Home Makeover Ideas for Under $100
Style: Do you know what decorating style you like? What colors help you relax? What colors refresh you? Do you like straight lines or curved lines? Do you enjoy bright airy rooms or darker rooms with a lot of texture? The first thing to do is research some decorating styles. You can do this online in a search engine or by looking through magazines or even furniture stores.
Color: Every color under the sun is available in a paint can. That can be both daunting and exciting. First, consider how each color makes you feel and what you want your room to emote. Most people prefer soothing relaxing colors for the bedroom, more energizing colors in the kitchen, and relaxing comforting colors in living areas. Color can also aide you in your light requirements. For example, in a room with only one window you can use lighter colors or yellows or blues to give the impression of daylight.
Texture: Texture is also another aide in your light requirements for your room. If you want a light feeling room you should pull in some glossy, shiny surfaces such as mirrors, chrome, glass, shiny wood floors, etc. If you are going for something warmer feeling, something to promote comfort you might plush carpeting, chenille throw pillows, and woven fabrics.
Now that you have some things to consider you’re wondering how to pull everything together with that somewhat “measly” $100. The first thing you should do after deciding what look you want is to decorate around what you have. There are many things that can be done, replaced, or removed. Walk around your house or apartment and see what will work in your new room. Chances are you can pull a few things from a couple other rooms and all the rooms will benefit. If you have to go shopping start at garage sales, charity stores and flea markets. (Yes, really!) Those are good places to find great deals on accessories like picture frames, candlesticks, and even old furniture that can be painted or stained. Don’t look at the way the furniture looks, look at the lines it has and of course, whether or not it’s in fairly good shape.
My last advice is for your paint choices. Choose a couple colors around the same shade as the one you think you want. Hopefully you can get decent size paint cards. Hang those in the room you want to paint. Leave them there for a couple days and watch them in the light of the room at different times of the day. Make sure you love it all the time. See if it seems to enhance the natural elements of your room (flooring that has to stay, any woodwork, etc). I once just picked a shade of yellow for my kitchen and went home and painted. I loved it until nighttime. In the dark under my lighting it turned a minty-lime green and was just NOT the mood I was going for. I went and got paint cards the next day!
Another thought with paint are faux finishes and paint treatments. You don’t just have to paint the room and let it go at that. There are multitudes of faux finishes and also a great array of things you can do with paint (painting stripes, horizontal lines, panels, etc) that will also have a great impact on your room. Again, being paint, you can accomplish this with little expense. The library has decorating books with wonderful pictures and step-by-step instructions for paint finishes.
It can be done! I’ve done it personally numerous times. As a mother of seven I don’t have a designer come do my house. I had to learn to do it myself. After years of living in rentals with either white or beige walls I was craving color. I wanted my home to reflect me and my taste and make me happy to be there. I am almost there! Remember the internet has a vast amount of resources at your fingertips. Use it! You can do it!
