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Cheap Decorating Ideas, Budget Décor and Frugal Decorating Is Simple, Cheap, and Explained Here For Free.

These days, things are tough all over, but of course you still want your house to look good! A little home makeover can do a whole lot for your peace of mind and general positive outlook during these tough times.

But don’t worry; it doesn’t have to put a dent in your wallet- budget decor is well within your reach! This article will help you to do that mood-lifting home makeover without breaking your bank (although moving furniture might break your back- make sure you’re careful about that part of the process!

Remember, lift with your legs!) by giving you cheap decorating ideas that can turn your boring old house into a beautiful home. First, we’ll talk about places to go to find cheap decorating items, and then we’ll talk about turning them into cheap decorating ideas for every room of your house!

Cheap decorating ideas are all around you- you just need to know where to look. There’s an old phrase from the design industry that reads, “You can have it cheap, fast, and done well- choose any two” , you can't have all three. Since we’re concentrating on saving you valuable cash and keeping your wallet from mortal damage, we’ll choose “cheap” and “done well, “ which means you’re going to need to be patient during the redecorating process and understand that it might take some time to search out all the pieces you want - for prices you can afford without your wallet screaming.

patience never hurt anyone, so hang in there, listen to our advice, and do the leg work. When it’s all done and dusted your house will be looking great for very little money! it be nice to have a happy wallet for a change?

Let’s start with places to g to get good deals on new (well, new to you) items to fulfill your decorating-on-a-budget dreams.

The first stop on the road to inexpensive decorating is your local Thrift or Goodwill store. These stores are a tremendous resource for cheap home decorating items. (They’re also a great way to widen your wardrobe without thinning your wallet, but that’s another article!) Sure, all the items are used, but it’s all new to you!

If it makes you feel better, you can bring your “new” decorating item's home in plastic bags from your favorite chain store. A couple of minutes with some soap and water or the washing machine, and your family will never know the difference if you don’t tell them!

The thrift store is the last resting place for a lot of fascinating stuff, much of it in terrific shape and often retro or antique. When your Great Aunt Sally goes on to her reward, and no one in the family wants her old china, her big overstuffed sofas, her painted plates, tablecloths, silver-plated teapots or her collectible spoons, more often than not the whole lot gets dumped in the thrift store collection bins.

The family’s loss is your gain; you can find some fabulous pieces to complement your home’s new look.

The house ware's section is a good place to start when searching the thrift stores for the perfect items for your inexpensive decorating dreams. What do your dishes look like at home? Is there now a pile of cracked and chipped dishes where there was once a matching set?

Well, now you can look around for something to replace them! New plates and glasses- well, new to you, anyway- can really perk up a tired kitchen. Plates and glasses at the thrift store are usually available for literal pocket change, and it’s often very nice stuff.

Consider mixing and matching several styles of china and glassware to make a dramatic statement in your kitchen- there’s usually a dozen different styles available, or even more in the bigger stores. The mix-and-match style goes great with today’s “Shabby Chic” ethic, and it’s hard to get bored with your dishes when there’s several different patterns to choose from. Kids like it too! They appreciate having a favorite plate or glass to call their own.

The furniture section is a good place to find perfectly good pieces to fuel your cheap decorating ideas. Thrift stores and Goodwill usually throw out donated furniture that is too broken or too disgusting for sale (I’m sure the people who work there have many tales to tell!) so the furniture on display, even though some of it is likely quite worn or old, will at least be sturdy enough to last you a while. And it’s cheap!

Look for something that inspires you- all your rooms, especially your living room, will benefit from a new piece of furniture or two. Could your bedroom use a new bedside table?

Would your child benefit from his or her own little desk in their own little room? How about the bathroom- a plant stand will brighten it right up! And don’t rule out a piece of furniture just because the finish is scratched, or it’s painted in a color you hate.

Most furniture can be sanded and refinished or repainted without much expense (although how to refinish furniture at home is another article as well!)

