Does one of your rooms need a facelift? The first thing to do is select the room you will tackle. Here are our top tips on revamping a room on a budget.
1. Declutter – less is definitely more in a room. An easy (and cheap) way to create a new look to your room is to have less stuff in it! It really can give your room a fresh lease of life and seem different. It can be hard to gear up for a declutter but think of the end game. Reward yourself with the prospect of going to buy a few new bits & pieces once the job is done. Be harsh – you don’t need all the items you have accumulated over time and there is no doubt that some of them need a new home.
Once you have decided on the items to get rid of, you need to dispose of them. Check with charities in your area to see what items they will take. What charities take varies from shop to shop and also depends on the time of year. For example, some charities won’t take toys after Christmas. Larger items (eg old couches, wardrobes) can be more difficult to get rid of and many charities won’t take beds at all. The best thing to do is to phone or email to establish what options you have. You may be able to sell some items on websites like donedeal.ie Alternatively, there are other websites which you can put items up on and although you don’t make any money out of them, people will come and collect items. This means you don’t have to pay for transport or dumping charges to dispose of things (eg check out freetradeireland.ie).
2. Wash walls and doors. If you don’t have the time, money or energy to repaint, get out the rubber gloves and cleaning products to freshen up a room! Look at your walls and doors and identify where there are marks. You may only need to tackle sections of walls or doors to get them looking new again! A lot of marks will come off with a bit of rubbing – but careful not to scrub too much as the paint may come away.
3. Display a few ornaments at a time. Select a few ornaments and display them in the room where it is easy to see them and without lots of other ornaments beside them. The key thing here is to decide to display only a few ornaments at a time and put other ornaments away. Then in a few months time, rotate them by putting the ones on display away and taking out the ones in the press. Maybe over time you can get rid of the ones that haven’t seen the light of day in an age!
4. Hit the shops…there are lots of soft furnishings that you can buy on a budget to brighten up or lift a room. If you have a drab looking couch or chair in a bedroom which needs a lift this is easily achieved with bright and colourful throws or cushions. There are lots of shops that sell great value soft furnishings including Pennys, Ikea, Home Store & More, TK Maxx….
Shopping List – here are a few items you could put on your shopping list:
• Cushions – bright coloured velvet cushions work really well to add a splash of colour and luxury to a room. These come in all different shapes and sizes.
• Throws – again watch out bright coloured throws. These also come in a variety of materials. Some soft fleece ones can look very luxurious. Have a look online for ideas on how you can place them on couches, chairs or beds.
• Mirrors – place these close to windows to throw light around a room. This can make a massive difference to a room and can even look like a picture in itself if it catches trees/plants in your garden. Top tip here is to buy a big one!
• Lighting – large statement lamps are right on trend now. Shop around and you can find ones that don’t cost the earth. Buying lamps in pairs and placing them on either side of a bed or on small tables at either end of a sofa, can really add a touch of class to your room. Another option is to look out for imitation chandeliers as these can give out a lot of light in a room.
• Candles & Reed Diffusers – think about how your room will smell and buy some nice candles or reed diffusers. A great smelling room can also alter how a room feels, particularly as you enter it! Although good quality reed diffusers can be expensive, there are lots of budget candles on offer which can smell really good.
• Prints/pictures – these can be bought cheaply enough now. Consider buying a couple of similar ones and think about grouping them closely together on a wall to create a theme.
• Plants – adding nature to a room is always a win.
• Fake flowers – some of these look really good now with the added bonus that you don’t have to water them or look after them! Buy an odd number of flowers as this looks better in a vase. Some shops sell fake orchids too which look very real. In fact they are so real looking now that we have even heard of people watering fake ones!
Have fun! (If you are viewing this page on your mobile, swipe right on the images below for inspirational pictures).