How to give your house a new look on a budget

Keen on giving your nest a renovation — without draining your wallet? These stress-free expert tips promise to revamp your home to add spice to your mundane 2015 styled space. As compiled from realsimple.com, don’t panic about breaking your bank and get prepped for a breathtaking home makeover.

Reposition your accessories

The easiest and least painful way to update your home on a budget is by rearranging what you already have. Start by putting all your moveable accessories like mini sculptures, frames, bookends, and throw cushions into a pile on the floor, suggests interior designer Andrea Schumacher. “Sort accessories by colour, and then rearrange them in the room in a more uniform or colourful way,” she says.

Add new fixtures and hardware

Buying a statement-making new light fixture or hardware for your cabinets is popular advice for renewing and revising your home — it’s inexpensive and can have a big influence on your space’s look and feel. Plus, it works in every room: try a new rug in a bold hue or install metallic nobs on your bathroom drawers and door handles. In the drawing room or lounge, try updating your light fixtures with modern pendants, recommends lifestyle expert Leah Ingram.



Create a fitness area

Why not revitalise your home and follow your New Year’s resolutions? Schumacher recommends finding a picturesque basket to store weights and fitness equipment, then committing to a short workout before your morning shower. Make sure the surrounding space is composed and quiet. “By creating an environment that complements and supports the resolution, you’re more likely to enjoy the space,” says interior designer Anthony Michael.

Give DIY a shot

Revising furniture you already have is one of the cheapest and most operational ways to give your home a New Year’s remodeling. Take a minute and look around for furniture pieces you can work with “Take an old dresser and let your imagination run wild,” says Ingram. “Lightly sand the piece, paint it a fresh colour, and add pretty pulls to bring it back to life.” Plus, your new pastime will save you cash in the long run. “Fixing and mending what you already have is a great way to save a lot of money while renewing your space,” says green living expert Sara Tetreault.

Focus on one shade

If your personal style falls towards the bold spectrum of things, consider neutralising down for spring and winter. “Try only using one shade of accent colours for the season,” says Schumacher. For example, use only shades of blue for your pillows and accessories to refresh your space in the wintertime. Once your new colour is in place, add in a few carefully chosen accessories opposite the colour wheel — think mustard yellows with blues.



Paint a door

Don’t suffer with boring whitewashed or typical wooden interior doors. Instead, “add a splash of colour by painting an interior door a bold hue,” recommends Ingram. Try covering the whole door in something bright and happy, or just paint the trim and if you catch the colour bug, consider painting your exterior door, too.

Reorganise your art

If you’ve had the same paintings or art wall up for as long as you can recall, we understand if you’re ready for a change. Michael recommends moving around the art in your home “for a change of view.” Consider letting your large artwork stand alone on a wall or, if that’s already the case in your home, try assimilating it into a grouping.



Lighten up

Enough of this dreary, sad winter — “Open those windows!” Michael says. Yes, it might be a slightly chilly if you’re in Islamabad, but opening the windows doesn’t necessarily mean letting in the outside air. Remove distracting elements like heavy window blinds, curtains and drapes to make the room feel fresh and bring in more of that pretty, end-of-winter light. Or if you don’t feel like taking them off the windows completely, open them up more than you usually do to avoid a case of winter’s lazy blues.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2016.

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