I just finished my online class on interior design and with the two caveats of 1- not a real interior designer and 2- everyone’s style/frugal is different, here’s my top tips from the experience:
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Start with Purpose of Place. Before staking out a room and saying “I have to do something with this,” think about places and purpose rather than rooms. For example, I need a place to occasionally work from home. I like to work from a laptop and I don’t actually like windows—I find them distracting. I do need storage, though. Knowing this, I might not need to stake out a whole room for my home office. I might be just as happy with a nook near the bookshelves in my living room where I can work at a desk or on the couch. This can free up a whole room for some other purpose that needs space and windows.
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Slow Your Roll and Plan. Before you do anything from a major bathroom renovation to buying new curtains and pillows for the living room, take some time to plan. Start with a “mood board” to capture the vibe you want from the place: do you want sophisticated like ladies in pearls and heels, moody foggy mountains, and tiny finger sandwiches or do you want quirky like vintage Halloween costumes, Zooey Deschanel, and Efteling? Consult with others who use the space too. This will keep the space’s vibe unified and on point. A “design board” then translates your vibe into things you can actually put in the room—you can make a digital board by copying images from online but extra bonus points for actually getting samples of the materials because you can’t get a true sense of texture or even color from a digital picture. If you’re putting tons of money into wallpaper you buy online, it’s worth it to get a sample first.
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Get a Tape Measure. It’s not sexy, but you need to know dimensions of your room, distance to the door, width of halls, etc. because you don’t want to buy a cool couch and then discover it won’t fit in your doorway. Sometimes in the past I’ve bought art or a mirror and discovered it was too small or too large for the place I wanted to hang it.
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Compare Around. Maybe there’s a bed frame you love in your design board but it’s way more than your budget. Bring that picture with you to thrift stores or other frugal options. Consider costs and skill of doing it the DIY way. You can often get the look you want for different price points.
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Consider Cost Over Lifetime. I’m not saying everything needs to be BIFL, but if you can afford it,be willing to pay more up front for energy efficient appliances or windows or big ticket, heavy- use items like a quality classic couch or dining table. Speaking of…
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Try to Stick Classic Anchors. If you have a really classic couch, you can update it with relatively cheap pillows and blankets. Yes, you can always sell a trendy couch and buy a new trendy one, but there will be transition costs because if it’s out of style for you, it is probably out of style for other people too.
Anyway that’s my two cents. Anyone else have anything they would add?
September 24, 2021 at 12:46PM