Somewhere in your local thrift store or Goodwill will be a section with paintings and prints. Dig in! Set aside the paintings of Elvis on black velvet or sad clowns- unless that’s your thing, in which case, hey, enjoy!

Just expect a few weird looks at dinner parties. Look for a print that will complement your home’s prospective new look. People tend to dump their old prints and paintings when they change the look of their home, and framed prints that you’d pay mucho dinero for in a chain store or (heaven forbid) a boutique can often be found in the thrift store for a tiny fraction of their original price.

There’s usually even a few pieces of original art, done by amateur artists or art students, discarded when they move back home after the semester ends or when their spouse gets tired of looking at their “masterpiece.”

You’ll probably find watercolors more often than the other types of paintings, and that’s good because watercolors are hard to screw up- even a watercolor by a talentless hack sometimes still looks pretty enough to hang up on the wall.

There might even be a real treasure tucked in there somewhere- a poster or print by an artist you love! You never know until you try- dive in and have a look.

Near the prints and paintings should be the generic decorating section, populated by candleholders, wall hangings, statues, ceramics, ornaments, and all the other types of Cheap Decorating Ideas and decorating accessories that chain stores charge you an arm and a leg for.

Of course, since it’s all been donated, it won’t all suit your needs, and not all of it will be exactly what you want for your cheap decorating ideas. Some of it will be great, and some of it will just plain horrify you. (This is why it’s always a great idea to bring a friend on these expeditions- that way you have someone to giggle with when you find those incredibly ugly items that defy rational explanation.)

There are usually lamps in this section, too, and a new or different lamp can really change the way a room looks and feels. Lamps are a very easy home fix.

Check the sheets and towels section next- they often lump all cloth products that aren’t clothes in the same place, and quite sometimes you’ll be able to find tablecloths, fabric place mats, table runners, bedspreads, and throw pillows, some of them usually of very good quality. All of them for incredibly cheap prices.

Don’t be squeamish; a run or two in the washing machine with your favorite detergent (and maybe a helping of baking soda or white vinegar- not both at once, though, unless you want to re-enact your fifth grade science project in your washer!) will clean them right up as good as new.

Remember, we’re aiming for “done well” and “cheap, “ not “fast”- while you might have a lucky day where the thrift store is a one-stop shop, chances are you won’t find everything you want on the first go.

Plan to be checking your local thrift and Goodwill stores weekly to keep an eye out for bargains, and don’t be discouraged if you don’t find what you’re looking for right away. It’s just like any other type of hunting; you have to be patient and thorough to capture your quarry! Just keep at it! These places tend to go through high turnover as far as what they’ve got for sale, and you never know when you’re going to hit the cheap decorating idea jackpot!

For more cheap decorating ideas, look to your local Craigslist. Craigslist is also an excellent resource for free and cheap-as-free items to help you give your home a makeover. There’s a Craigslist for nearly every major city, so unless you live in the wilds of Antarctica, there’s definitely a Craigslist near you. (And if you do live in the wilds of Antarctica, why are you worried about Cheap Decorating Ideas in the first place?

Just work on staying warm!) Now, you have to be careful when dealing with Craigslist- scam artists are a dime a dozen, after all, anywhere on the Internet you have to be careful with your personal information.

But, keeping that in mind, the “Free” and “Furniture” sections of your local Craigslist can be a valuable resource for cheap decorating ideas. When people move, they often get rid of things very cheaply to avoid having to pack them and drive them to their new home, and that means great deals on furniture for you.

It’s a great way to get good furniture and cheap electronics for a price, most often a little more than the thrift stores, but far less than furniture stores. Just remember the old saying, “Let the buyer beware, “ and be careful when choosing to buy through this medium.

Be sure to look the furniture over in person before handing over any money, and trust your gut instinct- if something seems wrong, look for cheap decorating ideas elsewhere. If the deal is too good to be true, it probably is.

