative rail and painting either side. Or you could choose an accent wall for a splash of colour and stick with whites for the rest of the walls.
Throw Away Clutter
Something that can seriously harm the aesthetics of a room is clutter. No matter how nicely you decide to decorate your living room, the space can look messy and cluttered if you have an abundance of items lining mantlepieces, tables and shelves. Even displaying too many decorative items can give the room an oppressive and busy feel, making it more difficult to relax in. Reducing the amount of clutter in your living room by adding extra, hidden storage options or simply making the tough decision to get rid of some of these items. You should also strive to keep walkways clear and eliminate unnecessary furniture. Once you clear out your living room in this way, you’ll notice that the place will feel much lighter and like a brand-new room, especially when combined with some of our other tips.
Renovate Furniture And Doors
During the decorating process, you might find that some of your older furniture is still in fairly good condition. For example, shelves and cabinets may still be sturdy and aesthetically pleasing, but they might require some care and maintenance. Spend some time identifying these furniture items that could be repaired, and consider replacing certain features, such as adding new brackets to your shelves or replacing the handles on cupboards. You could even renovate the door to your living room, too, such as adding one of Corston’s interior door handles and a fresh coat of paint. This can make the entire door look brand new, saving you a small fortune on buying a brand-new door. Consider looking into interior door handles, and ensure they match the aesthetic of your home. It may be a good idea to look into brass door handles.
Upcycle Old Items
Repairing your current furniture is one thing, but why stop there? You could find other older items in your house that you might have been considering throwing out and instead repurpose them for your living room. This is known as upcycling, and your creativity is one of the only limitations here. There are lots of different examples of upcycling that you can find online, such as using old ladders as shelving units, old window shutters as new cupboard doors, or you could even use some old scrap wood and metal to craft your coffee table if you have the know-how. The possibilities are endless when it comes to upcycling, so spend some time around your home to find some old things that may work for your new living room.
Reupholster Furniture
Buying a new sofa can be very expensive, so it may be worth thinking of some other ways in which you can freshen up your current furniture instead. If your sofa or armchair is in good condition, you could reupholster it, either yourself or with the help of a professional. It’s a fairly straightforward process to reupholster a sofa, but it will require some time and patience, as well as the correct tools like a staple gun and sewing machine. Not only can this save you a bit of money, but it’s also a lot better for the environment to avoid throwing away an entire sofa. It can also be quite sad to throw away a piece of furniture you’ve had for a long time, as we can grow attached to these sorts of things. Giving some new life to an older piece of furniture, just like upcycling other items, can be a positive experience and is worth considering.