Jessica Ackerman asked:

If only decorating your home comes without a cost, you would probably have a new theme and design for your home many times every year. But just like most people, you shy away from home decorating and home improvement activities because you do not want to spend a lot of money on this.

The truth is decorating your home does not need to hurt your pockets. In fact, there are many practical home decorating suggestions and ideas that can be worked out even with a small budget. Here is a list of six fantastic tips that will help you achieve just that.

Tip 1: Form a plan

Planning is a crucial step in home decoration so that you will be able to accomplish it effectively and successfully. More importantly, this ensures that you do not end up wasting money or spending more than what you can afford.

Before you start writing down your plans, visualize how you want your home to look. Decide on the theme and color style you want to adapt and from here, start planning the things that you will need for your home decoration project.

List the things you need and determine which ones you can make yourself or create from the things that you already have, and the ones that you really need to buy. Formulate a realistic budget allocation for your expenditures to avoid overspending.

Tip 2: Adapt a theme

Having a theme for your home does not only make the decorating project easier but if you choose a practical theme, you will be able to save a lot of money at the same time. For example, a tropical interior design theme can save you money because you can get some tropical decorative accessories for free if you go to the beach. This include seashells, corals, starfish, leaves, and driftwood. You can even use what you have collected to make tropical wall hangings.

Tip 3: Invest wisely

Just because you are on a budget does not mean that you have to get every cheap thing you can get your hands on. Sometimes spending more will save you in the long run. For example, if you want to repaint the walls in your home, it would make sense to buy a high quality paint that would last a long time rather than to go for cheap paints that are also cheap in quality.

Tip 4: Watch out for discount sales

Discount sales provide a good opportunity to get hold of home accessories at a low price so keep your eyes peeled for these events. You can also try checking out online stores because there are many excellent deals that will enable you to find nice and good quality products without having to spend much.

Tip 5: Shop around

If you want to find great deals on products you can use for your home decoration, you should not stop at the first shop that you see. Shop around widely so you will be able to compare products and prices, and find the best deals at the most affordable prices.

Tip 6: DIY projects

You do not always have to buy everything. Some of the things you need you can make yourself. For example, create your own tropical wall hangings or wall sculpture art by framing a nice coastal photograph scene or by doing your own metal or clay sculpture.

If you have the patience, talent and imagination, you can make excellent decorating choices that will not only improve the overall style of your home but also be practical and realistic for the budget of your family.

Candi Randolph asked:


oes the term ‘Simple Home Decorating’ bring to mind? For many, it can mean a quick, easy and inexpensive decorating style. An uncluttered, understated and natural style can also define simple home decorating. In fact, all of these attributes can be incorporated into a simple home decor that will appeal to just about anyone, particularly those who are decorating on a budget but still want to create an appealing look for their home.

One very important starting point that is crucial in any home decor project is to de-clutter the area you are going to decorate, or in many situations, redecorate. Remove everything that you can physically carry out of the room, to give yourself a fresh start and the ability to really see what you are working with. This includes any accessories on shelves, throw rugs and wall decor – everything must go, at least for now. The only furnishings in the room should be large upholstery and casegoods that are too heavy to remove.

With the thought that simple home decorating evokes light, natural and easy to look upon, consider the floor and walls in this area. Do you need a fresh coat of neutral colored paint on the walls and ‘Ceiling White’ on the ceiling? How about the floor? If your budget can handle it, consider light carpeting, wood floors (natural or faux), or tile, all in lighter, natural finishes. If your budget will not allow for that expense, make sure the floors are sparkling clean. If your decorating style includes a more colorful approach for the walls, then use just one color and opt for a shade that is not overly bright.

Your next step is to carefully consider the upholstery in this room. Is the fabric dated, dark, stained, or generally not pleasant to view? A quick, easy and inexpensive solution is to discover the world of slipcovers. There are so many more choices, styles and fabrics now than there were five or ten years ago. You can find slipcovers for sofas, easy chairs, dining chairs, etc. They are made to fit particular styles of upholstery and look great. This is a wonderful way to create a different look in a room without spending a lot of money. If you choose this option, look for fabrics that fit your lifestyle as the first priority,then seek out lighter colors and patterns. These choices, along with the lighter colored walls, will keep your room looking fresh, open and uncluttered.

