Ever since we built our home, I’ve fallen more and more in love with home decor and styling. I find it to be such a great way to practice creativity and to make our house feel unique and comfortable to live in. Like most people however, our family is on a tight budget and we don’t have a lot of extra cash for “extra” things like new furniture or a ton of new decor items each season. As we’ve worked on our home, I’ve found it an exciting challenge to find fun ways to decorate our space spending as little money as possible. We want to use the money we have with our INTERAC Debit card rather than falling into steep credit card debt. Here are some tricks I’ve used over the past couple of years to decorate our home on a budget. If you have a small decor budget too, I hope you find these helpful!

Fall in Love with Paint and Fabric

A beautiful vintage industrial kitchen featuring black and white Ikea cabinets, turquoise accents and a Carrara marble stone panel backsplash.

Paint and fabric are my two secret weapons for decorating my house on a small budget. It is incredible what a change of wall colour can do to your space, and a can of paint is relatively inexpensive. As for fabric, you can find it from as little as $5 a meter, and it’s easy to sew throw pillow covers or simple drapes to make your room look completely different. You can also paint old furniture for a quick and easy update. They’ll look like they’re brand new!

Mix Investment Pieces with Inexpensive Pieces

White, Gray, Mint & Coral Vintage Modern Sitting Room

Don’t feel like you have to spend the big bucks on everything in your home. You can save money for investment pieces like a leather sofa that will be well used and last over time or a high quality rug that won’t show wear as easily. Mix these pieces with more budget-friendly accessories from big box stores so that you have a stylish look that doesn’t break the bank. In our sitting room, we splurged on the gorgeous settee and everything else is handmade or second-hand.

Upcycle Hand-Me-Downs and Garage Sale Finds

Shabby Chic Farmhouse Table with DIY Chalk Paint

Most of the furniture in our home is used furniture. I love it because it has a story, most of it is very good quality, and it was free or very inexpensive. One of my favourite pieces is our kitchen table and chairs that my mom gifted me – they were my parents’ set when I was growing up and I painted the table to match our home. It’s not too hard to find fantastic deals on furniture on buy/sell websites or groups, at the thrift store, at garage sales, or from friends and family. A little bit of repair and a paint job can go a long way! Plus, you’ll have incredibly unique furniture gracing your home.

Learn Some Finishing DIY Tricks

How to install an easy DIY beadboard hook wall in a bathroom. It's pretty and practical!

If you can find someone to teach you how to use a saw and a nail gun, you’ll be able to do so many wonderful things to your home! People will spend a lot of money on labour when it comes to home finishing, so it helps to be able to do some of those things yourself. A DIY hook wall isn’t that hard to install if you have basic finishing skills, and at the very least it’s really handy to know how to hang a picture frame or a shelf on your own.

Take Your Time

DIY aqua & red vintage inspired small laundry room design idea with a giant pegboard

Decorating a home you love doesn’t have to happen overnight. Don’t feel like you have to buy all of your furniture and accessories right away – you can add to your collection over time. I actually find this to be a more meaningful way of decorating. This way, every piece of furniture and every decor item you purchase has been carefully thought out. Wait for that really, really perfect piece that calls your name! The same goes for renovations. Do your renos one room at a time; there’s no need to rush. This spreads out your spending over time so that you don’t have to dole out large amounts at once. We’ve definitely done this with our own home – the most important and well used rooms were finished first, and we’re still working on the extra ones!

Speaking of living on a budget, I’m participating in the Interac 21 Day Credit-Free Challenge! Want to join me? Life is better when you use your own money. And, spending money that isn’t yours by using credit for everyday purchases is the number one bad spending habit. Research shows that it only takes 21 days to change a habit. So, participants will be setting aside our credit cards for 21 days! Come check it out and read some wonderful budget-friendly tips here.

I know this will be a difficult challenge, but I’m looking forward to working on developing smarter spending habits. I know that in the long run, using the money we have rather instead of credit is a wise choice for our little family!

Disclosure: This post was part of a sponsored collaboration between Interac Association and SheKnows 

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