My Interior Design Diary: Decorating on a Budget

Before

After

So here i was dreaming of that HGTV makeover where a design dream team (my husband and i)  would crash the house, and within a few days, i'll get one of those magazine picture perfect house that i would completely fall in love with. But the reality is that i didnt want to pay much . So i set up a budget and decided to tackle one room at a time, and it worked.
Here is a step by step on how i managed to do it.

1) I prioritized what room i really wanted to start with.  We spend most of our time in the main floor, its the first room to see when you enter the house, and its where i entertain guests too. I didnt want them thinking "what kind of a designer is this!" .  Needless to say, that was my choice.

2) I set up a budget. I was working around  $2000 for the kitchen, living and dining room. I knew it wasnt going to be exact, but at least i wont crazily overspend
3) Know exactly what the function of the room is. The main floor was a combination of a TV room, formal living space and kids play area. So i wanted it to be cozy & comfy , have enough seatings for guests, and enough storage for a clutter& toys free room.

4) Create a plan on furniture re-arrangment. My space before was divided to an incomplete formal living room, a family room and dining room. It didnt work out because before we even moved into our new house, my husband and i made the mistake of buying a huge, expensive white leathered sectional ($ 4000) that turned out to be too bulky for the space.
In my new plan. i divided the space into three different zones , a piano zone , a living/family room and dining room.

Before : A boring Beige, Cluttery room

4) Decide on what furniture to keep and what furniture to re-use in another room or sell. I had to keep that expensive bulky couch, actually my whole space planning was around it. And although its white and the first instict would say kids and white furniture dont go hand in hand, but it actually does. Personally , i think its even better than the tanned suede furniture i had before because once anything spills, all i have to do is get some paper towel and voila ...all new. I also kept the dining furniture , a love seat and two rugs. Basically i had the main furniture and now i needed to add storage to hide all the toys behind and accesorize the space.

After : Still Beige, but definetly not boring anymore. Its still
missing a wall shelf for the entertainment center and a painting
over the piano.

5) After knowing what furniture im keeping, i decided on a color scheme and theme that will work with what i have. I had a modern sectional and the rest of the furniture was traditional , which means that im having an eclectic room, and since im working on a budget, i didnt re-paint the house as the house was a couple of years old, and i didnt add wall paper. The walls remained a tan color. My inspiration was the rug. It was a mix of tan, silver-blue, white and a little bit of black. There you go...that was my color scheme.

6) Time to buy some furniture. I went to Ikea and bought a bookcase as a media center/storage and added mirrors to the back to give it some customed look . I also found a small blue arm chair that fits perfectly next to the fireplace , a few tables, ready made draperies , a mirror and couple of white dining chairs. I also bought backsplash for the kitchen and fireplace wall. My target was to get furniture on sale that fits my color scheme.

7)And for the finishing touch , accessories accessories and more accessories.

At the end,I went a little overbudget, but i wanted my house to look appealing with whatever little budget i had, and thats what i got.

In a future post, i'll write about how i pulled all the design together, mixing my old furniture with the new ones, so make sure to visit my blog again for some more design talk.