Decorating involves so much, clearing out the old things you don’t want, moving furniture, scraping back walls, getting quotes, dealing with trades people, timing everything, and of course it all costs money too. You don’t want to cut corners, but at the same time, you do want to be frugal.

It sometimes feels like you’ve got to choose between places like Ikea & B&Q where everything is the same as what everyone else is buying, or Boutique stores where the price of a single piece can break your budget before you’ve really begun, but there are a few ways you can be cannier.

The first thing to think about is do you actually need to rip everything out to begin from scratch? Take a careful look at all the existing pieces particularly in kitchens and bathrooms – look at everything from units to plasterwork and see what does need replacing and what doesn’t. A good example of this might be to leave in place existing cupboards & worktop in a kitchen, and just replace the doors, tiles, flooring and paint. Instead of costing you upwards of £5000 it might only cost you £1000 this way. In this way you can bring new life to a room without scrapping the elements which are perfectly useable after a good clean, and you can still put your own stamp firmly on it.

The same technique of only partly decorating a room can be applied in other ways too. If there’s a lounge space which has plain walls and plain wooden flooring, you might find it rather bland, but repainting everything isn’t always necessary. If the walls are in good condition, you could just look at repainting or papering one of them to create a feature wall. It’s a good way of being able to use costly wallpaper that you love, but without ripping a huge hole in your budget doing so.
Another way you can bring a room to life without completely redecorating is to use decals and borders, wall hangings and pictures. These can create focal points and change the feel of a room completely and are often quite affordable.

Google everything! Google’s power is massive, don’t buy something you like without going home and checking if you can get a better price elsewhere first. From big ticket items like showers, and electrical items to small decorative extras like vases and pictures if you can save money just by buying it somewhere else, do so!

Buying those designer pieces that really look stunning to create that finished look can prove very pricey, however, for unique and individual and sometimes quirky designs, you could try places such as Etsy. There are many crafters, designers and artists selling pieces here that are completely individual and hand made and beautiful, and at a fraction of the cost you’d pay in pricey boutique stores on the high street.

There are plenty of decorating jobs you can easily tackle yourself such as painting, papering and hanging curtains, however, there are also times when doing this is a false economy such as attempting to plaster a wall yourself. For these things getting a professional in will give you a really good finished look which you won’t get if you try to diy the task.