Just like with clothing, it feels like home decor “fashion” moves fast – I think we can all relate to looking at photos of our old bedrooms or homes and thinking, “oh gosh, I thought that was SO cool at the time!” Even without trying to keep up with the latest home fads, it’s nice to refresh your space from time to time.
Unfortunately, even with places like Kmart and The Warehouse offering cute and modern decor pretty cheaply, updating your interior design can get pretty costly, pretty quickly! Luckily, whether you’re just wanting to breathe new life into your home space, or if you’ve moved and want to update your new house’s old style, there are quite a few things you can do to revamp – without splashing too much dosh.
Move furniture and decor around
One of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to give your home a new feel is to move your furniture and ornaments around. Although this technically isn’t “updating” your decor, often having the same items styled in a different way still gives off that same effect – FO’ FREE!
Add paint – or remove it!
Sprucing up an old wooden side table or drawers with a fresh lick of paint can make SUCH a difference – particularly if you go from a dark wood to a lighter colour. Metal furniture or decor can also be spray painted to suit your style or colour scheme. Alternatively, any painted or stained wooden furniture can be sanded back and re-stained. A friend of mine sanded back her black lacquered dining table and found it had a beautiful grain running through, so varnished it with a lighter wood stain and it was like a whole new table – it then matched the rest of her light scandi-style furniture a lot better!
Another option is to paint a feature wall – this is much cheaper and easier if you’re painting over an already-painted wall (as opposed to one that’s wallpapered). Adding one bright pop of colour or contrast can hugely transform a room.
Change handles
Whether your drawers are in the bedroom, living areas or even the kitchen, changing out old handles for new can transform an item of furniture; and often for a fraction of the price it would cost to replace the entire item. If it’s a beloved or heirloom piece that you’re updating, it’s worth investing in higher quality knobs or handles, however if the piece you’re updating doesn’t hold too much value to you, then you can probably get away with cheaper hardware.
Add plants
Open any interior design magazine or watch any renovation show, and you’ll soon see that plants are very in right now! Bigger pot plants from garden centres can get costly, but many plants can actually be regrown from cuttings – and you’d probably be surprised at how many people would be happy to offer you a few snippets! Depending on your style and aesthetic, you can find cheap planters either in shops like Kmart, online, or just at the op shop for something a bit different. Plants can look super cute hanging out of an old porcelain teapot, for example!
Change out accessories, rather than core pieces
Rather than buy a new bed or couch, you can update a room simply by swapping out items like cushions or duvet covers. This gives a similar feel of “new & fresh” without the hefty price tag of new furniture. If you’re crafty, you can even re-cover old cushions with new fabric!
Add framed prints
Prints are very in right now, and are a great (and often cheap) way to add interest to your walls. You can mix them in with photos to create a gallery wall, or get bigger prints as statement pieces. Many artists also offer prints of their work, which gives that “original art piece” feel, but for much less outlay. There are plenty of options online that allow you to purchase the digital file and print and frame yourself, or you can buy prints online and in-store that are ready to hang. The options are endless!
I firmly believe that refreshing your home space is good for your soul; and as we’re constantly growing, it makes sense that our house grows with us too. Your home should be your sanctuary, so make it a good one!
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Written by Bunny T
A mama of two who advocates for mental health awareness (yes girl!), Bunny is a badass babe blogging about womanhood, motherhood and the adventures that happen in between. You’ll usually find her exercising (running after kids), partying (drinking coffee) and rocking out (sleeping).
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