My home has started to look tired and shabby. I spend too much time in the garden and don’t really notice most of the time! Sometimes I am a bit too ashamed to invite people to come round and visit at the moment. Expressing these feelings with Mr S made us decide to freshen up the whole house this winter. I have only touched up a few places in the last 4 years. It is hard keeping the house nice on a small budget.
We have a sinking fund and each month we put a small amount away towards home maintenance and decoration. Last year that covered the roof being mended. This year we have already paid for glass to be replaced in two blown windows and so there is not much of the budget left. There is enough for some paint and that can make a big difference. The thing I like about giving the whole house a spruce up is that I do a deep clean as well. House work is not my favourite activity!
In the past, to keep costs down, I have just moved furniture and pictures around to rejuvenate rooms. Unfortunately it has got past that stage now. I was lucky enough to hear that a local store has 25% off a good quality paint and so I have been able to make a saving there. We have started with painting the stairs yesterday and already I have forgotten and touched the wet banister! We put masking tape on the edges, as in the picture, so that carpets and flooring are not spoiled.
This weekend I will tackle a few walls. The house is starting to feel better all ready. Here are some of the things I have done in the past to keep costs down. There have been a couple of times I have moved into a home that needed decorating and I had no money and little furniture and so I have had to be creative.
1. Bought recycled paint. Most cities have somewhere that recycles it if you Google. Often the tins are half full but I have got full ones before. It is a fraction of the cost and helps the planet. Unfortunately I used to pick it up near my work place. It now wouldn’t be worth the petrol as we do not have one near where I live.
2. Bought a really big tub of paint and painted everything white. Buying in bulk and using the same colour is much cheaper. It can look a bit stark, but it allows me to change my colour schemes over the years by using accessorises. I just change the cushions, pictures or a rug or something. Sometimes I change my colour scheme with the seasons.
3. Stencilled walls and cupboards to add interest. Every time my daughter came home from staying at her friend’s house she would find a different wall stencilled. I found it therapeutic. We could not afford wall paper in those days and so I made borders, or stamped and stencilled walls to make it look less boring.
4. Made my own art work and framed it. I also framed my children’s art work. I have also made collages out of pictures cut from magazines, and photos.
5. Used free broken tiles to make a mosaic effect as a splash back, to tile a shower, and to cover an awful fire surround.
6. Upcycled furniture and accessories from free cycle, or charity shops. I still have some of this recycled furniture 20 years later as it is sturdy and well made.
7. Added plants and greenery, often from cuttings, or gifts. I have also dried foraged flowers and grasses.
6. Made rugs from rags and old clothes. My first flat was full of these, and friends used to donate their old clothes. I had no money for any kind of floor covering and so they got us through the first winter.
7. Made cushion covers out of a favourite jumper and jacket, or old curtain material bought from a charity shops. I also added material on to the bottom of curtains that were given but were not long enough. I would add a little border of the same material at the top so that it looked like they had been made like that.
8. Changed cupboard door handles. I did that recently as I found some in a junk shop on holiday last year. They make my doors look different and add character.
9. Declutter. This helps a room look bigger. I have got rid of 3 bags of clutter this week. It is a slow job as it is hard to let go of things sometimes. I have been decluttering for 2 years and still have much more to do.
10. Painted an accent wall in a lovely colour to make it a focal point eg. a chimney. This way I only needed a small amount of paint.
11. Used natural things as accessories eg pine cones and shells. I have put shells in a jar in my bathroom, or used them to decorate a cheap mirror frame. Infused painted pine cones with natural oils placed in a bowl make the room smell nice, and painted branches and hung ornaments on them. I have even decorated my hearth with pumpkins in Autumn and we have eaten them later. I like to grow some flowers in the garden, especially in spring to bring into the house. It brightens my mood after a long winter.
12. Used cheap upcycled mirrors to add more light to a dark, gloomy room.
13.Painted old fashioned kitchen cupboard doors and made a splash back out of odd different coloured tiles I found in a skip..
14.Sanded floor boards when I couldn’t afford carpet. I then just had to buy a rug.
15. Had a decorating party when friends brought paint and helped out, and I provided nibbles and home made booze.
16. To save on cleaning brushes, if I am going to use them the next day I will wrap them in cling film rather than cleaning them. This saves on white spirit (and on my time). I also save old duvet covers to use as dust sheets.