Discount and outlet stores are yet another great place to realize your cheap home makeover dreams. They come in many shapes and sizes, but chances are, if you live in or near a medium-sized city, there’s one or more of these stores near you. They always have a wealth of items to fuel your cheap decorating ideas.

When you visit, skip the clothes (they’re at a discount from designer prices, but they’re still too expensive even with the discount!) and head for the back where the decorating items are. There is usually a good selection of wall art, vases, candle holders, and sculptures available inexpensively, as well as new bedspreads and pillow shams.

They normally have decorative pillows on sale for far less money than chain stores. Candles, too- as anyone who’s been to a mall candle shop knows, scented candles are big business these days, and although those candles smell good, they certainly don’t smell good enough to pay mall prices!

Luckily, outlet and discount stores often buy leftover scented candles in bulk and sell them far below those criminal mall prices.

Rugs are another discount and overstock store specialty; as you probably know, rugs from chain stores are ridiculously expensive, but the discount stores by remaindered styles at a steep price cut and pass the savings on to you.

A nice rug can really tie a room together, and is a great way to change your home’s look. All the items you’ll find at these types of stores will be more expensive than the thrift stores, but you can often find one or two excellent pieces at much less than normal retail prices, and that still qualifies as a win as far as cheap decorating ideas go.

Yard sales are a great place to find items to use for your cheap decorating ideas. They’re not as good as they used to be- since Ebay was invented, it seems like everyone wants to make a lot of money on their unwanted items, instead of just wanting to get rid of them- but again, a patient search of yard sales will often turn up treasure.

Just about anything goes for sale at a yard sale, and even these days you might stumble upon something wonderful for a handful of change. It never hurts to keep a bag of change in your glove compartment during the summer months, so you can pounce on that perfect porcelain horse or brass lamp you saw at a yard sale on your way home.

Church rummage sales are great for this kind of search, too, and the money is going to a good cause. Make sure you keep yard sales and rummage sales in mind when you’re thinking up those cheap decorating ideas.

This next section of our cheap decorating ideas requires that you keep an open mind- it’s the time-honored student tradition of driving up and down your neighborhood streets the night before garbage pick-up. It sounds a little grubby at first, but if you’re choosy and careful you can find some amazing treasures.

Now, it’s not a good idea to dig through garbage bags, for obvious reasons, but it’s amazing what people will just leave for free by the side of the road, without bags and for the world to see and take home. Especially in college towns- when college kids move out at the end of their semester and realize that they have to fit everything in one car for that long drive home, there’s no limit to what they’ll pitch to the curb.

Furniture and framed posters, house wares and art projects, it’s all fair game once the kids head home. This is another of those ideas that may take time before you see results, but if you have a lucky trip, you might find a real treasure among the trash. You might want to check on your local ordinances before you do any serious dumpster diving, though- as silly as it sounds, some cities have laws against taking people’s trash. And finally, there’s always the, do-it-yourself method. If you have access to a sewing machine, and the ability to sew in a straight line, you can make your own curtains, tablecloths, table runners, tapestries and even bedspreads, slipcovers, and towels. Sewing is an excellent skill to have when you want to save money, and you’re never too old to learn something new!

If you’ve got the skills, wait for a sale at your local fabric store, find a cheap or free pattern online for the house accent you desire, and go to town! With a little patience and persistence, you’ll have brand new accents for your house at a fraction of the prices of retail stores, and in colors or patterns you chose yourself especially to suit your new decor!

Now we’ll take a look at your house, and talk about ways that you can use these resources to realize your decorating dreams in each room. Many of these cheap decorating ideas can be used in every room of your home. Be creative!

The kitchen is a good place to start your inexpensive decorating scheme. If you’ve taken on the ideas from other portions of this site, you’re spending a fair amount of time in the kitchen anyway, cooking more of your meals from the ground up and saving money that way. Why not make the room you spend so much time in anyway a place you enjoy being in and looking at?

