Giving your home a makeover doesn’t have to break the bank. A refresh or a few tweaks in the interior of your home should not be a daunting task. With a bit of creativity and a few simple tweaks, you’ll be able to give your interior a fresh new look in no time, and on a tight budget. Here with experts at St. Modwen Homes we’ve pieced together our favourite DIY tips – either things you can do for free or very affordably – to get you started.
1. Upcycle your furniture
If some of your current furniture looks a little past its peak, don’t let it sit there being an eyesore, but also don’t throw it out. Getting creative and painting your old furniture is an easy way to upcycle it and give it new lease of life. Tip: the best paint for furniture is acrylic or water-based paints, they’re easy to apply and dry quickly .
Alternatively, you can upcycle second-hand furniture which can be purchased both online and in second-hand shops on the high street. This is a great way to keep the cost down and allows you to add a whole new perspective to your home.
2. Get clever with scents
When it comes to thinking about interior design, it’s common to only focus on the impact a room will have on two of the senses: sight and touch. Smell is often overlooked, but scents can have a subtle yet wonderful impact on the feel of a space. Rotating a variety of candles and diffusers around your space, or even switching up your scents up depending on the season, will change the feeling of the rooms to keep them fresh all year round.
3. Reconnect with nature
Plants breathe life into every room, both in terms of design and air quality. Tactically placed, they can complement the colour scheme of a room, or add bright bursts to neutral rooms.
Don’t worry if you’re concerned about your ability to keep plants alive, as there are some types which need minimal love and attention. Take the spider plant for instance – they’re very easy to take care of and require very little watering.
If this still concerns you, you can get affordable yet beautiful artificial plants, or you can opt for flowers. Flowers bought from your local florist, or even picked from your garden, add a burst of colour to any room.
4. Get creative
It’s time to release your inner Picasso. Art displayed on walls or propped up on shelves can have a significant impact on the look of a room. And, if you’re doing it yourself, it’s a cheap addition to any room. Even if you don’t feel like art is your speciality, simpler designs can be just as effective. Why not give it a go you might surprise yourself!
Saying that, if you don’t have an artistic bone in you, and you feel like you can’t pass your paintings off for interior design, why not try something different? For instance, maybe you have more of an eye for photography and have recently snapped a National Geographic worthy photo on your smartphone? You could get that blown up on a canvas or in a frame for a reasonable price and hang it with pride on your wall. This is a great way to add art to your walls without picking up a paint brush.
5. Recycle
In the same way recycling positively impacts the planet, the same goes for our homes. Sometimes we opt to throw away old items that we have no use for anymore, even if they’re in good condition. But it’s time to think outside the box and instead of making items redundant, give them a new look. For example, instead of throwing away a bottle of wine, keep it. Buy some long candle sticks, put one into the neck of the bottle, et voila! You have a DIY candle creation to place on the dining table.
The trick is to stay creative. Before throwing something out, think, can I recycle and repurpose this?
6. Declutter
You don’t need that drawer of takeaway menus anymore! Clutter never looks nice, so be cutthroat with what you do and don’t need to make yourself some space. You’ll be amazed at the effect it has on a room simply by making more space.
7. Small changes, big difference
Sometimes even the smallest updates can have a big impact. Much like wearing a new top, or getting a slightly different hairstyle, people, including you, notice it. So, instead of thinking big and expensive, make smaller, more affordable tweaks to your home.
Instead of redoing the whole kitchen, you could swap your cabinet handles, or repaint a wall. Updating light switches and plug sockets can also make a room look fresh and new.
Cushion covers are also an easy win. Just like how you change your bedsheets regularly, doing the same with cushion covers can keep a room feeling fresh. Think colour schemes and styles to match seasons or moments.
