3 Cheap and Easy Decoration Hacks to Transform Any Room in Minutes
We get it. Without the cash to drop on a fully-coordinated furniture suite, decorating can seem both overwhelming and, frankly, unnecessary. (I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t have an extra $300 kicking around for a “reasonably priced” Ikea media shelf.)
While transforming your space into a tranquil sanctuary might not be your first priority, a few easy, simple and cheap AF tweaks can turn your bare bones abode into a cozy home you can be proud to show off. So if you’re ready to get Four Seasons style on a Motel 8 budget, read on and follow these three simple rules:
1) Move It On Up
The most common error people make when decorating on the fly (say, when moving in) is neglecting vertical space. In terms of both storage and visual interest, walls tend to go underutilized, leaving many rooms bottom heavy with lots of low storage furniture (like media centers and side tables) filled with items near the floor, an effect that can make a room feel both cluttered and empty at the same time and is compounded with white walls and/or fluorescent lighting.
The best solution, especially for small spaces, is to raise the roof by building up. Buy used shelves, or cheaper still, carefully stack a side table on top of a sturdy media center or desk to turn low furniture you already have into functional (and free!) shelves that extend storage options upward and add balance to a room.
If shelves aren’t your cup of tea, then consider large, colorful pieces of art for your walls. Remember — you don’t have to spend money on this. Posters, cards, drawings and flyers mounted with paint-safe double-sided tape will work perfectly well to warm up a room, so long as they a) look deliberate and b) take up a generous amount of space. Create a tableau of wall art by placing images about five inches apart from each other on all sides, mixing in works of any size and shape, and continue until your wall is sufficiently full. Not only does this pull a space together nicely, but it gives you the chance to show off your personal ephemera.
Finally, if you want to go full HGTV, making over a blank white wall with a pop of accent color will do this job just as well. (It just takes a bit of planning, DIY know-how and, of course, permission from your landlord if applicable.)
2) Go Green
Breathe new life into windowsills, bedside tables and bookshelves with leafy green low-maintenance houseplants. A handful of plants here and there throughout your home is perhaps the fastest shortcut to creating a welcoming, vibrant living space, potentially because of their subliminal “living things thrive in my company” vibe.
If caring for plants seems daunting, take heart — many common houseplants have evolved to thrive in far harsher conditions than your living room. The obvious go-to plant for the neglectful botanist is a cactus, of which there are many beautiful and affordable varieties, but you don’t have to stop there. A 1989 study by NASA identified multiple easy-to-care-for houseplants that help to filter indoor pollutants, so until your home becomes less hospitable than the icy vacuum of space, you shouldn’t be hard-pressed to find a few hardy varieties that work for you.
3) Cut a Rug
Any room can become chaotic if space isn’t organized, and even a tiny room can seem oddly sparse when floors are bare. Studio apartments require significant effort to define separate sleeping, living and dining spaces, and even homes with one or two bedrooms often have living and dining rooms combined. An easy way to address this issue is to lay down a few inexpensive area rugs.
If you’re on a budget (and who isn’t), your main consideration in using rugs for decoration isn’t texture, but color. Choose rugs that both complement your furniture and contrast your floor; if you’re feeling stuck, choose something with only one or two colors. Additionally, rugs (even cheap ones) serve to add warmth to and break up the monotonous look of low-quality wood or laminate flooring. A dining space rug, a living space rug and a hall rug are all you need to soften up the texture of a sparsely decorated house and trick the eye into creating definition between the major activity spaces of your home.
