Decorating a living room on a budget is not easy but not impossible either. I have been doing it for years, and I’m getting better at it with time. There is plenty of stunning room décor that doesn’t come with a gigantic price tag attached to them.
Light, color, and texture – the correct combination of these three elements can give a dramatic makeover to any room.
It’s okay to feel clueless at this point. To give you a head start, I am sharing 5 low-cost living room decor tips and advice that never misses the mark.
1. Liven it up with a fresh coat of paint.
Getting your living room a fresh coat of paint won’t cost a fortune. And with proper execution, you can give your dull, drab living room a dynamic makeover.
The only challenging part of the task is choosing the right color scheme. I personally suggest going for neutral shades for small rooms that don’t receive a lot of natural light.
Lighter shades not only warm up the room but also make it appear larger than it actually is. It’s a neat little trick people have been using for ages. If neutral colors are too vanilla for your taste, simply team it up with a dark accent wall.
Dark accent walls conjure up a stunning contrast, making the rest of the room appear more illuminated, enlarged, and interesting.
2. Update and rearrange and the furniture.
When on a shoestring budget, buying a whole new set of furniture for the living room alone is out of the question. So, I suggest you make do with what you have.
Rearrange and regroup the couch and chairs close to each other to create a cozy ambiance that encourages conversation. If you have a large family or group of people regularly visiting your house, point the couch towards the television and declutter the room by clearing out unnecessary pieces of furniture.
Is your couch worn out to the point of extinction? Cheer up because there’s quite an impressive collection of inexpensive couches if you know where and how to look for them.
3. Light in layers.
Another neat little trick from the book of interior decoration experts – light layering. The more light source your room has, the grander it will appear. In order to achieve a luxurious effect, the light needs to come from multiple sources. The right combination of ambient, accent, and task light can be a game-changer.
Affordable flush-mount and semi-flush mount ceiling lights, a simple table lamp, and a wall sconce with bright LEDs can do wonders. For optimum effect, make sure the ambient lights are well spread and diffused throughout the room.
Upward-facing lights like wall sconce reflect the light on the ceiling, brightening up a great part of the surrounding space. Pendant lights near the couch and dining table focus the light downward, providing adequate illumination for reading, working, and other tasks.
And as for accent lights, use them for bringing artworks and photographs into sharp focus. Use lights that are considerably brighter than the surrounding lights for maximum impact.
Since we are also taking cost-saving into account, carefully plan out how much light output you will need for the amount of space you have. The light output of the bulbs is measured by lumens.
As a general rule of thumb, you will need 20 lumens to brighten up each square foot. Going by this rule, you will need approx. 3000 lumens for a 150square foot living room.
4. Create a gallery wall.
Gallery walls are a timeless and fail-safe way of sprucing up a living room on a budget. These are meant to be the focal point of the room. When done correctly, it can open up space and add a bohemian flair to it. What to put in a gallery wall, you ask? It can be anything you want to display, be it your artwork, handmade prints, photographs, mirrors, or trinkets.
If you like to collect items or/and travel a lot, decorate your gallery wall with your collections, travel memorabilia, and souvenirs. As for the frames, you don’t necessarily need matching frames for the entire wall. Mix and match different frames, come up with a layout that complements the surrounding.
5. Spruce it up with plants.
Another one of the renovation tips that can be fun and helpful is putting up plants. A touch of green brings the most boring living room to life without leaving a dent in your wallet. Indoor plants can add a pop of color to your white or neutral color living room.
Phalaenopsis orchids are my go-to choice for decorating the living room. Put one on your coffee table, and when it blooms, it will brighten up the whole room. Ferns, peace lily, perennial geranium, or something low-maintenance but gorgeous like Shasta daisy can effortlessly bring your living room to life.
Conclusion
You don’t need a huge budget to revamp the look of your living room. Shop smart, rearrange the existing layout, play with wall colors and lights. These things alone can dynamically change the appearance of your living room. The ideas mentioned in this article are just for your reference. You can add your own spin to it and create a dream living space for yourself. Learn more living room upgrades here!