Living Room Style on a Budget
If you would love a designer living room but you don’t have a designer budget to match then you need to be careful about what you buy. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your budget.
1. Use Budget Store Sofas
With the budget ranges sold in large furniture stores you can now buy sofas with good design at a reasonable price but you do have to be careful about what you purchase. The best furniture buys from these stores are generally plain neutral styles which do not give the game away about where you purchased your furniture. In any case, colored and patterned fabrics at low prices are likely to lack the depth and intensity of color that you will find in high end ranges. Colored furniture will look low budget as well as costing little.
2. Dress Up Your Budget Store Buys
Add more unusual and luxurious throws and cushions to your budget store purchases to add style without breaking the bank on the furniture itself.
3. Use Plenty of Fabric in Window Treatments
With curtains and valances do not skimp on fabric. It is better to have plenty of a cheaper fabric than look like you have not been able to afford a full curtain. With fuller fabric the curtains will hang much better. You can always decorate cheaper fabric with beading or braid to add the designer touch to plain window valances and curtains.
4. Stain Wooden furniture
Give new cheap wooden furniture a uniform look by staining it with the same shade of wood color. This also helps to tone down cheap pine which is often too orange in color.
5. Coordinate Colors
If you are stuck with a motely collection of old furniture, paint it in one shade to give it a uniform look. If you have a group of disparate sofas and chairs cover them in the same fabric or use coordinating cushions.
6. Buy Less
Sometimes it is better to make do with less furniture rather than to fill your living room with cheap buys. Buy one or two essential pieces and pay a bit more rather than fill your room with furniture you do not really like. You can always add more pieces when you get more funds.