How to Decorate Your Home on a Budget?

Is your front room stuck in the '80s? Does your house beg for a make-over? Here are some tips on how to save money and still get the look that you've always wanted.

Steps

1. Choose a style that you like (contemporary/modern, country, french country, victorian etc.).
2. Decide on a wall color to fit the whole look of the room. For victorian, a rosy pink, or an off-white, country can be anywhere from blue and yellow, to pink and white.
3. Select furniture. If your furniture already matches your style, then consider yourself lucky. If your furniture looks unpleasant, purchase some slip covers, they come in all different styles and patterns.
4. Buy cheap rugs and draperies. You can save a lot of money by purchasing solid color rugs and draperies that are in your colors, and places like Wal-Mart carry them.
5. Find artwork. It isn't as expensive as you may think. You can buy from a retail or craft store, or photocopy images from a book, and frame them.
6. Alter the things you already have. A black lamp may not go with a nautical theme, so what do you do? Paint it, using spray paint or textured paints, found in arts and crafts stores. Clocks, coat racks, vases(using glass paint) shelves, bookends, even baskets and furniture can be transformed by paint.

Tips

• Toss some pillows and a blanket on your couch, to give your guests a comfortable feeling when they walk through your door.
• Want to paint a design, but don't have the painting genie? Use stencils and stamps instead.
• Choose lighting in harmony with the mood. Bright for modern and dim for classic.
• Use a higher number of weak light sources instead of a lesser number of strong light sources.