7 Budget-Friendly Steps To Love Your Home
How do you feel about your home right now? Does it bring you joy? Are you feeling frustrated on a regular basis? Does your home feel like you? Let me share with you 7-budget friendly steps to help you love your home more.
Love Your Home More: Make it Your Haven
I believe with all my heart our homes should be our haven here on earth. They should be our place of rest, peace, safety, and joy. Do you have those feelings about your home?
If not, then I think you will love this post. Even if you already do feel good about your home, stay with me because you might find a few more ideas to make it even more of a haven and love your home more.
Words I’ve Heard
Have you ever spoken these words?
- “I’m just not good at decorating.”
- “I can’t afford to have a nice home.”
- “I can’t do that to my home!”
- “I don’t know what my style is.”
- “She is so much better at that than me.”
- “I wish I was creative.”
- “My style is boring.”
- “I don’t know where to start.”
I hear women speak these words to me all the time. What it ultimately boils down to is this, “I am not happy with my home but I don’t know how to fix it.” I hear sadness and resignation in their voices and their demeanor and countenance show defeat. Oh, how I pray that if you are reading this post and you feel this way that you will be encouraged by what you read today.
You can absolutely make little changes in your house so it becomes more like home. I can’t wait to share with you some ways to make those changes but before I do, I want to make something clear. Please know that while I love sharing my home with you, it is never my intention to brag or show off.
Making Home
My sole purpose is to inspire and encourage you to make simple changes so you will love your home more. For me, it is more about creating an atmosphere than having a designer home. I like to call it making a home.
Joanna Gaines is one of my favorite home decor experts and she has inspired me over the past several years. I love absolutely everything she does. At the beginning of her book, Home Body, Joanna Gaines writes the following:
“There is nothing I want less, than for you to look wistfully at other people’s “perfect” homes and feel defeated or wish that they were yours. From the beginning, I wanted this book to be a practical and useful guide that would empower and motivate you to create a home that communicates the soul and substance of the people who live within its walls.”
When I first read this it was like she was writing my words. Sometimes I think Joanna and I were separated at birth…lol… although we look absolutely nothing alike. Her beautiful statement is 100% exactly how I feel about letting you into our home.
My Intentions
The last thing I want is to share my home with you so that you feel any kind of envy or in any way feel poorly about your own home. As I said before, my desire is to inspire you and encourage you so that you can love your home and create a warm and inviting place where your family feels loved and loves to be.
For the Mamas With Littles
And for the mamas with little ones, you may look at pictures of someone else’s perfect home and be like my home can never look like that. Remember two things. One, their home does NOT always look like that and, as a side note, neither does mine.
And two, there will be a time in the future when all will be in perfect order in your home, BUT, when that time comes it will be quiet, and maybe, just maybe, you will have a day here and there when you wish you could turn the clock back to the days of disorder and chaos. This I know from personal experience…just saying 😘.
Help Is Out There to Help You Love Your Home More
Let’s start with the statement “I’m just not good at decorating”. First of all, that’s okay because you don’t need to be good at decorating. All you need to do is utilize Pinterest, HGTV, Youtube, decorating books, magazines, TikTok, Instagram, etc.
Where to Begin
Where to begin? Here is what I suggest, start pinning. Find home decor on Pinterest that you like, make a board called “My style” and start pinning. After a few weeks, go back and look at that board, and voila, you now have a style. This is a great way for you to figure out your exact style.
You can check out my home on Pinterest below. You can even click underneath to follow.
Discover Your Style
There is no perfect style and I would even say eclectic has become the latest style. So don’t worry about naming your style, just start to define what you like.
Begin to think about things in your home that make you happy and that my friend is your style!! Now you may want to color coordinate those things but other than that…have at it.
7 Budget-Friendly Steps to Love Your Home More
Clear Out Anything That Doesn’t Bring You Joy
If you are anything like me, you hang onto things that you really don’t like or bring you joy anymore. Perhaps it is because you paid money for it five, ten or even fifteen years ago, or maybe because someone gave it to you and you feel obligated to keep it? It’s time to purge!