Now that you have addressed the ceiling, walls, floor and larger pieces in the room, it’s time to think about the smaller items and accessories. Bear in mind the goal is to look for natural, uncluttered, simple and inexpensive. First, do an inventory of all of the ’stuff’ you have in your closets, kitchen cabinets and other storage areas. You are looking for something that you have never used in this room before, or perhaps never considered using as an accent or accessory. For example, you may have a lovely and unique piece that has been tucked away in a china cabinet for years. Or, you may come across a throw rug that was put away long ago and fogotten, and it may be perfect for this home decor project. If you come across a piece that is hand painted, hand woven or made from natural material, even better.

Bring each piece you have identified into your project room and try to find a place for it that will show the piece off to it’s best advantage, with a goal of minimal accessorizing. You want to avoid filling the walls with pictures just to take up space. Instead, try just one or two of your favorite pieces, a picture or mirror you just ‘discovered’ or an interesting combination of the two. By putting less on the walls and on display, each piece will gain more attention and dimension. For example, you may have placed an antique accent table against a wall in this room. You hung a beautiful oval picture above it, placed a hand painted pitcher on the table with an antique piece of lace as an underlayment, and as a finishing touch placed some natural type of organic such as Baby’s Breath in the pitcher (instead of the usual silk flowers). The particular style used as an example may not match your personal decorating taste, but the result would be the same; simple, understated, inexpensive and natural.

If your closets and cabinets are ‘bare’, try shopping at a discount home decor store and select one or two items that you love, to add to your decor project. Again, keep it simple and understated as you make your selections. When you add these pieces to your room, place them in a way that will emphasize their character and beauty (which is to say, if you purchased a new accent table, don’t put so much stuff on it and around it that you can’t see the table!)

Simple home decorating should be just that – simple. By incorporating these suggestions into your decorating project, you will create a room that is uncluttered and understated, and have accomplished this quickly, easily and inexpensively.

Jim Allen asked:

Setting out to decorate a new home or redecorating your current abode without a plan can be like driving around an unfamiliar city without a map—you may end up somewhere, but it’s probably not where you wanted go and you may have no idea how you got there. And you may just end up somewhere pretty ugly. Formulating a plan, however, can be a difficult task. Thumbing through home and furniture magazines often just leads to little more than an increased risk of paper cuts, and watching the countless home decorating “reality” shows, while sometimes entertaining, rarely results in an epiphanous (no, its not a word) moment. Actually, according to dictionary.com, it is a word, so take your red squiggly underline and shove it, Microsoft. Anyways…oh yeah, having a plan. This plan I speak of, doesn’t have to be a 10-page manifesto or even a loose outline, in fact, it doesn’t really have to be put in writing. I say, let your personality be your guide.

As hokey and simple as that may sound, it works. Too many people decorate their homes to please or impress others. Unless you’re a close friend or relative or Martha Stewart, this is just ridiculous (I‘ve heard she can be a little harsh). Remember, you live in your home, not them. Let your home be a reflection of yourself by choosing colors, furniture, and accessories that show your personality, as deranged and anti-social as that may be.

Many people with bright, vivacious personalities like bright, vivacious colors. Go figure. But these gregarious individuals often temper this when it comes to decorating their homes. You don’t have to make your home look like Rainbow Brite (for those not in the know, she’s a brightly colored 80’s cartoon character) threw up all over the place to inject your personality. Pick a few colors and stick to them. As with most decorating schemes, bright colors work well when set against light, muted ones, like shades of white or beige. Paint your walls these muted colors and then go crazy adorning them with brightly colored artwork and accessories. Same thing goes for furniture. Back away from the teal couch and the orange upholstered chair. Look for boring colors and then add your personality in the form of pillows and throw blankets. If these tips still don’t allow you to fully express how wild and crazy you are, experiment with your bedroom decor. You’ll offend less people that way.

On the other side of the coin we have the more straight-laced, conservative types. Bright colors give these people headaches, as do the aforementioned people who like bright colors. But what these plodding individuals lack in personality they more than make up for with grace and sophistication, and this should come through in their home decor. Whether your style preference is contemporary, traditional, or somewhere in the middle, you can create a look that personifies you and at the same time is decidedly un-boring. Furniture and lighting isn’t the difference-maker here, it’s the accessories and decorations you should focus on. Artwork and other embellishments such as plants, knick-knacks on shelves, and framed photos can breathe life into rooms with less color. And speaking of color, you can still make a statement without fuchsia walls or a red leather sofa. The trick is to mix in lights and darks to create contrasts wherever you can. Use black and charcoal against whites and light grays or experiment with the many shades of brown, from light tans to deep, dark chocolate brown.

