As a new home owner, or one who is remodeling, decorating your home can be a daunting task. Home decor is expensive! You don’t want to spend a fortune just to decide you don’t like the style you’ve chosen a couple years down the road.
Today, I want to give you some tips for finding home decor that won’t break the bank.
Five Tips to Help You Save Money on Home Decor
1. My first tip is simple. Have a budget. Skipping this step can lead to big problems as you wander through the decor stores picking up items you love. Set a budget and stick to it. If you’re decorating your entire home, you may need to plan to set aside a certain amount for a few months in a row. Or you may have already saved up a certain amount and that’s all you have to work with. Either way, the first key to budget-friendly decorating is to have a budget.
2. Pick a theme and/or color scheme. Doing your bathroom in sea life style? Is your kitchen going to be yellow? Pick your colors and write them down. Stick with them. Just because you find a lavender mixer cover for $2 that you like doesn’t mean you should buy it, because down the road, you’ll likely decide you should have bought one to match the rest of your kitchen and you’ll be out shopping again. So pick your color scheme or theme and stick to it.
3. Hit the thrift stores. This is the fun part! Now that you have your budget set and your colors chosen, it’s time to hit up some thrift stores! We have four or five great thrift stores in our town, but if you don’t, garage sales our pawn shops can offer great deals on home decor as well. Thrift store shopping can be super frustrating and super exciting at the same time. Some days, you’ll find nothing worth buying while other days, you’ll hit the jackpot! Here is how I shop the thrift stores when going for decorating purposes. First, go expecting nothing…well, nothing specific anyway. If you go in looking for yellow dish towels, you probably won’t find them. If you just go in with your theme in mind, you’ll likely do much better.
Let’s go with our yellow kitchen theme. Walk through the kitchen section first. You might find a set of yellow pot holders that will work great. Don’t stop there though. I’ll go ahead and tell you exactly what I found when I did just this thing. All in a pretty, sunny yellow, I found dish towels, curtains, cloth napkins, and a mug that I’ll use for a centerpiece. Now granted, the curtains need hemmed, but they’ll be perfect in the end. Be sure to check the hardware section for things like curtain rods or towel hangers. Also, think about what you can make. There is often yarn you could use to crochet towel toppers or fabric you could use to make curtains or a cover for your mixer. You could even use bath towels to make washcloths or dish towels if that’s something you know how to do! The possibilities are endless.
Once you’ve got the necessities for a room, be sure to check out the decour section. You’ll find picture frames and possibly even wall art that will fit your theme. Don’t pass up picture frames because they’re dirty or the wrong color. A good cleaning and a coat if acrylic paint and you’ll have frames that match your decor perfectly and cost less than half the price of new frames. You can also often get baskets, candles, and other decorative items in the home decor section of a thrift store.
4. Get on the email lists. Many stores have an email list and will send you coupons. Check for and join lists for any stores you plan on going to BEFORE you go shopping and be sure to take your coupon with you, especially if it includes on-sale items. This can save you a lot of money.
5. Now that you’ve got a few key items that work, and you have your coupons, it’s time to go to the home decor store. Pick stores that are good quality, but still priced reasonably. My personal favorites are Mardel, Marshalls and Kirklands. They both carry high quality, beautiful home furnishings for a fraction of the regular prices. Kirkland’s is higher priced, but has fantastic clearance discounts and great email coupons. While you’re there, pick out one piece for the room you’re decorating to be the central piece. It’s easy to get lots of little things at a thrift store or garage sales and call it good, but sometimes, it’s those larger pieces that pull the whole room together.
I hope these tips help you save big in your efforts to improve your home.
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