The design trick that you can follow to refresh your home decor for FREE!
Want to update your house’s look, but without spending a lot of money?
Trying to refresh your home decor, but don’t want to do a complete redecoration/revamp?
Thinking how to change how your house’s interiors look, without having to go house decor shopping?
Well, here’s your answer – you have to shop your own home. It’s a decor and styling concept that will enable you to change up how your home looks without spending your hard-earned money on new items and pieces.
Does that sound too good to be true? Are you thinking I’m making it all up? Well then, read on to find out what shopping your own home means, and how it works.
Tip: If you’re desperately Googling ‘how do I refresh the look of my house on a budget’, this blog post has your answer!
What does it mean to shop your own home?
Well, basically, it means exactly what it says – instead of searching (or shopping) for home decor items at shops and malls, you search around your own home.
Use items that you already have – maybe by updating it, maybe by repurposing it, or maybe simply by bringing it out of the storage cupboard.
It’s a part of the recycling movement that tries to inspire people to reuse and recycle as much of their possessions as possible.
From simply rearranging furniture to creatively reusing items that may have fallen into disuse, or doing DIY makeovers on outdated objects…
There are lots of ways you can recycle your existing home decor to give your house a brand new look…at almost zero cost!
A simple process you can follow to shop to shop your own home
The basic idea is simple – you search around for forgotten ‘treasures’ (fixtures, art pieces, furniture etc); visualise your home space; and then you use creativity to place objects around the house.
Search your home for items
Remember, you’re looking for everything. They might be being used currently, they might be stored away to be used later, or they might have been discarded to be thrown away. Explore every room, every cupboard, and every corner.
Make a list. Mark the things that need a little repair. You can even take photographs of some of the objects.
Don’t hold back. Dig as deep as you have to. If your closet is full to the brim, for example, take your time bringing everything out.
Do a ‘restyling’ walkthrough of your home
Visit each room, and understand the look. Understand the design idea, the anchor colours and pieces, and the contours of the walls and floor.
Keep an eye out for ‘decluttering opportunities’.
Remember, clutter isn’t only things that are to be thrown away. Clutter includes both things that really don’t belong in your home at all, AND things that belong in your home, but are not optimally placed or used.
Decluttering – placing things to be able to make better use of them – is a key part of shopping your own home.
Start adding, removing, restyling and replacing items
It’s time to get creative!
Stand back, and visualise placing the various objects you have listed out in your rooms. This should be easier if you’ve taken pictures.
- Start with the larger ‘anchor’ pieces like large furniture pieces and rugs and move towards smaller pieces like side tables and finally the stuff like fixtures and artworks.
- Think how you can create spaces for family activities and memories. Like creating a ‘play nook’ for your children.
- Break up patterns and sets. It doesn’t matter if a bed and nightstands came as a set – you can totally separate them as part of your home redecoration.
- Shift painting and art pieces around. You might have to make a few new holes in the walls (to hang art from) and fill in old ones, but it will be worth it.
- Swap rooms and spaces. For example, your bedroom can become the living room, and the living room can become the bedroom. Of course, it depends on the layout of your home. You can’t have a bedroom directly in front of your main door, for example.
Some practical examples of how you can update your house’s look
We will wrap up our blog post on shopping your own home by taking a look at a few practical examples of how you can do it.
Painting furniture and accessories
When we think of ‘painting’ in home design, we automatically think of painting entire rooms. While that will certainly rev up your home interior, it’s expensive.
A much better option is to paint old, even rejected, pieces of furniture, art works, fixtures, and so on.
Simply adding a fresh coat of paint will give them a new glow and you will have something that’s just as good as a newly bought item to decorate your house with.
Fabrics and textiles
A bit of fabric can give a new look, a new life to furniture like benches and chairs. And, just like with paint, this is something you can easily DIY.
All you need is some fabric and fabric glue, a screwdriver to remove surfaces or things that are screwed on, and maybe a staple gun to hold the fabric in place.
In particular, replacing the your window curtains (fabrics) can update your windows’ appearance while also making your room look bigger.
As another example, you can make some decisions as to the windows of which rooms need which kind of coverings/treatments to balance letting in sunlight with privacy, and swap window coverings between rooms.
Hardware
Getting new hardware can completely change the look of a room. This might sound like difficult work but it really isn’t.
It works best on furniture and cabinetry; and gives the best results in your kitchen and your bathroom.
We frequently recommend this to our home decor clients.
Bring greenery inside
Do you have a garden? Even a rooftop or a balcony plot will do.
Cut some of the flowers or plants and use those to decorate your room, instead of buying new plants.
It’s a great way to freshen up everything from your front entry, to your coffee corner and even the bedroom.
Crockery and cutlery
Crockery and cutlery from the kitchen can make great decor pieces.
Disused plates can adorn otherwise empty shelf space. Bowls can make good places to keep small trinkets in.
Repurposing tables
A dining table can be divided into two work desks. If you shorten their legs they can also make good coffee tables.
A desk itself can become a decorative piece of furniture. A sofa table can become a nightstand.
Shopping your own home – a final word
By now, it should be clear that shopping your own home is a great way to revitalise your home interior, without spending a lot of money on new purchases or interior designers.
It allows you to apply your creative skills around your house, recycle and reuse your existing things and rooms. Things that you had long marked to be discarded can come to life again.
You might even come across something sentimentally valuable that you had forgotten about, and use it to give your home a new look.
And all you need to do this is be organised and think creatively.
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