Look around your kitchen for ideas on the best place to start. Do you have shelves in your kitchen? Consider starting a collection to fill them and look for corresponding items at yard sales, thrift stores, sales, and discount outlets. Pick a theme and go with it- old teapots, for example, or country decor with chickens, or sunflowers.

The possibilities are endless! Do you have a little free wall space? Try hanging one of the paintings you found at the thrift store, or a selection of decorated plates. Plate hangers are cheap, and if they’re not cheap enough for you, make your own out of old metal coat hangers and a pair of pliers. Pick some flowers by the roadside on your way home from work, and arrange them in that vase you got from the outlet store!

Do you have a tablecloth on your table? And if not, why not? A tablecloth, in a bright color or pattern, can completely change the look of your kitchen. Pick one or two colors you like best from one of the items in your collection, and use those colors as a theme for your tablecloth, place mats, rugs, and curtains!

Now is a good time to hang up those curtains you made- who cares if that one seam is a little crooked! Believe us, no one will notice; they’ll be too busy oohing and aahing over your gorgeous new decor. Go ahead, pretend you spent a fortune- we won’t tell anyone! The living room is also a prime candidate for a frugal decorating scheme. Have you considered rearranging your furniture? That’s a very cheap decorating idea that can make a big change in your room. How about adding that awesome piece you found at the thrift store or the curbside?

A new rug from the discount store is a great cheap decorating idea that will change the way your living room looks without breaking your bank. If you haven’t found a good replacement for your couch at the thrift store yet, try covering it with an inexpensive slipcover from a discount store.

Are your old tables looking a little worse for wear these days? Throw a tablecloth over them, or a table runner, or get out your trusty spray can and spray them a bold new color. Your dining room will also look great with a new table runner, whether found at the thrift store, discount store, or made by you. (Again, making things yourself is a fabulous way to bring your own personal style in line with your cheap decorating ideas; learning to sew things yourself is a great way to save money and have your home look great, too!)

Those candle holders you found cheap at the outlet store will look terrific as a centerpiece, and that cheap “art treasure” you nabbed at Goodwill will complement your beautiful new decor. But why stop there? How about hanging some cloth that you bought on sale as swags on your dining room windows? How about putting that new rug you bought at the discount store under the dining room table? And you can arrange those great dishes you got at the thrift store on the place mats you made! Is your bedroom looking tired and drab? A new bedspread is a great way to spruce it up and make it a room you’ll love spending more time in. We found a 20% Off Bedding Sale - Croscill, Laura Ashely, Tommy Hilfiger, Waverly, Thomasville, and saved a bundle at The Home Decorating Company. They always have this sale going, or Consider looking for a plain comforter during a sale, and sewing a selection of duvet covers for it. A duvet is a lot like a big pillowcase that snaps shut, and it’s made to go over your comforter or bedspread to allow you to change your bed’s look whenever you want.

Duvet covers at a considerable discount are often available at discount stores and discount retailers online, if you don’t feel that secure in your sewing skills, and you can change the whole look of your room with just a quick change of the duvet. A new rug from an overstock store is a great bedroom option, as is a new night stand or dresser or vanity found at the thrift store.

Consider spray painting the dresser or vanity you found in a color that complements your bedroom accessories- spray paint is cheap, covers scratches and stains in the finish well, and comes in just about every color imaginable. Remember, it only takes a few small changes to make a big difference in a room. Guest bedrooms will benefit from any of the suggestions for the master bedroom- rugs, painted furniture, curtains, rugs, the whole lot. Add a cheap night stand you found on the curbside, spray painted in a complementing color, set a discount store vase on top and fill it with flowers or a spray of branches found wild in your local area, throw an overstock outlet bedspread on the bed, a framed print from the thrift store on the wall, and a few throw pillows, and your guests will think they’re being treated to a stay in a four-star hotel. Your children will be thrilled by a change-up in their room. Moving the furniture around or adding one new piece can often be enough to delight a toddler- they don’t need big expensive additions to be happy. You can print out pictures of their favorite cartoon characters and frame them in cheap frames from your local dollar store, and your children will love them.

