Budget decorating

The holiday season is around the corner, and it’s that time of the year when you bring out your best china, plan the gifts, menu, invitations and more importantly, your décor.

As most of the time is spent indoors during winter, most people tend to decorate around this time of the year, and look out for great ways to save money on home décor while still wanting to retain that chic look. With a dash of creativity and ingenuity, you can change the look of your house into a warm and appealing interior without imposing a heavy strain on your wallet, and it can be possible to create a special look and make the décor look rich for this season, and every special occasion, with a limited budget.

Before we start, the first thing you need to keep in mind is the interior-decorating budget itself, which should fit your lifestyle while being practical. For instance, if you’re dreaming of an African safari, but overspend so you have only enough to go to Sri Lanka, then not only is the budget pointless, it leads to disappointment. Keeping this in mind, it becomes easier to allocate funds to what is essentially a ‘must have’ to what we can afford to let go. Prioritising is the key while decorating on a budget.

The second thing we must realise is that you shouldn’t settle for something just because it’s cheap. If it doesn’t work for your décor, then chances are that it may end up in some corner gathering dust, leading to more clutter. Instead, focus on sticking to the plan and budget.

The next area of focus should be on creating a plan, whether you’re starting from scratch with a room or decorating the whole house itself. The things that have to be kept in mind are function, style, colour and formality. What you choose will reflect your personality, giving the room a life of its own.

Function
It is important that the décor selected should relate with the specific room. It should enhance its functionality and purpose, as well as create the desired ambience and mood. Start by describing what you want from each room and how often are you going to use it.

Style
The style of a room could be rustic, oriental, Indian, Victorian, art deco, French or an amalgamation of everything depending on your preference. But, give the room style a theme, such as calm and soothing, and it will keep you on track in making the room placid and serene, and making it easier to choose accessories accordingly.

Colour
Accordingly, a colour scheme can be chosen that will reflect the kind of feel you want to give to a room. Going with the previous example of a calm and soothing room, cooler colours that tend to be calming can be chosen such as: soft orange, a colour that is associated with spirituality can give a meditative calm feel; blue, associated with open skies, gives a sense of being free and restful, and green represents nature and brings in feelings of harmony, or alternatively you can pick your favourite colour and mix it up with the never-fail combination of white which implies purity and is conducive to tranquil feelings and mental clarity.

Formality
Depending on the occasion: a family get together, an evening with colleagues or for your everyday comfort level, you can decide on whether you want a more formal set up, with both sides of the room matching or if you want a more informal feel with an eclectic mix.

The focal areas are usually the living and dining rooms where all the entertaining takes place, and lets not forget the bathrooms.

Taking an inventory is one of the most important aspects of decorating as it will help get you organised. Take a stock of all you have, and look at it from a different viewpoint. This will help you determine what can be re-used, like the stained glass vase, or added: such as a beautifully crafted earthen lampshade to go with your bookshelf, or removed, like those drab cushion covers that you’ve had for so long.

Get a new perspective on the space you have by clearing out the clutter and starting over with a sparklingly clean and empty room. With restraint being the mantra, bring back the items and place it in different locations, assigning a place for each category. You’ll be amazed at how different a clean room looks as it makes everything look fresher, larger and brighter.

If we believe in Benjamin Franklin’s words that there is, “A place for everything, and everything in its place”, then half our problems will get resolved. To have an organised home, everything needs a place assigned to it, where it can go back to once removed, automatically cutting out the clutter.

Finally, have fun! It takes plenty of time, and a lot of trials and errors to get that perfect look you’ve been wanting. So, don’t get stressed, and instead enjoy the process of giving your home a make over. The pleasure you take in it reflects and will make you enjoy the end result even more.

With these basic tips in mind, you can now have a Maldivian sojourn instead of the safari and still have a fabulous vacation after all the hard work!