Sure, it’s pretty easy to decorate your home when you have millions of dollars and amazing real estate. But, what about people that have a real salary and real bills? Should we be deprived of some decent house decoration? Of course not! However, these things need to be done on a budget.
When I was younger, I hated the word ‘budget’. It never signified anything good, and, to a young me, it was synonymous with ‘poor’. It didn’t include the funds for that new online casino I wanted to try out. Now, I am older, and I know better. When decorating my home I set aside a reasonable budget and this is how.
What Do You Want?
I am not talking about a skylight in the apartment on the first floor of a twenty-story building. I am talking about the impression, the ambiance, and the feeling the rooms in your house or apartment are going to invoke in your visitors. Do you want your home to seem wild, elegant, or warm and cozy?
It is important to make a list of your wishes. That way, you have something to strive for. Make sure you have the absolute necessities at the top of the list so that you can cut away anything that doesn’t make it into the budget.
What Do You Have?
This is, actually, the second biggest factor in home decorating, the first being the sense to decorate. A family with a single income should not splurge on decoration, generally speaking. That being said, if that income is more than enough, by all means, go for it.
However, this is not only the issue of money. It also means whether you can get your hands on materials and pieces of furniture in your neighborhood. Perhaps you can get some of them from online stores (Etsy comes to mind). For your perfect home decoration, you need to understand what means you have to achieve your dream.
Making a Budget
Like with any expense in the house, you need to see whether you can afford it and to what degree. Write down how much your household earns and how much it loses every month. Include bills, groceries, clothes, and everything else your family spends its money on. With this, you can start figuring out how much money you can afford to spend on your project each month.
You can do it by saving money over a period of time and then using it to decorate your home. Alternatively, you can decorate your home gradually, over a period of several months. It is all about what makes you feel good.
Final Thoughts
There is no point in making a budget if you’re going to spend it all on a single sofa that doesn’t go with anything in your house. When purchasing items, make sure that you are able to afford them and that they follow a common theme, or at least colors. It goes without saying that providing for your family in terms of food, clothing, and healthcare is more important than an elegant dining room.
Shopping on a budget isn’t cheap, it’s cost-effective. Having a lot of money isn’t the same as having good taste. With a good decorating sense, you can do a lot with just a little. At the risk of sounding corny, I will use a worn-out phrase: less is more.