Simplify
A clean slate is always a good place to start. Pick a room to start in and clear it out. Remove everything from the walls and tables. Give yourself a fresh clean palette to work with. Look for things that don’t bring you joy anymore and get rid of them. In one word, SIMPLIFY.
You can put it in a box and save it if you want or you can sell it on Facebook Marketplace, drop it at Goodwill, or ask a friend if they want it but if it doesn’t bring you joy and a feeling of home then it’s time to go.
Temporarily Move Out Furniture
If possible move furniture out and slowly bring it back in. If not possible just move your furniture around. Look for things in other rooms and bring them into a new space.
I am a visual person and have to see what it looks like before I make a final decision. Moving furniture only to move it back again is a regular occurrence in our home. I look at it this way, if you don’t try you will never know.
I move my furniture around ALL THE TIME and every time I do it it feels like a fresh and new space. Try it!!
Declutter
Declutter! It has been my experience that the less clutter you have around your home, the less it clutters up your mind. Let me clarify and say I am not a minimalist. I tried to be one for a hot minute but for me, I found I needed our treasures around to make it feel like home. That being said, I have definitely seen my share of too much in a room.
My very own mom loves her Tchotchkes and has them EVERYWHERE. That’s okay though because that makes her happy. But for a busy mama not only does that create more work dusting and cleaning but it creates more chaos in your daily life. I have some more suggestions for organizing in my post 6 Steps to Making Home
So you have simplified and now your room is cleaned out. Look at the walls. Do you like the paint color? Does it need to be freshened up or changed? This leads me to my next step in the process of loving your home.
Clean and Paint
A good cleaning always helps things feel fresh. So make sure you clean out the cobwebs, wipe down the baseboards, and give the flooring a good clean so that everything is fresh.
Let’s talk paint. Paint is cheap and the good news is it can have a major impact on the feel of your home. Be careful in choosing colors. Look for tried and true colors that others recommend. You can find a list of my favorite white and gray paint colors HERE.
Early on in our marriage I really struggled to choose good paint colors. We painted one bathroom in our home three times before we got it right. Have you ever painted a bathroom? It is not always that easy. Lots of corners and small tight spaces. Ugghhh.
However, I was determined to get it right and stuck with it until I finally achieved the look I was going for. That was long before you could buy little samples of paint to try on your walls. I really hope you don’t have to paint any room three times!
We are always evolving as a person…so our homes can evolve as well. Style and color choices change, and the designers of the world keep coming up with better colors that entice us. Just when you think there are no more colors to invent there are newer better ones.
Paint is Cheap
If you find yourself tired of an old color or even if you just painted three years ago and you want a change then do it. Remember, paint is an inexpensive way to make the most impactful change in your home. Check out my post, Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Makeover about painting my ceramic tile backsplash and kitchen cabinets.
I’ve learned that I love things white and so I’ve painted a lot of walls and furniture in our home white. It is a peaceful, calming color to me. And if I want to add a pop of color to a room I can do it in other ways. But guess what, if in five years I don’t like that I can just paint it again.
I once had a friend ask if I was going to paint my black dog white because everything in my house was white…I literally laughed out loud.
Rearrange
After you complete the cleaning and painting begin to move your furniture and home decor back in. Start slow and, remember, only put back that which brings you joy. It is important to keep it simple at first. Only your favorites deserve a spot on your walls. Live with it for a little while and add more as you feel led.
If you know me, you know I make a habit of rearranging my rooms on the regular. I’m pretty sure I have rearranged my home several hundred times over the years…that might be a slight exaggeration…or is it?
It wasn’t uncommon for me to move all the furniture into a new location when Jeff was out of town. Moving a King size bed on the carpet, by yourself, is not an easy task but I was determined and I did it!!
Rearranging has been my go-to move when I want a change in my home. I can make a room feel fresh and new by moving things around. No room should ever stay the same for 20 years. Keep your favorites but change them up and challenge yourself to try something different.
Perhaps even changing the purpose of a room can help you get better use out of your square space. Our dining room is now an office and our formal living room is our dining room. Make your housework for you. We made our space work better for our needs by making those two changes.
