How to Decorate on a Budget

So your celebrity style doesn't match your checkbook? You want to re-decorate your home or your apartment, but you have limited funds. Does this mean that you can't design your space like a celebrity? Consider the following points for your decorating budget:

• Decide ahead of time how much you can afford to spend on a decorating project. Then set aside money in a budget or consider a payment plan. Pace your decorating and make sure that you include money for accessories and miscellaneous items.

• Pick one room at a time to re-decorate. Designate a priority project in that particular room and begin there.

• Make sure that you have a plan. Keep color schemes, style and atmosphere in mind for your project. Select a target date for completion of your project.

• Remember that what ever you are considering will affect not just you but your family as well. Therefore, if you are unsure about tackling your decorating project alone, consider consulting a professional designer. A designer can save you time, money, energy, and frustration.

• Develop a floor plan showing windows and doors. Draw your furniture to scale and place them on your floor plan, moving them around until you get an arrangement that you like. Decide on a focal point. Make sure that you measure any furniture, rugs, etc. before making large purchases. Consider the ceiling height and traffic flow as well.

• Repeat each color in your color scheme at three levels: eye level, mid-level, and floor level. You do this to achieve good visual balance. Repeat any patterns or textures at least two times throughout the room.

• Other less costly ways to update or refresh a room include paint and wallpaper with or without borders.

• Prior to spending money on your project, you want to take a look at the colors and patterns in your home during the daylight hours.

• When purchasing accessories, invest in those that can be used easily in any home. These accessories might include artwork, area rugs, or decorator pillows, for example.

For those of us who have more taste than money, decorating our homes on a budget can often seem like an exercise in futility. As we flip through the glossy pages of home decorating magazines, we bristle at having to make do or having to do without.

However, the principles of decorating your home have always rested on expressing your own personality and your own sense of style rather than how much money you spend trying to make your home look like a picture in a magazine. You can decorate well on a limited budget when you keep this in mind.

For beautiful ideas that are inexpensive, visit GoCeilingMedallion or GoCrownMolding. We have hundreds of decorative accessories to choose from, so you are sure to find something that suits your interior decor ideas and style.