Five ways to improve your living room on a budget

Just because you’re on a tight budget doesn’t mean that you can’t have a lovely living room. There are lots of ways you can improve the look and feel of your living room without breaking the bank.

1. Brighten up your windows

Windows are such an important part of any room, but they’re often overlooked. Let in the light during the day, and style up your window at night with Venetian blinds and beautiful curtains. A little strategic spending on dressing your window will make a huge difference to your living room and will last for years to come.

2. Add a touch of colour

Colour can have a big impact on the feel of a room. Simply adding a few carefully chosen colourful items such as throws, cushions and ornaments, can help to create a flow and set the tone for the room.

Spend some time thinking about how you want your living room to make you feel. Go for light shades rather than darker ones, as you want the room to remain light throughout the year. Darker shades also have a tendency to make a room feel much smaller than it really is – so avoid those if you can.

If you don’t have the budget to decorate the whole room, then adding some colourful, vibrant canvas prints is a great way to add some colour to your walls.

3. De-clutter

There’s nothing worse than a cluttered room for inducing stress. Tidy house – tidy mind as the saying goes. Your living room should be a space for the whole family to relax and unwind. Once the children have finished playing and are ready for bed, rope them into helping tidy away their toys so that your living room becomes a clear and tidy space for you to relax. I find that having a tidying race usually does the trick when my toddler is reluctant to help out!

It is also a lovely idea to light a scented candle at the end of the day – the soft light of the flame creates a welcoming ambience, and the scent helps to relax the senses.

Once you’ve got rid of the clutter, you can then give the carpet a really good, deep clean. It’s often worth getting a professional in to do this, and it might not be as expensive as you think – take a look at these carpet cleaning London prices as an example.

4. Create your own masterpiece

You don’t need to spend a fortune on artwork, but it is important to add colour and decor to your walls. Blank walls are NOT welcoming and can make a room feel stark and unloved.

You can create your own artwork really easily, and you don’t need to be a budding artist to do it.

Get hold of a blank canvas (available at low costs online), grab a paintbrush, choose some colours that fit in with your scheme, and create a masterpiece.

5. Fresh flowers

Fresh flowers always brighten up a room. Choose flowers that are in season – daffodils in Springtime, poinsettias at Christmas, for example. Take some time to arrange your flowers and place them strategically so that they create a focal point. You can also opt for fragrant houseplants that give off a scent so that the room feels inviting as soon as you open the door – scented geranium works well.

 

There are so many ways you can improve your living room on a budget. But these five, simple tips will help you to make small adjustments that will make a big difference.

 

*This is a collaborative post.