Roger King asked:


Most home decorating design is assorted in style, with a blend of traditional and contemporary furnishings, mixing new with the old. The furnishing choices in a successful home decorating scheme are almost always a well thought-out mixture of styles. Before you begin to decorate, keep in mine that hardly ever is a room, outside of one found in a museum, decorated in one style. You should choose furniture that suits your family and arranging it in a way that works gracefully with the home decorating scheme.

When faced with a room in need of a new look, the question most often asked is which color should be use? How do I combine them? Choosing home decorating colors your selves can be a somewhat scary proposition. You have to develop the skill and confidence to create a room that is quiet but not dull, vibrant but not tasteless, it’s helpful to learn some basic home decorating color vocabulary. You should become familiar with the color ring, which is a basic version of the color wheel usually used by fine artists, and to understand the principles of combining colors.

A successful mixture of home decorating patterns, colors, and textures will result in a balanced and beautiful room; the kind of room that makes you feels comfortable the moment you enter it. You must first look at the home decorating pattern and texture that are imbedded in the architecture of the room; the pattern in the grain of a wood floor, for example, or the texture of plaster walls, and the sheen of a marble countertop.



It’s always best to plan ahead, before you actually begin a home decorating project, whether large or small, it’s a good idea to understand what is involved and to think about how it will be accomplished. Home decorating can start anywhere, with the given advice to spruce up a room; you can fall in love with a new color, or by adding a piece of furniture. But remember to think through the process of your home decorating project before you paint a wall or buy any furniture.

Walls are the largest surface area in any room, and the wall treatment you choose can enhance your home decorating choices in a way that no other single home decorating element will. Before you begin, think about the basic of the room; the quality of the light, the size of the room, and any architectural features you may want to highlight or downplay, and, of course, the furniture and fabrics you plan to use in the home decorating scheme.

You may or may not choose a particular home decorating style when you decorate your rooms, but you will certainly strive to create a stylish décor. When it’s time to rearrange the furniture, you must decide whether to refresh the look with new upholstery, or do you want to put together an entirely new home decorating scheme for a room.

All well-designed rooms exemplify more than one home decorating principle because the principles work hand in hand. For example, a room is balanced in part because its home decorating elements vary in scale proportionally to their setting and there is a sense of rhythm. When each home decorating element is in place and in harmony with all the other elements, you experience the room as welcoming and livable. A successful home decorating scheme for any room is one that is designed around your personal taste and style.

Abigail Franks asked:


Home Decorating and even holiday decorating are more a testament to our continuing affluence than anything. Back in

years gone by, our homes were considered places to stay and live, not as an extension of our own personalities. Back

then, homes were also built all as custom homes, that is, the age of the tract housing boom had not yet taken root. Therefore, even if the older homes were not as lavishly decorated, they still maintained a level of distinction due to the custom building of that era.

Moving into the late 20th century, WW-2 had just ended and dropped a lot of young men and women back into the country with new found abilities to afford their own homes via the GI bill. This huge demand caused the housing booms that resulted all cross the country. The good thing was that these homes were inexpensive but the negative was that the tract home was born. thousands of cookie cutter sameness soon dotted the land almost everywhere people were interested in living. This in turn drove the need for some type of distinction to make the new homes somehow different and a statement of their new owners. The age of home decorating had finally come to the working class.

A home is cozier and more comfortable than any other place. We build our homes with the utmost care and sincerity. After all, it is a place where we spend most of our lives. Home decorating means a lot to the owner. It also demands hard work and devotion, as it is not an easy task. Decorating includes both the interior as well as exterior aspects.

Initially, home decorating started off simply as changing the paint or wallpaper but has led to a boom in furnishings, artwork, collectibles and even flooring materials. Just the range of available flooring options is incredible. You can choose from marble, granite tiles, bricks, slates, concrete, or steel. To add more color, suitable carpets can be spread. Rugs can be used to complement them. So before, basic flooring was acceptable, in our quest for making our home truly ours, we have needed to remodel, rebuild, rework and otherwise redesign almost everything in our homes.

Walls, pillars, and other standouts can be decorated using artifacts, paintings or wall hangings. Modern art is becoming a common choice. And it’s not just the living room, but every part of the home now gets the star treatment. This includes, new rooms for babies, teens, young adults, toddlers and children.

In the end, what we really want is to open the door after a hard days work and say….Home at Last!