Over the last year, we’ve all ended up spending more time at home than usual, which has meant that many of us have fallen out of love with our decor. Redecorating can be a pricey task, but there are plenty of ways to keep that cost down while still completely changing the look of your home. We Buy Any House have listed some of their top tips for you, helping to inspire you!
- Lay new vinyl flooring
Updating your old, outdated flooring completely transforms a room, and thankfully there’s a very easy way to do this without having to break your budget. Vinyl flooring has become an incredibly popular choice in homes and is easily sourced for a low price at shops like B&M, making it an ideal option for any budget.
You can trim your vinyl to the right size after measuring the space and lay it down yourself, updating up your rooms with minimal cost and effort. When you put down new flooring, make sure that you repaint your skirting boards before! It doesn’t take long and will really make the new floor pop once it’s down – as well as making sure you don’t spill any paint by doing it afterwards.
- Freshen up the windows
The idea of replacing windows can be a pretty intimidating one, as it tends to be an expensive job. Luckily, you can add to the windows you’ve already got rather than opting to completely replace them to make them look better. Adding accessories like roman blinds or decorative curtains that match your colour scheme in a room will make your windows look completely different for a much lower cost.
For anyone who wants to go one step further, you can look into getting some window films. These are great for rooms that you want some privacy in without losing any natural light, like downstairs bathrooms! You can choose from all sorts of patterns, and they’re also very easy to remove and change if you find another pattern that works better in your home.
- Upcycling your furniture
Upcycling has been a popular method to renew old furniture for a while now, but throughout the various lockdowns, it’s come back with a bang, especially with so many people having more time on their hands and wanting an outlet. Most homeowners have got some items of furniture in their house that they would love to see freshened up but aren’t sure where to start to do it themselves. There are all sorts of helpful videos online that you can watch to show you each step of the process – and when you see the before and after photos, you won’t be able to believe that they’re the same item!
Whether you want to update your kitchen cabinets or reupholster some old chairs, there are all sorts of guides that you can use to get the perfect piece of furniture for your home. Upcycling is also a great option because you can personalise it to your own tastes and have the pride and the satisfaction of knowing that you created it yourself. For instance, an updated console table will make a great feature in your living room or hallway, and you can either get creative with some sanding down and painting, or even just add on new handles for an updated look!
- A new headboard
A headboard can make a big difference to a room but can often be quite expensive, which will put those who are working on a lower budget off. Similar to upcycling, there are several easy ways for you to get a stunning headboard for a minimal cost – by creating one yourself! Look on sites like Pinterest for inspiration, and then start to gather the materials that you need.
A decorative headboard will help to add more life into your bedroom, and you can even match it to the colour scheme that you’ve chosen. Whether you prefer a plain wooden effect or you want to add some glamour with crushed velvet material, you’ll be able to find a stunning headboard design for you to recreate.
- Accessories
Replacing a large piece of furniture, like your sofas and chairs, can be a very expensive decision. Instead, you can change the cushions and add on some throws to make it look like a new sofa without the cost! Picking some colours that compliment your current furniture is easy, and if you’re not sure, you can find plenty of great combinations online to see what you like the most.
Some popular options that we’re seeing in a lot of homes are blush pink and grey, navy and mustard yellow, and sage green and pale pink. There are hundreds of colour combinations that you can try to see what works best for you for your new cushions and throws, refreshing your sofa for a minimal price.
- Paint
Painting your house is the most popular way to redecorate, as it will have the most dramatic impact. Painting a room offers you a huge amount of freedom, as there are endless options for colours and patterns to choose from– feature walls are a popular choice at the moment, as well as creating your own design in frog tape and painting over it to create something unique to you. Painting may take you more time, but it’s an easy and low-cost option that will freshen up your house. If you’ve got some rooms that are a bit dark, you can pick a light, neutral colour that will make them feel much more welcoming as well as making them look more spacious.
If you think that your house is a little plain and you want to add some brightness to make the place stand out, you can look at some bolder colours and see what catches your eye. Spend some time researching what colours and patterns you like the most, and take into account your current pieces of furniture. Some colours might end up clashing, so planning ahead will save you any problems down the line. If you’re struggling to imagine the colours on the walls and how they will look, you can try out Dulex’s Paint Colour Visualiser App. This will let you upload a photo of the rooms that you want to paint and test out different colours with filters to see how the colour will look – avoiding having to do lots of swatches and testing.
If you want to start decorating, outline your budget before you start and narrow down the biggest things you want to change first so you can prioritise them. You can start with painting and then look at adding some new accessories if you’ve still got the budget, but you don’t want to overspend and end up not being able to finish what you’ve started. Another great tip is to take plenty of before and after photos of the rooms that you decorate, so you can compare the difference and see all the hard work that you’ve put into it!
