5 Things: Decorating On A Budget.

I would have to say that we’ve actually been pretty thrifty since we bought this flat back in May. We don’t have a huge disposable income, both being creatives with a hungry cat to feed, but we’ve been spending small chunks of each months paycheck and have now managed to get pretty much everything we need in five months. I thought I would offer up some pointers which have really helped me to get my flat looking exactly how I want it – without declaring bankruptcy Michael Scott style.

Go Second Hand
Our furniture is a good mix of IKEA and second-hand, so we’ve got a good balance of everything. My office has almost everything IKEA which can look a bit much, but as we go I’ll probably replace things when we’ve bought everything else we need. I’ve mixed it up with second hand chairs, mirrors and other pieces so you don’t get too much of an IKEA showroom feel. The other rooms all have probably more Gumtree picks than IKEA, which is what I like – our flat is old so it doesn’t always look right with a whole heap of new furniture in it.
I have the Gumtree app and at one point I was refreshing the Home & Garden section every hour on the hour. Our flat was empty when we moved in with the exception of a bathroom cabinet and a huge Narnia-style wardrobe that we’ve kept because it’s beautiful and looks lovely on the wooden floors, so being thrifty on Gumtree has really helped. Some of my favourite pieces were second-hand finds, such as my Ercol dining chairs, the pretty bar cart, and our gorgeous breakfast table. We also live across from an amazing charity shop which sells heaps of furniture, so we’re always looking out for more pieces we can take home!
Another tip is, when shopping at IKEA, try and avoid the obvious picks. There are so many IKEA pieces that are instantly recognisable, but so many other pieces that you would never guess were from there. We often get asked where our vinyl storage or coffee table is from, and they’re always shocked it cost £20 from IKEA!

See Everything With Rose Tinted Glasses
We used to have a lot of things that didn’t match, or could look nicer – and then I discovered spray paint. Seriously, I spray paint EVERYTHING. Furniture, old bowls, IKEA plant pots, old trays, even my cocktail shaker (now gold). I just stock up on tins of acrylic spray paint and then I can buy furniture or whatever and not worry about the colour – I usually go for white for furniture and then have some copper and gold tins on hand for other little trinkets. You will be surprised what you can do with a spray-painting session – one time I got through three tins of spray paint going around our flat and picking up everything that didn’t look so fresh anymore!
I also really recommend giving the walls a fresh lick of paint if you can, and radiators too. A good gloss brilliant white paint on radiators changes everything!

Go Slow
If you’re moving in to an empty house, it can be tempting to just buy everything at once – but I promise it works out a whole lot better if you just wait. Set aside a small amount of your paycheque each month for one new piece of furniture and perhaps another couple of essentials. In the early stages, we just went on huge ASDA binges rather than paying for nights out or restaurant trips, so we would buy cutlery, bedding and pans and whatever else we needed to get us started. I think you can mostly scrimp on stuff like that and then upgrade eventually when you have the cash.
Also, you will find that although you’ve had your eye on a certain item since before you even had a flat to decorate, as you get a feel for a room you often decide it doesn’t work as you thought so it’s best to hold off on the expensive purchases until later on.

Shop Around
Often I find something I really like and I just have to have but can’t really justify spending so much money on, apart from our two sofas which were luckily reasonably priced AND gifted to us by generous family members, nothing has been over (probably) £200 – which sounds a lot but is actually really good for furniture! For example, I really wanted a Bertoia diamond chair which are usually around £700 – more than our sofas! – so it wasn’t really worth it. After hours of searching, I managed to find a replica on eBay for £90! I was so pleased, I just adore it.
I also managed to find a lovely large rug for just £80 from this site – it’s neutral and huge so perfect for our living room. Most rugs are easily £300 so it was a massive saving. I also got a coat stand (usually pricey) for £16 from an eBay shop. Sure, I had to get my drill out because the screws were a bit dodgy but I really can’t complain.
If I find something I want, I will spend weeks on end trying to find a cheaper version, and I always, always do.

DIY It, Always (Ok, Mostly Always)
Moving in to an old, slightly neglected flat means that it is a constantly work in progress! The previous owner, God love him, wasn’t the best at DIY so we’ve been so busy sanding and painting and just generally making the place look lovely. At first we got our joiner friends to come and help, but we soon realised that we could absolutely sand and paint the floors etc. so since then it’s just been us! My parents donated a huge random toolbox to us and I bought an array of screwdrivers and also a DRILL! Yep. Go me. As Jordan’s away a lot, and I’m super impatient so I just learn to do things around the flat.
Do as much as you can yourself, and if it’s something that’s outside your skillset, use mybuilder.com – we had to replaster an entire room when we moved in and we were originally quoted £2.5k but then we found an awesome dude in who spoke two words of English (but was always super cheerful and lovely to communicate with, by hand gestures) and he was AMAZING. He did the whole room (it’s huge and has 13ft ceilings) for £500.

So that’s it, my advice for getting your place looking lovely! It may take time and you may have to deal with questionable Gumtree sofas for a little while, but you can upgrade eventually and in the meantime there’s always pretty throws!

Any other tips?