Young children also really like canopy beds, but they’re so darned expensive hardly anybody can afford to buy one. There is a cheap option, though; you can usually find sheets at the thrift store, so buy a large flat white sheet, dye it whatever color you think they’ll love, then suspend it over their bed. If their bed is against the wall, you can thumbtack three corners of the sheet to the wall and attach the last corner to the ceiling by means of some fishing line or yarn tied to the corner of the sheet and secured to the ceiling by another thumbtack or two.

If their bed isn’t against the wall, just thumbtack what you can to the wall and suspend the rest of the corners to the ceiling with the yarn or fishing line. Sure, it’s not perfect, but young children will love it and pretend it’s their own personal tent. (If you’re worried about those tiny holes in your walls, you have no business trying to decorate a child’s room- when they grow up, kids won’t remember or care whether their walls were pristine, but they will remember whether or not they loved their room!)

A nicely painted old dresser will look great in your child’s room, whatever their age, and so will a pretty new rug from the discount store. A little girl will more than likely love an old vanity with mirror, especially if the wood is painted her favorite color.

Older children or teenagers will appreciate drapes, curtains, or swags in their favorite colors- again, if you can sew, this is cheap and quick, but if you’re not comfortable doing your own sewing, keep checking the outlet stores and thrift stores until something comes up that you know they’ll like.

A boring bathroom will come alive when fitted with a new plant, and plants aren’t very expensive if you keep your eye out for sales at your local home store. Try to buy one with a plain pot, because those are less expensive, and in addition buy a larger pot than the one the plant comes in to go with it, because you’ll need to re-pot the plant. If you have dirt in your backyard, use that instead of buying a bag of dirt.

Most store-bought plants are what’s called “root bound, “ which means they’re too big for the pot they’re in, and need to be re-potted shortly after purchase if you want to keep them healthy, happy, and blooming. When you choose a bigger pot for your plant, don’t bother with the fancy pots when plain terra-cotta pots are so cheap.

They don’t look like much in the store, but they can be painted any color you like once you get home- our old friend spray paint will help you out there. New rugs and a new fabric shower curtain can really change your bathroom’s look, too, and since both those items are generally found at thrift stores and discount stores, they’re another great cheap decorating idea. Consider a few candle holders, furthermore- when you want to relax, a hot bath in candle light will definitely do the trick.

Your outdoor areas, like decks and porches, will look great in the summer with the addition of a few flowering plants. If you live in a cold climate, bring your plants indoors in the winter and they’ll keep you happier during the cold months because they’ll remind you of Spring.

Flower boxes are a great way to spruce up your porch, and you can use just about anything for them. Have some old plastic containers that you’re not using any more? Punch some holes in the bottom for drainage, spray paint them a color you like, then plant them full of flowers and place them on your porch railings or tables.

Consider growing herbs in some of your flower boxes, too; seeds are cheap, they both look great, and they save you money since you won’t have to buy herbs at the grocery store. (And since you grew them yourself, they’ll taste that much better!) Keep an eye out for hanging baskets on sale; a hanging basket overflowing with blossoms from a flowering plant will make your porch beautiful and inviting.

A rocking chair from a thrift store or yard sale will be a welcome and comfortable addition for your guests, or, if you have a few tools and would like to try some basic carpentry, there are a lot of free designs for porch benches available on the Internet. Most of them can be built with the least expensive grade of lumber from your local home store, and will look great when painted to match your other deck accessories. Hopefully, all these cheap decorating ideas have fired your interest in making over your home into a comfortable abode that you will love, but won’t break your bank or empty your wallet. And remember the most important rule of all- have fun with it! Happy Cheap Decorating Ideas!

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