Update Your Living Room for Under $100

Updating your living room does not mean you have to give up a limb. Most people believe that the only way to make your room more up-to-date is to completely renovate, or hire some one to come in and do an extreme makeover. Well we recently bought a house, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, for only $50,000. While this may sound like the money pit from hell, in Elmira NY this is the going rate. Although our new house is not on the verge of being condemned, it is in desperate need of updating. When we moved in we were welcomed by pea green carpet, and wallpaper that looked like it was straight off of the set of “The Exorcist”, but we knew this house had a lot of potential. Here we are two weeks later minus the carpet and the wallpaper, and a living room as bare as a newborn baby. With just 3 weeks until my mother-in-law, flies in we needed to make a change, a cheap and very quick change. Armed with only $100 and a general idea of what I would like to see happen, I made my way into town and began my quest for an updated living room.

First we began by going to different paint suppliers, you’ll find that each supplier has different colors to chose from, and not all of them will have the same colors, so go to more than one place, find a few colors that you like, take the samples home and judge them under the lighting in your own house. If you don’t mind spending an extra $4, you can even buy actual paint samples that you can paint in spots on your walls to get a good idea of what you truly want. When you find that perfect color go to Wal-Mart, they use Sherwin Williams paint, and their gallons start at only $10 for flat latex. I took my color sample I got from Lowes, Leaf Bud Green, to Wal-Mart, and they matched it to a T. You should plan on 2 gallons of paint; you want to make sure you get good coverage on the walls. Also plan on paint for the trim, you’ll want to choose a color that is going to bring out the color on the walls, not make your room look to busy. The color of paint I chose is more of a springy green, with bright white trim, and nothing we had matched that color, do not go out and buy new furniture just for the new paint, incorporate. The key to doing things cheap is to incorporate, so you’re not forced to buy new everything.

Go back to Wal-Mart; they have beautiful fabrics on their discount rack for only $1-$2 a yard. Find a fabric that has accents of your new wall colors, but would also match the look you’re going for. I bought 5 yards at $2 a yard of white fabric with darker green accents, and two bags of stuffing, for about $25 dollars, and made gorgeous throw pillows that really brought out the color on the walls. If you don’t own a sewing machine, ask a friend to help you with this, squares are the easiest to learn on a sewing machine. I made 10 pillows for about a quarter of the price that you’d find them in a store. So far, we’ve only spent $55, we have new walls, trim, and some pretty pillows, and $45 left to spend. Find a good discount store that carries throw rugs, buy a nice throw rug something that would match the color scheme in your room, you can find these rugs for $10-$20 if you go to the right place.

Next, travel around town to your local thrift stores and consignment shops; they are great for finding curtains and shades. We found beautiful roman shades for our front windows at the local junior league for only $10 for the set, if you’re not afraid of good second hand stuff, you can really find beautiful curtains and shades for your room for next to nothing. Plan on spending about $10, but keep an eye out and ask about specials, in the area that I live in the Salvation Army has half price day on Wednesdays, and the junior league has half price on different colored tags each week. This is one of the best ways to find great little things to help you add life to your room. Now we have $15 left, and some lamps and knick-knacks would really finish pulling this new room together. Yard Sales; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the best days for yard sales, rummage sales, tag sales, etc., get up bright and early and beat the streets with your last $15, but make sure to take someone that has good negotiation skills with you, because even though the prices are cheap, there’s nothing saying you can’t get it cheaper. You can get table lamps, remember to accent your new colors, for about $2 apiece, and knick-knacks for as little as a quarter. Bring your new stuff home, and re-arrange your living room to maximize the space you’re working with. Remove things that add clutter, the open space is much more appealing. Put your new pillows on your couch, set up your lamps and knick-knacks, and put down your new rug. Bada bing, bada boom, you’ve got a new living room. Sit back, relax, and enjoy, I sure did.