5 Budget-Friendly Decorating Tips (with Pictures)

This post is part of our Top 10 series… yes, even though it may not always be ’10’. To see our previous Top 10 related posts, click here.

With hours logged onto Pinterest, home blogs and flipping through shelter magazines, these days it’s hard not to covet designer interiors. If you’re filled with design inspiration but more bare on budget, with a few cost-saving tips, you don’t have to sacrifice style to create the home you’ve been dreaming of. Don’t just look at stunning home photos online and in print but live in them with these five simple decorating tips from Paula Berberian, Creative Director of WallPops, the premier line of peel-and-stick wall art from Brewster Home Fashions.

Make your dream come home to life for less, with these 5 budget-friendly decorating tips.

1. Reuse

Decorative hardware seen on dresser. Also featuring WallPops by Jonathan Adler Aztec Diamond Stripes on wall. Approx. $17.99 per pack.

Everyone likes a good “before and after” transformation. Make one at home easily by revamping plain or unfashionable furniture. Go glam with all dark or black side tables, chests and bookcases. Rather than purchase new pieces, update the old with high-gloss black paint. Simply sand furniture, apply a primer, give the furniture 24 hours to completely dry and apply a few thin layers of the dark paint. For other easy updates, try refreshing lamps with new, colorful printed lampshades or enhancing furniture with interesting knobs and handles. In a few minutes, the old hardware can be removed with a screwdriver and stylish items added. Look to Antrhopologie or Target.com for fashionable options that cost around $8 each, far less than a whole new piece of furniture.

2. Rugs

Trina Turk Greek Key Rug, approx. $165.

Anything worthwhile is built from a good foundation, so look below to what the room is set on. A peppy, printed rug can refresh a room like few other additions. Go with the Trellis design, very much on-trend today, a cheetah pattern, Greek keys or for texture, a sheepskin-looking rug called a flokati. Trina Turk has a Greek Key Rug available in pink, green or bright blue, 3- by 5-inches for $165 that brings enough style to make it worth the cost. Available on Furbish.com.

3. Gallery Wall

WallPops by Jonathan Adler Black/White Frames Wall Art Kit. Approx. $42.99 each set.

Seen in shelter magazines and in dozens of home blogs, set the stage of your room by displaying a variety of your favorite framed photos and art to create a gallery wall. Go beyond the regular wooden or metal-framed arrangement and save your wall from a dozen holes with the new WallPops by Jonathan Adler line of peel-and-stick wall art. In addition to the collection’s mix-and-match Dots, Blox and Stripes, Wall Art Kits, Dry Erase Boards, Dry Erase Weekly Dots and Zodiac Dry Erase Message Boards in signature Adler cheerful designs, the offering includes an Enamel Frames set with 12 colorful, wavy Mylar silver frames in orange, teal, green, red, white and black. Another option is the WallPops by Jonathan Adler Black/White Frames Kit with 16 chicly patterned black, white and silver frames with silver Mylar accents. Choose a theme for the wall such as vacation photos or Pop art prints and switch to a new theme whenever you’d like, as all frames are entirely repositionable and totally removable. Kits come on two 17.25- by 39-inch sheets and are approximately $42.99 each.

4. Paint

Brown signature wall with WallPops Nouveau Damask Wall Art Kit. Approx. $30.99 each set.

Make a dramatic d cor move fast and for less than what a few lattes cost with a painted feature wall. No need to shy away from color when you paint only one wall, it adds drama to the space without being too overpowering. To up the ante, try adding one of WallPops stylish peel-and-stick Wall Art Kits over the colorful wall. Kits are provided on sheets with all components and cover a large area, providing an instant decorating solution. For the background paint color, go with a dark royal blue to add depth, a yellow to add warmth and to energize the space or a light green to bring an overall sense of calm. If you’re looking for a touch of glamour try an emerald green, chocolate brown or bright pink, sure to give sophistication to the space.

5. Pillows

Perhaps the easiest way to add serious style to a room is with decorative pillows. As some pillows can inch toward $100, it’s simple to make your own for a fraction of the cost. For eight-inch square pillows, a long rectangular piece of fabric and a few stitches is all it takes. Find a variety of fabric selections online at Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores’ site, www.joann.com, or at your nearby fabric store. For instructions, view a selection of how-to videos on YouTube by searching “how to make decorative pillow covers.” Whether adding color with a vibrant orange or a fun pattern like ikat, stripes, a retro zigzag or Moroccan print, it’s a low-commitment way to add what’s on-trend as it can be updated with current fads, seasons or tastes.

Make your Pinterest boards or dream home tear-sheets come to life and love where you live without worrying about the cost.

Jonathan Adler for WallPops is sold through select retailers nationwide and online at www.wallpops.com. Become a fan at: www.facebook.com/#!/wallpopsdecals and follow them at: www.twitter.com/WallPopswallart. View the WallPops blog at www.blog.wallpops.com. WallPops by Jonathan Adler Dots, Blox and Stripes and Dry Erase Packs are approximately $17.99 per pack. Wall Art Kits without metallic are approximately $35.99 per pack and Wall Art Kits with metallic are approximately $42.99 per pack.

WallPops by Brewster Home Fashions is the premier line of peel-and-stick wall art on the market today with on-trend design and total coordination possibilities. Headquartered in Randolph, Mass., Brewster Home Fashions is one of the oldest independent, family-owned wallcovering companies in the U.S. that now spans five generations. Since 1954, Brewster Home Fashions has been a prominent manufacturer and distributor of fine wallpapers and home decor products for residential and commercial markets globally. A category leader, the company offers a range of brands and price points that provide more than 10,000 wall and window d cor solutions.