7 Ways To Get Creative and Decorate Your Home on the Cheap

Your home is a great space, but it’s currently pretty sparce. The lack of furnishings and overall décor is making it impossible to create a cozy vibe, but you don’t have a huge interior design budget.

Thankfully, it’s not necessary to spend a lot of money decorating home. In fact, finding creative ways to fill your space can allow you to really make it your own.

Ready to get started? Here are seven ways to decorate your home without spending a fortune.

A fun way to find deeply discounted buried treasure, flea markets are filled with endless possibilities to make your home a space that’s uniquely yours. There are more than 1,100 flea markets in the U.S., according to the National Flea Market Association, so there’s a good chance you can find at least a few in your local area.

You can score just about anything imaginable at a flea market. Therefore, you might want to make a list before your visit, to ensure you don’t get distracted and end up spending extra money on non-household décor.

When the contents of a home need to be sold in a short period of time, owners or their heirs often hold an estate sale. This is a great opportunity to find chic furnishings and décor at a discounted price. 

Whether you’re looking for fun knickknacks to display or new-to-you furniture, you’re sure to find some conversation pieces.

One person’s discarded item might be the piece that really ties your space together. Dressers, nightstands, coffee tables, mirrors and picture frames are fantastic thrift store finds because they have character — and you’ll pay just a fraction of the original price.

You’ll likely need to check your local thrift stores often — and be willing to dig through lots of merchandise — but the money you’ll save will make it worth your while.

When name brand companies have excess inventory, canceled orders and closeouts, they often sell the items to furniture liquidators. In turn, you’re able to buy these pieces at a steep discount. 

This can be a great alternative to a traditional furniture store, as the average cost to furnish a house is $16,000, according to HomeAdvisor. However, the cost of furnishings varies greatly, according to the size of your home, budget and whether or not you have champagne taste.

For example, the price tag decreases significantly to around $3,500 for basic furnishings for a one-bedroom apartment — but that’s still a lot. Shopping at a furniture liquidation store can allow you to score top quality furniture you wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise.

Houseplants can create a seriously cheery vibe, while also improving your indoor air quality. However, they’re a lot more expensive than you might realize.

For example, a Fiddle Leaf Fig plant by United Nursery — in a 9.25-inch grower’s pot — costs $29.98 at Home Depot and a Pure Beauty Farms 1.9-gallon Sansevieria Laurentii Snake Plant in a 9.25-inch grower’s pot is priced at $37.98.

Thankfully, it’s actually not that hard to find seriously cheap or free plants. Check local listings on sites like Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and Nextdoor to connect with people looking to get rid of their greenery.

Bare walls don’t create a homey vibe, but wall art is expensive. For example, the Project 62 Abstract Mountain Framed Canvas costs $70 at Target and the Fireside Home World Map costs $96.99 at Wayfair.

Make your walls a truly unique space by creating your own art. Find inexpensive frames for your favorite photographs or buy a canvas from a local craft store and get to work on an abstract piece of your own.

It’s only natural to get tired of the same furnishings you’ve had for years, but replacing them can be expensive. If the items are still in decent shape, simply cover them in a fresh coat of paint or refinish them.

For example, refinishing furniture — i.e., a coffee table or bedroom set — costs an average of $30 to $300, according to HomeAdvisor. This is just a small percentage of what you’d pay to replace them.

A little TLC will make your furniture look brand new again. This will cause you to be just as excited to have these pieces in your home as the day you purchased them — but without the deficit in your bank account.