Repurpose and Re-Imagine
I do this all the time!! When we moved from Ohio to Pennsylvania I wanted a fresh start in our decor. I wanted light colors and white furniture. I began chalk painting EVERYTHING I owned. You cannot even believe what a difference this made to the look of our home. That was 8 years ago and I still LOVE it.
When I made the decision to lighten and brighten our style I challenged myself to use what I already had. I repurposed and refinished many pieces in our collection. You can read more about this in the post How to Create A Gallery Wall of Love and how that came about by using items I already had.
This vintage dry sink below has had two complete makeovers. It was painted brown when I bought it. I stripped it and brought it to its natural wood color and it remained that way for years. After moving to PA and with all the changes to our style, the outdated yellowish oak color wouldn’t work.
Chalk paint would be my go-to product so I painted it white and distressed it. I never thought I would paint it again given the hours I took to strip it to the bare wood, but I did. I love it like this but maybe one day I will bring it back to the natural wood again or perhaps paint it another color.
Don’t Crowd Your Walls
This step is one you might not have guessed as one of the 7 budget-friendly steps to love your home. Most people make the mistake of putting all their furniture on a wall thinking it makes the room look larger. This is actually not true for the most part.
By crowding walls your room appears smaller and less cozy. Place your furniture more towards the middle and create little spaces of conversation that are inviting and cozy.
Also, when it comes to your decor be careful not to crowd your walls with a lot of stuff either. Keep it simple. I love to do little vignettes on my walls, but I also like to place just one large item on a wall to make a statement such as the wrought iron planter from earlier in the post. The only time I might crowd a wall is when I do a gallery wall.
Get Thrifty and Thrift
Check out my post called Thrifting: How to Thrift and What to Look For? Here you will find a lot of my favorite thrifting finds from over the years and where I go to thrift. I hunt in places like Goodwill, Facebook Marketplace, local second-hand stores, flea markets, antique malls, and even the trash.
One of my favorite treasures is a beautiful antique bed that my neighbor put at the end of the driveway with a sign on it saying “free”. I was out on a run and saw him put it out. I politely asked him “Is that free?” He said yes! SCORE!! I ran back home, grabbed my car, loaded it up, and it was mine. Free is the best!!
Finding treasures for free or on the cheap is my favorite way to decorate our home. I have been challenging myself this year to only purchase thrifted items for any new home decor I acquire. Want to join me in that challenge?
Think Outside the Box
This is a new one for me! You would be surprised at what can be considered home decor. We are so quick to throw old, or as I like to call them, vintage, pieces in the garbage. Vintage has a sense of history and there is a special feeling you get when you take something old and find a new purpose for it.
Vintage items have a soul and a previous life. They bring character and charm into a home. Window frames, clocks, antique garden items, ladders, old books, rustic baskets, and vintage crates are some of the items I like to incorporate into my home.
I have two yellow ware bowls I use in my kitchen. They are two of my favorite finds. Try it! It might surprise you how much it warms up a room.
I am developing a love for vintage pictures with gold frames and I can’t wait to incorporate some more into my home.
Love Your Home More In Summary
Let’s review the 7 steps: Clear out anything that doesn’t bring you joy, clean and paint if needed, rearrange, repurpose, and reimagine, don’t crowd your walls, get thrifty and thrift, and think outside the box.
At the end of the day, surround yourself with things you love that make your house feel like home. For me, it is things like family pictures, signs with words, clocks, window panes, art, flowers, and plants.
In my post How to Set the Foundation for a Loving Home I write more about the atmosphere you create in your home as a mom.
In my post How to be Confident in Your Home Decor Style I go deeper into creating the home you love. It’s one of my favorite blog posts so be sure to check it out😘.
It is my prayer that this post and all my posts help you to create a warm and cozy home where your family feels loved and loves to be, now, and for years to come.
Love and Prayers~Kim 💗
LINKED POSTS
Modern Farmhouse Kitchen Makeover
How to Create A Gallery Wall of Love
Thrifting: How to Thrift and What to Look For
