How to Decorate your Home on a Budget

What if I told you, you could have a new house by Friday? Do you think you have the know-how to transform your home and pull off the look you want? I’m sharing my best secrets and how I step-by-step create the spaces we love. You do not have to settle for where you are! Follow this ultimate guide on how to decorate your home on a budget!

We used a hamper for a nightstand. I want you to understand where we have come from. I had the thrifty idea down pat with our tight budget. However, you have to decorate your house on purpose with a vision in mind.

How to Have a New House by Friday

There’s a book I’ve read about having new kids by Friday. They say if you follow their step-by-step guide and are consistent, your kids will change quickly, perhaps by Friday. Well, I propose that promise to you. If you follow this blog post, you could have a new house by Friday.

Okay, I’m not 100% sure we can do it by Friday, but having the home of your dreams is not as far away as you think. Creating a home will take work but it is simple. What if your home was more than a dumping ground, dirty dishes, and where clean laundry goes to die? You can have a home that blesses you AND blesses others.

“You can have a home that blesses you and blesses others.“

7 Steps to Decorate your Home

1. Create a Vision

Your Pinterest board is still welcome; however, those throw pillows might not be. Find your overall goal for the room before you ever lift a finger or buy anything else. Having a vision is how I decorate on a budget and prevent impulse buying. Start with the full picture and then zoom in. This will create a space that brings contentment and the feeling of home.

• Create a Pinterest board for your vision and post colors and styles that you LOVE. You have to LOVE them. Bonus points if you can find room layouts similar to yours.
• Find your focal point. What is the first wall you see when you enter a room?
• What is the purpose of the room and how will your loved ones be using it? Understanding how the room will be used is the key to great furniture placement.

A beautiful space that’s not useful will only make a house, not a home. What you will have, is a magazine cover and those don’t connect with reality or bring rest. We have our style or style(s), our color palette selected, the focal point identified, and the purpose of the room in mind, we have to get rid of what we don’t need. 

2. Declutter

Decluttering is the single most impactful thing you can do when decorating. Most of us have too much stuff. Stuff is the pandemic of our generation, and it holds us down more than it fulfills its original intent. Decluttering is also the most difficult and emotionally challenging of all the steps, but if you do it well, you will love the result.

Here is my step-by-step checklist to declutter.

1. First, Declutter all trash.
2. Then, any broken or obvious items that are unnecessary to the room.
3. Last, make boundaries for what’s left. I challenge myself to get rid of 50% or more of each grouping. If I feel stuck or undecided, I use a plastic tub and once it’s full, I put it in the attic in case I need any of the items knowing I will be donating all the things in six months or so.

Here are my decluttering rules:

• I love it.
• I use it often or will if it’s seasonal.
• It fits now.
• It belongs here in this space.

My best decluttering secret is to declutter more than I think I should. An easier way to visually see the clutter is to take things out of the room and only add back in what follows my decluttering rules. When I think I’m done, I remove 10 more things. Once you have done that, you have finished the decluttering step.

Side note: Decluttering should become your favorite hobby. It’s not a one-and-done kind of thing. To declutter properly, it will look more like an onion and need to happen in layers until you get to the desired result. Be okay with the process. You have now done the most important, yet toughest, step and are well on your way to decorate your home on a budget.

3. Clean

If you want a new house by Friday, clean it! The Bible even says.” Be faithful with little and I will give you much” Until I excel at housekeeping and caring for my home, I don’t desire more! This creates contentment and that is a beautiful trait.

This step is not always fun, but the reward for cleaning is my favorite. Basically, I clean from the top down. I wash the curtains, wipe the baseboards, and vacuum under the bed. Put your ears in, listen to a great audiobook or podcast, and get to work. Here is my favorite cleaning motivation.

4. Organize

Sometimes this is a beautiful basket, but it can also be a dollar tree bin. This is only to finish a space, not to keep your room from swallowing you whole.

Organizing is simple.

1. Group like items together
2. Sort by how often you use them, when you will need them, and where the items should live
3. Find a container or bin to keep the like items together.

An effective organizing system should make your life easier and be almost as easy to put something away then leave it out. This is not the time to let Pinterest inspire you. I find pretty organizing systems to be not as realistic as I need them to be.

5. Decorate

Finally, we get to decorate. Decorating as we think of it, has a small part to play when you decorate your home on a budget. This step requires focus and intentional decision-making. I use a VERY specific list if I decide to thrift.

Overall, the rule of thumb is when you are making a purchase, always buy bigger than you think. Rugs are very commonly purchased too small and take away the cozy vibe you are wanting. Same with curtains, fabrics, and wall art. This is more than likely the case for you, if your room isn’t looking the way you desire.

Decorating does not mean going to Home Goods and filling up a cart with random items to make a room work. You cannot force a room to look like you and it’s okay to decorate over time. A beautiful home is done with intention and on purpose.

I decorate a room in this order:

1. Furniture placement
2. Inspiration from fabric or wall art that I LOVE
3. Lighting
4. Rug
5. Window treatments
6. Walls and wall art
7. Fabrics
8. Accessories
9. Character and Framing
10. Personal touches

I will rarely go out of order, but when I stick to this list, it prevents me from over buying in accessories and under delivering in character. To decorate your home on a budget, you will want to purchase the most impactful decor first.

6. Celebrate

The desire to create a beautiful home is not to show off or impress the neighbors. Your home should be lived in, used, and enjoyed. Invite friends over for community, make a game night, or purchase that fancy table you’ve been wanting.

Celebrating brings me back to what this whole process was for, and the purpose of the room being fulfilled. I love this step because the emotional work and physical labor are all worth it. Ultimately, If I stick it out and do the work, the end result is better than I could ever imagine! EVERY SINGLE TIME.

7. Maintain

The good news is you have the room of your dreams. The bad news is it’s not going to stay that way on its own for long. You are going to need a plan to maintain the space. This is how I create a plan to maintain my space before moving on to my next design project:

• Yearly: Evaluate organization and create different systems if needed.
• Seasonally: Deep clean and declutter.
• Monthly (or so): Routine cleaning that is more involved than the usual vacuuming and dusting. Declutter again.
• Weekly: Usual cleaning such as, dusting, vacuuming, washing of blankets and throws.
• Daily: Tidy and create the mood with candles, lamps, and worship music.

These tasks are different depending on which room I’m in, but overall, this template is how I plan to maintain my home and keep each room at its best and fulfilling its purpose.

To get started pick your first room and begin. I find the living room an easy space to start to learn your style and color palate for the home. You could also choose the room that stresses you out the most. There’s not a wrong place to start, just start!

Understanding the impact my home makes and the power I have to create a space, has changed my view and how I use my home. To follow my journey of how I created a home or get your free Home Decor Checklist to your inbox, join us below!

Home is the place where the ones I love the most come to find rest in a very busy and ugly world. This tool God gives us deserves some thought and intentionality. The identity of my family depends on it. Memories will be made here. Hard days lived here. Laughter and tears. You are the best person to make your house a home.

Until the next blog,