17. Check freecycle and other sites where free furniture and accessories are given away.
18. Check out local charity shops and thrift stores.
19. Borrow home decorating books from the library to give me ideas.
20. Swap skills. Before Mr S moved in I had a friend who used to do me some painting in return for me doing some gardening for her.
What kinds of things do you do to keep your home looking nice whilst trying not to spend much money on it?
Thank you for all these brilliant ideas.
Thanks for commenting
Wrap clingfilm around your paint tray and then bin that – the tray will last ages. Also, if you get tired or suddenly need to stop decorating, place a damp teatowel over your paint tray and the paint won’t dry out.
Great tips. Thanks
Wow Toni if those photos are your house it dosent need anything doing to it.
Great tips & most are easy to do too thank you for sharing this information xx
Some are and some aren’t. I don’t think that it is a good idea to show too much of your home on the internet. Thanks for commenting
Great ideas! I use hydrangeas make a pretty display indoors (in a vase) and when they are dry I spray them with a little clear lacquer and make my own Christmas wreaths- adding greenery from the garden. They also make nice gifts for friends, and I have sold some for as a donation for the Church at Christmas time. The wreath frames can be expensive so I use cardboard (round tray and smaller pan lid to make the wreath shape). I also make lavender bags for the home or to give as gifts. Good luck being creative everyone 👍🏼
Those are lovely ideas. Thanks for sharing
Your home is beautiful. Mine very much needs a refresh from top to bottom but I’m not good at decorating/painting walls I create more mess than when I started. I’m going to try to refresh my kitchen using white paint and take it from there.
Good idea. I am a messy decorator too. I get more paint on myself than the walls. Thanks for commenting and the lovely feedback
Some great ideas and tips here. Thank you. I need to start a refresh of our home and there are some very useful ideas here.
Thanks for the lovely feedback
Love the curtain lengthening idea.
Thanks. It took me ages as I am rubbish at sewing! Thanks for commenting
Some brilliant tips! Thank you Toni for your inspiration. We started sprucing up our bungalow this year. It hadn’t been touched for 8 years. It’s sometimes hard to get motivated, but when we finish another job it spurs me on.
I agree. We have been procrastinating for a year but I want to do more now that I have started. Thanks for your kind feedback
Thank you Toni. These are such helpful suggestions. x
No worries. Thanks for your kind feedback
Thank you Toni. Great ideas.
I have a recycled glass jar full of sea shells in our downstairs cloakroom.
Our nephew’s little boy went to the toilet and came back saying, “Daddy, there are snails in there!” We all went to look and realised he meant my jar.🤣
Aww bless him. Thanks for sharing
Thank you for some great ideas Yoni.
No worries. Thanks for commenting
I’ve painted bedroom furniture & matched the fronts of odd furniture using wallpaper .I’ve mixed paints by adding a colour to white paint to use up paint great for small rooms like bathrooms & toilets . I’ve made lampshades adding dried flowers to a plain shade using UPVA glue to seal it X
Those are all lovely ideas. Thanks for sharing
I’ve always wrapped up my paint brushes in clingfilm but recently found a paint tray with a lid which is big enough for the roller and brush to be kept in until you use it again, it wasn’t really expensive and it saves sending plastic to landfill.
I move things around from one room to another and I love a bit of up cycling. Valspar tester pots are a really good buy from B&Q they are large, you can have any colour and there’s enough to paint 4 dining chairs . All for £3.50.
As a family we share all of our un wanted and finished with emulsion.
Look for end of roll fabric, I picked up 5 meters of an expensive fabric for £20. I’ve reupholstered a foot stall and made 4 large cushion covers with plenty left for something else.
Thanks for those great tips
Some really good ideas, thank you.
Thanks for the feedback
Earlier this year my friend who has taken up decorating completely transformed my kitchen by painting my brown wood clad ceiling white , he also did the walls and kitchen cupboards, also painted the work tops with proper worktop paint, I didn’t know it existed
What a difference it made.
Thank you for all your great ideas.
I hadn’t heard of work top paint either. Can it be painted on any surface or just wood? Thanks for sharing