Every article on ‘cheap home decor’ always mention the same ‘cheap’ makeover tool:  paint. 

“Just paint your house!” cry the experts.  “Cheap!  Quick!  Cheap!  Variety!  Cheap!”

What the experts never mention, however, is that whatever your square footage is, you probably have to multiply it by 8.  That’s  how much you are actually painting.  My little 1200 square foot bungalow is turning out to be a 9,600 square foot paint job.

Does that estimate seem a little high?  Well, it isn’t. 

For every room, there are approximately four walls at least 8 feet high.  And, you aren’t just painting these walls once, you have to use primer first.  At the very minimum you paint every wall, twice.  (We tried painting over paint on just one wall and it took almost 4 coats.)   And what if you hate the color, like I did, because the light makes the green I chose look minty instead of sage?  You’ll paint that room again.  Twice plus twice.

I guess it’s no surprise that the cheapest estimate for painting our home was $1,800.  (Where are all these alleged immigrants working for $2 an hour under the table?!  I certainly haven’t seen any.)  Though I wanted the love bungalow painted in less than a week, we just couldn’t justify almost $2,000 for the ‘cheapest’ decorating option. 

I, also, discovered that I hate painting.  Haaaaate painting.  It took me back to the days I attempted to style my long locks.  Having my arms over my head for 20 minutes was enough to make me embrace the bun and, eventually, cut my hair off.  Now imagine that….for two or four or six hours.

So what, then, is the solution to inexpensively decorating a home?  Paint plus Craigslist. 

We found a guy on Craigslist who does odd handyman work for $12 an hour.  He comes in, we hand him a brush, and he paints for a four hour stretch at a time.  It makes me happy because when I come home from work, I can see serious progress…which in turn motivates me to do more work.  (I actually do like taping and painting around fixtures and door/window frames.)

So, the love bungalow isn’t painted as quickly as I’d hoped.  But a huge benefit is that I get to ’see’ how a color works in one room or main wall before I commit to the whole house.  Could I imagine spending $1,800 on painting my house to discover I detest the color but am now too broke to have them repaint it and, consequently, I begin to hate my home?

You can forget it.

The second ’secret’ to decorating your home on the cheap is to declutter.  The less you have, barring absolute minimalism, the better your stuff – and home – looks.  Plus, it’s less to clean, maintain, and worry about!

Also, it’s important to make sure that your furniture is multi-functional.  I come from the “Tranformer” school of decorating – not just a sofa, it’s a bookcase in disguise!

When we were deciding on where to get our living room set (no more college-esque inflatable furniture for me), I decided to go with HomeReserve because:

  • Some of it was as cheap as Ikea without the $500 shipping cost.
  • The furniture didn’t look cheap.
  • The fabrics were fully customizable.
  • Every item had hidden storage.

All my well-worn science fiction novels are now in the sofa on which I lounge to read them.  The DVD collection is lovingly ensconced in our giant ottoman.  My hoard of VHS tapes are hidden from mockery in our side table.  (And, yes, we got DVD and  VHS player in one.  Efficiency at it’s finest!)

After you have primed, painted, decluttered, and rearranged, you will still need to put something on your walls.  Something elegant or funky or homey or whatever expresses your personality without holding your wallet hostage. 

We are using a strategically placed trio of sconces ($10!) as well as a framed galactic poster over the mantle ($35!). 

“Poster?!  But that’s so college!” 

Haven’t you seen MTV’s “Cribs”?  Just about every home they toured had a framed poster for “Scarface”.  If it’s good enough for a multi-million dollar recording artist, it is good enough for me.  Not only that, but the only people who have to like our decorating are me and my husband.  That’s it.

The final secret to decorating, and the one that will save you the most money, is to stop caring what other people think.  Do what you  want to do.  Do you want to frame some of those fabulous National Geographic posters?  Go nuts.  Do you make a bazillion quilts a year and wish to display them?  By all means, enjoy your handiwork.

Surround yourself with things that you love and make you  happy.  Anyone who doesn’t like how you decorate, doesn’t have to come back!