Whether you’re feeling particularly inspired or just think that the look of your home doesn’t quite match your taste anymore, here are 5 home decor tips to update your home, without breaking the bank. You can thank us later!
Read more: 11 home decorating tips you need to try
1. Raise your curtains to the ceiling
You won’t believe the difference it will make to your room. Not only is it a great way to create drama, but it actually makes your windows look much bigger. Plus, it’s a great way to show off your curtains. So go bold and bright!
2. Plump up your scatter cushions
Especially the ones on your couches. After a while, your cushions tend to lose their fullness after being sat on and leaned against, and they start to look a little drab.
Read more: 7 living room decor mistakes – and how to fix them
Avoid those little “dog ears” on your cushions by buying a decent inner, and get a size bigger than the cover. If your scatter cushion is 50cm by 50cm, try getting a 55cm by 55cm inner – you won’t believe the difference it will make!
3. Update your shelving
Wallpaper and paint aren’t only for your walls; they can give new life to your shelves, cabinets and even your book cases. Whether you paint the entire unit or wallpaper just the back, the options are endless and the result is often priceless. It will look like you’ve got a brand new piece of furniture, but at a fraction of the cost.
Read more: Inspired upcycled shelving ideas for your home
4. Invest in some wicker baskets for storage
They’re super economical, look fab around rooms and are very useful. Best of all they hide clutter! They can store anything from magazines to blankets to toys, and come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours. We suggest getting a variety for added effect – storage never looked so chic.
5. Any item can be used as décor
Have a beautiful pot, an old-school kitchen scale or your great grandmother’s suitcases? Don’t put them in a cupboard to be forgotten about, place them out where they can be seen and appreciated, and let the compliments roll in.
Read more: Interior decorating myths you can officially ignore
6. Bring in some sunny yellow
Bring an old wooden chair back to life with a fresh coat of paint. Pick a bright shade like a cheery yellow and paint the chair, leaving the legs unfinished for a contrasting effect – or, even easier, try the inverse and dip-paint just a section of the legs.
7. Rely on a colour refresh
Revive your living room with a fresh new colour palette. Make your sofa the focal point by painting a statement wall behind it in two different shades. Swop old scatter cushions and throws for a new line-up in pretty co-ordinating colours.
8. ‘Shop’ around your home
Instead of going on a shopping spree, walk through your home and borrow items from other rooms or dig out forgotten treasures hiding at the back of your cupboards. Mixing things up and changing them around is a great way of giving old items a new spin.
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9. Get crafty with shelving
Give bookcases and shelving a modern makeover by lining the back panels with off-cuts of patterned wallpaper or sheets of gift wrap. Keep to one pattern, or for a more eclectic look, apply a patchwork of different papers with prints in the same colour family.
10. Make use of space savers
No space for a bedside table? Use wasted space above a bed by fitting in a slim wall-to-wall shelf above it to create a surface to display photos or books. Swop table lamps for hanging pendants suspended low on either side of the bed to free up table tops. Genius!
11. Place a mirror for magic
Brighten up a dark room simply with a mirror. Hang it on the wall opposite a window to reflect the daylight. Placing a mirror behind a bedside lamp or pendant light can maximise the light’s reach.
12. Get crafty with a bedroom revamp
Create the appearance of an expensive bed for less. Update your headboard with a new fabric cover, or make your own with a sheet of plywood sized to the width of the bed and the desired height. Pad the board with upholstery foam or wadding on one side and cover with fabric, stapled at the back.
https://www.essentials.co.za/diy/diy-headboard-make-deep-buttoned-headboard
13. Make a splash in the bathroom
Bored with your bathroom? Perk it up in minutes with a new shower curtain. Easy to install and affordable, it creates an instant, eye-catching effect, whether you choose something fun and quirky or prefer to keep with your bathroom’s existing decor.
14. Get DIY organised
Pretty up your desk with a DIY organiser – you don’t need to buy anything new, all it takes is a cardboard box, wrapping paper and jam jars. Cover the box with paper, then colour the insides of the jars using oil-based paint. Fill with stationery once dry.
15. Pick of the bunch
Having fresh flowers in your home is known to boost one’s happiness levels. Be a savvy shopper and split up bunches of supermarket flowers so you have blooms in every room. Place taller blooms in vases and shorter ones in jars.
16. A bright idea for lamps
Make over a bedside lamp with a colourful pom-pom trim. Buy a length of trim and stick it onto the bottom of your shade using a glue gun. You’ll only need around half a metre for a small shade.
17. Add a fresh fragrance
Try this trick used by estate agents to make a home more inviting: layer fragrances like you would perfume, using scented candles, diffusers and fabric mists. Choose uplifting florals, invigorating citrus or refreshing mint.
18. Hanging kitchen storage
Cluttered kitchen counters? Utilise wasted space at the end of a run of wall units to gain extra hanging space by fixing a row of hooks to hang tea towels. An old length of pipe attached to the wall also makes great storage for saucepans and utensils – support each end with sturdy brackets and use S-hooks to hang the items.
19. Luxe layers of bedding
Take inspiration from a swish hotel to style a gorgeous bedroom for better sleep and energised mornings. Your starting point? The bed. Inject the room with that five-star hotel feeling by adding layers in different textures, such as mixing crisp cotton bed-linen with sumptuous fabrics like a velvet throw and silk cushions to create warmth and interest.
